My aunt was/is a writer, mostly young adult novels and bios. She made so little money my uncle called it ‘his contribution to the arts.’ What she did get was a lot of free travel as they could write off a lot of trips as ‘research’ (legit tax write offs). They lived a pretty nice life as my uncle made enough to support them. If my aunt had never married and never had kids, she would have been happy to live in a little attic and write but was glad she didn’t have to.
Her first 15 or so books were fiction, but later she had contracts with Scholastic and some other publishers to do biographies for young adults and made a little more. She also did personal appearances at schools and libraries and made extra that way (plus sold some books).
As a volunteer officer in a national nonprofit, I am able to deduct my trips to meetings as well. If I wanted, I could get my nonprofit to pay but prefer to donate the travel as part of my donation. to them. I feel our org is making a difference in lives, locally,nationally & internationally.
One of my first jobs out of college was proofreading for an ad agency, and through the years I’ve done it on and off, both while raising my kids and when I had a FT job. All my work has come from word of mouth and colleagues in the industry. My advice to a newbie would be to set up searches on Indeed and LinkedIn (proofreading, copy editing) and to register with a service like Creative Circle. I get job listings every day. Without experience you may have to start with some lower paying gigs, but once you have experience/portfolio you can command more.
I have a friend who is retired as an ER nurse. A few months after she retired she heard that the local school was looking for a nurse.to accompany a special needs child on the school bus. She just rode to school with the child in the morning and then back in the afternoon. She lived within walking distance of the girl’s house which made logistics easier.
The National Park Service has both paid positions and volunteer opportunities. Many of them are short term or seasonal. Work for Us (U.S. National Park Service)
I know some retired history buffs that work at Minute Man National Historical Park and love it.
Another very part time job. I live in a small town. Every commission needs a secretary for their meetings. I’m doing one a month (not because I applied…because no one else wanted to do it). Meetings are about an hour long, and it takes me about 20 minutes to type up the minutes and send them to the town. Pay here is $75 per meeting. Pays for a meal out every month, or whatever.
I have been walking the mall at lunch time. It is a good mall with almost all stores filled. It is dead M-F noon to one. I am sure it picks up some later in the evening. I would think a job at one of the stores wouldn’t be bad if you didn’t have to work weekends.
D did this as a part time job while in a full time MBA program. She had worked full time for a major publisher for several years prior to leaving for B school. They knew she had the skills (it was part of her job there) and she had the contacts there.
No ides how someone without this background can do this.
This isn’t a part time job, but I live near and am retired from a large University. In the past 6 months I’ve participated in two research studies for older adults that were compensated. I made $300, and also enjoyed it. Not a lot but feeds my hobby fund!
A friend back in NY is advertising a 2 month full time gig answering phones at a marina. I was going to say few people (especially retirees like me) would give up their summer…. but perhaps it could be interesting change of pace for a college student or teacher.
After spending time on my kids’ schools’ FB pages, I think I would like to combine my love of running errands with my desire to retire near a university. A couple of people at S23’s school offer what I would consider “Mom away from home” or “Concierge” services. They will shuttle your kid to appointments, pick up prescriptions or groceries, drop off birthday surprises, help pick up larger items at Target, accept items shipped to their home and then drop them off, etc.
I worked in college textbook publishing for years (both for a publishing company and a subcontractor). I hired lots of copy editors and proof readers. We made people take a test before we hired them. I don’t know if this is still the case, but lots of folks who thought they were qualified didn’t pass the test.
I’m actively looking for part time or flexible work and have considered many of the suggestions here. I’d love to do tutoring but my only experience is with family and friends.
Another idea is TaskRabbit. It exists in most big cities and you can post what you want to do, as well as your rates. I haven’t gotten any jobs through this yet, though.
Care.com and Rover.com are two other sites to consider. I’ve done doggie day care and drop in walks through Rover.
I’ve also occasionally found interesting things on Craigslist, both Gigs and Jobs - lots of one day event jobs as well as occasionally organizing type things.
Organizing an artists studio, involved setting up space for “longer” term storage, sorting supplies and finished pieces, rearranging furniture, etc.
Helping at an event for prospective MBA students, registration, information, etc. as it was a consortium of different schools
Assisting with re-potting plants and light gardening
Advising on curtain making for someone who wanted to make their own custom curtains, involved measuring windows, accompanying them to fabric stores, advising on the liner and actual sewing process
Helping to sort and dispose of things via Craigslist, Ebay, Free Facebook groups, Salvation Army, trash, etc.
Data cleanup and loading of inventory into an Amazon sellers account
Reviewing college/boarding school application materials/essays and providing guidance on potential schools and opportunities to improve the application