Many of the jobs that most of us hard-working baby boomers did for all those years have moved online. As a result, there’s a pretty good demand for simple skills like proofreading, editing, writing, working with spreadsheets… and a host of other “simple, task-oriented work assignments.”
Interestingly, the range of options doesn’t stop there…
If you can send and respond to e-mail, are able to surf the web a little bit, and can tap into some of those skills you learned along the way in your career (or supplement what you know with some of the information at training sites like Lynda.com and Totaltraining.com), you could find your perfect work-from-anywhere situation.
Here are two practical ways you can earn an income online these days…
1. Helping Others Build a Career in the One You are Leaving
Lots of people have 20-, 30- or 40-year careers that they’ve trained for and know cold. They have industry contacts, know how to get things done, and have real insight into future trends. Many also have lots of good advice for new people coming up through the ranks.
If you have a knack for helping people, you could be a coach or mentor.
All you need to get started is your career experience, a little training, and an Internet connection. (Use Skype and all your international calls could be free.)
2. Turn Your Job Into A Consulting Practice
Many companies are caught in the proverbial “Catch-22.” They have to reduce the size of their payroll, which often means starting with the highest paid. But they might still need your expertise, just not as often as a full-time job provides.
Many large and small corporations have found taking an employee off the payroll and hiring them back as a consultant can be a great way to lower costs and preserve expertise.
Now they’re paying you for what you know (advice) rather than what you do (work). And with a little training, you could learn to give advice virtually—over the Internet from anywhere on the planet. Once free of your full-time employment, you could also add other similar companies to your list of clients.
As the Internet gets faster and more powerful… and stretches into all the nooks and crannies of the world… you might have a better opportunity than ever before to live where you want to, travel as often as you like, work at something you love, earn a part-time or full-time income, and enjoy a new quality and pace of life you may not have thought possible.
[Editor’s Note: Learn more about opportunities to profit from your travels (and even from your own home) in our free online newsletter The Right Way to Travel.]