Forum Moderators: martinibuster
Any other oldies out there in retirement with little education struggling to suppliment the pension?
Have run a pretty successful company for 10 years. Had a knack for the web and then got completely addicted to web design and promotion about 4 years ago. I love the game of it all.
In a depression, this are the first items loosing strong in value.
Imagine the crude oil price doubles to $110.
In this situation is best to have a complete solar energy house with aircondition for warm and solar energy based heating system for cold areas.
I'm 62 and remember hauling around boxes of punch cards to the big computer on campus. I've been online ever since there was such a thing as online beyond just for scientists. (DH is the scientist in this family) Remember Compuserve when it just got started? It cost a fortune to look up just one little thing.
I started with a hobby site in 1996 that now brings in some nice AdSense and Amazon retirement spending money.
I think it's a bit of a myth that retired people are just sitting around. I guess there are some like that but for most of us we finally have time to do all those things we love doing.
In a depression, this are the first items loosing strong in value.
No, paper money and stocks are the first to lose their value.
Gold was valuable 5,000 years ago and it will be valuable for the next millenium, more so when the depression comes.
Heck, look at the price of gold rising over the last 2 years since the dollar has been tanking from record breaking twin deficits.
While looking for alternative energy resources is wise too, energy is not the only aspect of a depression to consider.
MikeNoLastName, - while that may be true, I'd rather not even have the concern. It's a gamble I don't even want to get involved in.
I first started making web sites a long time ago. When I first got on the Internet I immediately was drawn to making web sites because they were productive—I was doing something—I wasn't just noodling around the Internet, waiting to be entertained (not that I am knocking that—we all do that sometimes!).
Back then, I'd make crummy little Geocities sites just about whatever interested me, just for the fun of it. Never expected much to come of them. Then a few of my simple Geocities (about favorite interests and hobbies) started to get some kind of encouraging responses, and one day I figured, "Hey. I think I will make a whole domain site about these subjects. It's something to do." That seems to be my justification for a lot of things. It's something to do. Better than staring at the walls.
So I made these "big" sites, and added and added to them. Learned a lot along the way. It was a blast.
One day, about two years ago, I was talking to a family member about the Next Big Computer Thing I wanted to buy, and she said (paraphrasing), "This is too expensive. You are wasting too much money on this hobby. You need to stop doing this." I was hurt by what she said, but I had no intention of giving up on the sites. But I understood why she said what she did. I was spending a lot of money just to "have something to do." (But then again, isn't that what most hobbies are? Spending money to kill time with something you enjoy?)
Then about a week later, I got the shock of my life when an ad agency working for HUGE company (you see their ads on TV all the time) wanted to use a picture from one of my sites for an ad campaign. Lots of money (well, lots to me) was involved. All of a sudden my passion for making web sites changed from "money pit" to "helping pay the bills."
Ever since then, little by little, my sites have been earning me more and more. I decided to sign up with Amazon.com as an affiliate. (I was linking to a lot of their books anyway, so why not?) Then I signed up with Adsense. Now I can honestly call this one of my "jobs." I won't go so far to say that I think this is how I will earn all my income from now on, but it's gotten to the point where I can no longer say that it's just "something to do." I earn real money from this. There's a potential for more.
My personal formula is to write about what I am interested in, what I love, and keep doing it. If I am interested in one particular thing and a web search on the subject leaves me feeling unsatisfied, that's the next subject for me to write about. I've had some really amazing results from doing this, over and over again. It's the coolest thing. And the best thing of all is, nobody knows what your "qualifications" are, or how old (or young) you are—if you do your research, are passionate about your subject, you will get a good response from your efforts.
Gee. We get requests at least once a month, from major magazines, books (text, history) even marketing agencies, to use our photos and even after we said "sure" just for the price of a mention in a byline, THEN they still wanted US to jump through hoops providing them with their preferred formats, copies of negatives, etc. We had to get to the point of just saying, 'NO' because it wasn't worth our time.
Freedom: Sounds like you're already mostly on the right track to preparing for either scenario. I'm holding off on additional real estate until the major foreclosures start in a few years. ;) As far as other commodities, my grandfather always told me... 'you can eat a chicken, but you can't eat gold, but you don't have to constantly feed gold either.'
We get requests at least once a month, from major magazines, books (text, history) even marketing agencies, to use our photos and even after we said "sure" just for the price of a mention in a byline, THEN they still wanted US to jump through hoops providing them with their preferred formats ...My goodness. How obnoxious of them.
I don't get these sorts of requests as frequently as you do (I suspect my site is not as high-profile as yours), but when a person is not sounding like they are willing to talk payment, I usually ignore them. I mean, it's okay to let them use your picture for the byline (I've done that), but if they make it too much of a hassle and act like they're doing you a favor--you're right, it's not worth it.
Someone tell me of a job where I can do that!.. I'm spoiled! Never going back to being a working stiff, even if I go down I'll fight my way up.
I think there's a few people on here that'll be retiring early as a result of what they've learned here, be it through AdSense or other forms of monetising their sites.
Congrats on your cheque, I hope it's the first of many.
TJ
There are plenty of ups and downs and sometimes I only just make enough each month to meet the bills. But, I'm having a great time :-) This whole internet business has transformed my life.
I tried a affiliate site a few years ago...but never did any good with it. Hopefully, adsense will make the difference.
Over the years, I have written many DIY articles and am in the process of converting to webpages.
Site will go live in the next two months barring any unseen catastrophes.
Good luck to all...jimmymc
HarryM (68 from UK)
