The past couple of years has presented a tremendous opportunity to explore various new ways to utilize one’s talents and make money from home. During that time, many have decided to use various social safety nets to quit their jobs and pursue their passions. Others, while given the opportunity to work from home for the first time in their careers have used their time saved from not having to commute or dress up for work and diverted it to side projects, also dubbed side hustles, or working as a part of the gig economy.
The phenomenon is rampant throughout the US today and is considered the best ways to make money at home. Astonishingly unheard of just a decade ago. These changes have impacted many other parts of our lives beyond how work is done. The ability to earn money by ridesharing has resulted in consumers’ deciding to delay the purchase of a car of their own. Many speculate that the trend to work from home allow many employees to explore other cities via Airbnb, thereby delaying settling down in any one area and purchasing a home.
The opportunity to make money at home has had such a strong impact that workers worldwide have resigned from their traditional office-based roles in large droves. Maybe it was the pandemic that crystalized thought around how finite life is. Or it made people realize how much productive time anyone really has in life, and they should devout more of that time to what they like doing or a dream deferred. Many older workers, being the most at risk from the pandemic, decided early on to retire choosing to spend their time with their loved ones. On a darker note, for many it was the inability to work due to an illness exacerbated by delayed treatment since most healthcare industry resources were allocated to fighting the pandemic.
Whatever the reason was to resign, the trend was so significant it is colloquially referred to as “the Great Resignation.” Now, as inflation rears its ugly head once again after four decades, just as market, and the wealth effects it spawns, are hitting new lows. People are reassessing returning to work, but not the office. As people look for the best ways to make money at home, we explore some areas people can utilize the skills they already have to do exactly that.
Freelancing
As remote work has become the norm, freelancing has become one of the best ways to make money at home. Forbes call it a societal shift. According to a survey of employers conducted by freelancing platform Upwork, 59% of employer plan to hire remote workers in the next six months. That statistic goes up to 60%, for employers planning out human resources over the next two years.
There are over 150 apps and platforms that allow for individuals to easily enter the gig economy, allowing them to make money at home. Remote work and freelancing today are still in their infancy, yet so commonplace that the sector is reminiscent of the development to workplace standards and rights codified during the 18th century. Today, key trends everyone is keeping an eye on are areas such as the expansion of freelancing to more sectors, having more platforms offer better pay, attracting more talent towards this mode of work, and offering more rights to workers of the gig economy.
Simultaneously, there is more acceptance among employers that are beginning to appreciate the benefits of allowing their employees to moonlight with side hustles. More are more companies are working with their employees to have appropriate disclosures in place so that they their primary job is prioritized and that there are no conflicts of interest. Furthermore, more employers are beginning to see the benefits associated with candidates who showcase their freelancing career in lieu of traditional work at a single company.
Employees are likely to leave if the ability to work from home is eliminated. Inflexible policies around remote work are one of the biggest contributors of dissatisfaction among employees. According to Bureau of Labor Statistics, almost forty-eight million people quit their jobs in 2021, up 33% from a year earlier. These trends are likely to further grow are more employers are cognizant of the transformation of work that has been accelerated over the last two years. And patience is wearing thin for many employees about their employers’ dogmatic view of working from home, 56% are only willing wait one-two months for employers to align workplace values with theirs before deciding to quit.
Virtual Assistant
Virtual assistants are what executive assistants were in old days of work, available primarily for, as the name suggests, executives. However, that role has been expanded by the advent of remote work and freelancing. It is no longer the prerogative of an executive to have an assistant but for anyone that may need it.
Today, many different people look to hire virtual assistants that can easily make money at home. Many different small business owners and even freelancers that manage multiple projects are recommended to have a virtual assistant to streamline workflows and administrative tasks.
The role has many meanings and different responsibilities depending on the industry of work. A virtual assistant for a YouTube v-logger may be responsible for managing various members such as script writers, video publishers, social medial planners, while also overseeing other tasks such as arranging interviews, collaborations, etc. Whereas a virtual assistant for a writer may be tasked with proofreading, vetting calls, reaching out to publishers, managing appointments, among other responsibilities.
Tutor
Tutoring is a growing field. It is one more area of work that is one of the best ways to make money from home as the sector transforms towards the digital, especially after students all over the world were unable to attend school or could only attend virtually.
Furthermore, demand of specific services cross national borders. Who better to help a child learn English and learn the proper colloquialism than someone from western countries? You don’t even have to be a teacher, just be able to help a student become a better, western-styled conversationalist. Apps such as Cambly are great options to help one get started with such services.
Throughout the developing world, academic success, and the ability to get into top universities is akin to career success. As such, demand for after-school programs, private tutoring, and other development skills that give students the leg up is extremely valuable in countries such as China and India. After the Chinese government banned “for-profit” private education centers earlier this year, many publicly listed educational institutions focusing solely on that took a massive financial hit. However, these changes can help individual tutors who wish to offer their services to fill the void left by such entities.
Online platforms such as VIPKid and Tutor.com are great platforms to offer tutoring services. However, it is important that you only offer your tutoring services in areas in which you have domain expertise. The end-goal is to offer optimal customer experience to have repeat customers and referral opportunities to continue making money from home.
