1) Work on your mental game.
Sure, ageism exists, but far more often it's used as an excuse to cover the real issues people don't want to face. I've seen this a lot.
Are you mentally in a negative place - angry and defensive after losing your job? Have you kept your skills current or have you let them slide for a few years? Have you been taking care of yourself physically and spiritually?
Until you tackle your inner space, you will repel both potential employers and customers. Take a few weeks to get yourself into a place where you are ready to move on. Use your new time flexibility to eat healthy, get some exercise and clean the house. While you're doing that, listen to some podcasts to get up to speed on new skills and areas of expertise. Grieve for your old life so you can truly move on in your new adventures.
2) How can you help others?
In a couple weeks, start thinking about how you can use your unique skills, experience and passion to help other people - personally and professionally. What can you do to make their lives and companies better?
Then start reaching out to the kinds of people you can help and talk to them about your ideas. Don't try to sell them on your services or get a job, yet. Take the time to learn what they need and how they would like to engage with a person/company to get that help. This will guide you where you need to go.
Good luck with your new adventures! You'll probably look back in a few years and marvel that as much as the transition sucked, it was the best thing that could have happened.
