Before taking the leap into off-grid living, one important consideration is how you’ll generate income. While money may not align with the self-sufficient ideals of off-grid life—and it’s true that the pursuit of wealth has contributed to greed, exploitation, and global inequality—it remains a necessity for modern living. Even after perfecting your off-grid home and property, financial resources will still play a role in maintaining your lifestyle. Equipment can break, crops may fail during a rough growing season, or you might lose your only breeding pair of livestock. Preparing for these possibilities is essential to creating a sustainable off-grid future.
So, how can you live off the grid while still earning an income? Start by considering the skills you already have. Do you have experience in a trade? Perhaps you could transform those skills into a small-scale freelance business. If your background is more aligned with corporate or office work, could your current job transition to remote work? Many roles today allow for flexible, location-independent options that could seamlessly align with off-grid living.
No judgement if you don’t want to have anything to do with your prior career or work experience, I have definitely been there! I had been a cosmetologist for a very short time in my early 20’s and then I went on to be a pharmacy technician for 10 years. While I enjoyed my time in pharmacy, things really changed after COVID and it isn’t a job I could work from home in my state, so I had to get creative and brainstorm!
Agriculture
- Raise livestock to sell
- Raise chickens for meat or eggs
- Chickens are one of the easier animals to raise for money, their small size doesn’t warrant much space and they can produce meat and eggs.
- At this point in time, millions of chickens have been culled due to raising concerns of bird flu and it has caused more demand on eggs, raising prices at the grocery store.
- Micro-greens
- Plant starts
- Prices for plant starts are very expensive when you consider you can buy 2 packs of seeds for $1 at the Dollar Tree. The last time I checked prices on tomato starts they were over $6 for one tiny plant! And I’ve seen the larger plants go for $20+!
- Mushrooms
- If you live or plan to buy off-grid property where mushrooms grow, this could be very lucrative! Mushrooms are very prominent in my area and you can fill a bucket very quickly.
Crafts
- Knitting and crochet
- If you know how to knit or crochet, there are people willing to buy handmade items online and pattern writing is also lucrative and doesn’t cost you any money to produce.
- Needle felting
- Weaving
- Wood working: furniture design/building, whittling, or making anything else out of wood
- Leather working
Other
- Power washing
- Flipping campers
- Consulting
- Chimney sweeping
- Selling firewood or charcoal
- AirBNB or hospitality
- Classes on mushroom foraging, wild edible foraging, bushcraft
- Bushcraft lessons for kids
- Freelancing (video editing, copy writing, graphic design)
- Digital products (courses, how-to’s, clipart, art)
- If you have a truck, haul trash or help people move for a fee
This is just a starting point for exploring ways to earn an income while living off the grid. The possibilities are vast, and with a little creativity and resourcefulness, you can likely come up with even more ideas tailored to your unique skills and circumstances.
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