Five dollars may not sound like much pay for doing a job, but do not tell that to Brooke Folk.
At age 67, Folk spends up to 30 hours a week on projects generated through Fiverr.com (http://fiverr.com), a shared-economy website that requires all its vendors to offer something to customers for just $5 and takes a 20 percent commission on earnings.
Folk, a former radio announcer and small business owner who lives near Pittsburgh, earns approximately $10,000 per year in supplemental income to his Social Security benefits on the site writing short stories and narrating scripts. He also sells - no surprise here - an ebook explaining how to succeed on Fiverr.
"When I first heard about it, I wondered if I should do something for $5, but what happens is you often upsell customers something additional. The most that I've billed an account is $1,300, and that’s a far cry from $5.
More Americans than ever intend to keep working past traditional retirement age - whether it's just to keep busy or because they need to financially - and entrepreneurship is becoming a more common alternative to full time jobs.
Entrepreneurs age 55-65 accounted for 26 percent of all startups last year, up from 15 percent in 1996, according to the Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity.
Fiverr may be a millennial-dominated platform with just 2 percent of sellers over the age of 55, but growth in vendors age 55-64 shot up 375 percent at the end of the second quarter this year compared with a year ago, according to the company.
Starting a business may sound like a risky investment of capital, but it does not have to be. A "micro-enterprise" - or side-gigging - can help retirees generate supplemental income without putting capital at risk and perhaps even enough to stall filing for Social Security or ease the pressure for drawdowns from retirement portfolios.
Folk is participating in an emerging online ecosystem that helps micro-entrepreneurs leverage their accumulated knowledge and experience. Other platforms include retail site Etsy.com (handmade and vintage items), and freelance marketplaces Guru.com and Freelancer.com.
But the action is not limited to the knowledge economy. For example, Airbnb.com recently noted that 10 percent of its hosts are over age 60.