Make your skill or experience pay it's way

Don't keep your experiences to yourself, others may pay to hear or read them!

I've said in other articles on the website that through downshifting you can find skills you never knew you had and the whole experience of self-reliance adds up to quite a story to tell - so why not tell others about it.

There are various ways you can do this, through a website, through writing articles for magazines or other websites, by talking at Meetings or by teaching it from home or someone elses.
Obviously teaching and talking about are two separate things and if you are teaching something 'formally' you need to make sure you're allowed to and of course (with the others as well) need to be sure about earnings / tax implications.

We've already looked at Website building in a sub-section to Earning Extra Money, so...

Writing Articles

I'm lucky in so far as the website has for some reason become quite popular, so I occasionally get asked to write an article for a magaize. The fee's for writing an article can vary immensely, you can look at between £50 and £100 depending on the subject and the Media you're dealing with.

I can't say how helpful having even a Blog about your experiences is. It is something to link to and give all your details in etc.

Giving Talks about your Skills and experiences

There are many Clubs and Associations who have regular meetings and always on the look out for Speakers; Womens Institutes, Senior Scouts, Social Clubs, Old Peoples Homes and more.

A fine example of this is a chap I know who is a Builder and specializes in site clearance. Through his excavation work he has unearthed some really interesting finds. This led him on to studying and researching Roman and other ancient buildings and there's not enough he doesn't know now. Although he does it for free, he gives talks on this at various venues. It's just Slides of his finds and hows and where's etc. Slightly similar to a Time Team experience.

Say you had a really interesting walking holiday, took loads of photographs or camcoder video, you can create a presentation on that. People love the Travel Doc. experience.

The crunch is of course, how much can you get paid for it. The answer in many cases is nothing, maybe just the Bus Fare Home! But some may give you a decent rate and the main thing is that you're seen and heard of. There's word of mouth and if it's a talk about your work or hobby, this could lead to getting jobs.

Passing on your Skills

As I said, you have to be aware of any qualifications to do this, but say you have had ten years of keeping chickens, you've certainly built up quite a knowledge base on the matter and there are loads of people just starting out and want to know.

There can be no harm in passing this information on in a more professional manner either through a website, articles or word of mouth.

This could be done by either showing people how you do it at home, make a day and get four or five to attend at a nominal fee, or go to other peoples homes to advise them.

It's surprising how soon one can build a reputation and be heard. Media pick up these things and that can also lead to Local Radio Interviews, they're always keen to promote local folk and often desperate for different kind of stories.

In a way it's not so much about the money you earn but advertising yourself. If there's one thing I've found since downshifting to a self-reliant lifestyle, you have to market yourself, if you don't, you don't get heard about. This means motivation and confidence, but you find more out about yourself. Working in a salaried job 9 to 5 for someone else just isn't the same, when you're relying on your own means, the confidence comes - trust me, I'm a downshifter !!!

       Tweet       

If you have enough knowledge on something, show others

Some Clubs and Associations love to watch and hear adventure stories Tweets by richardcannon

More subjects in the Down the Lane Website

•Hobbies and Interests,
•Health & Wellbeing,
•Kent Cricket,
•Ashford in Kent,
•Growing up in the
 50's & 60's
•WW1 Battlefields Ypres
•Cycling John O'Groats
 to Land's End
________________