money noun
mon·ey | \ˈmə-nē : something generally accepted as a medium of exchange, a measure of value, or a means of payment
When my wife and I moved off grid, we had BIG ASS dreams of living without the need out the outside world. We would grow our own food and live as independently as possible. We had little to nothing saved. It was suppose to be a glorified vacation.
We jumped into living off grid unexpectedly. We came to Mexico for 6 month just to test the waters and see if we really wanted to come back after we worked and saved and build a life here in a few years. We stayed in a resort like environment originally and went to the beach often. We only experienced the real jungle in easily to digestible moments. We would come out for the afternoon and poke around until the bugs drove us off. I've thought back, questioning if we would still do what we did if we know then what we know now. We found out quickly after leaving that things don't always go as you plan.
The drive was really hard. We did the entire trip, with 3 dogs and cat in a 1971 VW bus that I had only shortly prior leaving rebuilt. It was a long trip since we could hardly go faster than 60 mph and even slower through the mountains. It was an adventure and honestly I didn't desire doing it again so quickly. We left our entire life; a house and a cool job which at the end of the day, we ended up losing both. My boss at a local Hungry Howies Pizza (unpaid shout out, loved that place and its fantastic pizza tremendously, pick some up tonight for your family, ask the person you speak to for your pizza to be "well done" and consider the bbq/ranch base vs tomato sauce, you're welcome) understood chasing my dream and wished me the best of the luck. The house didn't survive as well. A local gang shortly after leaving, some how broke into the house, stole everything of value and broke everything else. They tagged up my house with graffiti and almost burned it down trying to illegally wire it up.
We had no reason to go back.
The house was uninhabitable and we had no money to get back, buy new items like furniture or clothes or pay any rent or even a deposit. We were stuck in paradise with a plot of land DEEP in the jungle.
With only a tiny amount of money in our pockets and the luck of having a family that make sure we don't completely starve, I started quickly looking into ways to generate income, well before we became completely off the grid. What I found is in a country with extremely low daily rate of pay, making anything close to what I was making in the US, which was just a bit over minimum wage, would mean extreme specialization as many people in Mexico are highly ingenuitive jacks of all trades. The problems became compounded when I didn't have easily accessible customers or a means to speak fluently because lets face it, out in the jungle there isn't many people to talk to.
After 8 years in Mexico and 6 years off grid, I found unique ways to make money. You might find these might not translate well due to your geographic location, ability to obtain internet, weather or other factors. The best thing to do in my opinion for anybody is pay attention in the closest towns around you. Consider a demand that's not being supplied and consider filling it. It sounds simple, but it might not be directly obvious. Another point that needs to be addressed is not only how to generate income but also how to reduce the amount you spend. For me, spending was a habit, something I felt I needed to to do. I realized after a while, reducing your wants to basic needs, you find you reduce the amount of money you require. Ones quality of life increased when the level of desire decreased, if that makes any sense. Find out what you feel is important and whats REALLY important. Going off the grid on a budget means you must become the master of prioritizing everything if you hope to make it.
Here are a list of things that I would work well for people off the gird:
*Teach English
The first suggestion I would give to anybody looking to make money, on or off grid is to consider teaching English to people in Asia. Done properly, without a teaching degree, you can make upwards of 1-1,500 dollars a month, possibly more. Depending on where you're located, you could be doing your work late at night to accommodate your customers. The nice thing about "teaching" English is you're level of teaching skill is mitigated by the number of people looking to learn casual speaking with a fluent native speaker. You don't have to teach vocab with flash cards, you can simply speak to people who have their basics down and help them while talking about topics you can choose from that you're interested in and be matched accordingly. I highly recommend this option for people looking to earn extra quick cash to get what they need to be off the grid.
Here are a couple of pages I would recommend:
Okpanda.com
51talk.ph
There are other options out there to pick from, some requiring more or less training on your part. Find the one that works best for you. Teaching people English is a option that only works well if you have extremely quick, reliable internet. Many people, including myself, having slow internet with bad reliability. This is not the best for people in extreme remote areas but good to get you money before you move to the remote area.
