How to Make Money Online
We might not be multi-platinum hip-hop recording artists, but some of us can relate to Drake when he said, “I only love my bed and my mama, I’m sorry.” As much fun as it can be to build camaraderie with coworkers in an office, it’s tough to turn down a job where you can make money from home without ever getting out of your pajamas.
There are a lot of articles about how you can make money from home. The problem is that most of those pieces are either one-offs (such as selling your stuff on eBay) or short-term solutions (such as freelancing).
Your ambition to have a job that provides you benefits and regular income while never leaving your home can be realized. As the world increasingly relies more on the internet, it’s easier than ever to make money from home -- or from anywhere in the world.
If you were an English major, you may have heard some version about how the degree is useless or makes it hard to get a job. However, as the entire world shifts to online, new avenues are opening for writers to work from home or a coffee shop every day.
Writing roles can come in any industry. Businesses need writers to create sales and marketing copy as they create and update online stores. They need writers who can provide clean, clear instructions for a digital manual (which falls under “technical writing”) or just good, valuable content. Full-time writing jobs in advertising, marketing, branded content (B2B and B2C) and sales are definitely available, because businesses are always changing and updating their on their websites and other media where branding and messaging takes place.
Or, if you’d prefer more something more editorial and less salesy, you can find that, too. Media companies (including Entrepreneur) offer digital writing and editing positions for the digital publication, which essentially can be accomplished from anywhere in the world -- as long as you have an internet connection. In fact, we have some writers at Entrepreneur who work from Paris or their home offices instead of the office in New York City.
Bestselling novelist Neil Gaiman once said that there were three attributes of a good writer: The writer’s work is always on time; the writer’s work is always good; and the writer is always pleasant. Gaiman said that a successful writer needed any two out of these three qualities.
However, the copious amount of emails that editors and companies receive on a daily basis means it’s easier than ever to tell someone no -- or not reply at all. To be a writer means you have to get used to rejection but also that you have to go the extra mile. Don’t settle for having two out of these three qualities, as Gaiman suggested. If you want to make yourself irresistible to businesses, do your best to be pleasant, competent and on-deadline.
You’ve probably heard the overused term “pivot to video” at some point, which is both a joke about and an acceptance of the fact that many publishers are pushing their resources into video. Video advertisements are more expensive to buy than banner ads because they lead to higher click-through rates, which means a business can potentially make a lot more money through video than through other forms of content. So, if you can create great videos that make people want to watch and that drive ad revenue or subscriptions back to a website, you can become a very valuable asset.
If you are going to be working on a computer all day, it makes sense that you should be able to do so remotely. That’s part of why computer science workers tended to work from home more often than any other employees in any other field, according to a Quartz study.
If you are working for a global company, like Google, the business probably has already established an infrastructure for interoffice communication, which makes it easy for remote workers. Plus, staying at home means the office -- which might go to extreme lengths to lure talented tech workers -- can save on free lunches, snacks and perks. It’s a win-win for both employers and workers.
With so many businesses utilizing remote workers, it makes sense that they have a remote assistant for the company. Virtual assistants can organize someone’s personal life, be it with appointments or booking travel, and also manage communications between employees or between an employee and his or her clients. The bottom line is that a good virtual assistant can keep everyone on task, make the workday better and shorter and has strong enough communicate and technology skills to perform this role remotely.
Social media isn’t just a fun thing you do with your friends. It’s a competitive marketing space where thousands of brands and businesses are competing for, often times, the same audience. If you can help a business get a leg up in that environment, you can carve out a valuable position within a company. However, one of the most important aspects of a good social media manager is someone who understands the tone and voice of the business he or she represents. For example, a social media manager at Wendy’s should use a different tone from at McDonald’s, even though they’re both fast-food burger restaurants.
When you work remotely, it’s easy to find yourself disconnected from the company you work for. But being a social media manager is all about staying in tune with the business -- knowing what’s coming up, why it needs to be promoted and why the audience should be excited about it, along with knowing which tags to use and hitting the right tone.