7 Ways to Work at Home Online

If you crave greater flexibility with your job and want to find a way to work at home online, then you’ve come to the right place. There are numerous options available to those who are looking for full-time employment, or perhaps a little extra cash each month.

Today’s digital dependence means there are plenty of opportunities to find meaningful work with your laptop and a reliable internet connection.

It’s hard to deny the benefits when you find work at home online. Benefits such as:

Create greater work-life balance
Greater flexibility with schedule
No more wasted time commuting to work
Save money on gas and eating out

This doesn’t mean the work is any easier when it’s online. But it does mean you have to put thought into finding the right jobs or side hustles to fit your personality. Here are 7 ideas (and then some) to get you started as you search for the right online work.

1. Digital marketing agency

If you want to work with clients to increase their online presence, then a digital marketing agency may be right for you. With today’s ever changing digital landscape, businesses rely on digital marketing agencies to handle everything from website design and social media accounts, to pay-per-click advertising and SEO services.

A digital marketing agency has a low cost startup, with only a laptop and a website needed to get started. You do however, need a website that shows your capabilities to your potential clients.

The key to a successful venture is to pick a niche. You can’t be everything to everybody. It helps to pick categories you excel in and enjoy. But it’s also important to choose which businesses you’d like to target. Targeting your specialty and the right business keeps you from spinning your wheels as you’re getting started.

Your clients pay you per package or project. But you get to decide how many clients you want to take on at once and the amount of work you devote to each one.

Here are the steps to take to start a digital marketing agency.

2. Social media manager

Do people come to you for help with posting on Instagram? Have you mastered the art of TikTok, including those awkward dances everyone seems to love? If so, consider helping influencers or small businesses with their social media needs as a way to work at home online.

Creating content and managing social media posting schedules is a task that takes quite a bit of time for some, and a manager solves this dilemma.

Here’s the truth — small businesses know they need to be on social media. But they are busy running all aspects of their company and that means social media may take a backseat. Take this task off someone’s to-do list and you can get paid for being social.

One of the best aspects of social media management is the amount of work available. Think about all the social media channels a business could use help with:

Facebook
Instagram
YouTube
Snapchat
TikTok
Twitter
LinkedIn
Pinterest
And more!

The best way to get started is to add this service to your own social profiles and start networking. You can network by commenting as often as possible, creating your own stories, and sharing other people’s pages. To start out, you may offer to manage a business’ social media for free, just to build your portfolio. Once established, you can start charging for your expertise.

You can charge by the hour or create packages for clients. According to Salary.com, the average hourly wage is $50, which means you have lots of potential to make good money offering this service. You can get started pretty quickly too.

Here’s how to get started as a social media manager.

3. Freelancer

A freelancer is someone who provides services to individuals or businesses on a contractual or as-needed basis. You can set your rates as an hourly worker, or paid per project. It’s also one of the best ways to earn money online because you have complete control over what you say yes or no to, and can earn as much or as little as you want.

To get started with freelance services, create a profile on websites such as Upwork or Fiverr to land entry-level jobs. As you build your portfolio, then you can start networking and applying for bigger, better paying freelance jobs.

Another avenue to get started with freelancing is to create your own website and use it as your portfolio. Then you have something professional looking to point to when you’re applying for gigs.

Freelancing isn’t limited to one type of industry. Here are numerous examples of how you can work at home online and build up your own business:

Copywriting
Calligraphy/hand-lettering
Website design
Update social profiles
Teaching
Transcribing
Consulting
Video creation
Photography
Graphic design
Editing
Proofreading

With freelancing, you begin earning money fairly quickly too. You are typically paid once a project is completed – although if it’s a large scale project, you can request partial payment up front.

4. Pinterest Virtual Assistant

If you’re passionate about using Pinterest to grow a business, you can focus solely on this skill and use it to become a Pinterest Virtual Assistant. This is someone who manages another business’ Pinterest account, and it’s a skill that is highly sought after.

