How to Turn the Skills You Already Have Into Extra Income After 50
Share
If you've been thinking about making some extra money, starting a small business, or finding a flexible way to earn income after 50, it's easy to assume you need to come up with a brand-new idea.
But I don't think that's always the best place to start.
By the time we reach our 40s, 50s, and beyond, we've accumulated a surprising number of skills.
Some came from jobs we've had. Others came from raising families, helping friends, volunteering, hobbies, businesses we've tried, problems we've learned to solve, or simply years of figuring things out.
The trouble is, we often don't recognize those things as valuable skills anymore. They're just things we know how to do.
And buried in all of that experience, there's probably an opportunity to create income.
You probably know how to do more than you realize
I've tried a lot of different ways to make money over the years.
I've owned coffee shops. I've had a publishing company. I've worked as a massage therapist and natural health consultant. I've grown and sold plants and flowers. I've built websites for small businesses. I've created and sold books and other products.
I've even had a business picking up dog poop.
Yes, really.
Some of those things became businesses. Some didn't. Some I enjoyed more than others.
But one thing I've learned is that income opportunities don't always begin with some brilliant business idea.
Often, they begin with something much simpler:
What do I already know how to do that could be useful to someone else?
That's a very different question than asking, "What business should I start?"
And I think it's an especially good question to ask at this stage of life.
Start with what you already know
Think about everything you've done over the last 20 or 30 years.
Maybe you know how to organize a household, plan events, grow a garden, decorate a home, care for animals, make beautiful cakes, keep books for a small business, take photographs, sew, write, proofread, research, teach, sell, cook, preserve food, use certain computer programs, or manage complicated schedules.
Maybe people are constantly asking you for help with something.
That's worth paying attention to.
We're sometimes so close to our own abilities that we assume everyone knows how to do the things we know how to do.
They don't.
Something that feels ordinary to you may solve a very real problem for someone else.
Don't just look at your work history
This is where I think traditional career advice can miss something.
Your résumé doesn't tell the whole story.
Maybe you spent years managing a household and raising children. That required organization, budgeting, planning, communication, problem-solving and approximately 47 other skills before breakfast.
Maybe you've spent years gardening and can look at a struggling tomato plant and immediately know what's wrong.
Maybe you're the person everyone calls when they need help planning a party, putting together a spreadsheet, choosing a paint color, writing a letter, organizing paperwork or figuring out how to use something online.
Those skills count too.
The question isn't whether you have an official credential for everything you know.
The question is whether something you know how to do can help another person.
Then ask whether you actually WANT to do it
This part matters more to me now than it did when I was younger.
Just because you can make money doing something doesn't necessarily mean you should. At this point in life, I think we get to consider more than earning potential.
We can also ask:
- Does this fit the life I want?
- Would I enjoy doing it regularly?
- How much time would it require?
- Would I need employees, inventory or a physical location?
- Could I work from home?
- Could I do it part-time?
- Would it give me flexibility?
- Do I want to deal with customers every day?
Because you're not simply looking for something that could make money. You're looking for the overlap between what you know how to do, what people need, and what fits your life now.
One skill can lead to several income ideas
Another mistake we make is assuming a skill only has one way of making money.
Let's say you're an experienced gardener.
You might sell plants. But you could also teach a beginner gardening class, offer garden consultations, create garden plans, sell seeds, write a gardening guide, create printable garden planners, start seedlings for other people, or help someone maintain their flower beds.
Same basic knowledge. Completely different ways of turning it into income.
Someone who loves baking could sell baked goods, teach classes, create recipes, make specialty cakes or sell a digital recipe collection.
Someone who's extremely organized might offer home organizing, administrative help, bookkeeping support, estate-sale assistance or virtual assistant services.
You don't necessarily need another skill. Sometimes you simply need to look at the skill you already have from a different angle.
Your life experience has value
I think this is one of the advantages we have as we get older. We may not want to start over from scratch.
Fortunately, we don't have to.
We've spent decades learning things. We've solved problems. We've worked jobs, raised families, managed homes, helped people, made mistakes, tried things, changed directions and figured out quite a bit along the way.
That experience is an asset.
The challenge is pulling it all out of your head and looking at it objectively.
Which is exactly why I created the Skills-to-Income Assessment.
A free Skills-to-Income Assessment to help you get started
I created this free assessment for women who know they'd like to earn some extra income or explore a new direction but aren't quite sure what that could look like.
Instead of giving you another giant list of random side hustles, it helps you start with you.
You'll work through the skills you've developed, your experience, interests and strengths, and begin looking for realistic ways those things could potentially become income.
Because your next income idea may not require you to reinvent yourself.
It might simply require you to recognize the value in something you already know how to do.