Now, more than ever, is the best time to start a career by working online to earn from home. The pandemic has significantly limited the operational capacities of brick-and-mortar stores, traditional offices, and physical structures engaged in business. Because of this, global unemployment rose to over 400 million, according to the United Nations. Though countless laboratories and pharmaceutical companies are racing to find a safe vaccine, the end of this health crisis is far from sight.
So, instead of sulking and wasting your days sitting this pandemic out, why not take this time to find ways to earn from home? With the endless opportunities freelancing brought, the list of online jobs, tips, and freelancing platforms keeps getting longer.
With freelancing, you can provide for your family, even at home. Plus, you can keep everyone safe, too. Even if you don’t have experience working in the work-from-home industry, you can find a suitable job and clients willing to pay for your training. But first, you need to be sure about what you can bring to the table. What skills and characteristics do you have that can add value to your client’s business? Once you get a clear and specific answer to this question, you can launch your online career immediately and get freelance work. So, the million-dollar question is how to make a living working from home. Here are some proven and tested ways.
Be a Rockstar VA
Many people have found a way to earn from home by being a VA. If you have experience working as a virtual assistant, but it was temporarily halted because you worked in the corporate world, you know what to do. However, note that the competition is steeper now because many people are taking the WFH route. You need to step up your skills and offerings to get back in the game. For those without relevant experience in this field, the first thing to know is a VA’s role. A virtual assistant helps a client with his tasks and projects from a remote location. You can offer services like social media management, graphic design, bookkeeping, content creation, email management, and more.
Every VA has a different skill set to offer to their clients. Think about things that you’re good at. The best way to win interviews is to personalize your client offerings based on your skills. If you’re new to this field, it’s better to specialize in a specific niche and offer services to a certain kind of business. Soon, you’ll be an expert in your chosen niche, and by then, you can get paid even more for every job you take.
Be a Content Writer
Becoming a freelance writer is one of the legit ways to earn from home. You must work on your portfolio before looking for a client or signing up on freelancing platforms. If you have an existing blog, that’s better. If none, you can gather all your past write-ups and use them as samples for your prospective clients. To ensure that your intellectual property right is protected, sending examples in PDF is better.
These days, there are multiple job marketplaces you can sign up on. These include Upwork, Online jobs.ph, Kalibrr, Linkedin, and more. You can also join private and public writers’ groups. Most of the time, group members also share job posts aside from tips on becoming a better writer. Just be prepared to take writing tests before you land a gig.
Be patient when applying, and don’t be disheartened by rejections. You’ll get there. It takes a matter of time before you get a break. While waiting for clients to respond, brush up on your English and writing skills. Investing in tools like Grammarly Premium to check grammar and Copyscape to prevent plagiarism is also wise.
Be an SEO Specialist
Ever heard of the quote ‘SEO is king’? Mastery of SEO is not only beneficial to businesses; it’s also leverage for freelancers like us. When you know the ins and outs of SEO, you can offer more value to your prospective clients. You can help their business grow by optimizing their website through viral content.
The more engaging your content is, the higher the business’ conversion rate. When this happens, the business’s bottom line is significantly improved. This is why companies are willing to pay a higher rate to SEO strategists. You can earn from home by learning this profitable skill.
Don’t worry if you’re only new to SEO. You can take advantage of the free webinars and study tools available online. It would also be advantageous if you invest in paid training to learn more about this industry. If you master this skill, it won’t be long before you make your first six-digit earnings.
Be a Graphic Designer
If you are someone who is into design and you are a creative person by nature, you can be a graphic designer. You can monetize your skills by offering services based on a client’s needs. This is another freelancing skill in demand because every business needs a logo and uses promotional graphic materials for marketing its product effectively. And this is where your talent in design pays off. There are a lot of services a graphic designer can offer aside from the business branding essentials.
You can also be hired to design a website, create digital illustrations for magazines and blogs, design book covers, do interior illustrations, create gift cards, and/or edit existing graphics or photos using graphic design software such as Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, In Design, CorelDraw, and other programs that would let you sharpen your skills as a designer and earn from home.
Be a Social Media Manager
Do you love browsing social media and are an expert on it? Then, use it as your leverage and start making money from it. Be a social media manager for a company, business, or any organization that needs it. This kind of job is fitting for the millennials since their generation is very much exposed and is equipped to use today’s gadgets, technology, and the internet.