- Honey
Raising bees for honey is a great option for extra side money. Having bees on the homestead means you know your plants will always bee fertilized when spring comes and everything goes to bloom. A hive or two will always keep you in the sweet stuff which if taken daily, will help with any allergies you or others might have from the plants local to your area. The wax created is amazing and can be used in MANY ways that I will discuss later in this post. A healthy hive of bees can generate around 20-60 pounds of honey a year. You will need money to get started, to buy the hives and equipment you will need to tend your hive properly. Raising bees is not hard, but its good to get yourself well educated by many quality free resources online including but not limited to Facebook groups and pages for bee keeping.
Even with slow internet, staying connected via Facebook to the local groups of your closest town will provide you a wealth of information for local farmers markets or Buy/Sell/Trade pages that you can sell your honey on. Honey stores forever if contained properly, so you don't need to worry about inventory going bad. Another option is looking for local restaurants that might find room for a dish on their menu that can use your product. Consider keeping your bees around certain types of plants, to create honey with notes and flavors that is unique and special that could fetch a higher price.
- Soaps
Everybody enjoys being clean. Making artisan soaps can be a great way to create extra income while being able to be creative. With a little internet connection and some creative online marketing, you can generate a tidy income. People in the US will find this even more effective because shipping is so cheap. I make a wide selection of soaps and have people from the US asking if I ship constantly. The only issue is for international shipping, the shipping can cost as much or more than the cost of the soap. Selling at local markets monthly or getting with a local hidden away bed and breakfasts to provide individual nightly soaps can create a tidy profit.
You can makes from a WIDE selection of different types of oils and fats. Its fun to read other peoples recipes or spend your night coming up with your own recipes at http://soapcalc.net/calc/SoapCalcWP.asp which is a soap calculator. Using this calculator is the only simple way to determine how much lye, oils and water you will need. Lye is easy to obtain at most hardware stores or online on amazon. Its wise to be take precautions when working with sodium hydroxide (lye) but if you pay attention, you will be perfectly safe. I will provide a personal recipe from the calculator that I use for my family that I have made hundreds of bars with with great results. We use these bars as shampoo bars and they work AMAZING for most hair. Most people use shampoos with sulfates, which strip the hair clean. This bar of soap will not strip the hair and most friends and family given a bar or people sold a bar report the same as my family, the reduction in the need to wash the hair because it doesn't get oily nearly as often and no need to use conditioner anymore. My wife swears by it, commenting how her hair right out of the shower and naturally dried will give the "2 day look" as she calls it, the full body look without using product or waiting for the hair to get a little dirty. Keep in mind this bar of soap/shampoo is meant for our area in Mexico, where humidity is high so the hair isn't stripped due to dry cold weather conditions. If you feel your hair is dried out are being fully dried, consider raising the super fats in the recipe from 5% to 7%. Keep in mind if you plan to use these bars either shampoo or soap, you want to make sure you take precautions on using any essential oils you put into them.
I will be happy to go into depth on how to make soap if people are interested in a separate post, please leave me a comment if that is something you would like to see down below.
- Candles
Candles are another great option to make money if you raise bees. With raising bees, you end up with a large amount of wax while processing that you can use for the most amazing candles. Bees wax can also be the base of lip balm, natural deodorants and can be used in soaps. Many people enjoy a naturally scented bees wax candle as they keep a small amount of honey in them which smells amazing. You can uses the same essential oils you might use with making soaps. With candles, you have a wide selection of choices to make. You can make candles that are mixed with bees wax and oils, candles made with bees wax and oils, or rendered lard candles. This is a viable solution to not waste anything if you plan to raise pigs. Artisan candles made from locally sourced ingredients REALLY revs the motors of people who go to farmers markets. 10-20 dollars a candle that smells like honey heaven is not unheard of and 5-10 dollars for lard candles or hybrid oils and bees wax. These ship well too and can be customized to fit holidays.
