For many of us we start a small business in order to provide ourselves with a family flexible working environment and to contribute to our family finances. For me my main priority is being able to drop everything when I need to (like the summer holidays) just be a mum. I most definitely am not thinking about life after 50, but at the same time in 12 years time I don’t want to me working like I am now.
What provisions, if any, have you made as a self-employed person for your future/retirement/old age? Do you worry abut the future? Have you made a plan? Or are you playing it by ear? Although I pay my NI contributions, I’ve not really thought about putting money away but what I do know is Daddy Moo and I are on the same wavelength and planning towards the same future.
More of this.
Less of this.
By the time we hit 50, the children will be 23, 22 and 19 years old ie. Uni students or earning a crust themselves and therefore less reliant on us parents. The goal is that Daddy Moo and I will live half the year on a Greek Island and then spend the winter back in the UK. I plan to be like an old lady digital nomad, but one that doesn’t travel the world just lives in 2 places, haha!
Multiple Income Streams :
The key to being a digital nomad seems to be in multiple income streams something I’ve been chatting with my networking chums a lot lately.
- Saleable Skills Set : You need to have something to sell online, whether that be copyrighting, graphic design or social media management. Or maybe you are able to write e-courses in your chosen genre.
- Affiliate marketing : This is one of my main goals for the next 12 months. Increase my passive income through affiliate marketing. It’s time to admit joining Awin and adding banners to my blog posts isn’t enough. I recently read “She Means Business” by Carrie Green and she talks about how in the early days when she wanted to do something she became an expert through google and you tube. It made me remember those early Charlie Moo’s days when I’d stay up late working out html, not only did I feel nostalgic for the chaos and smells of sick (only kidding) but I missed myself that one who moved mountains to make things happen.
- Sponsored Content : Love it or hate it sponsored content is one the most common ways to earn money using your blog. Brands, PR’s and SEO companies will approach you to write content and link back to their client/business in someway. Payment varies greatly and there a a few do’s and don’ts but generally I work to the rule of providing useful content to my audience there are certain things I won’t promote and I have to feel comfortable with what is going on my blog.
- Blogger Outreach : As a blogger there are lots and lots of outreach programmes out there matching brands and bloggers. It’s worth signing up to as many as you can as payment will vary from company to company as will how often you are offered work etc ..
I think there is also an air of working smarter and in that working time working hard. I sit in my office from 9am-2:30pm and easily get distracted by the goings on around me …. however I’m pretty sure if I was given 2 hours to work before heading off paddle boarding then I’d work my derrière off. Which is really the attitude I should have now towards working. Have you got any tips for working smarter or passive income in particular affiliate marketing? I’d love to hear.
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I, sadly, have already reached life after 50 🙁
Like you, I have discovered that multiple income streams works best for me. I combine language tutoring with freelance marketing and running my direct selling greeting card company. My husband has just started to consider going part-time over the next couple of years before he takes early retirement. My plan is to focus on fewer but bigger events for my card business and increase my online activities (both selling and freelancing) so that I can work on my laptop wherever the wind blows us!
A second home in France is under serious consideration too – Angel’s ‘Escape To The Chateau’ series can be blamed for that!
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I love Escape to the Chateau!
Good luck trying to increase your passive income I recommend looking at affiliate marketing.
All very good points Joanne but my only comment (from personal experience) is that if you have children with any sort of sense of adventure and desire to make something of themselves (I feel absolutely sure yours will come into this category) they may well be further from being ‘off your hands’ (or ‘off the payroll’ as my husband puts it) than you think at those ages. I have 3 children ages 27, 25 and 22 and we are kind of ‘2 down, 1 to go’ as far as them being on a path they are reasonably confident about, able to support themselves and not seek quite so much advice and support. The conversations and interventions for the last few years have obviously not been daily but still, when they arise, intense and very important and arising at unexpected times. Sometimes phone conversations are just not enough and face-to-face visits for tlc purposes can be required unexpectedly (uni wobbles, both major and minor, mental and other health issues, career decisions, affairs of the heart etc etc). My husband and I have a vague idea of renting out the house and traveling for 6 months but since #3 is now only heading into final year of uni (they’ve all had time out for travel and work experiences) and is quite a way from choosing a career path I feel the time is not yet right to virtually disappear for 6 months. Maybe a couple more years are needed.
The only other point I would make is that it pays huge dividends (for the rest of their lives) if you can strongly promote the mutual support that siblings can give each other if, despite personality differences, they have enough respect for each other to want to help each other. Often sound advice can be best delivered by a sibling than a parent and if you plan to be uncontactable or just ‘away’ a lot more then it’s a great feeling to have that back-up network in place.
That’s my two pence worth! Sorry to be long-winded!