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Retire To A Life You Love®

Turning Your Hobby Into a Paid Passion with Lee Rathbun (Ep.16)

“Find a job you’ll love and you’ll never work a day in your life.”’

But how?

Michelle Gessner is joined by special guest Lee Rathbun, a part-time sports official who shares his journey of turning his hobby into a paid gig. They explore the theme of “What are you going to do in retirement,” emphasizing the importance of not just planning for financial security but also planning for a fulfilling retirement lifestyle.

Lee Rathbun shares his experience of transitioning from baseball to football and lacrosse officiating, highlighting the physical activity, competition, and enjoyment he derives from his role as a referee.

This installment of Retire To A Life You Love® discusses:

  • How Lee turned a hobby into paid opportunities
  • The benefits of doing something you like both for your physical and mental well-being
  • Dealing with pressure on and off the field
  • The shortage of referees & why you should consider becoming a sports official if you have a passion for sports
  • And more

Resources:

  • Texas Lacrosse Officials
  • USA Lacrosse
  • Texas Association of Sports Officials
  • 22 Great Jobs for Retirees 

Connect with Michelle: facebook   linkedin   twitter

YouTube: Gessner Wealth Strategies

About Michelle Gessner: 

As a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional, Michelle is passionate about building a life plan for her clients and helping them see that they have choices, which often comes to them as a pleasant surprise. She is an independent thinker and a huge advocate of her client’s interests. Her greatest joy is working to do what is right for them and be their voice.

Michelle has a B.S. in Finance from the University of Colorado, Boulder, and an M.S. in Management from Boston University, Brussels. Growing up in Montana and moving to Colorado for college, she took out student loans and worked her way through all four years. After graduating in 1987 with honors, she accepted a job at Shell Oil in Houston and worked her way up the corporate ladder to a management position before leaving in 1992 for Brussels, Belgium, where she lived for 4 years. In Brussels, she learned about different cultures and basic conversational French as well as pursuing and earning a graduate degree in management.

As a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional,  she is held to the highest standards set forth in the industry. She surrounds herself with a back office of experts in tax and investment research so that her clients have the best of both worlds – the resources of a large firm with the caring, dedication, and personal service of a small firm.

Connect with Joanne Giardini-Russell: linkedin

About Lee Rathbun:

Lee Rathbun has lived in Houston since 2012 but is originally from Gaithersburg, Maryland. He has a bachelor’s degree in business with a master’s in telecommunications, both from the University of Maryland, and spent 9 years serving in the US Navy.  With a career in the transportation industry in logistics, Lee spends a lot of his free time as a high school football and lacrosse referee across metro Houston and in Pennsylvania where he lived before arriving in Houston. He’s also been found participating in various mud runs like the Spartan race. Lee has been a referee in his free time since 2005, about 19 years.  He is assigned anywhere between 2-4 games per week and sometimes more.

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