True friends are priceless, and yet we live in a time when people can get paid to be a friend for companionship, conversation, or coffee.
Would you ever consider getting paid to be a friend to some stranger?
If you’d like to help out people who don’t like going solo when exploring a new city, attending events, watching movie premieres, visiting art galleries, and so on, you can earn some money doing so by joining a site called RentAFriend.com.
Before I explain how this works, here’s the most important thing you need to know: RentAFriend isn’t an escort service and since the “friend” part means strictly platonic, it isn’t a dating site either.
How Does RentAFriend.com Work?
Those who join RentAFriend fall into one of two categories:
Members are those looking for friends. They need to pay $25 to RentAFriend.com to get access to all the “friends” who are willing to get hired.
Friends are those looking to get paid to be a friend. They can register for free, work on their profile,s and wait for people to contact them.
In most cases, hobbies, interests, profession, or even age can be the reason why people choose you as a friend, so include as many personal tidbits as possible.
Of course, don’t pretend to like hobbies or interests you don’t really care about just to entice a certain group of people.
For instance, it’s tempting to list down opera as an interest to attract the richer, opera-going set, but if you’re not truly interested in opera, and they invite you to go with them, you’ll get found out pretty quickly.
If a Member sees your Friend profile and is interested, they’ll contact you via RentAFriend.com’s anonymous messaging system.
When you reach this stage, you and your client would be making the arrangements yourselves; from the hourly price, the number of hours, and the details of activities, such as date, time, place, and so on.
Pros of RentAFriend.com: Get Paid to Attend Parties and Other Events
Here are the reasons RentAFriend can be an interesting side gig:
You are in control – RentAFriend doesn’t have a pricing table assigned to Friends. You can price your friendship services from $10 an hour to up to $100 per hour or more. Since prices are negotiable, you won’t be forced into a transaction that you didn’t approve of.
Paying members only – Not everyone can send you a message. RentAFriend makes sure that only paying members contact you.
Choice of communication method – You can choose to be sent a message, called up, or texted instead. You can control this setting on your profile.
You can approve or deny any “friendship” as you see fit – As a friend, you are not obligated to accept everybody’s request for companionship. You can reject anyone, or agree to meet with everyone. It’s totally up to you.
You keep 100% of payment – RentAFriend doesn’t take a cut from your hourly earnings.
If you’re comfortable meeting new people and socializing, this job wouldn’t feel like a job at all.
And if you were honest about the activities you listed on your profile and attracted members seeking companions for those activities, then there’s a huge chance you’ll have a blast while completing a task.
Cons of RentAFriend
A disadvantage (or injustice) in RentAFriend is that people may hire you (or not) based on your looks.
This can be a blessing to attractive members wanting to get paid to be a friend but might mean quite the opposite for members who aren’t as attractive.
Another factor that RentAFriend is unable to control is the degree that Members get attached to their Friends. Because the meet-up is transactional and involves money, feelings might get hurt when clients expect real, lasting friendships.
I read about a member who was frustrated that her new friend doesn’t text her back without payment being sent first.
Whether you’re a RentAFriend Member or Friend, you should join this community only if you understand that your responsibility with each other starts and ends only within the time discussed.
Other Sites Where You Can Get Paid To Be A Friend
RentAFriend isn’t the only website where you can get paid to be a friend. They work pretty much the same way, but you’re allowed to browse through the member profiles and decide which website to sign up for (or if you’re an independent contractor, maybe you’ll want to sign up for all of them).
Here are four more websites you can get hired to be a friend.
As the name implies, this site connects users with other users who are looking for virtual friends.
You can sign up as a Cyber-Friend and make yourself available for other people to hire you for a service or services that you’re offering.
As a Cyber-Friend, you get to decide what services you want to offer and the hourly rate you expect to be paid for such services.
Examples of services you can offer include teaching someone how to cook, introducing your city (e.g., best places to eat, what to see, where to go, etc.) to someone who’s planning to visit, or simply hanging out and chatting.
