Aagh, late forties financial dilemma!

[TangledTeabags]

I am now single at the grand old age of 48. We didn't buy a property due to moving around for work so that one is out of the question. I have been self employed for 25 years in a very niche field so have no stand-out transferable skills. Work has been slowing down dramatically since the pandemic so it is time to really worry!
I shall have to rent, which is ok, but not sure what to do next. My degree was in design so next to useless now. I would love to go back and study English Language but since I have some savings it would literally swallow them and leave me dry.

At my age, what might be a good idea? I was planning to pick up some part time work (anywhere, within reason) to prop up my existing business but not sure how sustainable that would be. The business could definitely be worked on but I have no guarantee that I could resurrect it as the market has changed for the worse. I promise, it is dire.

Is it worth getting back into education at my age if I have monthly outgoings to worry about? I have always been passionate about studying the Alexander Technique but it is monstrously expensive and courses are sparse. Other than that I love yoga, books and watercolour painting, lol, so god knows what could be made of those! I feel like a petal floating down river about to go over a bloody cliff edge. My future seems so very uncertain, but I am happy to make a good go of it. Any advice would be lovely

What is your field of work? I have started freelancing on Upwork.com to supplement my income. It took a while to get going and I accepted some very cheap jobs, but I now have a couple of regular clients I write for paying around £40 an hour 🤷🏼‍♀️

Sending hugs, not sure what to recommend in the circumstances but check in with the business community for grants and loans for businesses. Can you look at franchise opportunities?

I have been a digital illustrator, the market is now super saturated and the value of the work has decreased over all. I could pull in £500 to £3,000 for a book cover or design alone 10 years ago but the clients have almost vanished now. I do keep up to date with the market but it is swamped.
I have often wondered about selling original paintings as there is a decent opening for that, but could not imagine a full time living there. Would be happy to split/mix employed with self employed though.

If i could go back in time I would have invested in a healthy plan B!

I am good at writing but have not studied English past A level. I have just read an article about people freaking out over AI!

You only live once. x

The problem with even a OU degree now is that it would equal the total cost of my savings, so would struggle to live in the meantime.
I don't think I am qualified for franchise opportunities sadly!

Thanks for the tips.

I am in tech, can you learn how to turn digital art even actual paintings to NFTs? It will require programming skills which is hard about achievable. Use youtube to get some basic information and then try to get some free courses on Udemy. It is never too late to reinvent yourself.

I have some of my traditional (non digital) paintings on instagram and am always receiving messages from NFT 'enthusiasts'. Sadly they are mostly scammers.

At the risk of stating the obvious, have you thought about going employed rather than self employed in the same field? I just had a quick look on Monster and there are dozens and dozens of (remote) jobs for illustrators/graphic designers

I agree with the PP. I work in marketing and we are frequently looking for good digital illustrators, as we have clients in the toy market.
Salary of at least £30k but much more likely up to £50k with some experience (and skills, obviously!)

What about teaching in a further education college or a university? There are loads of places that teach digital design. They might fund you to do your teacher training. The university I teach at funded me and gave me the time to do my PGCE.

If you are up to date in your field, have a degree and years of experience, you would be a very valuable teacher. If you like teaching of course.

What about creating online art courses? You could use an existing platform like Domestika or set up a website and use your writing skills to promote yourself thru blogs/ social media

These are great ideas, thank you all.

I have always been a bit of an introvert, would have suited working in a dusty research library or in my own studio. I am not sure that I am geared towards teaching.
I will look into remote working with the digital stuff, definitely. In the meantime I would love to approach selling original art, and have a small amount of visibility online, but will have to work on that.