It’s the classic 1970s sitcom scenario…

A man dons his bowler hat, kisses his wife goodbye, and saunters down the garden path with his briefcase.

That’s him out for the day.

Because, like almost everybody else, he works a 9-5 job.

(Occasionally, his boss comes round for dinner and HILARITY ensues when things go wrong.)

It was a common scenario because the 9-5 was so ingrained in our culture in the last century.

In 1980, there was an American film called 9-5, in which three women try to overthrow their bigoted boss and sexist work culture.

The soundtrack by Dolly Parton included a hit song of the same name…

“Out on the street, the traffic starts jumpin’ / With folks like me on the job from nine to five.”

Even when I started copywriting in the 1990s, one of the common promises for moneymaking ventures was an ‘escape from the 9-5 job’.

That’s because it tapped into an urge that almost everybody in work felt from time to time.

But flash-forward to 2025.

And the daily 9-5 grind is no longer the established norm.

Instead, it looks like it’s becoming an endangered species.

It’s estimated that 40% of British workers now work remotely or on a hybrid basis…. while 38% of UK firms offer hybrid roles by default.

Meanwhile, midlife self-employment has risen 19% since the pandemic, with 4.1 million adults now self-employed, many of whom are working from home.

And the number of side hustlers in this country has surged to over 20 MILLION – with 51% of adults currently looking for a second income.

So we’ve got more people working from home, at hours that suit them…

And even more people are looking to find ways to top up their income with side hustles and freelance gigs.

In fact, according to YouGov, 39% of UK workers under 55 say they couldn’t cope financially without some form of extra income stream.

So what’s happening?

Well, some call it “the future of work.” Others call it “post-employment”.

Personally, I like the term “alt work.”

This phenomenon has been driven by two major events….

• The Covid Effect – the pandemic broke the idea that office life was desirable or even necessary. Millions who started to work from home didn’t want to go back to the old ways. Now remote work is much more normal and accepted.
• Cost-of-Living Crisis – huge increases in energy bills and supermarket prices have pushed people to find ways to increase their income through side gigs and solo enterprises.

But there is also a wider cultural and technological shift happening…

Firstly, people increasingly want more out of life than to work a 9-5 job where they have little control in what they do or when they do it.

So they’re learning new skills, following courses and signing up to advice services that offer them ways to make their own money, doing something that suits their personality, lifestyle and interests.

And the motivation is not only to make money, but to enjoy more free time and more freedom.

These include:

• Senior and ‘unretired’ workers who want to stay active and enjoy later life with money in their pocket.
• Mid-life pivoters who want to leave traditional careers for more meaningful solo work.
• Stay-at-home parents who want to avoid childcare costs and spend more time with their kids.
• Creative people who want to monetise their hobbies and skills.
• Carers and the homebound who supplement their income in their free time.
• Professionals and skilled workers who want to find ways to turn what they know into a scalable income without putting in more hours.

Secondly, technology is allowing these people to do things that they could never have achieved ten or twenty years ago.

• AI tools make it possible to write content, build websites, design products and create marketing materials without ANY skills, in a fraction of the time it used to take.
• Social media networks like Facebook make it easy and low-cost to target and attract customers or subscribers.
• eLearning platforms like Udemy, Coursera and Skillshare make it easy for people who want to learn new skills in their own time, from home,
• Freelance platforms like Fiverr and Upwork allow people to pitch for freelance work in writing, design, editing, data entry and other tasks.
• Creator platforms like Substack, Etsy, YouTube. Kajabi, and Patreon make it fast and simple to build up subscribers or get paid directly for creating content.

What’s more, all of this stuff is now accessible from smartphones, tablets and laptops that people can carry around with them, wherever they go.

The upshot is, there has never been a better time to build a second income, launch a side hustle, or create a solo business.

But what to choose?

Well, as a reader of What Really Makes Money, you’ll know of multiple ways that you can create your own second income.

In recent months I’ve covered Fulfilment by Amazon, Etsy Digital Products, eBook Creation, Print-on-Demand, Online Coaching, Virtual Assisting, Substack

Publishing, Public Domain Books and Art… and many more.

But were you to ask me, “Nick, if you could only recommend ONE home business idea, what would it be?”

