The world is changing! Are you ready to keep up with it?
Till a year ago, working online from home was a thing done by very few people like digital nomads, stay-at-home moms, and full-time students. But the pandemic has shaken the world up. As people lost jobs and more people started working from home, the internet era is here faster than we expected.
More people are online than ever before and so there are more opportunities than ever before. I am here to help you find the right opportunity for you.
In this article, I am going to be discussing online work from home ideas that can potentially turn into a full-time business or career. This list will not include things like online surveys and micro-jobs that just pay pennies. We are going to be talking about real stuff here!
Table of Contents
1. DropShipping
Dropshipping is an interesting business that has come up in the internet era. You don’t need a product of your own, you don’t need a place to store products and you don’t have to deliver any product. But you still make money by selling products. But HOW?
There are so many manufacturers and retailers selling all kinds of products. As things are going online, it is hard for them to drive people to their business. So, they can use as many ways as possible to get eyes on their products. This is where you come in as a drop shipper.
You open an online store listing other people’s products. When someone places an order in your store, you convey the order to the retailer/manufacturer of that product. After that, they deliver the product to your customer. You get a cut for facilitating the purchase.
This business doesn’t take a huge investment. But you need to be careful about picking the products you want to sell and the suppliers. Remember you are going to be dealing with the customers.
You need to set up a website or use platforms like Shopify to open your online store. Put up your products for sale and start marketing them online. The profit potential is high in this business but can vary with the products you sell. You can either sell few products of high-profit-margin or many of low-profit margin. Choose wisely!
2. Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate Marketing is another amazing business model that you can consider. It is something similar to drop shipping but with even lesser responsibilities.
Here is how it works: You enter into an affiliate program with a company or merchant whose products you want to sell. They give you a unique link. You make people buy the merchant’s product by clicking this unique link. For every purchase that happens through the link, you get a commission.
Easy enough right? A lot of bloggers, social media influencers, and YouTubers use Affiliate marketing to make money. You can take this route. Start creating content, get people to notice you, and trust you. Then you market these products to them.
Or there are other routes if you are not a fan of this one. You can start running ads for products whose profit margin is considerably large (because ads cost money). Another option is to start becoming active on forums where your potential buyers are active (for example Quora). You give answers to their queries on these forums and can drop your affiliate link with it.
If you want an even more convenient way to make it as an affiliate marketer, you can sign up with Wealthy Affiliate. It is a one-stop solution for anyone who wants to become an affiliate marketer. They teach you everything and provide all the tools you need as well!
3. Sell your products online
Selling others’ product isn’t your thing? Well, you can always sell your products.
Now, let’s think about what you can sell! The answer is ANYTHING. You can sell absolutely anything as long as people are ready to buy it. Or if you are clever enough to make people buy it.
From decoration items to clothes, from accessories to lucky stones, from furniture to food, the sky is the limit when it comes to what you can sell online.
You don’t even have to sell physical products. Digital products are a rage now. You can sell templates, printables, eBooks, etc. The perk of selling digital products is that you only need to make it one time but can sell it a million times with zero additional efforts.
There are many options as to how to sell your products too. You can sell it through giant online e-commerce platforms like Amazon and eBay. Or you can sell it through drop shippers in your locality. Or you can create your e-commerce store to sell your products. Or you can open a social media page for your product and sell your product through that.
Phew! The options are endless! And so is the potential to make money from home through this option!
4. Freelance Writing
Have you heard the phrase ‘Content is King’? It is a common phrase used by people in the internet market. For businesses to flourish in the online space, they constantly need to create content. They have to keep their customers engaged and build trust through it.
People online are either looking for information or entertainment. Businesses have to provide both or at least one of them to make their potential customers notice them. There are various types of content that businesses can create and an important one among them is the written content.
They need to constantly upload blog posts on their website to ensure that they rank on google. They have to be active on social media for which they need post ideas and captions written. They need to write copies for ads. Even for creating videos, they need a scriptwriter.
That is where you can come in as a freelance writer and work online sitting at the comfort of your home. All you need to do is get a basic understanding of how writing works in the online space and have good language skills.
You can start your freelance career through freelancing platforms like Upwork, Fiverr, Freelancer, etc. Or you can try and establish yourself as a freelance writer on social media platforms and start pitching to your clients.
5. Internet Marketer
Everything is happening on the internet today. Isn’t it? So, is marketing.
Gone are the days where billboards, posters, newspapers, TV, and radio ads were the major channels of marketing. Today the hottest place to do marketing is the internet because that’s where all the customers are constantly present.
If marketing interests you, it would be very exciting for you to work as an internet marketer. There are so many aspects to learn about. There is an option for you to specialize in one thing like Google ads, Facebook ads, or social media marketing. Or you can learn all of them and work as a complete internet marketing consultant.
This work is especially interesting if you get bored with work that is mundane and repetitive. The online space is constantly changing and evolving. You, as an internet marketer need to keep tabs on this and keep yourself updated to stay in the game.
To start as an Internet Marketer, do some online courses on it. There are plenty of blogs that you can read and videos you can watch for free to learn about internet marketing as well. Make use of them and learn everything you can. Then you can find your clients in the same way as a freelance content writer.
6. Social Media Manager
Do you love using social media? If yes, this could be a great career option for you!
So many companies, small businesses, and individuals are trying to establish their presence on social media. From an alternate channel of marketing, it has now become essential. But building an audience and trust on social media doesn’t happen easily.
One has to constantly create content, update oneself on the latest trends, and interact with the audience as much as possible. Many businesses and individuals do not have the time for this. So, what do they do? They hand over these tasks to a Social Media Manager.
