[411guy]

On another thread, I pointed out that retirement in Mexico is quite inviting. To be a fulltime resident there, your visa requires that you do not work locally and that you can support yourself while living there.

So I asked for ideas on how one can work on-line to supplement retirement income. Here are a couple of ideas.....

I have several semi-retired friends who bring in income by doing translation work. In Mexico there is probably some demand for translating Spanish publications to English (you wouldn't want to try translating English to Spanish unless you're a native Spanish speaker). You obviously need a good working knowledge of Spanish to be able to do translations, but you don't have to be totally fluent -- a good dictionary and some good native Spanish speaking friends to verify your translations with or ask questions could help you get started.

Of course another option for online work to bring in extra income is blogging. If you're a good writer and can come up with useful material, you can make decent income as a blogger -- J.D. Roth of Get Rich Slowly is a fulltime blogger and is making a lot more money than he did as a manager of his family business (a box manufacturing company); I think he said at one point his blog was bringing in $60K/year, all from people clicking on those little Google ads, which amazes me because I've never clicked on one of those in my life. Obviously a lot of people do.

Any others?

 

[PTDBD]

Money from Blogging

An interesting topic. Last week I heard of a twitterer with a topic of "**** my Father says" who is so popular that a TV show may come from it.

Do you have any sources for how one gets started with this. I'm interested in statistics as to what Blogs have the largest income and how long they have been active. If not, maybe it would be a good topic for a How-To book.

Wouldn't Blogging reach a saturation point soon with everybody trying to do it and competing for attention?

 

[brad]

Wouldn't Blogging reach a saturation point soon with everybody trying to do it and competing for attention?

The key is that you have to have something unique to offer: either your writing style or the information you provide, or the overall concept. You need something that will set you apart from the crowd.

It's getting harder to find a unique niche now that so many people are blogging for money, but there's always room for something better than what's out there. People will flock to the best resource in any category; it doesn't matter if there are 50,000 other bloggers writing about the same topic as you: if your blog is the best one, you'll get the most traffic.

To be the best requires you to do a lot of work, so I wouldn't view blogging as easy money. Bloggers who earn $60K/year are often working 60-70 hours a week at it. But if you set your sights lower you can do something on a smaller scale that will bring in a few bucks to supplement your retirement income.

 

[411guy]

Another concept I'm intrigued with is raising money (for a small fee) for non-profit organizations using social media. As I am retiring in Mexico, I was thinking of brokering on the side (npo's in Mexico raising on-line donations from Canuck donors using Facebook, MySpace, etc.).

Anybody with experience in this?

 

[Dr_V]

- Write a really useful iPhone or Blackberry application; you may get lucky.

- Write a Facebook app (preferrably, some type of game). Make money from the ads.

 

[brad]

Another concept I'm intrigued with is raising money (for a small fee) for non-profit organizations using social media. As I am retiring in Mexico, I was thinking of brokering on the side (npo's in Mexico raising on-line donations from Canuck donors using Facebook, MySpace, etc.).

Anybody with experience in this?

I kind of doubt that would fly because so many nonprofits have members and fans who are willing to raise money for free. I worked for nonprofits for the first 10 years or so of my working life, and we always had volunteers who were happy to help us raise money, we never paid anyone. But maybe some of the really big nonprofits do that sort of thing?