The return of the Cottage Industry

I believe that the Cottage Industry will return in Full Force!

What is the Cottage Industry?

In Medieval times, in the villages, people used to produce from their own homes. They had a small plot of land to grow vegetables, perhaps keep a cow, and had a few chickens. They were blacksmiths, or bakers, weavers, or cobblers and paid each other with pieces of silver. Some were beer brewers, which used to be very important because you could not always trust the water supply.
Gold was used for larger items. In the Anglo-Saxon world, 1 troy ounce of gold, would buy a gentleman a hand-tailored suit. It still does.

People were not really rich in those times, but they were quite happy.
Here in the Netherlands, you can get a grasp of how that used to be at the Archeon Museum.

Industrial Revolution

Once the Industrial Revolution started, people flocked toward the cities because they could earn more. The Cottage Industry ceased to be effective as specialization and economies of scale started to set in.

Nowadays, with the new technologies grouped under the name 'the 4th Industrial Revolution', your home can become a wage-earning production unit. You can start right away!

Your own electricity

When you own your own house, you can place Solar Cells on your roof and produce your own electricity. You can already earn a little by delivering to the general electricity network. Using a Powerwall you can store energy. Excess energy on sunny days can now be stored and eventually sold to the net. If you have an electric car, (which does not have to be a Tesla), you can drive for free using the energy you yourself produce.

For many families, petrol is a major cost in the household budget, so you will reduce your cost of living by a major factor.

Working from home

Nowadays, you can easily work from home. With a laptop and a smartphone, you can work independently or in virtual companies with groups of individuals. They are called free-lancers or solo-entrepreneurs. Forming groups with specialized individuals, you can act as if you were a large company.

You can also set up your own shop online, using Amazon arbitrage or reselling as an affiliate. You can sell your own knowledge in the form of online training or consultancy. Using Shopify or Facebook stores, you can promote it to a huge amount of people.

Advanced sources of income

When you produce your own electricity you can also consider crypto mining. It is energy-consuming, but because you get it for almost free, it can become lucrative.

We also have stock trading platforms where you can invest en trade the money you earn. It is becoming more and more accessible for everyone. But a word of caution, get educated in the matter first!

Let your garden produce health and wealth

Do you have a garden? Then consider growing your own vegetables. With 100 m2 you can produce more than you need. The excess produce can be frozen in a good freezer, which almost costs you nothing because you produce your own energy.

You don't know how to garden? You can learn it for free too. You can find hundreds of videos and other information on youtube and the internet to teach yourself how to acquire new skills.

Huge personal opportunities - get started!

The great thing about these new developments is that your personal production capacity is huge compared to the early days, because of new technology. You can now pursue several lines of income by combining all these possibilities.

You can best start by producing your own energy, and then gradually move into other areas of income.