What is your Occupation?
Depending on where I was at that moment, I used to answer the question “What is your occupation?” respectively with “I am a visual artist” or “I am a graphic designer”.
Nowadays I don’t get that question anymore because I am 65+ and people assume all persons above 65 to be retired! So I don’t wait for that question and say that I am a blogger and an affiliate marketer (You know what they say, fake it ‘till you make it, LOL).
If you are starting on the path of blogging and affiliate marketing and are wondering what niche you should choose, try making a list as I have done.
Things I have done to earn money
- babysitting
- collecting money for newspaper subscriptions
- picking strawberries, cucumbers, gherkins, and berries
- working on an assembly line at the Philips factory
- office and secretarial work
- working in a print shop
- teaching
- knitting sweaters for a wool shop
- working for an offset printer
- graphic design
- illustration
- photographing
- practicing arts, 2D and 3D
Things I have done for free for others or myself
- gardening
- renovating houses, even tiling
- making furniture
- moving
- sewing clothes
- making toys
- painting (not as an art, but as a house painter)
- caregiving
Eye opener
It is fantastic to make a list like this. Not only to get ideas for niches, but it works wonders for our self-esteem.
I always thought I knew a lot about things because I was a graphic designer and thus came into contact with all kinds of different companies.
But when I look at that list, I've picked up quite a bit of knowledge from my working and personal life. Nice, don’t you think?
You can probably make such a list yourself. Will you share it with us?
xxx
Hannie
Recent Comments
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Hi Hannie,
Simply awesome! It is amazing to see how many things we have done to earn money and things that we have done free of charge for others and ourselves. Thanks for sharing this post; it is a real eye opener! I sure will make a list for myself.
Have a great Sunday! Wishing you the very best!
Kind regards,
Nichola
What an eye opener, indeed!. When I don't want a person to know anything about me, I tell them I'm retired. If I don't mind that they asked me, I usually tell them I'm a writer. If I'm looking for readers, or followers, I tell them I'm a blogger and then tell them about my website.
When you've done a lot of stuff in your work years-and retirement years, sometimes it is hard to know just how to answer a question like that.
Thanks for the brain exercise
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Good morning Hannie,
Thank you for your blog post, it's appreciated.
Your headline caught my eye as I am always intrigued by what people do for a living. I don't mean this in a nosy sense as I don't want to know people's private lives, I'm just intrigued about what they do for a living! It's often very interesting hearing people's career stories, most people have a story to tell!
The list idea is interesting, as have never made a list of the things that I have done. If I did and I might, it would probably be quite long and I would probably surprise myself!
For your interest, as a boy, my first job was delivering newspapers and then carrying out garden jobs. When I left school I worked on a farm, something that I always wanted to do from the age of four or five! I quickly realised that farm life wasn't going to pay me much money! However, to this day I have a huge interest in agriculture.
I have been self-employed since the age of 18, I believe that I am now unemployable! I have owned several landscaping type businesses over the years. The very last thing that I expected to be doing was Internet marketing, however, I was one of the fortunate ones who understands and sees the power of the Internet! (That was back in 2004!) The Internet has brought fantastic opportunities for everyone who is willing!
Wishing you a great day.
Roy
This is so marvelous, Roy, and yes, you will surely surprise yourself with your list.
The start of your career resembles the one of my husband: newspaper delivery and farm work. :)
I didn't want to get up so early, that's why I collected the money from those newspapers. I could do that later in the day, LOL.
You have a great day too,
xxx
Hannie
I hear you, Hannie, I believe you are 100% right! It would also be quite a fun and interesting thing to do!
It's amazing how our career starts and how our careers finish, often totally different to what we expect. It's interesting that your husband was working on the farm, it's a lovely occupation, especially if you love the countryside as I do!
I hear you with the newspapers, believe it or not, my first paper round was just a boys round. However, I ended up working for a farmer on a self-employed basis who also had a village newspaper round that he purchased for his daughter.
Back in 1984, the newsagent's business wasn't a bad business to be into. I ended up buying the business from him and doing it on my own for a few years. However, it was seven days a week, apart from Christmas Day and Good Friday and early mornings! I also had an 800 peak farm that I was renting, which was seven days a week too! It was a 36-mile round trip as a village was very spread out. I like early mornings, but maybe that's a bit too early, especially seven days a week!
I appreciate you taking the time to reply.
Wishing you all the best.
Roy
That is so true, ending up quite differently from what we planned when we were young. I always wanted to be a teacher when I was a kid and in the end, I only did that for 11 years and then became an entrepreneur.
And we also change with habits. I hated getting up early back then (it seems to be a teen thing) and love it nowadays. Except when it is 5 am like this morning when I woke up because of 2 cats screaming at each other, LOL.
All the best to you too, Ron. :)
Well done for seeing your potential and becoming an entrepreneur, fantastic!
It is amazing how habits change, I would struggle to lay in nowadays! I have to say that I look forward to getting up at 5 AM in the morning! My aim is to be up at 5 AM and sometimes before, although it doesn't always quite work like that, especially if my off-line business is busy!
I'm definitely a morning person, getting up in the morning early enables me to get a lot done, especially before the phone starts ringing!
Enjoy the rest of your day.
Roy
😃
You too, Ron