How To Make Money From Home: 10 Flexible Work Opportunities.
There has never been a better time to build a second stream of income, start a side hustle, or create yourself a full-blown work-from-home business.
The current world pandemic is sending traditional businesses into a spin, rapidly changing restrictions and lockdowns are forcing families to rethink their way of life, and medical mandates are making many people search for a better way to work.
There have never been more flexible work opportunities available than right now, with the ways in which you can make money from home or online continuing to grow by the day.
If you’re wanting to walk away from the 9-5 grind, set up an income stream that better suits your family, or build a business that doesn’t cap your income at what someone else says you’re worth, then this blog is for you! Keep reading for my top 10 work-from-home opportunities… five of which I have successfully done myself, and another three that I’ve helped others set up.
1. Sell Your Stuff Online
The saying holds true: ‘One man’s trash is another man’s treasure’.
We all have stuff lying around that we don’t use, or that we only used for a period of time. If you have children guaranteed you will have toys and clothes they’ve outgrown… and other parents pay for this stuff!
Being pregnant myself and not wanting to tackle the shops, I have purchased so much from Facebook Marketplace these last six months. Baby clothes, furniture I needed, maternity clothes for myself, baby slings and heaps more. I have even sold a fair share of my own things, including an old window we had removed (people really will buy all sorts of things).
2. Join A MLM
I sat on the fence for years because I was incredibly skeptical of the network marketing space. I’d been brought up to think it was an industry of Spammy Sues and unsolicited sales pitches, and perhaps it was once upon a time… in fact some MLM companies still operate this way today. It really rubs me up the wrong way, because I now know just how beautiful this business model can be when done with integrity.
It was only a year ago that I decided to explore this space, and my world has literally blown up since! Up until then, I was struggling to turn my thriving handmade business into something that didn’t require me to exchange all my time for money. I’d been doing the business 10 years and every waking moment that wasn’t spent working the office job I despised, was put towards that business. I was exhausted.
A year on, and I now have a thriving online business that allows me to work from home, spend time with my children, and have a baby without needing to stress about childcare and how long I can have off work. I put in about one to two hours a day (no word of a lie!) helping people turn their health and their lives around.
Better than all that though, is the personal growth and confidence that this space has gifted me. If you’re at all curious about finding a flexible work-from-home opportunity for yourself, then this one is an absolute MUST to check out!
3. Be An Influencer
It’s this simple: get eyeballs on your social media channels, and you can make money from them! I spent two years working for one of the biggest online influencers in the country, and let’s just say that it’s not rocket science!
Many big wig, full-time influencers charge an arm and a leg to brands who want to partner with them, meaning the little guys like you and me are looking increasingly more enticing to these brands. It’s now common day practice for businesses to look to everyday social media accounts as a viable promotional option for marketing their products. You don’t even need to have a huge following, as these days it’s all about the niche! For example, if you had a highly engaged group of followers who were mainly new bohemian-style mothers from Australia, than an Aussie-based brand that makes cloth baby nappies might be very interested in partnering with you.
The trick is to be focused with who you are talking to, be consistent with your content, and look to create engagement on your posts and stories (think polls and questions). Then it’s just a matter of gathering your stats together, and approaching brands that could be a good fit for your audience.
4. Start A Handmade Business
It is easier than ever to start your own handmade business, something which I did pretty successfully for nearly a decade. I had a handmade jewellery biz called Monkey & Mum, and specialised in non-toxic, organic fabric necklace designs made especially for mums.
I initially launched the business on Etsy, which is a fabulous way to start! They allow you to set up a virtual shopfront in minutes, and collect a small percentage of sales when you sell something. As my business grew I had my own website and logo designed, attended markets (although online sales always trumped in-person stalls), began to source additional off-shore products to add to my range, approached media outlets for coverage, and eventually rented out a workshop in the Brisbane suburb of West End.
