There are more opportunities to make money online than ever before. Freelance and remote work positions have expanded greatly over the past decade, with an incredible amount of workers taking on these kinds of positions instead of a normal 9-to-5.
If the idea of working in your pajamas from your couch sounds appealing, looking into these opportunities is something you should consider. These positions often pay just as well (or maybe even better!) than some of the more traditional job titles you may be looking at.
However, do you know how to work from home? While it may sound like a dream, there is a lot that those new to the idea may have to adjust to. Read on and we’ll walk you through what you need to know.
Pros and Cons of Working From Home
There are many reasons why people are taking advantage of the many work-from-home opportunities that are available in today’s workforce. Many of the benefits have probably already occurred to you.
For one, working from home means you don’t have to deal with a commute to work. This saves you time, stress, and money. The only commute you have to worry about is dragging your butt from the bed to the kitchen table.
You also don’t have to worry about dressing up, buying attire for the office, or putting on any make-up. You won’t have anyone to impress but your family or roommates. In this way, every day can be casual Friday.
However, there are some disadvantages as well. Your partner or housemates will likely rely on you to do things around the house while you’re home, whether it be taking the dog out or picking up packages.
When you work from home, you also have to be in charge of and pay for all your equipment in many cases. If your computer runs into a glitch, you’ll have to take the time to get it fixed and likely foot the bill as well.
Working from home also means you won’t be leaving the house much. It’s easy to get a little stir crazy when nothing is pushing you out the door.
How to Find a Work-From-Home Position
There so many different industries that utilize the help of remote workers today. That means that no matter your background or experience, you can likely find a position that you could be a great fit for.
1. Manage Airbnb Listings for Property Owners
There are many property owners out there that want to make income from their homes or apartments, but don’t want to spend time doing so. Running an Airbnb page can be surprisingly time-consuming, after all.
That’s why there’s some real money to be made in managing property owners’ Airbnb properties and listings. Many owners will be happy to cut you a share of the profits if you’re willing to do the work of coordinating with guests and answering questions.
This is purely digital work, so you don’t even have to be based in the same place as the property, although that might make your client feel more comfortable.
While most of my properties are long-term rentals, I do own and operate an AirBnB property that is a beach house in Virginia. Having someone manage your listing, check on the property, communicate with the cleaners and answer visitor questions can be extremely helpful.
It’s also nice to have someone checking up on your competitors’ listings to assess what differentiates your property and what you can add or do to secure more listings from high quality visitors.
I have no relationship with either of these courses, but they are examples of courses that will quickly train you on how to manage AirBnB listings for properties owners, so you can stay at home in your pajamas:
2. Get Into Video Editing
Video is a massively powerful marketing tool. It’s no secret that brands of businesses of all sizes are looking to capitalize on ways to attract customer attention.
Best of all, today in 2020, you no longer need to know your way around Adobe Premiere or Final Cut. You only need to be able to use your iPhone or other device to edit, splice and craft beautiful video. Meaning, you can edit videos right from your smartphone with no experience and only a bit of practice.
Because most business owners don’t know that video editing has become this user-friendly (or if they do, they don’t want to spend the time doing it), you can quickly have a profitable skill on your hands. Simply approach online or offline businesses to lock down a number of video editing projects.
Use that money right and you could become a millionaire in no time.
3. Flex Your Muscles in Copywriting
If you’re no video editor, there are still other ways you can get paid to help some big businesses and brands. The marketing branches of these companies need to hire someone to write the words that their consumers will read.
That might be e-mail blasts, product descriptions, blog posts, or any number of consumer-facing content options. If you’re an adaptable and creative writer, they may be interested in you.
While some people think they have to be the world’s best copywriter to get hired, that is simply not true. You only have to be better than the person you are replacing, who in many cases is a business owner whose time is better spent on other tasks.
Also, there are lots of great copywriting books and online courses you can buy for only a small amount of money ($10-15 for books or $100-300 for most courses).
Remember, to become more valuable to the marketplace, YOU need to become more valuable, so don’t be scared to spend a small amount of money on learning this awesome skill.
4. Start an Online Store
If you have something to sell, there are certainly people out there that will buy it. Creating and maintaining a digital storefront can be an insanely fun way to make money from the comfort of your own home. You don’t even have to sell physical goods.
Are you passionate or knowledgeable about a particular topic? Then create up a helpful guide, e-book or course for people and sell it to them. Selling a digital product will keep all of your operating costs low, and will make it much easier for you to make a quick profit.
Plus, with platforms like Shopify, starting an online store has never been easier.
Or, you can list your products on Amazon. While there is more competition from other sellers on Amazon, there is also an insane amount of people shopping on the site every single day and Amazon is doing an insanely good job of its site optimizing for voice search, which I believe will position it as the market leader for years to come.
Again, you can learn these skills easily through YouTube, an online course, or by finding a mentor. It’s definitely possible, because I’ve been working from home for more than a decade!
These are just a few of the kinds of jobs that are available out there. If you take a look around, there’s sure to be many more that might be perfect for you. All it takes is a little searching, applying, and adjusting to your new lifestyle.
5. High Ticket Sales
If you learn sales skills, you will always have money. To learn sales, you’ll need to understand the sales process, which involves prospecting, fact finding, handling objections, closing and follow-up.
What most people don’t know is that sales is a skill that can easily be learned, and sales people who sell high-ticket products can easily make $100,000 to $250,000 per year.
Again, this skill set doesn’t require a college degree and can be learned within a few months of dedicated study.
There a dozens of books that teach sales or you can learn this skill-set from the sales training expert, Grant Cardone.
Working From Home as a New Way of Life
If you’re looking to change your lifestyle this year, it’s worth learning how to work from home. Remote positions like the ones listed above can provide both convenience and a serious paycheck.
Ready to make this your best year yet? Let me know your goals in comments.