I've been focusing a lot on the "reduce expenses" side of the early retirement equation. Now I want to focus on the "increase income" side. I'm about half-way through a post I found from June about side gigs (all 7 pages of it, you folks rock!). But my issue is that I have limited time to invest right now and most of the suggestions aren't really what I'm looking for.
My kids are quite small (2 and 4) and I don't want anything that will take me away from home. Everything I can think of that I would do because its fun or I have an aptitude for it would take me away from the house and leave my poor spouse home alone with the kids. I've been a tutor, professor at a local college and (almost, job fell through) a softball referee in the past. But all of those things have specific time/place requirements. These are also things I consider "fun", I just can't figure out how to do them on my terms since they are so group/time oriented.
I am a degree'd mechanical engineer, but got put into program management pretty early in my career so I don't have the useful skills that most engineers have (like drafting complex stuff, I could do simple stuff). I also suck at software and website design, so that's a no-go. I love math, I love learning and I love helping people.
I really want something I can do at home. I don't mind if there's a schedule or deadlines, but I want to be able to work when I can. I typically come home from work exhausted, wrestle with the kids until about 8pm, then at 10pm get a spurt of energy where I could do an extra hour or so of work. I'd like to fit something into this schedule. I don't have any hobbies other than reading, so don't have anything I can turn into a side job (like the person who made hats or the folks who fix cars).
Any ideas on a flex-time side gig?