Tips for a Retirement Friendly Side-Gig

In this post, I’d like to share five tips to help you structure a side-gig so that it doesn’t take over your retirement:

1) Offer a by-appointment only service: Choosing a “by-appointment only” service gives you the opportunity to schedule your work around your personal life. Side-gigs that can be done by appointment (more or less) include tutoring, photography, coaching and personal organizing, just to name a few..

2) Choose a business with a busy season that matches your lifestyle needs:  Some businesses are more seasonal than others. For example, a retailer who sells camp care packages is busiest during the summer, while a tax preparer is slower during the summer but in high-demand during the fall and early winter.

3) Leverage your expertise with informational products:  If you are selling your expertise as a consultant, coach or teacher, your income will be limited by your billable service hours.  However, you can multiply that income by adding downloadable informational products — classes, membership sites, e-books, podcasts, etc.– to your line of products and services.  It takes work to develop and market those products, but once created, they can offer a nice supplementary income stream.

4) Partner:  Find complementary businesses to partner with for referrals and leads. It will help to increase your client base and provide you with a network of supportive colleagues. For example, a senior move manager (who helps people downsize) might get referrals from social workers or an assisted living facility.

5) Charge enough for your services:  One of the classic mistakes newbie entrepreneurs make is pricing their services too low.  As a result they have to work twice as hard to make the same amount of money as their more seasoned competitors.

Of course, sometimes raising your rates can backfire by making you more desirable to clients who want to work with the best of the best.  I once had a client who provided SAT tutoring services and wanted to cut-back her hours.  I suggested she double her rates and take half the number of clients.  She called me six months later laughing that “it was the worst piece of advice she ever heard.”  Evidently, once she raised her rates, she found herself more in demand than ever before!