Norwalk Chamber of Commerce

Norwalk Rotary Club

Gary North has a business idea.  It's upgrading websites in your business community.

"How to Get a High-Income, Part-Time Post-Retirement Job in a Retirement Town"
by Gary North, July 18, 2015

Maybe you don't want to retire full-time. Maybe you want an upper-middle-class income, but for working only 10 hours a week.

Maybe you want to live in a place like Florida, where there is a lifestyle aimed at retirees. But you don't want to be a Walmart greeter.

Start making your post-retirement plans now.

What can you do that most people can't do or won't do?

Nothing? Change this.

Here is what I would do.

First, I would join the Chamber of Commerce.

Second, I would join Rotary. Locally.  [And] I would attend meetings.

Third, I would look at their websites. Are they top-notch? Is anyone working full time to maintain them? If not, I would volunteer to manage the site of the one that needs the most help. I would use this to meet local businessmen. I would post articles on local businesses. I would use this as a way to get interviews with every CEO in the [Chamber of Commerce & Rotary]. I would do the interviews after work and on Saturdays. These would be puff pieces, of course. My goal: one interview/article a week. I would put my name on them.

Fourth, I would keep improving my skills in web design and interviewing.

Fifth, I would pick my retirement location with this in mind: do the Chamber and Rotary have pathetic websites? Find out if either is run on a volunteer basis. That's what you want: a site run by a volunteer or part-time by someone who hates doing it.

Sixth, finding this, I would create a dummy website for either or both. Once it was ready for prime time, I would offer it free of charge to the local outfit. I would run it part-time: maybe two hours a week. I would post about upcoming events.

Seventh, I would have the local outfit run interference for me -- introducing me to local CEO's who want to be interviewed. I would create an "interview the CEO" section on the site.

Eighth, I would pick CEO's with lousy websites. At the end of the interview, I would offer three tips on how to improve his website, and coordinate it with his Yellow Pages ad. If he shows interest, I would offer to create a sample website for free, using it in conjunction with the company's Yellow Pages ad. I would not close the deal there. I would let him contact me by email. He must identify himself as a hot prospect. I would pick CEO's to interview on this basis: companies with at least a one-eighth page -- the bigger, the better. I would create the sites free . . . with payment only at renewal at the time of Yellow Pages renewal. This is a no-risk offer . . . at first. But the better the site works, the surer the renewal income.

The initial interviews with the distant CEO's can be done by phone. The CEO's will be happy to cooperate. Everyone wants to see his name in print. He also wants his peers to see his name in print.

My strategy rests partially on this fact: Yellow Pages are still used by older people. They still are published in retirement towns. There will be local businesses that are still paying for YP ads. These are my targets.

Once this business model works, I would be ready for retirement in Skin Cancer City, Florida. I would already have steady income from my Florida website business. I would join the Rotary Club and the Chamber there. I would continue to meet the CEO's, but this time face-to-face. I would be able to get into the office of every CEO in the organization.

I would choose them, as always, on this basis: a Yellow Pages ad, plus a rotten website.

The goal: $1,200 a year per site. The goal is to create one site per month. Two would be better.

They would all be hosted on my InMotion server.

Maybe you are thinking this: "But I could apply this model right where I am now. I don't have to move to Florida." Go to the head of the class.