Earning from Home Ideas
There is no shortage of seniors starting new businesses after leaving their fulltime employment. But what I would like to cover in this article is the type of income-producing activities one can do at home rather than in an office. I’m more interested in researching ways that seniors can make money after retirement by ‘working for themselves’, monetising their hobbies or interests.
Passive Income, Aggressive Retirement
After all, retirees want to be able to enjoy their newfound freedom. They want to be able to go shopping at the drop of a hat. Women want to be free to meet their friends for coffee Monday morning. And guys of course, want the freedom to meet up with their buddies on the golf course mid-week. How is that for stereotypical statements but you get my drift.
Advantages of Making Money After Retirement from Home
If an activity can produce a side income but not get in the way of living the retired life, then all the better.
I like the fact that I can do a digital graphical design at 8pm while watching a movie at home with my husband. The next morning, I can upload it to a t-shirt or a coffee mug and offer it for sale.
I like the fact that I can track the stock market from the table in our caravan while we are exploring a new part of the country.
Stock Market Candlestick Chart Gift Stock Exchange Investor T-Shirt
And I like that I can do SEO for my blog any time of the day or night.
Friends might drop in for a glass of wine mid-afternoon. No problem. The computer is closed, and socialising takes over.
How to make extra money from home is a question that attracts even more interest than usual, given pandemic lockdowns, social distancing restrictions and budgeting woes.
Many retirees welcome the idea of making a little extra income each week or month. But more often than not, retirees are also looking for a challenge that can add a certain level of structure to their day. So let’s see what we can come up with that would satisfy both goals.
Earning from Home Ideas
There are so many ideas about how one can make money after retirement from home. Of course, it all depends on your interests, your time and end goals. But let’s look at a few ideas to get the creativity flowing.
You might have already thought of some of these ideas or you might be, right now, researching possibilities to explore. Either way, this list can help with the brainstorming process.
1. Amazon FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon)
As the acronym suggests, fulfillment of product orders is done by Amazon. The seller finds the products to be sold (an inventory) and then warehouses them in Amazon’s own fulfillment centres.
The seller manages his/her online area on Amazon. Orders, packaging, shipping, and customer service are all managed by Amazon. Gone is the need to spend endless hours packing products and then shipping them off to the customer. Gone also is the need to spend both money and time trying to get eyes on your product.
If the idea of Amazon FBA interests you, there is a free starter course listed on The Selling Family.
2. Article writing for blogs and/or magazines
There are many platforms for writers. One such example is a site called iWriter. You simply fill out an application form, showcasing your writing abilities. Bloggers and owners of a variety of websites can advertise the type of article(s) they are looking for. If it is in an area that is of interest, you can submit your version of this article for consideration. The better your articles, the higher your ranking and subsequently the more income that you could make.
3. Selling Crafts at Markets
If you have a creative streak, you could make various craft items at home and then sell them at your local weekend market.
4. Dog walking &/or Pet Sitting
I have a dog-loving friend who has just started a business taking care of pets in their own homes. After advertising her business on Facebook, she quickly built up a list of clients.
During an initial interview, the dog owner discusses the type of service that is required.
The pets stay in their own home while their parents are on holiday and receive a daily or twice-daily visit from their new carer. This takes care of feeding, playing, company, walks or whatever the dog owner has requested. The pay? $21 to $25 an hour, depending on the work involved. This is the type of business that results in repeat clients.
Whilst this is not a sit-at-home type income idea, you are still based at home and working for yourself, rather than sitting in an office working for a boss.
5. Monetising Photography
Another idea is selling photography on a Print on Demand (POD) site such as the following (affiliate links):
- Zazzle
- Redbubble – Are you creative? Check out RedBubble, where you can exhibit and sell your art to the world – for FREE
- CafePress or
- Spreadshirt
6. Creating T-Shirt and Giftware Designs
If you are artistic you could create artwork for giftware and/or t-shirts, loading your designs for sale on a POD site as I have done at Zazzle: Bright Style and on my Redbubble Shop .
Are you creative? Check out RedBubble, where you can exhibit and sell your art to the world – for FREE!
