Hi and welcome…

Some of us tried retirement and were spectacularly unsuccessful at it.

Some retired early but not by choice.

Some just aren’t ready to call it quits.

And some have come to the conclusion that they’ll never be able to afford to retire.

Whatever the reason, many baby boomers and seniors are considering entrepreneurship as an alternative to retirement.

Whether your forays into entrepreneurship lead to you to becoming the next Donald Trump or Martha Stewart, or whether you just want to sell a few of your handmade bracelets on Etsy for a bit of extra spending money, we all need a place to start.

So here it is. Your place to start… 100 (eventually) retirement business ideas.

They won’t all be the answer to your prayers. In fact, some of them might appear to be ridiculously lowly-paid, but they’re meant to be food for thought – pump primers, if you like. Choose the ones that appeal, tweak them, mash a couple of them together… find something that works for you. Release your inner entrepreneur!

Become A Coach

Do you enjoy helping other people? Do you often find yourself offering guidance, advice, encouragement and resources to friends, family and colleagues? If this sounds like you, becoming a coach may be something you’d like to consider. It’s a great way to earn a living by helping others.

What is a Coach?

A coach is a person who helps people achieve their goals. You can be a coach in almost any area in which you have some experience and expertise. For example, you might be a:

* Fitness coach
* Diet coach
* Nutrition coach
* Business coach
* Lifestyle coach
* Marketing coach
* Organization coach or a
* Writing coach

The list of potential coaching niches is endless. If you have specialized knowledge, skills or even just an interest and the will to learn enough that you always remain one step ahead of your clients, then you can become a coach in that field.

How Does a Coach Make Money?

Coaches make money in a variety of ways. The most basic (and probably the best known) is to charge an hourly rate for their coaching services. Another way is to sell coaching products – such as books and courses. You might also create a membership site and offer various levels of coaching within that – so, for example:

At Silver level, your members would receive a weekly group coaching call and access to all the resources in your membership area

At Gold level, they would receive a weekly, one-to-one coaching call, unlimited email access to you and access to all the resources in your membership area

At Diamond level, they would receive a weekly, one-to-one coaching call and a quarterly members’ retreat where they get access to you and other diamond members for two days in a luxury resort. They would also get unlimited email access to you and access to all the resources in your membership area.

You can set up your business to suit your niche, your audience and your business goals. You might also make money by promoting supporting products and earning an affiliate commission. Or you can create your own information products and sell them – some coaches do this by recording teleseminars and allowing the public access to them for a fee. Others have filmed their live events and sold the recordings. There are many ways to earn money as a coach.

Here are some steps you could take to get started as a coach:

Decide what your coaching niche is going to be – who are you going to coach and what do you have to offer?

Decide if you’re going to need to get some coach training or not (you can set up as a coach without any formal training or certification, however, training will make you feel more confident about offering your services as a coach and help you develop any existing ‘raw talent’ that you already have in this area.)

When you’ve decided on your business model and how much you’ll charge, you’ll need a website. This will help you market your business. It may also be one of your primary communication tools. Here you may sell products, conduct sessions in your chat room and even collect payment for services. As soon as you can, put some testimonials on there from people who can speak about what they’ve achieved as a result of being coached by you and the difference it made to them

Tell family, friends, neighbors and your ex-colleagues about your coaching service and ask them to spread the word on your behalf

Network, network, network – at your local Chamber of Commerce and business referral organization. Keep up with your professional/industry contacts. Tell people what you’re doing and ask for referrals

Start advertising on social networks and forums, and get online friends and contacts to spread the word about your services.

How much could I make out of offering coaching?

I couldn’t begin to advise you on this one! Rates vary enormously with some of the big-name coaches charging (and getting) thousands of dollars per hour! What you charge as a new coach will depend on your niche, your expertise, the training you’ve had, your confidence about charging for your coaching services… I would suggest looking at what other coaches in your chosen niche are charging and taking it from there.

