How to earn extra income -
by selling your skills

Do you need to discover how to earn extra income?

Perhaps you have just retired, or retirement is on the horizon?
Maybe you have been made redundant after years in the same job?
Has your job been outsourced to call centres overseas?

During your working life you have picked up many skills that can stand you in good stead now. After all, you have been there, done that. You have accumulated knowledge and techniques that could save younger people time and frustration.

Why not share this expertise, and start a home tutoring business, or create an informational website.

Some people, however, would rather pay someone to do things for them, rather than learning how to do it themselves. This opens up another opportunity for you.

Let's take a brief look at some examples

Book keeping services - Virtual Assistant - Writing - Sewing - Woodworking

Book-keeping
Do you have any bookkeeping experience? Perhaps not at accountancy level, but just straightforward wages and small business accounts.

If so, your book keeping services are so much in demand, you should be walking on air! This one of the great income earning skills and is something where there is a huge gulf between those who can, and those who won't.

Virtual Assistant
Do you have secretarial skills to offer? Could you become a virtual assistant and do the paperwork for small businesses that don't have a full time secretary?

Writing
If numbers are not "your thing", how about words?

Can you explain things in an easy to understand manner? There are many ways in which you can write for cash. Now, don't run off like a scared rabbit! I'm not talking the next best seller here (although that is an option, of course), but shorter pieces for magazines and newspapers, or even articles for the web.

Sewing and alterations
It may come as a bit of a surprise to discover that very few younger women can, or indeed want to, sew. Probably evidence of them growing up in a more affluent age than we did, and also one which has a far more 'throw-away' attitude.

That said, it presents yet another opportunity for older women to benefit from their skills and find a number of ideas for sewing jobs that they can do from home.

Woodworking and Toy Making
If you are handy with a hammer and nails, and have a full tool kit sitting at home, why not put it to use?

Simple skills like being able to build a rabbit hutch can help when you are thinking about how to earn extra income.

If you think of yourself as more of a craftsman why not create some wonderful handmade wooden toys? Traditional wooden toys are much in demand and will certainly last longer than the plastic items sold in the shops nowadays.

Another idea is to create planter boxes or even "old-fashioned" trugs for collecting home-grown vegetables from the garden. Fence panels are always in demand, if you don't mind tackling large jobs.

But what if you fancy something smaller? Much smaller? Have you ever considered making dolls house furniture? It isn't just children who like miniature houses, there are collectors who will pay good money for tiny replicas of everyday items.

If you are keen on crafts of any type, you might want to sell your crafts online at Etsy or eBay.