Childcare
Old-fashioned childcare is one of the oldest and best ways to make money from home. Babysitting or broader childcare is very niche and in very high demand. Parents are often in need of someone who can watch over their children and have a broad range of experiences, ranging from various extracurricular activities, feeding, helping with homework. Anyone taking care of kids already has a great leg up on the competition. There are reports that babysitters are paid $35 per hour in some parts of the country due to a shortage of skill staff as well as an overall shortage of people willing to offer this service.
There is also freedom on what type of service you want to offer and how much time you’d like to dedicate to this service. Working parents can be targeted for all-day services, offering parents a full eight to nine hour childcare shifts. Alternative, you can target those parents that need assistance in after-school childcare or programs. Another service offering can be for parent’s date nights, so hours such as Friday evenings and weekends can also be offered to accommodate parents. These services can be combined at the childcare service.
At the end of the day, it is an actual business you’re starting to make money at home. Your time and services should be priced appropriately. Market research can easily be conducted by looking at what are charges of the services you plan to offer at similar childcare centers in your area. You must be careful to not underprice yourself, otherwise you’re faced with an influx of clients that you may not be able to serve to the best of your abilities.
The best way to make money at home with childcare services is to start with what you’re looking to earn and add onto that all the additional costs you’re likely to incur in running your business. You should be realistic on how much workload you can handle and if you may need to hire additional help. That can help you assess what you can charge per child every day.
Sell creative work
It has never been easier to make money from home by selling your creative work. This could include the photos you’ve taken, works of art, both physical and digital, and can even include your expertise in graphic design, whether that includes the selling of logos and corporate personas or involves the use of specific software, such as Adobe Illustrator or AutoCAD, to name a few.
There have been numerous platforms that have proliferated people tap into their creative side to build and sell products. You no longer need vast amounts warehouses and logistical expertise to create and sell your creative work. Platforms such as Shopify and Etsy are marketplaces that manage all of that and can offer expertise and advice on how to start up and manage your business from the comfort of your own home with limited startup costs.
Of course, these sites and marketplaces have their rules are take a portion of your sales. Creators don’t have to be specific to a specific site, your loyalty should rest only in your own offering. As such, it is best to slowly transition your business towards your own website. Although you may no longer have the expertise, integrations, and traffic of a large platform, it is expected that as your clientele builds, you may not need that anymore. Then you work truly by your own rules, and you get to keep 100% of your sales.
Consulting
Starting up a consultancy is another great option to make money at home. It is a great way to offer your professional expertise while you’re taking time off from work for whatever reason but simultaneously keeping your skills up to date and your mind sharp.
More and more professionals feel stifled by traditional office cultures requiring work from office or synchronous nine-to-five work. As more professionals exit the traditional workforce, they are choosing to remain active by offering their expertise on an ad-hoc basis. Many set up a more professional LinkedIn profile, or even their own website to showcase their full breadth of expertise and portfolio of work.
Consultancy work is a broad topic. It could include work such as mentoring other professionals that are still starting out in their careers or are relatively new in the next rung of their corporate ladder.
Advisory is another form of consultancy that is often needed. Simply because one is retired, does not mean they have no way of continuously contributing to teams. Leading nonprofit organizations and conducting fund raising activities have often been a tremendous use of skill of retired executives and bankers who expertise with finances and a vast network to assist with financing needs.
Many times, many professionals simply decide to continue utilizing their skills while also sharing their knowledge with a broader audience, often done with virtual classes. There has been tremendous opportunity for online classes offered via MOOCs, massive open online classes, in the past decade. Now even more entrants are looking to offer more focused and curated educational experiences.
Consultancies doesn’t necessarily mean it is for the retired or those looking to escape the regular nine-to-five. It is also a great method to transition into a new role. Very few people are comfortable leaving a role without understanding a new role to step into. Sometimes they may want to switch occupations or industries and either consulting or freelancing in those roles and sectors is a great with try them out and build expertise in advance before taking the leap.
Conclusion
The trend to make money from home has exploded over the past few years. Large cohorts of all age groups and income levels have decided to pursue personal passions are choose not to work at all, feeling comfortable with the savings they’ve built. Today, nearly half of all full-time employees in the US work from home. Almost two-third of American office employees work from home for some or all their work week.
Numerous opportunities are popping up to make money from home, ranging from freelancing, virtual assistance, tutoring, childcare, offering one’s expertise as consultancies, or offering one’s own creative handywork. There are so many new ways to make money at home. In fact, there are over 100 different apps and platforms that accommodate people throughout the world to make money from home.
Surprisingly, many of these platforms did not exist just a decade ago. It’s a classic chicken and egg scenario. Which came first, the demand for these platforms and services that have shifted employee behavior and trends. Or was it that the demand for these services always existed and spawned these numerous service providers in a multitude of industries.
The answer to both is yes. Many freelancing platforms existed and have permeated for well over a decade. Language teaching and practicing weren’t always available via a platform but there were always schools that existed to offer those services which hired teachers to moonlight for them. It was the pandemic that locked everyone into their homes, that let technology bring those services to the doorstep allowing people to spend and make money from home.
All these changes and shifts in the dynamic of work are all the more relevant today. Many who have considered retirement or have retired or left the workforce entirely over the past couple of years are reevaluating their decisions. The stock market isn’t setting new highs anymore, but inflation is. Rising interest rates and energy prices are seeping away at savings and nullifying higher wage increases. However, employees are increasingly questioning the need to return to the office. If it can be done during the pandemic without any loss of productivity, why can’t everyone continue to work and make money at home! The questions is, are you aware of the best opportunities to make money from home in 2022?