Open your own cinema

Check out the world’s smallest, solar-powered cinema…

Start a Cleaning Service

Do you like cleaning? If the answer to that question is ‘Yes’, you’re in the minority of people who do. However, no matter how much they dislike cleaning, most people do like to have a clean environment and because of this, you can really clean up! (Sorry…)

And it’s not only homes that need cleaning. Offices, shops and apartment buildings do too. You could even choose a particular niche for your cleaning company, such as ‘green’ cleaning, pool cleaning - even crime-scene clean up – if you’ve got a strong stomach!

If you’re going to do all the cleaning yourself, you’ll probably choose to stick to house cleaning. If you’re setting your sights a little higher and are thinking of employing staff to help, or do the work for you, you might decide to go after commercial cleaning contracts. Bear in mind, however, that, with staff, comes extra paperwork and responsibilities.

Here are some steps you could take to start a house cleaning service:

Decide upon the list of services you’ll offer and how much you’re going to charge.

Have postcards or flyers printed up and send/deliver them to local homes

Put cards on local noticeboards

Take out a classified ad in your local paper

Tell family, friends and neighbors about your service and ask them to spread the word on your behalf

You might want to consider setting yourself up with a website to act as your ‘brochure’ – giving details of your services and any photos you have of finished jobs. As soon as you can, put some testimonials on there from people who can speak about the quality of your work

How much could I make out of running a cleaning service?

For house cleaning jobs, you’ll probably charge by the hour or by the job. Checking competitors’ websites or phoning local cleaning services to determine their rates, will let you know the going rate for your area.

Here are some steps you could take to start a commercial cleaning service:

Commercial cleaning contracts will usually be awarded after a tendering process – which is far too complicated for the scope of this website. I suggest that you start by doing an Internet search on ‘How to tender for a cleaning contract’ and take it from there.

Start a Vending Machine Business

According to forbes.com, operating a vending machine route is one of the easiest businesses to start. In fact, you can begin by buying just one machine and the stock to fill it, and then finding a store or business owner who will let you place your machine on their premises in return for commission on the sales.

You’ll need to have a business licence or a seller’s permit in order to sell through vending machines – consult with your local licensing department to find out the specific rules and regulations pertaining to bulk vending in your state.

The start-up costs for vending machine businesses vary according to the type of machines that you buy. For the most part, people usually start off with one or two smaller machines, such as candy or gumball vending machines. These are the least expensive but they can generate a lot of sales. You need to look at the cost of the machine and the cost of the candy, as well as where you plan to place the machines, to try to estimate the amount of sales you might realize.

You are, of course, responsible for making sure that the machines remain filled and working properly however, it shouldn’t take you long to do this and if you have all your machines in the same location, you only have to make one stop to collect the money and restock them.

When you have recouped the cost of your initial outlay and the money you make from your vending machine sales starts to become all profit, you can begin to think of expanding by buying more machines and increasing your sales by investing in different types of machines and finding different locations to place them in. You can still use the same day of the week for the servicing and, hopefully, you won’t have to give up too much of your time.

Here are some steps you could take to start a vending machine business straight from the vending machines supplier, gumballs.com website:

Find a reputable supplier of commercial quality vending machines (like gumballs.com!).

Find locations in your area that you think would be good locations for vending machines, preferably locations with a lot of foot-traffic. The more people that come through the location, the better.

Approach the store/location owner, let them know you operate a vending machine business in the area, and propose to set up one of your vending machines in their store. Explain to them that, as part of your vending business service, you will completely service the vending machine and take full responsibility for it. Let them know that the vending machine takes up less than two square feet of floor space, does not need any electricity, and will provide their customers with a great service. Best of all, they will earn a percentage of the gross sales (anywhere from 15% to 33%- its up to you).

Set up your vending machine and start making money! Once you set up the first vending machine, find another location and start the entire process over again.

How much could I make out of a vending machines business?

The sales that you might realize from your vending machine business are hard to predict and will depend on the machines that you use and where you place them. The more machines you have, the more sales you’ll get. For the first few months after you get started, you’ll be paying back the money you invested in the vending machines you bought to get started.

