This post was contributed to Leisure Freak by Linda Chase, creator of Able Hire. 

When you retire, you may first think about lazy afternoons on the porch or months-long trips to the beach. But, if your income and savings can’t keep up with your aspirations, you may find yourself one of the millions of retirees ready to go back to work after your “official” end date.

Unfortunately, those of us in the 55+ crowd face obstacles, from outdated work skills to being overqualified for the things we’d like to do in our encore careers. If you’re looking to get around these challenges, starting your own business may be the way to go. Today on the Leisure Freak blog, we share a few tips on how to launch a post-retirement business from the comfort of home. 

Image Source via Pexels

Start With a Plan

As with any professional endeavor, it helps to start with a plan. This should include the type of business you want to start and a draft of actionable steps that help you make it happen. Another important thing to get out of the way now is forming your LLC. Even if you’re not tech-savvy, you can use an online formation service to create your legal entity for far less than you’d pay an attorney. Keep in mind that while the limited liability and tax perks you’ll receive are at the federal level, you’ll need to confirm LLC formation laws in your home state.

Calculate Your Needs

Retirement often means a fixed income. Sadly, inflation has taken over, and a fixed income is the worst thing you can have as prices rise. It makes it exponentially difficult to plan your daily finances, which is likely what led you here in the first place. But, you do have to look ahead and try to calculate how much money you need each month. Huntington Bank shares tips on how to create a personal budget. Once you know your income gap, you can decide how much you’ll work.

Market Yourself

It doesn’t matter what industry you are in, you have to market your business. There are many ways to do this, including social media and networking. While these might be intimidating, many old-fashion marketing strategies, like flyers and business cards, still work well today. Even if you don’t have graphic design skills, you can use Word or a similar processing program to create simple files, which you can then convert to a PDF for your printer. You can then convert a PDF to Word to make changes as your service offerings grow. There are plenty of online tutorials that show you how to create designs in Word, which is much easier to use when you need to edit since PDFs have limited editing capabilities.

Best Home-Businesses For Retirees

While no one can tell you what you should do, there are a few businesses that make sense for retirees. These include:

• Blogging. Blogging is a great way to share your knowledge and expertise with the world, and you can choose an affiliate site to generate passive income.
• Travel agent. If you’ve already spent much of your life traveling (or if you just want to travel) launching a travel agency is an excellent choice. In this capacity, you’ll get to help other people make decisions about family vacations and work destinations. As an added benefit, you may enjoy discounted destinations and you can write off your own travel on your taxes.

Why Work From Home?

There are many reasons that you should consider starting a business from home during your retirement. First, you’ll save money as you won’t have to pay a monthly lease for office space. Further, if you have any type of mobility issue, you won’t have to worry about getting back and forth to a brick-and-mortar location each day. Perhaps most importantly, having a home-based business gives you more freedom and flexibility to enjoy your retirement.

Entrepreneurship comes with a host of benefits for retirees, especially for those of us on a fixed income as inflation continues to rise. Today’s tips can help you get started, and you don’t even have to leave your home to add entrepreneurship to your list of accomplishments.

Much thanks to Linda Chase for contributing this informative article. It comes at a time when many people are rethinking retirement. Entrepreneurship in retirement is a way to meet many goals. The benefits extend to more than only those needing to earn extra income. As I always preach, retirement is the absence of needing to work, not the absence of work. 

Author Bio: 

Linda Chase created Able Hire to help people with disabilities build rewarding, successful careers. She hopes Able Hire will be a resource for people with disabilities seeking jobs and for hiring managers seeking a better understanding of what people with disabilities have to offer.