Freelancers currently represent about 35% of the global labor force. And the great interest in legitimate online jobs is still on the rise. What draws many people to these work-at-home jobs is their flexible nature, in that one can work at their appropriate time and from wherever they want. This allows gig workers to pursue other interests in life.
Also, the fact that there’s no need to commute to a physical office every day leaves them with more money in their pockets and more time to spend with family and loved ones. If you’re looking to embark on a freelancing career, here’s a list of the top 6 legitimate online jobs for beginners:
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Content writing
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With 1.7 billion websites and 600 million blogs in the world, you can be sure there’s a lot of web content writing jobs to do. Research also reveals that an average of 6.9 million blog posts are published every day.
Your first port of call is those businesses that need to advertise their products and services through content marketing. Most of them already have tight schedules running their businesses, so they see it fit to outsource the web content creation tasks to freelancers. As long as you have an excellent command of English, can research in-depth, and present your findings uniquely and logically, you can consider working as a freelance writer.
To get started, you can create an account on any of the freelance job boards. Clients advertise writing jobs on such sites daily, and you can win a contract even if you don’t have many years of experience. Alternatively, you may want to directly approach potential clients by cold emailing.
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Proofreading
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Similar to writing, there are numerous proofreader jobs you can do from home. You can check out a comprehensive list of such jobs from Crowdworknews.com or other similar websites on the internet. The millions of websites publishing content regularly always need to ensure that their content is free of grammatical, typographical, and compositional errors. Industries such as newspapers, periodicals, books, directory publishers, employment services, business support services, and scientific and technical services have the highest demand for proofreaders.
The mean annual wage for proofreaders in the United States is USD$44,670. As such, you can rake in handsome pay provided you work diligently. To succeed in proofreading, you must have a keen eye for detail since your main work is to identify errors. Couple that with fine English skills, and you can earn a decent living working right from home.
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Stock photography
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Research indicates that the use of images on social media channels and websites influences 352% more engagement than plain text and 20% more engagement than videos. Businesses have woken up to this fact, and most of them now want to include high-quality images in their online posts. But since a greater percentage of them don’t have the time and human resources to travel the world and get good photos, they depend on freelance photographers who submit images to stock photography sites.
You can be part of this creative team if you have a decent camera and a passion for photography. Most stock photo sites will pay you a fixed amount for every photo you submit, plus a commission based on the viewership and demand for your photos. So, the more pictures you take and the more engaging they are, the higher your earnings will be.
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Tutoring
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By 2024, the global e-learning industry is expected to rise above USD$243 billion. Millions of students and industry professionals are turning to online learning because of its convenience and budget-friendly nature. Some of them are after professional courses meant to improve their skills in their career. In contrast, others seek online tutors’ services to help them better understand their elementary, high-school, or university courses to pass their exams and graduate successfully.
If you’re good at coaching others, especially the young ones, make a point of registering as a tutor at your preferred site and start offering online lessons. Technological advancements have made video-conferencing very easy, so a smartphone is all you may need to remotely hold your classes.
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Influencer
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Perhaps you think that being an online influencer requires millions of followers on your social media pages. That’s not 100% correct. While having a humongous following automatically sells you to companies, there’s a growing trend wherein businesses use micro influencers for marketing their products and services. Thus, you may need only 1,000 to 100,000 followers to be able to attract well-paying firms.
Micro influencers are usually regarded as topic specialists and thus may have a stronger relationship with their audience than a typical mega influencer, who has followers with widely varied interests. And you understand it’s that relationship that yields conversion. So if you’re passionate about any cause—say, fashion, fitness, diet, tech gadgets, or sports—set up your social network, grow your follower count, and look for businesses to partner with for product promotion.
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Transcriptionist
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If you can type in lightning-fast speeds and have superb listening capabilities, then transcription might be the best online job for you. Legal service providers, healthcare, market researchers, audio and video podcasters, scientific research, and manufacturing are some of the top industries that need transcription services.
All you need to have is a decent set of headphones and a laptop. And your work is to type whatever you hear. With diligence, you can make good money from this job, pay all your bills, and save for investment.
Conclusion
Working online is a reality, and you may want to try your luck on it. The six jobs discussed in this post are good starting points for beginners. Still, there are several others, such as virtual assistance, social media marketing, translation, accounting, software development, video editing, and more. Feel free to choose any that aligns with your skills and passion. And do note that you’ll need a high degree of self-discipline as no one will be there to watch over you and push you as you work from home.
As is the case with physical jobs, be prepared to start with low pay. Then with diligence, commitment, and show of expertise in your field, you will see you climb up the pay scale to become a high earner.
