Hi all, I'm a lawyer with 21 years of practice, and I'm simply burnt out. I took a detour into financial advising from 2012-2014, and while I enjoy money matters, I didn't like being a salesman. So I went back into law as a solo attorney, and it's been lucrative (I made $175k last year) but I've reached the point at which I need to leave so I have some quality of life.
We discovered FIRE late, and we're 46 and 49yo, so retiring at a young age isn't in the cards. But thankfully my wife loves her job and I like to work, so I don't mind continuing to build a retirement fund over the next 10-15-20 years.
Luckily, after discovering FIRE last year we analyzed all our spending, sold off a nonperforming rental property, paid off nearly all our debt, doubled our net worth, and we live completely off my wife's income. My income will go straight to retirement investing. So I don't need to earn what I earned last year; it can dial back to much lower income if necessary. I prefer flexibility with my time so I can take the kids to school, pick them up, take them to doctor's apptmts, etc. so my wife doesn't have to (she's a college professor, so her schedule isn't always flexible due to her teaching schedule).
--I've considered going back into financial advising, but I'd be pushed to sell whole life insurance, high-fee mutual funds, or other products which I don't believe meet people's needs.
--I've considered becoming a financial coach to teach people how to analyze their cash flow and get their spending priorities sorted out, without being an actual investment advisor. I don't have a local network of contacts here so I'd be doing a lot of network building before I see income, so I'd want a "side gig to that side gig" as it gets started.
--I've considered becoming a coach to other solo attorneys on marketing, work-life balance, legal writing (which is painful for most lawyers), etc.
--I've considered becoming a leadership coach for junior leaders (I spent over a decade as an Army officer, had a regular column on leadership in a local business magazine, and it's my passion).
--I'm open to cobbling together several side gigs.
In short, I think I have a number of skills, but I'm not sure where/how to launch them -- or how to launch several simultaneously without seeming like a mixed message to any target market.
I'd appreciate any thoughts you have of what to do next to bring in $$.