More and more people have lost their jobs and don’t know what to do. Here is a special blog to give a few ideas – tasks that can be done from your home.
You can grow, make, or produce things to sell at the local markets to get you started. You can organise events for other people.
What are your interests and hobbies? Can you turn one of these into a business?
Use your skills to set up your own business. Don’t sit and worry. Get started, do something!
Many large international businesses started out as small operations working from home or in their garage.
Some started a business by making a quality product from an old family recipe, such as peanut butter or almond icing.
My wife and I set up a publishing company from our home. I wrote books in New Zealand, my wife edited them, we had them designed in Australia, printed in Singapore and sold internationally on Amazon. com. (Eighty-six editions of our books have been published by 31 publishers in 18 countries and in 11 languages.)
Here is a list of some home-based activities for you to consider
* Set up as a consultant using your particular skills and experiences.
* Study and take the necessary examinations for qualifications to sell insurance or real estate. Study to become a financial adviser or a tax adviser.
* Improve your computer skills so you could build apps., computer games, websites or convert books into e-books for publishers.
* Bulk-buy products such as quality tea, coffee for blending and repackaging. Other frequently used products such as soap, dried herbs or sweets could be packed into novel reusable containers and sold at the local market for gifts.
* Buy or grow seasonal fruits and vegetables when they are cheap. Preserve them or process them into jams, pickles and chutneys.
* Make things such as fancy vinegar or mustards, cakes, sweets, chocolates, fancy bread, cheeses, ice creams, clothes, toys, garden furniture, leather goods, kites, walking sticks, wooden bowls.
* Make special foods for people with special dietary requirements such as gluten-free foods or foods for diabetics or vegans.
* Sell on behalf of others on commission. Sell subscriptions for publications.
* Buy old items and do them up for resale. There is always a demand for second-hand quality furniture, paintings, cars, motorbikes, children’s quality toys, such as rocking horses.
How about renovating an old house in a good location for sale.
* Attend auction sales and buy antiques for resale. Buy cheap, sell high.
* Grow high-value plants for the market, such as orchids, pot plants, bonsai trees, edible fungi or dried flowers. Dig up your lawn and plant parsley and herbs for shops.
* Paint things such as houses, pictures, flowerpots, china, silkscreen posters, banners, tee shirts or prints.
* Create an online store and target specific groups.
* Set up a door-to-door selling business and employ people on commission.
* Bulk buy sweets and sell them in small packets at events.
* Organise events – conferences, shows, fairs, concerts, plays, sports events, reunions or organise weddings or children’s birthday parties for busy people.
* Organise guided tours for visitors, historic tours, educational tours, tours of cemeteries or nature tours. You could even lead an international tour.
* Set up a bureau for speakers and hire out speakers for events. Become an agent for talented sportspeople, actors or writers.
* Breed animals such as goldfish, birds, dogs or cats for pets. You could breed small animals for hospitals universities and research stations.
If you have the land you could breed horses, ponies, alpacas, highland cattle, or donkeys.
* Collect specimens for universities and secondary schools for their zoology departments.
* Become an apiarist. Put hives on other people’s land and give them a share of the honey.
* Set up a security service for neighbours or a house-sitting service while they are away on holiday. Set up a “Swap your house for a holiday” business.
* Carry out house maintenance services for the elderly. Garden, mow lawns, prune trees, clear sections or cut hedges.
* Shop for people who don’t have the time or the skills.
* Set up a cleaning business to clean offices, schools. factories, hospitals, homes, houses for estate agents or window cleaning.
* Rent out pictures or pot plants for offices.
* Take orders and deliver office worker’s lunches.
* Teach skills at home such as music, singing speech. Teach English to immigrants or foreign students.
* Coach students for examinations.
* Get trained and set up a day-care centre for children.
* Open your home to overseas visitors or rent out a room for students.
Set up a bed and breakfast house for visitors.
* Subdivide your house into flats for rent.
* Start a dog washing, pet-minding or a dog-exercising service.
* If you own a reliable car, are a competent driver with a suitable temperament, take the necessary tests and become a driving instructor or become an Uber driver.
* Hire out your tools to people doing home maintenance repairs. There are all sorts of things that can be hired out e.g. camping equipment, canoes, suits, wedding dresses, pictures, pot plants, and paintings.
* If you are a photographer you could take photos at events such as at weddings or sports events.
* Learn to frame pictures.
* Can you use your computer skills for desk-top publishing, writing business letters or preparing resumes for people?
* If you are skilled in accountancy, you could keep the books for small businesses or do tax returns for people.
* Go fruit picking in the season. Milk cows. Look after a farm so the farmer can take a break.
* Become an author and publish books.
These are just a few suggestions. There are so many things an unemployed person could do but don’t sit home and feel sorry for yourself.
Remember, What’s in it for me? What’s in it for thee?
-Geoffrey Moss(mossassociates.co.nz)
“Learning new skills can be invigorating and interesting.”
Source: No Job! What Now? Published by Moss Associates Ltd, Cengage Learning Asia also available as an e-book from Amazon.com and VitalSource Bookshelf.
Available FREE for those in need. Visit mossassociates.co.nz to down-load this book.
Another Handful of Tips 