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Starting your freelance career with the arsenal of career and life skills you now have, puts you in a much better position to thrive. And, as a baby boomer, you might even be more ready to begin freelancing than you think.
In 2001, I was eager to leave my corporate job. After several decades of “fighting the good fight,” that kind of work had become monotonous and fatiguing.
In 2001, I was eager to leave my corporate job. After several decades of "fighting the good fight," that kind of work had become monotonous and fatiguing. You may have been there too...or maybe this is where you are now. An endless stream of meetings, discussions, phone messages, travel, and more. At the end of the day it takes its toll.
When I speak to baby boomers about the world of freelancing they are often surprised by the amount of jobs available for their specific skill set. In fact, most of them don't think they have much to offer in the area of online work because they don't have training in all the "technical stuff."
I've been helping people to kick-start their life as online freelancers for over 12 years, but I still find it incredibly gratifying when someone writes me an email, or approaches me at a conference to tell me how different their life is now that they have broken free from their 9-to-5 job.
When I started freelancing over 15 years ago it was tough to get going, but the landscape back then was very different. I remember printing up business cards, and going to chamber of commerce meetings in an attempt to find clients that would need my services.
A lot of Baby Boomers think that working over the internet means you have to be a technology wiz. Thankfully, this is no longer the case. There are literally hundreds of thousands of non-technical mini-jobs and work assignments posted on the internet every day.
One of the great things about my job is that I get to travel around the world while doing it. Along the way, I speak with many Baby Boomers looking to supplement their retirement with an income that can help them maintain a satisfying and enjoyable lifestyle, while giving them the freedom to travel.
For most of us Baby Boomers, our career was intense, long hours with lots of meetings, some bad bosses, and some tough economic times. So when you transition to a post-career income (whether it's to fund your retirement or just to earn some extra spending money), you want to avoid all those things you weren't so crazy about during your career.
Humans have been running around this planet for approximately 400,000 years. But Baby Boomers are the first generation of people who, as a group, will be living 20 to 30 years into their "retirement." And not just "living" but living healthier and more active lives thanks to medical science and the rapid pace of innovation in successful ageing.