It was 5am when my alarm woke me. The piercing electronic ring shook me out of my slumber without a shred of care or compassion for the deeply restful state I had been in moments prior. I stepped out of bed, and the icy embrace of winter in my apartment envelops me. Then, after breakfast, the relentless heat that only an amalgam of bodies pressed together on public transport can produce.
These are the days I do not miss. Dragging myself reluctantly out of bed and onto the train to get to work. But then someone told me that I didn’t have to do it anymore.
I found I could make just as much money without ever leaving my sofa. I learnt there is a whole world of money making ideas from the comfort of home. All you need is a good internet connection, determination, and the desire to escape the rat race that has come to dominate many of our lives.
Freelance
Take what you already do for a living and do it freelance. There is a huge demand for graphic designers, illustrators, copywriters, web designers, software engineers, customer service assistants, Pas, and bookkeepers online.
Many freelancers advertise their services on platforms like Upwork, which connect prospective clients with freelancers. They take a cut of your pay as a finder’s fee, but with more than 3 million jobs uploaded annually, there are plenty of opportunities for work.
Start a Blog
Blogs have a multitude of ways that they can generate revenue once they have a strong following. From affiliate marketing to advertising, to selling branded products, the possibilities are endless.
Find something you love and are knowledgeable about and create a blog dedicated to just that. The key is finding your niche. There are millions of blogs out there, but what can yours offer that none of the others can?
Start a Drop Shipping E-Commerce Website
With the advent of drop shipping, anyone can quickly open an online store and build a customer base with only a very small initial financial outlay. Drop shipping is a method of e-commerce where you take orders on your website and a third-party manufacturer ships the products to the consumer.
You don’t have to buy stock, store it in warehouses, process orders, or ship products out. It is all done for you. You just have to attract customers. Drop shipping entrepreneurs generate income by charging a higher price for the products than the manufacturer.
Consulting
If you have an in-depth understanding of a professional industry, you can offer consultation to companies online. One online consultancy success story is Robert Farringdon, the founder and owner of the College Investor. Once he had built a large following on his personal blog, several larger companies approached him with help generating web traffic on their websites and social media profiles.
He charges a flat rate of $100 an hour to advise companies on how to grow their brands online. One place to find prospective consulting clients is Clarity. Consultants create a profile and companies can find and approach them for jobs.
Write an E-Book
The saying goes that everybody has one book in them. Why not let yours come out? Thanks to Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing, anyone can publish and market their own e-book. Best of all, you set your price list and can earn up to 70% of royalties.
Once published, an e-book is a great way to maintain an income with little or no work. It is quite literally, the gift that keeps on giving.
These are just a few of the numerous ways you can earn a stable and reliable income online, all from the comfort of your own home. Ditch the commute and start your online career too.