It was a great way to bring in more money, but keep in mind that any handmade business is often quite labour intensive. Aside from the jewellery creation, there was also invoicing, packaging, shipping, photo shoots, marketing, sourcing materials, website maintenance and much more. I loved making jewellery, but the business was a lonely and tiring endeavour at times.
5. Sell Digital Products
Digital products can be made once and sold a million times over, making them a very smart choice of products to start selling. Unlike labour intensive handmade products, digital products are truly the gift that keep on giving! Just like with a handmade biz, you can use Etsy to start selling a lot of downloadable products like wall art, greeting cards, or to-do lists. Simply create your artworks, save off as PDFs, and upload to your shopfront.
If you creating these in a program like Canva, you will need to upgrade to a paid account so that you can save your files in a high resolution suitable for resale. Another great digital product is an e-book… after all, they do say we each have an unwritten book in us.
6. Do Virtual + Freelance Work
Don’t be fooled into thinking that virtual and freelance work is only for highly qualified specialists! There are more small businesses than ever before, and those biz owners are looking for flexible support. Take a moment to have a think about what you’re good at. This could be anything from making Instagram Reels, to organising schedules, invoicing, designing graphics, offering friendly customer service, editing, fielding phone calls, transcribing audio files… the list goes on.
Businesses are becoming better at rolling with the punches and thinking outside the box - in today’s current climate they have to be! More and more companies are also choosing to cut their costs by avoiding expensive office costs like rent, electricity and equipment. If they opt for virtual employees they also slash the holiday pay, sick pay and superannuation that they need to outlay.
I have a background in marketing and writing and spent many years working in an office environment, dreaming of a day when I could pick up freelance work that allowed me to work from home. I saw others doing it but thought “nobody would ever hire me to work from home”.
It was this mindset that was my biggest barrier! As soon as I upped my confidence and started asking the question of friends and family, I realised just how many businesses wanted this support without the commitment of a full-time employee.
My advice is to start approaching companies with an offer to help. Don’t be scared to pick up the phone and explain to businesses how outsourcing can be hugely beneficial to them. Once you get one job, chances are you will have more begin to roll in.
Another fab online option is to start an online freelance account on Fiverr and Upwork.
7. Drive Your Car
Like driving and own a car? Then make some money with your wheels, by using your free time to drive with Uber when it suits you! If you are considering this option, I’d suggest reading this article on Prioritising Safety While Driving With Uber.
8. Become A Pet Sitter
Love pets and own your own home? Why not start a pet sitting business?! My neighbour recently did this as a way of escaping her job in retail. She has since quit her job and now spends her days hanging with her doggy friends. We have sent our girl Sage there many times when we have had to go away, and she loves the social side of it.
You can even branch out into home visits and dog walking, and this can all be set up via a social media account and marketed via local Facebook groups and letterbox drops… no expensive website needed!
9. Study
Not feeling any of these? Why not go back and study something that really lights you up?
There’s a stack of flexible study and payment opportunities that can fit around you and your family, and many of these professions lend themselves to working from home in the future. You could even try affordable online courses like those available via Udemy which can be done from home at your own pace, and many come with official qualifications.
Here’s a few professions that would allow you to work from home: massage therapist, beauty therapist, eyelash technician, virtual assistant, graphic designer, personal trainer, health coach, cake maker, social media manager, content creator, editor, personal assistant, or an office manager.
10. Create An Online Course
Better still, share your knowledge by creating your own online course! This has never been easier, with more people wanting to learn from home than ever before, and more online platforms geared to allowing you to easily create this (Udemy which I mentioned above, allows you to create your own courses through them).
Think about what you’re good at, and teach that! This could include anything from personal development to music, design, business or photography to name a few.
Struggling To Create Healthy Boundaries With Your Boss?
This was me! For years I avoided confrontation by being a ‘yes man’… and it cost me a lot. I was down-right lousy at creating boundaries, but without wanting to toot my own horn, it’s something I’ve grown pretty damn good at. I’ve compiled all my learnings into this blog, so you too can live a life of freedoms and happiness: How To Create Healthy Boundaries + What Happens If You Don’t!