INTERNET MARKETING FOR RETIREES

»»Internet Marketing for Retirees

A chasm of nothingness seems to fill the date beyond retirement for some of us who feel that we still have a lot to contribute to the corporate world, but don’t wish to or have the strength to hold down an 8 – 5 JOB (just over broke).

What are the options, we ask ourselves?

Be like all the other retirees we know of but haven’t personally been involved with?

Staying home and having late breakfast – maybe that isn’t quite accurate because I’ve heard that as you get older you sleep less – so late breakfasts are probably not on the cards.

What to do with the rest of the day? Straight after breakfast plan lunch – gosh I’ll be eating all day! Got to remember that the budget is now drastically cut so it will have to be low income earners recipes (pensioners delight). I do have a stash of them somewhere which I used when we were cash strapped. Oh yes, have to remember to check the pensioner’s shopping days – crucial to get discounts.

So maybe a nap in the afternoon and then a stroll around the garden and it will be supper time?

I suppose one could do this for a short period of time and then …………….?

My mind is too active, my brain needs continuous stimulation, I have ideas which give birth to more ideas. What am I to do with this information? Aha, the Internet!

As one seriously considers retirement, the long awaited rest after years of ‘working/slogging’ away at a daily job one comes to the realization that its not what its cracked up to be.

A whole new set of goals need to be set. A whole new lifestyle is waiting and if one is not careful it could become a long boring wind down to extinction. Yogh!

The Internet offers a heap of interesting and exciting opportunities to supplement your income and keep you from losing touch with the developments in the world, both corporate-wise and technologically speaking. However, you need to be selective and look beyond the sales ‘blurb’ or the ‘press-the-button-once-a-day-and-make-a-fortune’ sites.

It’s very easy to get caught up in the excitement of starting an online business only to find that it’s not that simple. It would be recommended that you sit down and make a list of goals, shot-term and long-term.

In summary decide what you want to achieve by having an online business. For instance, do you want to do it for fun, or to make money? Are you interested in growing your knowledge base about a certain topic? Are you interested in pursuing a new subject?

This will help to narrow down the opportunities on offer. If you don’t know what you want you could spend endless days just ‘surfing’ and never finding anything of substance. The saying goes if you don’t have an ‘end destination planned’ you’ll get there anyway. Then we can’t complain, because the place of ‘anywhere’ is filled with people who had no goals.
A very interesting observation I need to make – no where that I’m aware of does the Bible (Book-of-Instructions-before-leaving-earth : The LIFE manual) make mention of retirement. Is it possible that we weren’t meant to retire? We were meant to be fruitful until we leave this place? I believe that is it. Granted there are many people who are just not capable of carrying on after a certain age but then there’s us! Surely we can be put to much better use than running Old Ladies’ tea clubs and getting together once a week to complain about aches and pains.

Is it at all possible that we comply with societal dictates and are therefore so programmed to expect not to be able to work after a certain age?

Science is proving through modern technology what the Bible has been saying for a long time. “As a man Thinketh so is he” Proverbs 23:7

If we think we are old then we are right. If we think we are young then we are also right. Our thoughts will dictate what we are. Our thoughts will also be apparent in our behavior. Our thoughts will become speech and our speech will become actions and our actions will rule our behavior. That’s it! So simple! (Recommended read Dr Caroline Leaf – “Who switched off my brain?”)

It’s totally amazing how complex we make life and box all our ‘life phases’ into neat (or maybe not) files to act out at different times – or as ‘they’ predict we should.

I think of all the achievements people have made when they were well into what is classified as ‘old age’. Mother Theresa, although she never aspired to intellectual achievements she was at her ‘post’ until those around her convinced her that she needed to ‘retire’. To the end she was occupied with her ‘calling’.

I ask myself, is it possible that we don’t have a ‘calling’ – we just follow a job that will take care of the living expenses?

Another thought comes to mind …… people like Donald Trump – he has been known to say he doesn’t do it for the money (he probably has more than he can even count) its his passion for real estate and the drive to ‘make-a-deal’ (my words not his).

So we lack passion? Maybe? How do we kindle a passion when we’re going to retire. Well, I think that’s quite simple. Find out what your friends, colleagues and family complain about and see how to turn it into a business – solving the problem. Mmmmmm ………. I’m thinking some people just complain to complain so they can’t be taken seriously. But it’s a start.

I can think of dozens of little problems that irritate me so maybe those are the one’s I should address firstly.

Litter heads the list and with 2010 around the corner (18 months to go) the problem needs to be solved very quickly.

Okay so I could go around and pick up papers and sticks and, and, and …… and who would pay me? Nah!

Remember we’re starting at the bottom here so bear with me. Thinking this through and I’m really passionate about removing litter.

Gotcha!

Bet you can think of a thousand ideas that you’d like to pass on. So why don’t you? Maybe we could solve it together?