After I sold my business I bought several commercial income producing properties. Triple net or NNN properties where the tenant pays the taxes, insurance and most of the upkeep on the property. This is my main income stream. I also bought a 70 acre farm. From that I sell hay to horse breeders off a couple of my fields. I also sell some produce, corn and peppers mostly, to a local restaurant and trade with neighbors for eggs. I have a grass strip on my far, along with a couple of hangars. So, I rent hangar space to two different airplane owners. I raise cattle. In addition, I rent shop space to a guy (Airframe and Powerplant mechanic) who does composite repair and refinish, primarily on sailplanes. I do some work with him from time to time when he gets busy. Huge demand for that right now because most of the sailplanes come from Europe and with the exchange rate so upside down with the Euro people are finding it's cheaper to refinish their old birds, rather than buy new. We do other fiberglass refinish, too. I did a refinish on a fiberglass flat water kayak last week. That one was worth $800 for about 25 hours work and about $30 in materials. I've got a couple of wave runners coming in next week for repairs. These will get refinished on the bottom where they've been skinned up from being beached repeatedly. We also buy airplane wrecks from insurance underwriters occasionally and rebuild them, fly them a while, then sell them. We just put a bid in on a wreck that could be worth some serious $$ if we get it. This is tricky because you really have to know what you are looking at to not get burned. I occasionally teach guitar and banjo lessons. About two months ago I was over at a friend of a friends new house checking it out. Their builder had gone bankrupt and had left their new home unfinished. They needed some pocket doors installed and trimmed out and a couple of other minor electrical things wrapped up. (I'm also a licensed electrician and I did a lot of trim carpentry when I was in college). I finished it up for them and made $1500 for roughly 10-12 hours work. That's a few off the top of my head. I've always got 3-4 things like this going on. Always have.
There is work to be had if you have broad skills. People always need things done, even in a weak economy.