A genuine Plan B?

[Old Greg]

trick or treat scares me more than you do

Are those pesky kids in the pay of the agents?

[masonryan]

For zero hours casual work, I'd quite fancy one off work like a clearing up after a festival or something but it's never come up at a convenient time.

Yes I wouldn't mind zero hours

[evilagent]

I teach an evening class at the local uni.

Last spot of bench time I cold emailed a few hundred local businesses and replied to dodgy gumtree/craigslist posts selling web design stuff. Made a few thousand for a whole load of headache.

I have been trying forever to get passive income from adsense, affiliate links, etc but very little joy on that score.

Next bench time I am going to try and build and sell some off the shelf SCORM compliant courses, I think.

For zero hours casual work, I'd quite fancy one off work like a clearing up after a festival or something but it's never come up at a convenient time.

Affiliate income and passive income is a bit of a dream I think.
Have tried it a few years in the past, but was an horrendous drag, with little return.

I think the aspects to consider is how much time this new venture would take.
Could you shelve it if a contract came up, and then run it part-time?
Could you set it up and get someone else to do the dog-work, and manage it during a contract?

Giving training courses, as you have, is a very good bit of utilising your existing skills.
DOH! I just realised, I assumed the course you give is related to your work. You could be teaching flower-arranging for all we know.

[edison]

What about learning a trade?

Not sure how feasible this suggestion is but what about learning a trade?

I've got a friend (albeit perm) who works in a fairly senior IT role at a large FTSE100 company. About 10 years ago he did evening classes and trained to become a qualified electrician whilst working in his IT role. His family comes from the building and associated trades so he used to top up his income with some part time work. Another ex-IT colleague of mine also used to do electrical work although this was in the day before the regulations on who can work on domestic electrical installations were tightened.

You're probably not going to make a fortune but people will always need these types of services. I live in the home counties and it is amazing how difficult it can be to even find a reliable handyman for odd jobs at around £25-30 an hour, never mind an electrician or plumber.

[No2politics]

Not sure how feasible this suggestion is but what about learning a trade?

I've got a friend (albeit perm) who works in a fairly senior IT role at a large FTSE100 company. About 10 years ago he did evening classes and trained to become a qualified electrician whilst working in his IT role. His family comes from the building and associated trades so he used to top up his income with some part time work. Another ex-IT colleague of mine also used to do electrical work although this was in the day before the regulations on who can work on domestic electrical installations were tightened.

You're probably not going to make a fortune but people will always need these types of services. I live in the home counties and it is amazing how difficult it can be to even find a reliable handyman for odd jobs at around £25-30 an hour, never mind an electrician or plumber.

Wow that's. bit steep I pay my handy man 12 quid an hour. Have to wait a month or two for him though as he's obviously booked up

[psychocandy]

Not sure what its like now but in the past made £1000s from matched betting and online casino cashback offers.

Casino stuff is probably dead by now - they've wised up but matched betting is still going well I believe. Made about £1000 or so in a few months a few years ago. It is time consuming though.

[jmo21]

Affiliate income and passive income is a bit of a dream I think.
Have tried it a few years in the past, but was an horrendous drag, with little return.

Permie tester I worked with a couple of contracts back threw together a few affiliate sites in the early days and paid off his mortgage in 6 months before they dried up.