You can also offer gigs, which are specific tasks that have a fixed rate, separate from the hourly rate of your friendship services.
Visitors of this site can browse profiles of Cyber-Friends and rent the services of a virtual friend at their hourly rate. Users can also browse Gigs or profiles of Cyber Friends to request a Gig.
A downside to signing up for this site is that they charge membership fees, so you need to factor this in your hourly rates.
FriendPC allows their Members to connect to Virtual Friends who offer various services, mainly offering virtual conversations and emotional support through text messages, phone calls, or chat messages on different platforms.
You can also be a virtual gaming partner and play a few sessions with them online, or even be a fake virtual girlfriend/boyfriend to make someone jealous.
FriendPC also allows friendships to go from virtual to real-life, provided of course you follow their safety tips.
If you apply to be a Virtual Friend on their site, you get to set your own pay rates and schedule.
However, you may be charged a small fee to cover your listings. Also, you get to take home 90% to 95% of your earnings from each booking.
You can sign up to be a Papa Pal and help older folks by providing them with companionship, assisting them during everyday tasks, helping them fill prescriptions, providing tech support, transporting them around the city, etc.
You can book visits same day, or plan visits up to 30 days in advance. You will be paid hourly (up to $20/hr) and you will be reimbursed for any travel expenses as well.
Having Fiverr on this list may be pretty surprising, but this online freelance marketplace offers more than 300 services or gigs on their site, and one of them is a virtual freelance friendship service.
Sign up to Fiverr, create a detailed gig for being a virtual friend, set your price, and start getting offers.
A downside is that it’s a highly competitive platform; the hourly rate starts at $5 (the site is called Fiverr, after all). Your profile needs to stand out so you can get higher rates.
How Much Can You Make?
Because RentAFriend lets you dictate your own hourly price, you can set it for as low as $10 per hour to as high as $50 or $100 per hour.
Of course, your clients will justify your pricing based on what you could offer.
For example, if you’re a fluent English speaker and Chinese-to-English translator based in a hard-to-reach China province and your client is going there, if your company can significantly help the client go about day-to-day tasks, then they would probably be glad to pay you $50 per hour for your service.
The amount you make also depends on how many hours a week you can devote to being a friend.
Some “friends” work only 3 times a week and earn between $500 and $1200 a week, while those who work full time earn as much as $2000 weekly.
Tips to Earn More as a Friend for Hire
Here are some tips to be a great friend, get recurring clients, and get paid more.
Include as many details in your profile as you can. If you like music, include specific genres and artists. If you like video games, include which games you’re playing and what platform.
Get as much experience as you can. If you can, sign up on different websites and talk to many different people so you can improve your conversational skills.
Read up on different things, take up different hobbies, watch recent and popular releases on streaming platforms. You never know what will get someone excited to talk.
Listen with genuine interest and empathy. Believe me, your clients will sense if you’re just in this for the money.
Learn what makes them laugh. Laughter is a great icebreaker and paves the way for them to be relaxed around you.
Safety Tips When Meeting a Virtual Friend
As you might imagine, talking to someone online carries some risk.
Everyone is a stranger on the site after all.
Remember to not give out your personal information, such as your complete home address, bank information, even your full birth date.
And if you start feeling uncomfortable at any point in your conversations, feel free to block that member and report it to the site owner’s admin.
Some users of these types of sites use different names on the site from their actual name. So if you encounter this, just know that this is a safety precaution and not meant to deceive or defraud anyone.
If you decide to meet someone in person, know that you’re susceptible to danger. The person you meet may end up being a scammer, thief, stalker, or even a serial killer.
There are things you can do to ensure your safety.
Set boundaries and expectations before the meet-up.
Only meet in public places with plenty of people and exits.
Have a friend, loved one, or someone else you trust know where you’re going, what time you’re supposed to be there, and who you’re meeting.
Always have a backup plan and a person to call to pick you up in case you feel uncomfortable or something goes wrong.