7. Starting a Blog and Monetising It.
If blogging is an activity that appeals, then it pays to find some bloggers who have succeeded in a niche that you would like to write about.
For example, the Making Sense Of Cents blog is not only inspiring from the point of view of the blogger’s incredible financial success but also because it offers article after article with how-to suggestions and ideas.
8. A YouTube Video Channel
Starting a YouTube channel (for those of us less shy) is another idea. You could then eventually monetise it with ads or like from your videos to your own site or products.
9. Entering Competitions
I remember when I was at Uni, one of my lecturers told the story of his wife’s hobby. It was a hobby that was winning many a holiday for them, not to mention cars, trips and many utensils around the house. Yes, she made a studied practice of participating in magazine and product competitions.
People who make a practice of entering competitions like this, usually develop a strategy. And she certainly did that.
For example the author of ‘SuperLucky Secrets: 100 tips for winning competitions, contests and sweepstakes’ provides great tips on how to find competitions on social media, tv and other vehicles. Tips on how to maximise your winning chances are also provided. Having won more than £300,000, the author presents a very credible guide.
There are also some valuable tips for Australian competition entrants here: Tips on winning competitions
10. Tutoring
There is always a need for skilled instructors. You could advertise tutoring in your work-experience field. Perhaps you were a musician. You could teach piano, for example, from home. Perhaps you were a mathematics teacher during your working life. You could advertise maths tutoring sessions from home.
Blogging to Make Money
I hope that one idea appeals as a possibility for you to make money after retirement, in particular from home.
But let’s look more closely at one of these ides, that of blogging.
Many of you might have thought that blogging is just a way to pour your thoughts our for others to read. Sure, it is that, but it can be so much more. Have you thought about how blogs, which have impressed you, actually make money?
Your Area of Interest or Niche
First and foremost you want to zero in on a particular topic/theme area and a particular demographic.
The topic needs to be one that you are passionate about.
What is it that you would like to tell others? Can you write in a way that can help others solve problems? Can you provide value with your ideas?
I actually think the better blogs are often those that started with the motivation of providing value to others. How to make money often came later.
Impressive Blogs
To stimulate those creative thinking brain cells, here are some very inspirational blogs for you to browse to get ideas about the type of blog you would like to design and create.
At this point, we are simply looking at some examples to see if blogging is for you. How to start a blog is a topic that can be covered in a future post. But if you are wondering which platform I use, I would highly recommend WordPress as it makes the process of writing and updating so easy and a lot of fun.
Appealing Blog Features
I personally have some preferences in the blogs that I read and the lack of some of these preferences can see me turn around and look for another blog to read.
- Font and layout are big ones for me. Some blogs, in my view, select a font colour that has insufficient contrast with its background. There is an excellent article on font usage for websites and blogs that you can read here at BloggingNova.com.
- Readability is paramount.
- But so too is the visual appeal. Graphics of course add to the way a site looks but so too does the font used, the headings and layout.
- And it goes without saying that the site needs to load quickly.
- I personally like to see a date. If I can’t find a date or at least an updated line then I don’t know if I am reading current content or a blog that has been abandoned long ago.
Here are a couple of blogs that you can browse to give you ideas of what appeals to you.
The first blog in our sampling, Women Blazing Trails, is fast-loading and aesthetically pleasing to look at. The font is easy to read and line spacing further enhances this. AND the articles are interesting to read.
The next blog has a somewhat simplistic design but this makes it very fast to load and very easy to find what you are looking for. Making Sense of Cents is a very successful blog and contains endless content of incredible value.
Popular Money Making Blog Niches
Blog categories usually reflect a specific area of interest.
For example, some of the most successful blogs slot into one of these niche areas:
- Travel Blogs
- Cooking Recipe Blogs
- Lifestyle Blogs
- Personal Finance
- Crafts
- DIY
- Food & Nutrition
- Fitness & Health
- Making Money Blogs
In this article we have touched on just a few ideas that can get you thinking about how you would like to slot a money-making side venture into your busy retired life.
Let’s know if you are already pursuing a money making enterprise in your spare time.
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