Check out this excerpt from vending machine supplier, Gumballs.com:

Gumball and candy machines may be small, but they offer great profit margins. Here’s a basic breakdown:

Purchase one gumball machine with a stand and a case of 850 assorted one-inch gumballs for a total first-time investment of around $162.00 ($118.00 for a basic gumball vending machine with a stand and one case of Dubble Bubble 1” assorted gumballs, $44.00 shipping).
Assuming your gumball machine is equipped with a $0.25 coin mechanism, you will make $212.50 once all 850 gumballs are sold. Your initial profit is $50.50, or 31% for each gumball machine you own. If you equip your gumball machine with a $0.50 coin mechanism, you will make $425.00 once all the gumballs are sold, which increases your profit $263.00 or 162%.
As you continue, the profit margin will grow because now you only need product to fill the vending machines. If you purchase another case of 850 assorted one-inch gumballs (starting at $44.00 at Gumballs.com, including shipping) and place them in gumball machines with $0.25 coin mechanisms, your profit once all 850 gumballs are sold increases to $168.50, or almost 400% for each gumball machine you own!

Become a Gardener

For every person that loves gardening, you’ll find another that either hates the job, or just doesn’t have the time to do it themselves. I’m one of the ones who hates to do it. When I used to cut my lawns myself, it would take me at least 1.5 hours of pure misery – muttering and cursing under my breath about how much I hated doing it. Now, a gardener does the whole lot in 15 minutes every 2 weeks and it’s the best $15 I ever spend. (And, if you’re paying attention, that’s an hourly rate of $60 – not bad if gardening is something you’re passionate about!)

Now I’m aware that not every every garden maintenance task you carry out will be quite so quick and lucrative as this grass-cutting example, and you also need to bear in mind that, depending on where you live, gardening may not be a year-round business.

Many of your customers will just want basic maintenance tasks done – weeding, grass cutting, pruning, leaf-blowing, etc., on a weekly or twice-monthly basis, but another source of income could be clean-up jobs. These are one-time jobs cleaning up an overgrown garden or landscape. They’re likely to be hard work, but can be quite profitable.

Licensing requirements will vary from state to state and you may need to register your business and acquire training and/or various licenses before you start your business. Professional liability insurance is also a good idea.

You need to be able to show up on time (i.e., regularly), be pleasant, work in a clean and tidy manner and generally have good customer service skills.

You’ll need to have the physical condiition to be able to do the work, a truck or trailer to carry your equipment in and take debris away, and a lawn mower, trimmer/edger, rake, broom, and other small hand tools.

Here are some steps you could take to become a gardener:

Decide upon the list of services you’ll offer and how much you’re going to charge.

Have postcards or flyers printed up and send/deliver them to local homes and small businesses

Tell family, friends and neighbors about your service and ask them to spread the word on your behalf

You might want to consider setting yourself up with a website to act as your ‘brochure’ – giving details of your services and any photos you have of finished jobs. As soon as you can, put some testimonials on there from people who can speak about the quality of your work

Put cards on local noticeboards

How much could I make out of a gardening business?

This depends on how much local people are willing to pay to free up their time and how much competition you have from existing gardening services providers.

I would suggest researching existing local service providers to find out what they’re doing and how much they’re charging, and then see how you can expand and improve upon their level of service.

Become a handyman or woman

A ’handyperson’ generally does those jobs that a busy homeowner never seems to get time to do, but which are too small to call in a contractor for.

If you’re handy with tools, know what you’re doing and like this kind of work, why not set yourself up in business offering a local handyperson service? You might find yourself fixing a dripping faucet, jetwashing decking or a patio, cleaning out gutters or assembling a piece of flat pack furniture all in the course of a single day and, at the same time, providing yourself with an enjoyable and satisfying part-time or full-time business.

You’ll need a broad set of skills and the tools and equipment to be able to do the job you are saying that you can do – most of these you probably have already if you’ve enjoyed doing this kind of work around your own home. A small supply of things like screws and nails in a variety of sizes will also be useful if you’re to save yourself unnecessary trips to the hardware store. It’s also advantageous if you can show up on time, be pleasant, work in a clean and tidy manner and generally have good customer service skills.

If you can fulfil all the above criteria, you should soon start to get positive referrals from clients and your business is likely to grow without the need to spend too much time or money on advertising your services.

Licensing requirements will vary from state to state and you may need to register your business and acquire various licenses before you start your business. Professional liability insurance is also a good idea.