Learn self-defense as a last resort.
Would You Want to Get Paid to be a Friend?
Online companionship jobs like these are not for the faint of heart. They’re not like work-from-home chat jobs either.
As someone who will be selling their time to a stranger, the entire concept can be scary, but if you like meeting other people, there’s a big chance you’d have a blast with the experience.
Although some find this business model questionable and categorize it as escort services in disguise, these sites maintain that they don’t offer escort services or dating sites.
Of course, they can’t really control what their members would do once they’re messaging each other outside of their platform or meet in real life.
But we shouldn’t make sweeping generalizations of people who look for friends on these sites.
Many of them simply have problems making friends with other people; they may be physically disabled, or have social anxiety that prevents them from socializing in the usual settings, or maybe they’re busy with work and have difficulty meeting other people because of lack of time.
Having this mindset should remove the stigma and hesitation about getting paid to be a friend.
Also, be aware that this wouldn’t work as your main income, but a fun gig for raising extra cash on the side.
The role of a work from home dispatcher is just as important in the $700-billion-dollar logistics and trucking industry as their office-based dispatch counterparts.
Dispatchers find freight for trucking companies to transport. While the job may look similar to customer support jobs, dispatchers actually have more tasks to fulfill.
They are in constant communication and negotiation between the driver, broker, trucking company, shipper, receiver, and other parties involved in freight logistics.
A Day in the Life of a Home-Based Dispatcher
A work-from-home dispatcher may be miles away or halfway around the world, but they can manage a group of truck drivers via phone.
Dispatchers are experts in spreadsheets, real-time maps, and Skype or other messaging platforms.
As a truck dispatcher, your day would likely involve tasks such as:
Finding loads/freight and negotiating rates with brokers.
This is the main job of truck dispatchers.
They find freights to keep trucking companies busy and make sure the rates are agreeable to all parties.
Dispatchers may also be responsible for checking the creditworthiness of suppliers.
Arranging package pickups and deliveries.
If you already have consistent customers and would no longer need to find packages every day, your job would likely revolve around arranging pickups, deliveries, and other package handling concerns.
Picking out the best routes for drivers.
Because you are the one scheduling all the logistics of delivery, you’ll also determine the best routes for truck drivers to reach their destinations safely and on time.
Managing the daily driver schedule.
Sometimes, cancellations occur. Bad weather conditions make it impossible to reach destinations. Scheduled deliveries may have to be rescheduled due to other circumstances.
During these instances, the job of a dispatcher is to update drivers throughout the day to save gas and other resources.
Conducting team meetings.
As a work from home dispatcher, you may be working away from your team, but you’re still considered their leader.
You’ll need to address their job-related concerns and improve morale.
Logging and keeping records.
Ensuring the drivers log their schedules, incidents, route changes, and other details of their trips is crucial to the success of the business.
Generating invoices.
You’ve negotiated on fees between all parties involved, so it’s only fitting that you handle the invoicing as well.
Keeping up-to-date with weather conditions.
As mentioned earlier, you need to be on top of things that could affect the schedule of deliveries.
Generally speaking, a trucking dispatcher must decide on the most efficient and most cost-effective loads for all the trucks on the team.
Where to Find Work from Home Dispatcher Jobs
The best way to learn the ropes of truck dispatching is to be employed with a trucking company first. When you’ve learned the ins and outs of truck dispatching, becoming an independent truck dispatcher is going to be easier.
Here are some companies where you can apply for work from home dispatcher jobs:
Requirements to join Premier Dispatch Services LLC include a year of dispatch experience, your own computer, high-speed internet access, and hardware (phone/fax/printer, etc.).
TrueNorth is an expert in transportation and logistics, and they’re looking for virtual dispatchers who can not only manage truck drivers but also handle some customer service.
XPO Logistics is a global provider of transportation and logistics services, specializing in supply chain solutions, freight transportation, and e-commerce fulfillment.
