Find Yourself Thinking What Can I Do Sitting at Home? Try Taking Up an Online Job: 10 Well Paying Online Jobs and 3 New Work Skills to Polish (2020)

Are you the person who needs a 9 to 5 desk job? Or you prefer working on your terms sitting at home? College students look forward to earning some more pocket money. They have started working from home too. Of late, several professionals prefer a flexible work schedule. Due to the economic downturn, many organizations are opting for casual employees.

There are various other desperate situations also, like the recent outbreak of COVID-19 that has made employees of multiple industries sit back at home. While most of the employees need to work from home, some of them have time for some additional work to earn a few quick bucks. We will now have a sneak peek into some of the jobs that you can do from home.

When you have free time at home, why not work on a project or a job by yourself. However, before embarking on the route to work from home, you must have an overview of the skills you possess. Maybe you need to brush up on your skills. Or, perhaps you need to add on to your skills. You also need to choose suitable jobs that will give you the fulfilment you required.

If you are an expert in a particular field, you can undertake online lessons on that topic. There are various professional courses that multiple websites have on offer. Sites like upGrad and Udemy provide such options. However, before that, you will need to create an interactive video of that topic. It will require you to either have the video created by a third-party, or you may create it yourself using the various video creation and available edition software.

You may also create such video sessions for school syllabi and conduct courses online. There are various websites where you can impart education. You can start by providing some free video tutorials and after that, go for the paid ones.

Many professionals are letting go of their cushy jobs and opting to be a freelancer. The significant chunk of such work is related to website and software creation. There are also work for graphic designers and digital marketers. You need to make a profile on a freelancing platform. There are many of them to choose from; viz. Fiverr, Upwork, Freelancer, PeoplePerHour, Guru, etc.

Most of these platforms are paid sites, but they do have a free subscription too. You will need to bid for projects and showcase your previous experience for a particular skill. A significant benefit of these platforms is that enforceable contracts protect you and employers need to put a requisite amount of money in an escrow account at the start of the project.

Were you of the view that blogs are only written when people have nothing else to do? Or it is only the prerogative of people with a master in the language. You were wrong! Blogging can lead to exponential growth. You can spread your wings in a topic of your choice. You need to select a topic of your choice to write on. It is crucial that you have a clear understanding of the topic. If you are a health and fitness freak, you could write articles on workouts. If you are a sports fan, you may write articles about your favourite sports. And you can work at your own free time.

Now how do you make money? You need to start by leasing out the website for ads, or you may become an affiliate partner for a brand. There are various websites like Popads, Propeller Ads, Infolinks, etc. that help bloggers by reaching out to them and requesting them for ads. Alternatively, you may also opt for the Google Adsense programme. However, it has its criteria before you can sign up.

Organisations need to undertake market research to understand the responses of the target market. Various websites act as a platform for businesses as well as pollsters to meet. You can sign up on different polling websites like Lightspeed Consumer Panel, Survey Monkey, Pinecone Research, SurveySpot, etc. that pays you with redeemable points on the successful completion of a research questionnaire.

You will need to work through several such polls to be able to come up with anything substantial. For some polls, it could be points that vary according to the depth of the survey. For other polls, it could be gift cards as compensation.

If you have experience in handling the administration of a large organisation, then the role of a virtual assistant is ideal for you. Small business owners mainly require it, and they recruit virtual assistants on a contract, ideally on a per hour basis. Your responsibilities could include screening calls and organising meetings, maintaining the calendars up to date, responding to messages and emails and sending relevant information to the client. It could also include basic clerical tasks as well as compiling periodic business reports. If you have digital marketing experience, you may also help your client in SEO and social media activities.

You will need to have a workspace with a desktop or a laptop and a broadband internet connection. You also need a landline connection and procure an antivirus along with a secure email connection, but Gmail should serve your purpose. And also, a PayPal account to receive payments.

Are you an excellent graphic designer? If yes, there are a lot of jobs for freelancers. You can either sign up to one of the freelancing websites or may have your clients. Businesses, small and large, need to undertake marketing campaigns from time to time. Some of them also need to revamp their logos and marketing material. Its is where an experienced creative designer can help.

You need to have the right eye for design and should be creative. You must also be well conversant with the designer software like Photoshop or CorelDraw. Ideally, you must have a subscription on the photography sites to help you in your work.

Smaller companies may not have the resources to undertake a full-blown IT team on their payrolls. Neither, can they go to the IT biggies for help with their software. It is where freelancers come into the picture. Freelancers are usually roped in for testing of software as well as websites.

The UI for most websites does not look good. They are not according to global best practices. It is where UI experts can help by providing consultancy about how to improve the UI to make it enticing for the visitors. If you have experience in understanding and testing software and apps, it could be megabucks for you. However, you will need to have the experience as well as proper setup at your home, and it could mean some initial investment from your end as well.

These days, people look forward to customised presents for their friends and family. Handcrafted gifts are in vogue. It requires a particular skill to put yourself into the shoes of your client and understand the idea that they have in mind. Based on their ideas, you will need to come up with a craft that would suit their likes. It involves an array of activities, from designing to colour selection and finally, the materials that would go into making the item.

It is entirely different from what we have discussed until now. You will need a small studio of your own, and it could even be without a laptop. A high-end smartphone would suffice. Do keep in mind the number of hours you put in and the cost of the components that you put in to make the gift. At the end of it all, you need to make a profit. Do have a PayPal account to receive client payments.

It is a relatively new profession, but you should be obsessed with social media to be an influencer. You should bring your knowledge to a level that you have not hundreds but thousands of followers. Your followers trust and admire you, and you are the light bearer for brands. You must be skilled enough to promote brands passionately.

Your skills can be manifold, all dependent on the social media channel. If it is on Instagram, you must be a great photographer and should be a good editor too. If it is YouTube, you must be able to post great videos. Do keep in mind that influencers are akin to a celebrity and your followers will not come within a few days. You have to continue work for some time, maybe years before you have an army of followers.

If you are skilled in different languages, you can work as a translator. While jobs in the field can be few, it brings in a lot of money as skilled resources are few. The job is also vulnerable to automation, but businesses and educational institutions still prefer humans doing the translation job. Earnings can vary, but it is suggested that you work with various freelancing platforms like Upwork, Gengo, Unbabel, etc. Once you gain experience, you can charge a premium.

While sitting back at home, you can also brush up your skills or add more capabilities to your kitty. It will help you in your career in the long run. You may also work from home and earn some quick bucks after these courses. These courses are available online, hence, you can continue to learn while you make money.

You can learn new software or upgrade your knowledge to the latest version of a software with which you have already worked. There are various websites like Udemy, EDX and LinkedIn Learning that offers an array of software certificate courses from which you can choose.

You can also take time to learn a new language while you are doing a job as per your skills. Various websites have online courses for multiple languages. The courses come with a test at the end of the curriculum and provide you with a certificate.

Marketing has undergone a sea of changes as most of the marketing is done online. Web designers can learn about digital marketing as an add-on skill. Digital marketing encompasses various activities, viz. search engine marketing, social media marketing, email marketing, content management, etc. Numerous online certificate courses are available.

Working from home may mean personal freedom, but it is not without risks. We will discuss some of the risks faced by freelancers.