A social media manager is in charge of planning and executing a calendar of social posts across Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. They are also the ones who strategize and implement action plans to increase a brand’s engagement with the intention of growing awareness and, ultimately, sales. You can take advantage of many different tools to make your work as a social media manager easier. Try out Buzzsumo, Buffer, Hootsuite, and more.
Be a Voice Over Artist
Have you ever been told that you have a beautiful speaking voice? Then, use your advantage and be a voice-over artist. You can earn from home by doing radio advertisements, film or video narrators, commercial voiceovers, podcasts, and other projects that are in need of a voice-over. Videos in business promotions have been very effective because of the engagement they bring to a brand. Audiences find it easier to watch than just to read titles and captions. That is why the need for voice-over talents has become in demand.
If you do it in the comfort of your home, you might need to invest in a good microphone. It’s also essential to find a quiet spot in your home so that no unnecessary noise can be heard during your voiceovers. You might also want to develop your skills by watching and taking lessons online. By doing so, you can provide quality outputs that’ll lead you to more clients and even referrals.
Be an Online Tutor
Being an online tutor has been one of the most known ways to earn online and at home. You can tutor any subject you are most knowledgeable at, or you can also be an ESL teacher if you’re most confident in teaching English. Students, young professionals, and even stay-at-home moms can do this. Some companies won’t require you to have a degree in teaching before you can be hired. You need a stable internet connection, a headset with a microphone, and a laptop. They will be the ones who will provide the modules you’ll use in teaching. If teaching is your passion, you can try this gig. Explore platforms and companies that offer online tutoring jobs, such as Tutors.com, Magic Ears, Chegg Tutors, 51Talk, Acadsoc, and more.
Be a Bookkeeper
Are you someone who is good at numbers and has an attention to detail? Bookkeeping might be a good freelance job for you. It is one of the most profitable skills today as most businesses are in need of people who will help track and monitor their finances so they’ll know if it is properly spent. It’s different and much more accessible than accounting and doesn’t require certification to be doing this job. Unlike accountants, bookkeepers often take charge of a business’s daily financial health. Their tasks include paying bills, collecting payments on invoices, updating financial records, and creating reports. You must also familiarize yourself with some platforms to help make your job easier as a bookkeeper. Check out Xero, FreshBooks, SurePayroll, QuickBooks Online, and more.
Be a Video Editor
Nowadays, vlogging isn’t just entertainment for some. Many people have made it their career and another source of income. More than 37 million YouTube channels are out there, and they’re only growing stronger. There are 300 hours of videos being posted on YouTube every minute. Because of this, video editors have become an in-demand skill now more than ever. If you are skilled in video editing or it’s something you are interested in learning, now is the best time to pursue this career.
Aside from editing vlogs, you can also use this skill in doing explainer videos for a business product or service promotion. Videos are also handy for marketing, educational, and informational purposes. You will never run out of clients, especially now that everything is done online, such as school, work, and business. Adobe Premiere, After Effects, Final Cut Pro, Corel Video Studio, and Pinnacle Studio are just some of the video editing software you need to master.
Be a Project Manager
If the things mentioned above don’t resonate with you, but you have good leadership skills, you can be a project manager. A project manager is someone who is in charge of overseeing a project from start to finish. This is an essential skill because there’s always a project or campaign that needs to be managed in every business, company, or organization for it to be successful. You can be hired to manage an event, corporate gathering, an organizational campaign, or any business project.
Project managers are responsible for planning, initiating, executing, monitoring, and completing the projects. They are also expected to manage and motivate team members and communicate the status of project milestones to the key stakeholders. Building a comprehensive work plan and managing the budget for projects are also included in their many responsibilities. So if you are an organized person, a good communicator, an expert at multitasking, and have strong leadership skills, you can be qualified to do this freelance work.
Takeaway
Working online to earn from home may be a new concept for some, but it doesn’t mean there’s no money here. If you know this industry, you’ll discover that employment opportunities here are endless. While 8 to 5 workers worry about the security of tenure, freelancers in the WFH set-up create jobs that will sustain them for a long time. Join the freelance community today and start earning from the comforts of your home.
Hope this helps! If you want more ways to earn from home online, I suggest you read our article about how to earn money from home without investment. You can also read our blog about the side hustles you can try. Happy hustling!
Angeline Licerio
Angeline Licerio is the blogger behind Dollarmize.com. After working online as a writer and SEO strategist, she decided to start this blog to give advise to people who would like to earn money online. She is also the founder of SEO Tutorials for FREE, a Facebook community that helps aspiring freelancers and SEO specialists to kickstart their work from home journey.