Here are some steps you could take to become a handyperson:

Decide upon the list of services you will offer and how much you’re going to charge.

Have postcards or flyers printed up and send/deliver them to local homes and small businesses

Tell family, friends and neighbors about your service and ask them to spread the word on your behalf

You might want to consider setting yourself up with a website to act as your ‘brochure’ – giving details of your services and any photos you have of finished jobs. As soon as you can, put some testimonials on there from people who can speak about the quality of your work

Put cards on local noticeboards

How much could I make out of a handyperson service?

A general rule of thumb for charging is two-thirds of the going rate for electricians and plumbers. I would suggest finding out what local electricians and plumbers are charging and base your own charges on that.

Make Gift Baskets

Question: What do you give the person who has everything and for whom no single gift seems to hit the mark?

Answer: A gift basket containing multiple treats and tailor-made to fit their unique personal likes and tastes.

And who makes such baskets? Well, YOU, of course! And you could really let your creativity run free with this one…

Baskets for wine lovers, for chocaholics, for children, baskets with holiday themes, baskets for Mother’s Day or Father’s Day, baskets for hospital patients…

You could specialize in one-off, highly distinctive baskets using unusual containers to fit the theme you’re working with (or have these as your top-of-the-range product alongside your more standard offerings).

You could supply gift baskets for companies to give to their customers, their referral sources, or even to their retiring employees! You could supply baskets to real estate agents to give as a ‘welcome basket’ to new home owners. You could supply baskets to wedding planners, hotels, car dealerships - need I go on?

You’ll need to have creativity, time management. organizational and business skills for this one and, no doubt, some selling skills will be useful too.

Here are some steps you could take to become a maker and supplier of gift baskets:

Check out: The Gift Basket Design Book, 2nd: Everything You Need to Know to Create Beautiful, Professional-Looking Gift Baskets for All Occasions for inspiration

Decide what type of baskets you’re going to offer

Source your basket ingredients

Decide what your charges are going to be

Make up some baskets and photograph them

Get a great-looking website and put your photos on there, together with sample contents lists for your baskets

Have illustrated postcards/flyers made and take them door to door

Try cold-calling local businesses

Leave samples of your baskets where you think they’ll do the most good

Approach related businesses such as florists, makers of handmade chocolates, party planners and gift store owners about the possibility of joint ventures

Exhibit at local craft shows

How much could I make out of making and selling gift baskets?

The cost of a gift basket ranges from around $30 to $300 depending on its uniqueness and the quality of the ingredients. A general rule of thumb is to double the cost of everything you put into the basket and add on 20% for your time and labour (and, of course, don’t forget the cost of the little things like wrapping paper, bows, cellophane, etc and the basket itself).

Start an Errand Service

Why do people use an errand service? Because they don’t have time to do things themselves. What do retired people often have plenty of? Time. Starting an errand service in your retirement could be a match made in heaven!

The range of services you offer is only limited by your imagination here, but, for starters, think of the obvious: picking up drycleaning, picking up kids from school, taking a pet to the vet, plant-watering for vacationers, waiting in for packages to arrive, giving a ride to the airport, etc.

A friend of mine is a ‘surrogate daughter’ and stands in for the real daughter of an old lady who lives locally. She visits the old lady at lunch time 3 days a week, prepares a simple lunch for the two of them and chats to the lady as they eat lunch together. The old lady is delighted to have the company and an opportunity for intelligent conversation and her daughter is thrilled to have my friend stand in for her.

The ‘higher end’ version of an errand service is the ‘personal assistant’ or ‘concierge’.

You could consider offering an errand service to local businesses too – delivering filled prescriptions for your local pharmacy, offering a ‘residents’ shopping service’ to your local nursing home – again, the range of services you could offer is only limited by your imagination.

Here are some steps you could take to start up an errand service:

Decide upon the list of services you will offer – this doesn’t need to be set in stone – you can add to it as you begin to find your feet. Decide upon your hours of operation, the amount of advance notice you need to be able to perform a task and how much you’re going to charge.

