Working from home on the Internet is a great way for most anyone to earn money, but it is especially suitable for retirement careers. Retired individuals tend to have several characteristics that suit them for Internet work at home:
- Retirees are experienced workers. They are self-starters and self-disciplined. They understand the future value of work. They are able to foresee the future benefits of their investment of time and effort. For these reasons they are likely to have the self-motivation and consistency of effort required to be successful when working in a homebased business.
- They have wisdom and knowledge. Retired folks are generally quite experienced in one or more fields and are confident in teaching others about them. Almost every retired person has some skills or knowledge that is in demand in our economy. Using the Internet is a very effective way to find clients for them.
- Retirees are generally not under the earning constraints of young families. In many cases they are not totally dependent for survival upon the money they earn, and they can afford to do work that they really enjoy, on their own schedules.
Here are eight ways that enterprising people seek to make money on the Internet, and establish retirement careers. They range from really bad ways to really good ways and in all cases depend on personal preferences, interests and values. I am not endorsing any particular method for any particular person. This listing is intended only as a starting point for the reader’s consideration.
- Sell products and services. In this category I include creating or buying products and selling them at a markup. This is basically like any other wholesale or retail business except that the contact between the sellers and buyers take place on-line. It involves many of the same pros and cons of such businesses: up-front investment, advertising, inventory, receiving and shipping, billing and so forth.
- Sell your time and expertise. In this case you are just selling your knowledge and experience in some area in which you are an expert. Think of it as on-line consulting. There is little start-up cost, but you will need a website and will probably want to do some advertising. If you don’t want any of the responsibilities of being a business owner, you can just sell your time. Some of the posssibilities are telemarketing, offer fulfillment (the equivalent of envelope addressing and stuffing in the days of “snail mail”), acting as a home-based customer service agent, transcription, and completing free offers on-line.
- Sell your opinion. You can get paid for doing surveys online. Generally, the compensation is small, but there is no investment required on your part.
- Auctions. Buying and selling through on-line auctions is a popular business and many people do quite well at it financially. It is a specialized form of category 1. Doing well requires special expertise but there are lots of resources for learning the business. You have to be prepared to invest money to buy products and hold them for resale. You will also have to receive, warehouse and handle goods. A subspecialty of this business is buying and selling for third parties who don’t have the expertise or time to do it for themselves. Ebay, for example, has a certification process for recognizing and recommending people who want to do this.
- Sell Internet advertising. This business generally takes the form of starting and maintaining a website and then selling advertising space on it. This may seem like a technical and specialized business but, in fact, it is not. The primary requirements for success are creativity and a willingness to learn. It also requires little financial investment. If you are reading this you probably have everything you need; a computer and an internet connection.
- Gaming. I will have little to say about this topic because I don’t know much. It is very difficult if not impossible to profit from it, and it is illegal in many jurisdictions. I only mention it because it is a popular activity on the Internet and most people that engage in it do so because they think they are going to make a profit.
- Investing. Again, I won’t say much about on-line investing because I don’t know much about it. It is a highly technical and speculative business. I’ll try to get some guest authors to write about it in the future.
Before you decide to embark on a particular strategy to make money on the Internet with a homebased business, do some research to find out as much about it as it takes to make you comfortable. This site contains lots of relevant information, specially oriented toward retirees who want to work from home and set their own time schedules. At a minimum you should read the articles linked to the above category descriptions for a little more detail on the ones in which you have an interest. If you are considering investing any money in your retirement career, perform a Google search for the company in which you are considering an investment or purchase, and its employees. You will be amazed and grateful for what you can find out about them. If you are attracted to Internet business because it is easy, affordable and offers the potential for great earnings, remember that other people will be attracted to it for the same reasons. In general, however, there are no ethical requirements for offering something for sale on the ‘net. Due diligence is more due than ever in the era of the Internet.
Always check with all legal jurisdictions to which you are subject to determine whether your homebased business will be subject to any laws, regulations or registration. You may need to consult with an attorney if you have any questions about legalities.
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