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It will all make perfect sense when you hear from Peter Barker our guest on this episode of Living The Retirement Lifestyle Podcast. Peter is Operations Director of Wildgoose Events, an award winning, multi-million pound global events and licensing business but he’s no stranger to facing up to challenges as you’ll hear
It’s no surprise then that Peter is someone who thinks outside the box when faced with difficulties and the pandemic couldn’t have been a worse turn of events for someone who has an events business that involves people coming together!
But he had the fortitude along with his co-directors to pivot into the virtual world that we all came to be a part of during 2020/21 and their innovative approach was a win win coming up with products that could help keep teams engaged whilst people were locked down at home utilising zoom. So we came up with escape games and murder mysteries and quizzes, and all sorts of different things that people could do with their teams online. Truth is for a couple of months things were pretty tough but long story short is we came through COVID and had the best two years in business we’ve ever had and in 2020/21 delivered just over three and a half thousand events all around the world and had the most successful two years in business in terms of revenue and profit as well.
We can all learn a great deal from that not least of which is turning what could be abject failure into your fortune and hearing of a success story coming out of COVID is very encouraging!
Moving on we asked Peter about side hustles to which he admits having had one or two but the most memorable was the chocolate business from which the title of this podcast originated
So how did it all begin?
Peter tells us that his wife and daughters are “chocoholics” and so he came up with an idea to help his children “earn” their “pocket” money (it was about giving the girls a hand up rather than a handout he says) by getting them involved in a side hustle he had found selling “wrapped” chocolate bars – for parties, weddings, birthdays, events and it just took off from there. As all things do with family enthusiasm soon dropped off but having created a saleable business, Peter was able to sell it on. That little adventure led to winning an award and for the best new business from the chamber of commerce.
Who wouldn’t like to create a success story from a little “opportunity” like that and add a philanthropic element too!
A side hustle that didn’t cost a lot of money, requiring only some creative thinking and making it work ! Culminating in a a perfect lifestyle business that he was able to sell on after the girls left the nest for a life of their own.
Proof that it’s possible to start a business in your 50’s or 60’s that doesn’t have to be your next Richard Branson business but one that can be fun, make a bit of money from and have the lifestyle you want.
Final words form Peter…
No matter how old your are or what skills you have if you have a passion and can put some thought behind it who knows what you can achieve. It’s definitely not as difficult or scary as some people believe… and it can be a lot of fun!
Connect With Peter
We do hope you enjoyed this chat about side hustles and how you can not only do something yourself but pass down those lessons to your children that they can use in later life
Excited to share that we have been voted in the Top 20 UK Lifestyle Podcasts in the UK