Set yourself up with a website, giving details of your services and, as soon as you can, put some testimonials on there from people who can speak about the quality of your work

Have postcards or flyers printed up and send/deliver them to local homes and small businesses or contact them directly by phone or in person

Network at events run by your local Chamber of Commerce, business referral organization or small business association (get some business cards made up first)

How much could I make out of running an errand service?

This depends on how much people are willing to pay to free up their time and how good you are at the service you’re offering. I would suggest researching existing local errand services to find out what they’re doing and what they’re charging, and then see how you can expand and improve upon their service. Average rates appear to be between $25 and $40 per hour.

Some errand services charge for a one-hour minimum with 15-minute increments thereafter. Some charge for mileage, some don’t. Some will put together ‘packages’ of hours – so, for example, a client could buy a 5 or 10 hour package and use those hours as needed and you would, probably, decide/agree to give preference to those pre-paid clients when scheduling bookings.

Become an Executive for Hire

If you’re a retired or retiring executive of any description, or you’ve held a leadership role and have significant prior experience in any field, you could consider hiring yourself out as a ‘short-term’, ‘contract’ or ‘interim’ executive.

Although many people would immediately think that I’m talking about a consultant’s position here, the difference is that a consultant will usually come in, tell companies what to do and then leave them to it, whilst an Interim Executive will stick around and see the job through.

Interim Executives are often hired to bring creativity, innovation, expertise or experience into a company, to train senior staff members in a particular field, to get stalled projects off the ground or troubleshoot a particular problem.

Hiring an Interim Executive makes it possible for companies to get someone with the high-quality skills, knowledge and experience they need, and keep their costs down at the same time because of the temporary nature of the appointment. They will, however, be looking for someone who has the ability to be able to quickly understand and ‘get up to speed with’ their issues and to blend into the culture and environment of their organization.

Contracts range from 6 months to 3 years on a part-time or full-time basis.

Here are some steps you could take to become an Interim Executive:

Get yourself a website describing your talents and services and offering testimonials about the quality of your work. You can be specific about the length of the assignments you are willing to consider.

Network, network, network – at your local Chamber of Commerce and business referral organization. Keep up with your professional/industry contacts. Tell people what you’re doing and ask for referrals.

An Internet search for ‘Internet Executive Positions’ should reveal a whole host of websites offering interim jobs which will give you ideas about what’s available and what you can expect to receive in return for your services.

How much could I make out of being an Interim Executive?

I couldn’t begin to advise you on this one! It depends on what the hiring company can afford and how much you’re prepared to work for. Many companies seem to offer day rates for this kind of work and a rate of $800+ per day isn’t uncommon. You could also charge on a ‘per project’ basis.

Become a Bookkeeper

No matter what happens to the economy, it seems to me that small business owners will always need someone to help maintain their financial records.

Although accounting software such as Quickbooks and Quicken has allowed many small firms to do their own books, this type of software can bring its own problems and there’s a whole business right there in troubleshooting those problems. And of course, accounting software (combined with the Internet) makes the job of a freelance, home-based bookkeeper a whole lot easier.

So, if figures are your thing and you have the experience (or you’re willing to do the training), and the ability to be accurate and thorough in your work, setting yourself up as a home-based bookkeeper could keep you in work well into your retirement years.

Here are some steps you could take to become a bookkeeper:

First, decide on the scope of your services – you could offer a full bookkeeping service or you could pick and choose the bits you particularly enjoy, such as payroll, tax preparation or forensic bookkeeping – detecting and correcting problems. You could even be a bookkeeper who specialises in setting up bookkeeping software for small business owners and teaching them how to use it properly from the outset.

Set yourself up with a website, giving details of your services and, as soon as you can, put some testimonials on there from people who can speak about the quality of your work

Have postcards or flyers printed up and send/deliver them to local small businesses or contact them directly by phone or in person

Network at events run by your local Chamber of Commerce, business referral organization or small business association (get some business cards made up first)

How much could I make out of Bookkeeping?

Rates for online bookkeeprs on the freelancing sites range from $1 – $50 per hour but of course, you will be competing with people from India and the Philippines. Instead, do a local Internet search for online bookkeepers to find out what your competitors are offering and then decide whether you want to undercut their prices or offer a better service in order to attract clients.

100 Retirement Business Ideas