This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
In this episode, we explore side hustle ideas tailored to serving the unique needs of seniors. We're also gonna look at how to market those services effectively to the growing senior population. Welcome to Side Hustle School, Chris Guillebeau, your host. We're gonna hear today from a listener in Tampa. His name is Jackson, a retired IT professional who's interested in offering a service like tech support or errands or could be something else.
He just wants to know how to start this hustle that meets the specific needs of the demographic and then of course, how to market it effectively. All right, with every episode, we're trying to look at a specific situation. How can this person make some money and not just a little bit of money, but maybe establish an actual business that can go on to allow them to do all sorts of other things. I always appreciate our global community. You're always welcome to share your own questions or feedback, sidehustleschool.com/questions.
But today, let's hear from Jackson. Quick little shout out to our sponsor. I appreciate the sponsors as well as our listeners. Then I'll be back with Jackson's question and my answer. [Music]
Hey, I'm Jackson.
I'm a retired IT professional from Tampa. So I've been looking into some side hustle ideas that kind of center around the senior population. I was thinking I could like offer some kind of services, you know, like running errands for them or doing like tech support if they need that. Like what kind of advice would you have if I wanted to start this kind of a service on the side that would, you know, help them with their needs? And in that vein, you know, how can I market my services to that, that older senior demographic?
Thanks. [Music]
Jackson, it's great that you want to start this side hustle serving seniors as a retired IT pro. No doubt you've got valuable skills to offer. I would just suggest here that while errands and tech support are helpful, my suggestion is to focus on services that create more value and therefore some potential for recurring income. All right.
And nothing wrong with just doing gig economy stuff, but a lot of our listeners want to go beyond that. So if that's Jackson, what could Jackson do? A couple of ideas here, digital legacy planning, assisting seniors in organizing and preserving their digital assets like photos and important documents. I think that could be big. It is big.
Different people are doing that already in different ways. What about smart home setup and support? Man, I feel like I need smart home setup and support. It's just hard. Everything is digital and there's all these apps and sometimes they work together and sometimes they don't.
So if I need it, I'm sure that seniors living in a modern world could benefit from that. That also kind of lends to a package that has recurring support, therefore also recurring revenue. As part of that, you could do some tech tutoring or perhaps something with cybersecurity. So that could be personalized consults, or again, like some kind of monitoring service that is better suited for recurring revenue. And then to market those services, I think Jackson asked about that as well.
Well, my number one tip there is don't forget the Facebook page. Like, you know, definitely make a website. A simple website is great, but Facebook is gonna be particularly important for this market. And then from there, you know, maybe an introductory discount, a package deal and then start providing service and encouraging word of mouth referrals 'cause that's ultimately how it's gonna grow, but definitely keep the Facebook page. Focus on building trust, providing value, making a difference, and that's how you do it.
So just choose how you're going to focus. Again, my suggestion is to think about something higher value that has potential for recurring income and go from there. All right, listeners, if you have a question and idea, sidehustleschool.com/questions. New episode every day. We'll continue to feature questions from listeners along with updates from other listeners as they launch and grow their projects.
Thanks for being out there. My name's Chris Guillebeau. This is Side Hustle School. [Music]
From the Onward Project.
