As the oldest of the baby boomers reach their mid-60s, a new mindset on the concept of retirement is maturing along with them, brought about by several factors including economic uncertainty and longevity of life.

Briscoe Ellett, 64, moved to Memphis from Michigan recently to be close to family, and brought a handy man business with him. Ellett said he specializes in punch list work for properties that are for sale. 
(Photo: Lance Murphey)

While many are financially able to lead – and are content with – a life of leisure at the end of a long career, others are striving to stay busy and engaged in the commercial world and their community.

And, at such an age where entry-level work would seem both unattainable and ludicrous, many are opting to go into business for themselves.

Steve Stewart is a certified senior adviser and founder of Senior Quest, an upstart service to help families access the resources needed for successful retirement living.

He said staying active and productive “is a way to have some real significance, to take and extract all that you are and focus it in some new opportunity, and I don’t think it’s just about going out and being a Walmart greeter or trying to get on with a Fortune 500 company. I really don’t think those are the options that people are looking for.

“I think they want to take their expertise and their ability and turn it into something that makes a little money and makes a difference.”

Stewart himself left a career in the ministry four years ago to begin Senior Quest and now, at 60, he shows no signs of slowing down.

“With the ministry experience, I’ve got a very fond inclination towards family and towards people, but also a real heart for our city and seeing the challenges of poverty and all the things that we deal with in Memphis,” said Stewart, who is working with Seed Hatchery to help expand the offerings of Senior Quest.

Mike Working didn’t exactly choose retirement, but it was thrust upon him when, at age 60, he was let go as coach of the Hamilton Tiger Cats of the Canadian Football League.

With an extra year still on his contract, it gave him the time to shop his interests and skills around and see if he wanted to continue coaching or if he wanted to try something else.

“Never worked in a restaurant before, never gave it a thought,” he said.

Yet for nearly four years he has co-owned Lavoro’s Italian Restaurant on Summer Avenue with his son and daughter-in-law.

Beginning a new career uses a whole new set of skills and, with a business startup sometimes those skills are unknown until problems arise.

Working has had to learn his industry from the ground up and, though the first year and a half was complete and total stress, he said, he had to “learn how to lay down new pathways in my brain on solving those problems. And then the more I learned how to do those things, and the more I was able to get into the design of the menu and interacting with people and the things you get into the restaurant business for, the more I started to enjoy it.”

Like Working, Briscoe Ellett Jr. moved to Memphis in August of last year to be closer to his son after retiring from 40 years of ministry work in North Central Michigan.

At 64, and not yet ready to draw on benefits, he now owns Briscoe’s Handyman Service, calling on a background in electrical engineering and past work with Habitat for Humanity.

“I’ve always enjoyed building creative, I’m a manual person and like doing things. … I like repairing things, I can’t stand something that doesn’t work,” he said.

While he came prepared with the skills to use a hammer and saw, his son, Briscoe Ellett III, has helped him by designing a website and making him more comfortable using Excel spreadsheets and email.

Ellett Jr. and Working bring their own unique skills and a capital that isn’t quite as tangible as money to the world of entrepreneurship.

Ellett Jr. offers, in addition to the skills necessary to replace a rotted fascia board or install a toilet, the trustworthiness that comes with four decades of pastoral work and that anyone looks for in a handyman.

Working is a people person, comfortable with greeting guests and welcoming them into what is ostensibly his home. A longtime coach as well, he is a team motivator who keeps his staff happy and productive.

Opportunity is a game changer, as are the medical advances that keep people alive and active far longer than past generations. As the workforce ages and retires or is let go in uncertain economic weather, more and more are looking to utilize a lifetime of experience for themselves and their communities.

“There’s just so much opportunity and so much need, I’m just not wired to sit back and let somebody else figure it out,” Stewart said of any possible retirement in the near future. “I want to try to exhaust every bit of talent that I have and contribute to the day I die.”