It's a real hit in the guts to lose your job...so much of our identity is tied up in our work.
I should think someone on your field shouldn't find it hard to do gig-work. There are probably a lot of small businesses that could use occasional network admin work but can't swing a full-time employee to to it. I know a guy who's been doing that since the early 90's. It became a full-time business with him. He has a shop over his garage and 3 or 4 people working for him. He goes in and sets up networks for companies, and is, in general, just a sort of all-around IT problem solver. My guess is, you'd be busier than you want to be before too long. Stop and think: was it the work you didn't like, or was it your job you didn't like? Whole lot of difference between going into a job every day, where they tend to take you for granted, and getting called to ride in on your white horse and bail them out. The lawn care thing is not a bad idea either. I don't know about where you live, but around here there seems to be a gazillion guys doing that, and we still can't find anybody reliable enough to do ours. I ended up doing it myself and I really don't want to.
