Starting a new career at 50 is not as easy as we would hope but it is possible. It is harder to find a job working for someone that pays higher than the minimum wage. The conventional way of approaching a new career is slowly earned your way up the step ladder over time. At age 50 as many people would think, we are closer to retirement age. We do not have as much time and energy to start at the bottom of the ladder. It is a daunting thought.
Feeling Lost?
Do you have a feeling of losing yourself or your passion after having children? You quit your job so you can stay at home with your kids. After ten to fifteen years later, they are becoming independent, you forgot what it was like to work in the normal workforce. You want to contribute and be useful or it’ll be nice just to be wanted or needed. Does this sound familiar? It sounds like me. Would that consider to be a midlife crisis? 
I have been finding myself changing jobs multiple times over the course of 10 to 15 years after having children. I started my computer graphic career in the movie industry creating special effects. After working for 8 years in the industry, I was burnt out. I was ready to have children. I quit my career in the movie industry and became a stay at home mom. However, I didn’t stay idle as a mom. I involved myself with many things such as writing a cookbook, volunteered at my kids’ school PTA / booster club, and managed our investment properties. I started to work as a freelance on little projects here and there. It was nice to bring in the extra income but it was not enough to sustain a growing family. It is difficult to return to the special effect industry again because I am behind on the advancement of technology and the demand also increased. Plus I do not want to return.
What is your mindset – Opportunities or Failures?
As time passed, the internet opens new doors to create new possibilities including working from home. Instead of a regular resume on paper, you now can have an elaborate website to market yourself or your business. The way I see it, at age 50 I begin to have mental clarity of what I want and why I want it. From my experiences, starting a new career at age 50 is not too late. I need to think outside of the box. The conventional way of thinking is a “9 to 5” job for a company. That is fine.
I can find a job for secure financial support but perhaps I may consider starting something else also on the side that does not require a huge amount of overhead in money. A job that allows me to be my own boss and start at my pace. I have been very fortunate and always on a lookout for opportunities. I found a freelance job as a Vietnamese interpreter which I totally adore to pay the bill and at the same time, I am working and building my online business to share my passion.
At age 50, you now have many experiences and certain things come naturally to you without effort. Look deep within yourself. What are you good at? What brings you the most joy? Would you be interested if there is away? There are multiple ways to share your passion and joy with others and make money at it. One particular way that I would recommend is to become an affiliate marketer. If you are not familiar with affiliate marketing, please click here to learn more ==> What is Affiliate Marketing?
I do not like to Sell
You are constantly selling or marketing yourself all the time unconsciously. You sell yourself on how great or qualified you are to companies when you are looking for a job. Another example is you sell to your kids on how good the vegetables are so that they will eat them. Why not also start selling yourself and your passion to the world and earn money from it as an affiliate marketer?
As an affiliate marketer, you are selling the product indirectly online. You are sharing the stories behind the product. You are sharing “Why” the product is so great using your passion for your honest and forthcoming opinions. You leave the buying up to the reader. It allows them the freedom to choose. If the product is great, it will sell itself.
What is the Cost?
To be an affiliate marketer, the overhead costs are low. You do not have to maintain a physical storefront. Your cost is primarily five things:
- Internet – WIFI (varies with your internet provider — you may have this already regardless)
- Name for your website (least expensive – $14 – $60 per year for a name depending on who you purchase from)
- Hosting place for your website (varies with different hosting sites)
- Your time (this is the most expensive)
- Mentor (someone like me who has done it to guide you. This could be a friend, family member, or a paid service so the price varies as well. As you get older, you probably understand the importance of a mentor.
There are many programs out there on how to become an affiliate marketer. In my honest opinion, Wealthy Affiliate (WA) is among one of the best programs out there. It focuses on how to attract genuine organic traffic. You may wonder what is WA? If interested to learn more in details, please visit is ==> My Honest Wealthy Affiliate Review – Is it Too Good to Be True?
In a short quick summary, Wealthy Affiliate provides three things to the five things that you will need to be an affiliate marketer. You provide the two things – the internet and time:
- You can purchase your website name from $13.99 / year varies with the extension such as “.com”, “.org”, “.net”, etc.
- A hosting site for your website with excellent technical support.
- Mentors (people who have been successfully made money being affiliate marketers available at your fingertips), tools, education, and an amazing huge community of like minds supporting you to become an affiliate marketer.
What is best is that numbers 2 and 3 are included in one price and there is no upsell. Other hosting websites will upcharge your credit card every time you add a tool or a service. With Wealthy Affiliate, all the tools, the educations, and much more are included. The website name is an exception. You can purchase yearly through WA. You will need to purchase the name with whoever you host anyway. The cool thing is that you don’t have to purchase the website names through WA in order to have your website is hosted at WA. However, I would recommend purchasing through WA because of the secure https is also included in the cost. With other hosts, you will have to pay extra for secure encryption.
Click on My Honest Wealthy Affiliate Review – Is it Too Good to Be True? to learn more about Wealthy Affiliate, now.
Conclusion
Is too late to start a career at age 50? My answer is that it is never too late. I met an older and successful lawyer recently who became a lawyer after retiring from being an accountant. He was inspiring. He didn’t allow age to stop him from pursuing his passion.
It depends on you and what you make out of your life. What is your mindset? Do you have a victim mentality when circumstances are not going your way or will you take accountability for your actions and move forward regardless of circumstances. Do you allow your environment and others to control you or are you a creator of your own life? If you are struggling with self-doubts, please check out the following articles. I found this information very helpful for me in shifting my perspective from being a victim to become a creator of my life:
Abraham Hicks Law of Attraction – How to Make it Work for Me?
Ask and It Is Given by Esther and Jerry Hicks – My Personal Review
If you are a creator, then take out the blank canvas and create a new image for your life (metaphorically). Create a new chapter.
Last but not least, if all this mumbo jumbo or working for yourself is not for you, here is an interesting article written by AARP “10 Promising Job Fields for Workers Over 50”. It was written in 2017. However, this article will give you an idea of what is being available out in the job market working for someone else.
I love to hear your thoughts and how you would like to approach a new career at age 50. Please leave me your comments below.