All you need to do to become a Social Media Manager is to get a better understanding of the social media platforms: what content works the best, how to schedule content, how to make use of the insights, and how you can engage with the audience to build trust. Then you are all set to apply for these jobs. An online course certificate would go a long way.
You can be a social media manager who deals with many social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. Or you can pick one platform and specialize in it. Either way, the demand for this role is very high!
7. Virtual Assistant
Remember that traditional assistant who assists people with their tasks like scheduling meetings, answering calls, and stuff? There is an online version for this job: Virtual Assistant.
As a virtual assistant, you can sit in the comfort of your sofa and help others with their everyday tasks and make money. On average Virtual Assistants make $16 per hour. This can increase with experience and skill.
What skills do you need to be a virtual assistant? Well, the only must is to know how to navigate your device and the internet. Many jobs are as easy as answering and sending out emails. Some jobs would require you to have particular skills like editing or handling social media. But you can always learn these along the way!
Virtual Assistant jobs can be found on freelancing platforms like Upwork, Freelancer, or Fiverr. Or if you want to become a full-time virtual assistant you can look up any job listing websites like Indeed and Monster.
8. Online Coaching/ consulting
Coaching/Consulting is a field that has gained popularity in recent times.
If you are an expert in a field or good at something, you can choose to coach or consult people. People online are constantly looking for help and guidance. They are ready to pay you if you can give that to them.
There are lots of fields in which you can become a coach or a consultant. If you are good at writing you can become a writing coach. If you are capable of guiding people in life you can become a life coach. If you are well-versed in what works in social media you can become a social media consultant.
All you need to do is build trust among the people that you are an expert in the field you claim to be a coach in. Once you build the trust you will start getting clients. The best way to do this is to start posting content about the field giving free tips and hacks on any or multiple social media. This will help you build a following of prospective clients.
9. Graphic Designer
You remember more of what you see than what you read or hear. Do you agree?
Well, that’s the truth. We are better at taking in visual things than any other. When you see social media or even website, the content that gets more attention are those that are pleasing to the eyes. Some of these are photos and the others are graphics.
Graphic designers are those people who create beautiful graphic content. Examples of this content are infographics, brochures, printables, etc. Just like every business needs a content writer, they also need a graphic designer.
You need a few skills to become a graphic designer like basic editing software such as Adobe. You also need to have an eye for design and creativity. If you have both, no one can stop you from becoming a successful graphic designer who makes a ton of money.
With this job too, you can either choose to do it full-time from home or take up freelancing. You don’t even have to have any certificate for this. Create a few samples and start applying for jobs.
10. Online Tutor
Good at teaching? This one is for you!
Like I said people are constantly looking for help and guidance on the internet. More and more people are looking for education or tutoring also through the internet so that they can learn from the comfort of their home.
Some of the common things people look for a tutor are educational subjects, language, arts, or instruments. If you are good at any of these and love teaching, you can work from home online as a tutor. Get on one-on-one video calls with students and start teaching them.
Many platforms facilitate tutoring like TutorVista, VipKid, Homework Tutoring, etc. Or you can find your students and set up an online tutoring business.
11. Influencer/Content Creator
Mainstream entertainment is slowly dying out. Especially because people are losing the patience to watch ads. Now the main source of entertainment is social media.
People on social media are always hungry to consume more content. They want to follow real people, follow their journey, be entertained by them, and learn from them. As they keep following their journey over days and months, they come to trust the person.
This is how the Influencer concept works. You pick a niche you are good at- travel, cooking, fashion, gaming, or anything that you are passionate about. Start creating content that people will enjoy and can learn from. Slowly and steadily you will gain followers and have a community of people who will trust you.
Once you gain a considerable following, you can start doing brand deals or affiliate marketing. You can even start selling your products or services or do speaking gigs. The opportunities in this area are huge and so is the potential to make money.
12. Creating and selling online courses
If live tutoring isn’t your thing, you can record yourself teaching and sell it as an online course!
Online courses are a rage right now. Especially after the pandemic, people are starting to switch to online education and learning skills through online courses. From educational subjects to hobbies to skills, online courses are the best way to learn things. In this article itself, I have suggested many times to start with an online course. That is how helpful these courses are!
Pick something that you have good knowledge about. It could be a skill like video-editing, a hobby like knitting, or a soft skill like productivity. Create an outline of the course. You can either record a video of yourself or give a voice-over and put up a slideshow for the video.
There are platforms like Udemy, Skillshare, etc, where you can put up your course for sale. Or you can create a website for your course. One biggest perk of selling an online course is that once you are done creating a course, the majority of your work is done. It can become your passive income source.
13. Vlogger
Did you know that video is the type of content that is watched the most?
People prefer watching videos over anything else to relax or learn. It is the thing that takes the least effort. Exactly, for this reason, social media platforms have also started promoting video content.
Vlogging is nothing but recording yourself going about your life. Of course, you cannot put your everyday mundane things over and over again and expect people to watch it. But if you have the creativity to make things interesting then this could be your thing. You can also vlog about your hobbies, your routine, travel, gaming, etc.
YouTube is one of the favorite platforms for vloggers. As you get more views and watch time, you will start making money on YouTube. All you need is a good quality camera and some editing skills. Some so many people have made it big in this. However, if you are planning to make money immediately, this isn’t the way.
These are the major online work from home ideas that can become your full-time career. When you put time, effort, and dedication into these, there is a potential to make it big in these areas.
So, pick one among these that you are most interested in and start working on it. Within a few months, you will start earning good money in the comfort of your home.
