The ongoing COVID-19 situation continues to reshape the way many of us think and feel about employment. As people began doing their jobs from home, lots of us found a new work-life balance that we’d never experienced before. Little surprise then, that so many people are quitting their 9-5s to take up freelance opportunities. If you’re thinking about joining the revolution but aren’t sure how, here are some pointers that could inspire you.
The Great Resignation
It’s being dubbed “The Great Resignation” by the media. Many employees simply do not want to return to their old office jobs. Vast swathes of the workforce have realised that their lives are better. They don’t need to waste hours commuting every day. There is more time to spend with the family. Many of those whose employers insisted on returning to the office have simply decided to quit. But what are these people doing instead? Here are some of the most common ways to make money working from home.
Affiliate Marketing
A great low-cost, low-risk way to start making money at home, is with affiliate marketing. Here, the idea is to sell other people’s products and services in exchange for commission. A common example is with online marketplaces such as Amazon. Choose your niche, which could be literally anything, and find ways to sell.
Let’s say you start with pet toys. You register with the Amazon affiliate program, find the affiliate links for the toys you want to sell and start to create content. You could write reviews of the products on a blog, or better yet, film them in use. Create a YouTube channel, a website or use another medium to promote the products. When people click through your affiliate links to purchase the product, you’ll earn a cut of the revenue.
It’s not just Amazon though. There are a myriad of potential affiliate programs in niches as diverse as fashion, technology and gambling. Take the latter, for example. You often see websites which help people to find the best online casinos. They provide written reviews of each wagering site. These articles teach people about what payment methods can be used, the type of license each casino has and the number of games available. They share information about welcome bonuses, this type of thing. It is just an elaborate form of affiliate marketing.
Copywriting
Writing is a great place to start out in the world of freelancing. Copywriting is the art of selling products and services through language. Every single business, no matter what is being sold, needs a website. Many need to create newsletters and advertisements. All of these require writers and all of them will pay you to do it for them.
You can sell your writing services on a whole host of freelancing platforms. Sites such as People Per Hour, Freelancer and Fiverr help put you in touch with potential clients for a fee. This is a simple but powerful way to start building leads.
But it’s not just other companies that need a writer in order to help them make money. You can even make money from writing blogs of your own. If you put out enough content and build an audience, you can easily monetise it with tools like Google AdSense. Furthermore, you can sell advertising space on your blog in the form of banners. You can even write for sites such as Medium, who will pay you for your written content.
Graphic Design
Much like copywriting, there are countless other creative services in high demand at the moment. Graphic design is one of the best paying jobs on freelancing websites like Contra and Upwork. The logic is the same. So many people are starting businesses and trying to sell their products but just don’t have the time to spend on the marketing. You can monetise your skills to satisfy their needs and you don’t need to work for a boss in an office to do that.
Even if you don’t have any formal qualifications, you can still start out today. There is a glut of resources out there on the internet to help you learn the required skills. Courses, YouTube tutorials, articles; and much of it is completely free. There are no excuses not to get started out with freelancing and working for yourself.