- Plants
Nice thing about doing something is if you do a little extra, its not a big deal because you're already doing it, ya dig? When you're already planting seeds for your own homestead, filling a few more pots and popping a few more seeds is easy peasy and doing so can yield you plenty of extra cash. You might think you're the only person out in the woods, but the fact is there is plenty of people out there trying to live. People who spend their days doing things the hard way enjoy the chance for a little convenience. Sprouting tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers is always a quick way to make a few dollars, but the real money is sprouting trees. We enjoy sprouting the local verity of giant avocado here. They take a while to finally get sprouted and most people usually give up or kill the pit before anything happens. They're really a simple plant to sprout using a cup of water and something to suspend the ass of the avocado pit into. The real asset you must have is time and patience. Oranges, limes, grape fruits and other citrus trees can fetch 100 dollars or more for 6-8 months worth of growth if tended properly. Other plants that can easily be propagated is plums and cactus/dragon fruit which are able to grow from sections broken off from the mother plant by just literally jamming it in the ground.
If you have the time and/or want to dedicate your green thumb to the be the main source of your income, you can look into doing dwarf potted fruit trees. These pint sized fruit trees need a constant eyes to keep them healthy since they lack any real root system but can fetch a tidy profit with people who care to jump on the potty fruit tree trend.
- Raising Animals
Raising animals can be a good source of money for something you're already doing on the homestead. Beyond selling eggs, milk or animals for meat production, consider selling unique breeds. In our local area, people are interested status symbols and beautiful roosters fetch large amounts of money.
- Digital Marketing Consultant
Do you know what UPS and SEO mean? Understanding a businesses Unique Selling Proportion and how to Search Engine Optimize a companies website can get them more recognized and you some extra cash in your pocket. There are several quality Youtube videos on the subject of how to market for a company online.. If you have semi-good internet, you're creative and you have the the hustle to sell, this might be a great opportunity. This is a great job for people who want to do a job that can be done from any place with internet. You've heard of people doing those jobs, but they're vague what they do. Well here is one of those things. People say you will care more when it means something to you. I suggest helping local business by offering your services. You earn a income and you help the people who make sure you have a place to buy your goods you rely on.
- Tourists
"The best place to hide is in plain sight" - Edger Allen Poe
When you're off the grid, your lifestyle can become a novality to people who never have the chance to experience what you live. To provide an opportunity for people to experience what you "do" can provide you a quality income. With a simple extra cabin and AirBnB listing or a simple place for a fire and smooth spot for tent or hammocks can get you making money on HipCamp. Maybe some breakfast and a hiking tour, and one person can have you set for a week or more. You set the times you have people come, you determine how much effort you care to invest.
- Homestead Education
When people get the off the grid bug, they want to learn skills so they can be ready when they take the plunge. Learning skills is the off the grid persons normal day. If you're off the grid and homesteading and not learning something new each and everyday, you might be doing something wrong. Teaching people how do the basics seems silly at first, but many people lack the knowledge on how to do simple tasks and could use safe, reassuring place to learn a skill. A benefit you gain from teaching is labor that's paying you to learn. That means they're eager and going to try their best. Use this to your advantage around the homestead. If you teach how to build a geodesic dome, then have the class help build your next cabana and they pay for the materials and the privilege to do so. Rent the cabana they make out to future students and make it a week long class. Many of these classes can fetch $1,000+ per person. Topics to consider mastering and teaching include
Domes (Monolithic and Geodesic), Natural Building (Cob, Cordwood, Bamboo) , Recycled building (glass bottles, cans and plastic bottles), ferrocement, earthships, earthbag, air crete and basic and/or advanced permaculture techniques. There are many other things you can do to teach like Yoga and such, you just have to find your niche.
The only issue most have with bringing people to your place is people know know where you live, which is logical. You move away to get away from people and then you bring them to you. You have to determine what you need more, your peace and solitude or do you need to make some cash. You always are in control of who you let come and the nice thing is you can build a network of like minded individuals who can become life long friends. At the end of the day, you have to do what is best for you.
I hope these suggestions help you make money as you begin your journey getting off the grid. Please leave in the comment any other suggestions you might have to generate income to help others succeed. Thank you for reading!