Then it would be this:

The Profit Making Power of Email Newsletters

For me, email is hands-down THE most powerful and profitable tool available for anyone to make serious money from home.

I know, because it’s what I do.

Email is the foundation of the business I run every day, which has helped me pull in almost £50 million in sales in the past 22 years.

Despite the rise of social media, email remains the most effective direct marketing tool in existence.

The inbox is a hallowed ground, digitally speaking, where people tend only to sign up for messages that they WANT to get.

When someone gives you permission to contact them via email, you can send them useful and entertaining content over and over again, building up trust.

Then when you have a product to recommend, those people are likely to open, read and act on your message.

What’s more, creating an email newsletter has so many benefits that tick the ‘alt work’ box.

✔ You can set it up for barely any outlay, with minimum overheads, with just an internet connection and a word processor.

✔ You can work on it whenever you choose, day or night, without ever needing to be at a computer at a certain time.

✔ You can scale it up without adding extra hours – the more subscribers you get, the more income you make for the same amount of content.

✔ You can become successful simply by being an enthusiast, so you don’t have to be an ‘expert’ or qualified.

✔ You can use AI to help you plan, research, structure, edit and write the content – and quickly, too.

✔ The platforms and tools for sending mass emails, publishing good-looking content, and attracting new leads through sales pages and landing pages are now easy for anyone to use – often for free, too.

✔ You can find customers and build a list through sponsored posts on Facebook and other social media networks.

Most importantly, an email newsletter can be tuned precisely to your personal interests and goals.

• For instance, if you’re a professional, or retired professional, you could turn your expertise and knowledge into an email newsletter – that could mean IT, bookkeeping, teaching, graphic design or marketing.
• If you are in a job, or run another business, you could create a ‘business to business’ email newsletter helping other people in your industry or field – for instance, recruitment, running a pub, selling on Etsy.
• If you’re someone who is unskilled, or coming away from a job you don’t like, you can create an email newsletter about something you DO enjoy, like DIY, collectables, home brewing, gardening or travelling.
• If you’re a person who has a passion or interest in a certain subject, you could build an email business around that – for instance, self-help, motivational psychology, complementary medicine, nutrition or crafting.
• If you’re someone who has looked after kids or the elderly, you could help others who are experiencing struggles and challenges in life.

However, not all niches have profit potential – and are not all as easy to make work as a beginner.

To succeed, you need to find a hungry audience who are actively searching for info online…. and who will, ultimately, pay for advice and services that help them solve problems or reach their goals more easily.

This audience must be in a niche with plenty of good quality readymade products you can offer them – and not too saturated with competition.

And there also must be enough content to find and share with them over the long-term.

The great news is you don’t need to have a passionate interest in a subject, special skills or be an expert.

I have an even better suggestion for you…

Why Not Copy Me?

Now here’s something that might surprise you:

You don’t need to move away from your current situation to build a successful email business.

You don’t need to have a special interest, skills or experience.

In fact, your situation right now – the fact that you’re exploring new opportunities, trying to find a better way to work, live, and earn – that’s exactly what makes you perfectly placed to do this.

You see, the Alt Work boom isn’t just a community you are part of… it’s a market you can serve.

And the people who are best suited to serve it are the ones living it.

Because when you create a newsletter that reflects your own ‘Alt Work’ journey – your questions, your discoveries, your progress (and setbacks) – it resonates on a whole different level.

You don’t need to be an expert. You don’t need a flashy persona.

You just need to be real and relatable to people who are walking a similar path.

That’s when it starts to click.

Over the past month, I have been working with a small group of my subscribers to build their own ‘Alt Work’ home businesses using email.

And they’re doing it by COPYING the same email-powered business model that I use.

But not only that, I’ve narrowed the options down to those which I KNOW will make money.

The audience has been carefully chosen,… the products already created… the trust-building system is in place… and the marketing has been tested and fine-tuned.

In other words, I’ve done all the research and preparation.

To make things even easier, I’ve created a team of AI assistants that handle the heavy lifting for you and run key parts of the system – even if you’ve never used AI before.

So you could quickly set up and run a ready-made business that’s proven to work, with expert help and guidance from Yours Truly!
If this idea interests you, then please stay tuned.

Very soon, I’m going to be inviting you to get involved in this – risk-free!

Please look out for an email from me in the next couple of hours!