A Pinterest VA doesn’t pin the latest pressure cooker recipes. A VA is responsible for multiple tasks on a Pinterest account, including:

Create the pinning strategy for the business
Create pins based on keywords and target audience
Creating pins and boards to incorporate a unique brand strategy
Schedule the pins
Create video pins
Review analytics and pin performance
Adjust and make changes to the strategy based on analysis

These are only a handful of tasks a PInterest VA might perform. You can take it a step further by becoming an expert specializing in specific Pinterest tasks, such as video pins, using a service such as Tailwind, or auditing business’ Pinterest boards.

Here’s how to get started as a Pinterest Virtual Assistant.

5. Sell digital products

If you want to get paid quickly and potentially even while you’re sleeping, then creating and selling digital products is another idea to work at home online.

The idea is simple: create a digital item, sell it on a platform of your choice, and charge money for a download.

And don’t worry – you don’t have to be an artistic genius to create something people want to buy. You simply need to create a product that brings value to someone. Ideas for digital products you can sell include:

Ebooks
How-to guides
Checklists
Templates
Stationary
Calendars
Menus
Journal pages
Organization tools
Labels
Patterns
Coloring pages
Photographs

As you can see, if you can dream it, you can probably get someone to download it and pay you money for it.

If you already have an existing website from a blog or e-commerce site, then adding digital downloads are a natural fit to your platform. If you don’t have your own site, sites such as Etsy or Shopify walk you through step-by-step on selling downloads on these platforms.

6. Create an online course

Nowadays, people have grown accustomed to the idea of online learning. If you have a particular subject or skill you are knowledgeable about, then you could turn this wisdom into a source of income by creating online courses.

Creating an online course is easier than you might think. First of all, you do not have to have a special degree or certification. You simply need to be able to talk intelligently about a particular subject or how to do something.

For instance, are you good at growing plants indoors? Are you great at meal preparation and planning for a family? What about specialty programs, such as Adobe or Microsoft products? All these examples point to the various subjects you can focus on to teach an online course.

If you are willing to put in the work up front, online courses do take time and research to plan. But once created, your income starts to flow when people pay for your course. Platforms such as Teachable and Udemy make it super easy to upload your course or create one from scratch. You can also add a course if you already have a website.

There’s also no limit to the number of you can create. This is yet another reason why creating online courses is an excellent way to earn money online.

Here’s how to create an online course.

7. Facebook advertising

We all know how much influence Facebook has in our lives. Businesses need to harness this influence and use it to create advertising campaigns directed towards the right audience. This is where Facebook advertising comes in.

Running a business’ Facebook ad campaign is one of our favorite ways to work at home online. These ads are highly targeted, and cost less than most other forms of advertising like radio or television. Plus, the ads let you drill down to a very specific target audience, so your client sees results sooner rather than later.

Facebook advertising needs a strategy and attention to detail. But once you learn how to create effective campaigns, then you can solicit this service to small businesses and get paid for your efforts.

If you want to expedite your learning then check out our Facebook Side Hustle Course. This course covers every aspect of a campaign from A to Z, so you don’t waste time guessing what may or may not work with Facebook ads.

If you can’t take a course right now, check out our free resources to get you started with the lucrative world of Facebook advertising:

Other ideas to find work at home online

There are several other ways to earn extra money from the comfort of your couch. While the following ideas aren’t technically work from home only, you can book these jobs while you’re on the go and build them around your schedule.

Rideshare driver: Companies like Uber and Lyft are in demand and giving people rides everywhere.
Childcare provider: Childcare is one service that will always be needed. With irregular working schedules, there is a great need for providers who are flexible with hours.
Complete tasks with TaskRabbit: Pass the background check and you can become a Tasker. Get paid to help people tackle their to-do lists with projects around the house.
Dog walking service: This service is not only flexible, but it continues to be in demand. Plus you get paid to hang out with dogs throughout the day.

The bottom line

Chances are, you have skills already mentioned here, you just need someone to show you how to put those skills to work for you! All of these ideas presented here are completely doable, without any special degree. If you’re willing to put the work in, then you can start making money online sooner than you think.

About Bobby Hoyt

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Blog