Starting a business after retirement, whether part-time or full-time, might sound like a very daunting concept. Where would the money investment come from? Where would you begin? Who will handle the business operations? How will you break even?
All these questions might run in your mind if you are thinking of starting a retirement business. Well, the good news is you can answer all of these questions.
So let’s face the budget issue first. You can start a retirement business with an initial investment of as low as $5,000. At this cost, you can launch an enterprise and create a small business of your own. Small businesses are easier to manage in terms of finances, management, inventory, and sales, and are thus suitable for individuals starting a business initiative all by themselves.
Starting a business in retirement is a good idea because it will keep you independent in your finances and give you a purpose to keep up with life. Businesses for retirees are usually encouraged because retired people have a lot of exposure, experience, and hidden potential in them that the world can benefit from. They only need the motivation to go for it.
Take the proper steps and plan to grow gradually. You might even end up with a very successful retirement business, making millions and finally having the financial freedom that you always dreamed of.
Let’s look at some retirement business ideas that you may consider if you are serious about it.
Ideas for 10 Different Types of Businesses for Retirees
All businesses for retirees discussed below are low-capital startup ideas.
1. Coaching or Consulting
Retired people are very talented due to the tremendous experience that they have from working all their lives. More so, many retired people enjoy passing on their knowledge to people who are younger than them. This is why a retiree would start coaching or consulting services in their field of expertise-- to make good money and have a good time interacting with their trainees and students.
It is not difficult to start a coaching business. First, you might need to build a simple website, which can be conveniently done using a website builder like Strikingly. The website would serve to introduce the person and what he coaches on and mention all his experience in the area of expertise. Make sure not to make the common coaching website mistakes, and you’ll be all set.
Have a look at the screenshot below taken from a website offering life coaching services.
Image taken from Strikingly user’s website
A simple consulting website like this can go a long way to market and promote the person’s retirement business. Another way of marketing this retirement business could be to use the retiree’s professional network and social circle. It is a known fact that when people see an experienced coach having white hair or a wrinkled face, they take them more seriously. This is because old and retired people are perceived to be seniors with a lot of experience to offer constructive advice in their specialized field, making it simple for a retiree to get clients for his consulting retirement business.
The image below is a screenshot from a Strikingly user who's offering coaching services in the form of online courses.
Image taken from Strikingly user’s website
2. Writing, Blogging, or Editing
Just like retirees would enjoy coaching others on their area of expertise, they would also find pleasure and potentially make good money writing about it. There is no end to gaining knowledge, especially when you keep sharing whatever you know with others.
Writing in any form is among good retirement business ideas. A retiree can offer one or more of the following types of writing services.
- Copywriting
- Proofreading
- Articles or blog writing
- SEO content writing
- Scriptwriting
- Screenplay writing
- Web content or sales copy
All these types of writing services can start as small businesses for retirees but can potentially have massive growth; they are persistent in them. To promote these services, the retiree can create his blog website.
Building a blog website in Strikingly is super easy. There are tons of blog templates available in Strikingly that you can choose from right after signing up for your free account. Publishing your articles over the internet has never been simpler. Whatever age you are, you can adapt to this tool without having to know any programming languages.
Image taken from Strikingly
3. Creating an E-commerce Store
Another retirement business could be to build an e-commerce store and sell products from different vendors online. The good thing about this business is that it is quick to set up and will incur almost negligible investment costs and zero overhead costs. When you sell products online, you do not need to rent retail space and pay security deposits plus monthly rent for it. All you need to do is build a simple site in Strikingly and set up an online store in it.
Image taken from Strikingly
A complete e-commerce store is one in which good quality product photos are uploaded, prices are set competitively, payment gateways are selected, and call-to-action buttons are neatly inserted.
Once all this is set, all you need to do is focus on your website’s SEO so that your online store is discoverable in search engines. An online store’s traffic can also benefit the retiree’s professional network as a retirement business idea. You can track the site’s traffic by keeping an eye on its analytics. Strikingly offers its built-in website analytics to make it easy for website owners to check how many people visited their site on any particular day. These analytics also give you basic information about the demographics of your visitors. That can help you figure out which market or location has a tremendous demand for your services and make it easier for you to streamline your marketing efforts.
Since Strikingly will require minimum effort to run this business, it is a good option among retirement business ideas.
4. Financial Services
If a retiree comes from a financial services background, he can continue to offer financial services as a business of his own after retirement. Financial services encompass a range of services such as managing money, dealing with credit unions, accounting services, handling stock brokerages, managing investment portfolios, etc.
The good thing about starting a financial services retirement business is that it would require minimum physical activity on the part of the retiree and consume a lot of mental energy. Therefore, it might be more suited for many retired people who want to keep themselves busy but not physically exhausted.
A simple one-page website would suffice to showcase what the business is offering, with a brief description of the services, introduction to the service provider, and contact details for prospects to get in touch with the service provider to start a financial services business. A one-page website is also very convenient for users to navigate, as they do not have to click on too many buttons to get a gist of all its content.
It can look something like the image below. This image is a screenshot from a website offering different kinds of professional services. For example, a financial services provider can build a site with a similar web design.
Image taken from Strikingly user’s website
5. Investing in Real Estate
If you are well-off in your budget, investing in real estate would be a good retirement business idea for you. Retired millionaires are often property owners. It is an excellent investment, and the way to run this business is also very plain and simple.
If you do not feel like dealing directly with tenants, you can opt for the B&B deals. If you buy a house in a tourist area, you can go around on vacation interacting with young couples and make money while you have fun.
Investing in real estate includes bed and breakfast deals, although investing in houses is more common among retirement business ideas. However, supporting in ‘bed and breakfast’ sales would be a fun retirement business option if you enjoy serving others.
6. Buy a Business or Franchise
Buying an existing business or franchising is the ultimate form of a retirement business that would require heavy investment but minimum effort to run once it’s purchased. That’s because if a retiree can afford to buy over a business or a franchise, he can surely also afford to hire a team of management to run the business for him.
Of all the retirement business ideas discussed above, this one is the most appealing and gets the most attention. That’s because it is desirable to gift yourself with a ready-made running business after spending years and years working under others’ companies until you get old. However, it is only possible to start this retirement business if you have the financial means.
Whichever retirement business you choose to do, the baseline is simple. In the digital age we are living in today, the best way to start any business is to build a website for it to showcase your services.
To have a fun and simple experience creating your site, visit Strikingly today and sign up for your free account! We at Strikingly love to see our users flourish in the business of their dreams.
