Extra Income Ideas

Extra income ideas from experience? Yes, what you have done and seen in life is a saleable commodity. After all, you didn't get where you are today without learning a thing or two. What's more interesting though is that your experiences - certainly some of them - are unique to you.

In this first extra income ideas I am going to suggest something right off the wall - become a Public Speaker !

Still with me and wondering if I have been at the red wine too early in the day? Not at all, this is a serious and profitable proposal which gains a momentum all of its own. The simple fact is that every club's social secretary - from the local branch of the Women's institute to the Banker's Guild - has difficulty finding speakers for their monthly meetings. They are desperate for anything new, and they have the funds to pay. Income from experience right?

I don't want to lose you at this point. I can already hear the "I couldn't do that" or "Nothing in my life has been that interesting". Nonsense! It is a simple fact of life that people are fascinated by the public and private lives of other people. Things have happened in your life that were funny, sad, ridiculous or whatever; but importantly, they are interesting to others.

Let me give a couple of examples. Say you have lived in the same village for most of your life. Nothing 'interesting' has ever happen right? Wrong! In your lifetime there will have been huge changes in the life of the village. Remember the Lord & Lady of the Manor? The way agriculture has changed from the relaxed (but labour intensive) horse ploughing to tractors like space ships. Hedging & ditching which kept farm labourers working for weeks on end and now done in a day by one man and his machine. Remember those old red 'phone boxes and 'Press Button B to get your money back'?

Perhaps you remember the miners going off at crack of dawn, already wearing their helmets and all of them carrying a lunch box?

Even in my own village - and I have only lived here for 35 years - I could start a lecture with (true story) "I was in the bathroom shaving and through the window I saw this chap walking past with a toilet seat around his neck and a Baby Blake sea toilet clutched to his chest. That was the first I knew about a sailing schooner having gone on the rocks just off the beach. The wreckers were already stripping her bare".

Another example. I ran a transatlanic charter holiday back from the Caribbean one Spring. The guests were a mixed bunch, a Master Chef, a high powered lady in Public Relations, a Barrister. However; the guy with the best stories was a long distance lorry driver who kept us enthralled with his tales about the job, both technical - the importance of having two top quality tarpaulin sheets so he could profitably pick up and double wrap a load of sugar for his otherwise empty return runs. Or the totally mundane - to him - recommendations for the best 'Greasy Spoon' cafes across the country. That guy could have made a very useful income from experience of his 'ordinary' job which was of course, far from ordinary to the other people in the party.

Now that guy was just as interested in the tales from the High Court and the business world which the other guests told, the point is that no matter what your background, people are likely to be interested in what you have to say.

So, how do we go about this lecture business and does it pay? Simple. And yes it does............. Start off with a blank sheet of paper. Write down half a dozen headings - just like the start of a story. Flesh them out with interesting detail. Add a joke or two if they fit into the context - and only if you can tell a joke, not everyone can so best left out if you don't usually get people laughing when you tell one - . Read it out loud to yourself, and time how long it takes. Ideally, you are aiming for about 20 minutes.

Too short? try extending 'the good bits'. Perhaps throw in a couple of Getting Old famous quotations. Do you have any photographs or film or video on your chosen subject? Another example of extra income ideas because you are just using those things which you have collected through life and they will help to keep the audience's attention and provide opportunities for questions. Once you are happy with your draft, read and run through it to a friend and ask for an honest opinion. Try recording it and listening to it yourself. Would you enjoy it if you were in the audience?

Build in a period at the end of the lecture for audience questions. Here's a little secret - if you can get the audience asking questions you have won the day! What happens is that people look at things differently so every question will trigger a different response from someone else. Everyone will give you the credit for being interesting, the word will get passed around and you will get more invitations from other organisations. It's self generating income.....

While you are doing this preparation, contact a few club secretaries and ask if they need speakers for their upcoming series of meetings. Tell them what you are able to talk about - it may be worth preparing a couple of different lectures, but generally you can use the same one many times over. The small clubs and organisations generally need speakers through the winter months but once the word gets about that you are available, this will extend to different types of functions, right through the year.

If all this sounds a bit frightening, don't let it. Your audience is not going to be hostile to you, quite the reverse because they want to be informed, entertained or just amused. Work with them, encourage them to ask questions (but only at the end of the lecture) and they will go away happy.

And expect to have fun yourself. I was once on a panel of speakers when more dinner guests turned up than the caterers had planned for. They delayed serving the food until more dishes were prepared. Of course, the guests started on the wine - on empty stomachs - and by the time we panelists were called on to do our stuff the whole audience was - shall we say - receptive to a joke or two. Huge fun!

On another occasion, I agreed to address a group of single-handed (Solo) yachtsmen - a fairly exclusive club . When I got to the meeting there were over 500 'Singles'. Nothing at all to do with sailing.............. I was lucky because, once again, they were in the mood for fun and the evening turned out to be a huge success. Both times I was earning from experience - the funny thing is that I was also adding to it.

Of course, at the end, the big question - Does it Pay? Expect to get £30.00 to £50-00 for a small club function, rising to £1,000 or more from a professional organisation. If your life's experience includes perhaps having been Prime Minister or President, then the fee could be a much as £500,000.

"Now if that isn't a joke to end on, I don't know what is..............extra income ideas?, they are out there just waiting to be discovered!"