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How to Earn Money Online in Retirement or at Any Time of Life

Oh Boy! The internet is chock full of ideas on how to earn money online.

I say “Oh Boy” because it can become so  time-consuming keeping track of this or that idea to  earn ‘smart passive income’ (SPI) or make a million bucks through blogging!

My article in an expat retirement magazine was on the subject of how to supplement your income in retirement. Like many expats living in a foreign country, there is a double need to supplement pension income in retirement. First, it helps to enjoy a few “extras” in life, but more importantly, it keeps the grey matter from clogging up.

I am not in the category of either wishing to earn mega bucks or believing that it is easy. Especially, if you are seeking to do than online.

The plethora of SPI content on the net is amazing. Most of it is a form of making money by telling you how to make money. The honest methods always carry a warning – there are no guarantees! Some of them are downright dishonest.

I found it refreshing, therefore, to stumble across a  young Canadian woman called Sarah.  She writes a blog called Unsettle and likes to call her tribe – wait for it – “Unsettlers”!

Refreshing as she seems to be brutally honest. I like that.

I particularly liked this article of hers on the subject of how to earn money online. I think it is worth sharing with you –

There are a million articles and podcast episodes and videos out there about how to find clients, how to sell to customers and how to grow your audience…

… it’s not all about the money. But as Jaime, recently pointed out to me (when I was obviously on my soapbox telling her all about how much of an impact I wanted to make on all of ya’lls lives), money is a tool. And without money, making an impact will be a long, uphill battle. Like eating a big spoonful of peanut butter without water (I’m paraphrasing. She’s far more straight-forward).

Clearly Sarah and I have the same attitude about the confusing array of “a million articles and podcast episodes” available to “grow your audience.” She then goes on to talk about money.

How much of an impact can you really make without the means to fund your impact? Money is a tool and a tool that can make you far more effective in everything you do.

That’s because balance is a complete fallacy that nobody can ever meet if they also want to achieve anything remarkable.

Balance is one of those “too good to be true” things – like multi-tasking – that we’ve all been led to believe is possible when it’s not even remotely so.

Want to lose weight? You have to focus on your health, to the detriment to other things in your life.
Want to learn a skill? You have to focus on practicing, to the detriment to other things in your life.
Want to increase your income? You have to focus on making money, to the detriment to other things in your life.

She makes some valid points. It is true that to focus on making money has a detrimental effect on other areas of your life. However, I don’t agree with her “balance” view.  My take on it is if you focus on nothing else in life but money then you run a real risk of ending up a lousy spouse, partner or parent. There has toi be a balance between  the pursuit of money and family life.

I 100% agree with what followed –

So roll up your sleeves because I’m going to tell you about the real, secret formula for getting those dolla dolla bills (yo).

The Money Force Multiplier

Buckle up because this is big:

As an entrepreneur (or in your career in general) the amount of money you earn is a multiplier of how much work you are willing to put in and how uncomfortable you’re willing to make yourself.

If you’ve had a swig of the passive income Koolaid, you might be wondering where making money while you’re asleep or watching Pretty Little Liars comes in…

But passive income how it’s been sold to you not passive. The secret to making money at home on your couch is to get off your couch.
If you’ve struggled to “find clients”, book gigs, or sell your products, I want you to play a little game with me:

The secret is to “get off your couch”! Simple advice, but so true. It’s one of the reasons why I have abandoned the TV. It’s not because I don’t like watching it; it just becomes such a dominant feature of life!

The game of getting really damn honest with yourself.

It’s hard. It sucks. It’s not glamorous, but it will help you diagnose where you’re going wrong.

Think back over the last couple of days. If you have a really good memory, reach back over the last couple of months:

How much time have you spent each day being actually productive?
How much time have you spent doing things that will actually land you those clients or customers?
In hours per day, would you say you’ve spent 1 hour? 4? Every single day you were “working” to find clients?
That’s a good exercise in honesty, and I think you’ll probably find that you weren’t spending as much time as you thought.

That’s true with earning more money, growing your business, and even picking up that cute guy/girl.

  • It’s the uncomfortable conversation with your boss where you’re requesting a raise that bumps your salary

  • It’s the uncomfortable feeling in your throat when you get on the phone to sell to somebody that lands that sale

  • It’s the uncomfortable knot in your stomach when you ask for the guy’s number that leads to a date.

And the problem with the majority of people out there is that they are average. They might find small successes along their journey, but they won’t accomplish anything great. And they certainly won’t make an impact, create a the lifestyle they want, or get rich.

That’s okay, because the world needs average. Without those people, it would be mayhem.

It’s brutal! However, it contains much truth.

We are all guilty of spending too much time on frivolous unimportant tasks. Mea Culpa! I like to believe that Sarah is genuine. I’m not sure yet how she makes money as she appears to throw away many gold nuggets for free.

Sure, she has some affiliate links but …

Maybe she is ubër-smart? I noticed in the comments section of this article of hers that someone had placed a link to a product called Toggl. I did wonder whether that was a “plant” and it is another affiliate link of hers. It doesn’t matter if it is, but I do value transparency.

I signed up for the free version myself and it is a useful time tracking tool. I will give it a go so I can see when and how long I spend on my various writing projects. That’s if I remember to start the timer 🙂

For those of you in retirement, like me, I do intend to write further articles on how to earn money from freelance writing.

Featured Image: Courtesy of MichaelKwan.com [I like the image but know nothing of his book or methods]

I have no associations with either Unsettle or Toggl.

 

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4 Comments

  1. Jerry Jerry

    Hi Steve,

    I have to add to your Mea Culpa my own Mea Culpa, Mea Maxima Culpa. In the states when I was about 12 there was an advert on the back of many magazines with a man standing with his hand on a Rolls and a mansion in the background. It said something like send me $5 and I’ll show you how you can the same lifestyle. Well, I did. The answer was to take out adverts in magazines telling people to send you $5 and you show them how to make money. I found it clever, but dishonest. So I moved on. Now, as you noted, it’s still about send me $5, etc. The name changes but the game doesn’t. As David Hannum said about PT Barnum: “There’s a sucker born every minute”.

    I will checkout Sarah’s blog, thanks for the source.

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