We want
to make money without leaving home during the coronavirus pandemic? Or do you
want to figure out ways to make money online so that you can fund your travels
when coronavirus subsides? International
Living—a website dedicated to helping people live and travel
aboard—has just issued an insightful new report on 50 ways to
make money in retirement. The report is aimed at retirees who want
to fund their lives overseas, but here’s the
secret gem: Hidden between the advice on opening a gallery, becoming a
tour guide or joining the craft beer revolution, you’ll find smart advice that
anyone can use to make money online. “No matter
your skill set, no matter what you do now or did in the past, there is an
option that will align with your own skills and passions,” the InternationalLiving.com editors explain.
According to Jennifer Stevens, executive editor at International Living, the
list is vast, but it isn’t comprehensive. “We created it to give people a sense
for the scope of opportunity out there,” says Stevens. “We’ve written lots
about the different ways expats abroad fund their lives. Sometimes it’s with
online work—like writing or drop-shipping. Sometimes it’s in-person services
they provide, from running a consignment store to wedding planning. Certainly,
the online opportunities provide great flexibility and portability. But it’s
worth pointing out that business owners in many places tell us that it’s much
easier to start a business abroad because it’s often less expensive and less
bureaucratic than it is at home.”
Though it might seem like an unusual time to start a new
career, Jeff Opdyke—the Prague-based editor of The Savvy Retiree and contributor to International Living—says that “it’s up to
us to learn how to take back control of our own lives, of our lifestyles and
our personal happiness.”
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Opdyke also points out that for all the damage coronavirus
has wrought and all the damage still to come, it might have some positive
outcomes when it comes to the work world. “What
this crisis is demonstrating is the capacity for so many workers to untether
themselves from cubicles and work from home—or wherever,” he says. “In the
cold, corporate calculus of a post-corona world, I think we’re going to see an
increasing number of visionary companies realize that there are vast cost
savings to be had in letting workers work from wherever. There’s no need to pay
the costs of running a cubicle farm when workers already have places they can
work—their home, a coffee shop, wherever. And I think we will see increased
productivity from this because workers will be motivated.”
So the lesson here is that while you might be working from
home now, this might eventually translate into living and working abroad—and
living the dream. Opdyke’s advice? “Be as productive as you
possibly can. Be over-productive. Step up your game so that when all of this
over, you have some potential leverage to talk to your bosses about trying a
work-at-home life. That’s assuming, of course, you like your work-at-home life.
Not everyone will. But if you feel the freedom those of us working remotely
feel, then now, amid this crisis, is a great opportunity for you to shine so
that bosses take note.”