To find a work from home dispatcher job, check the XPO Logistics career page, then either filter “remote” or search “dispatcher”. The position is usually called “Fleet manager” or “Fleet dispatcher.” Lookout for hybrid or completely remote positions.
Swift Transportation is a major truckload carrier offering transportation and logistics solutions, including freight services, intermodal, and dedicated fleet operations.
The company is always on the look-out for trucking dispatchers and dispatch managers.
Swift Transportation offers both on-field, office-based and sometimes, work-from-home positions.
The future of work from home dispatcher jobs looks good, but since this is a fast-paced, high-stress job, many people who began this career employed with a trucking company often decide to turn it into a full-time business.
After all, running a dispatcher business brings the same responsibilities (and stress) as it does with either independent or employed dispatchers while providing the opportunity to earn more.
How Much do Dispatchers Get Paid?
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, earning potential for all dispatchers is about $46,650 per year.
Trucking dispatchers are non-emergency personnel.
Emergency dispatchers take care of distress calls and work with emergency services like ambulance, fire department, or police. The rates of emergency dispatchers are higher (about $18 an hour), while trucking dispatchers who are employed with a company earn around $15/hour.
A freelancer dispatcher is paid on commissions (either prepaid or by the amount of load, freight, or jobs closed within a week). The rate of a work from home dispatcher is also lower than field- or office-based dispatchers.
On average, a dispatcher can handle around 3 to 5 trucks at a time with each truck bringing you in an average income of $1000/month, so that’s around $3000 to $5000 monthly. This is the main reason why many prefer being independent truck dispatchers to being tied to just one company.
How to Start a Dispatching Home Business
The trucking and logistics industry has many players.
As a dispatcher, you play only one of the several important roles.
As such, when you decide to launch a dispatching home business, you should know the ins and outs of this role already. You also need the following:
Dispatcher license – Depending on where you’re located, your state may require you to have a high school diploma and go through additional truck dispatching courses.
Employer Identification Number (EIN) – All businesses in the U.S. require an EIN from the IRS.
A small office – Ideally, your office should have a computer, high-speed internet, printer, fax machine, and a landline. Also, the office should be in a quiet environment, so you could answer and make calls without any issues.
Dispatching software – An ideal dispatching software allows you to prioritize time-sensitive cargo, calculate the fastest and safest routes, monitor the weather, track drivers, and many other essential functions.
Bookkeeping software – This is a godsend when organizing invoices, names, schedules, shipping information, and so on. It also keeps records of past transactions and helps you keep tabs on payments made.
Get paperwork – Write contracts, so all transactions you do are documented. Pick a business structure (LLC, sole proprietorship, etc.) that you think is most suitable for your business.
Create a marketing plan – Are you taking this business to the next level? Craft a marketing plan that will outline how you’re going to promote your dispatching services.
Trucking Training: Learn how to be a work from home dispatcher
If you’re planning to switch careers as a dispatcher, or build your own trucking dispatch company, but you don’t have an idea where to begin, joining companies like Learn Dispatch International will give you all the information you need to manage your own fleet, clients, brokers, trucks, and so on.
There is a membership fee you’d need to shoulder, but the courses come from people who have been dispatchers for decades. They know what they’re talking about.
Is a work from home dispatcher Job Still a Viable Remote Gig?
In fact, dispatching is a high-paced position, you must be able to work under pressure while maintaining your composure. This is probably the most important characteristic of dispatchers because burnout in this field is very real.
Whether you decide to work for one of the companies above or build your own business from scratch, being a work from home dispatcher doesn’t make the job any easier. There’s a lot that is required of a dispatcher.
Your communication and negotiation skills must be top-notch, since your goal is to always find the middle ground with other players of the trucking/logistics industry.
But if you know what you’re getting into and love the high-paced, no-error responsibility this role entails, then there’s a big future for you in the trucking and logistics industry.
The internet has provided millions of creative people an outlet to share their talent and actually get paid to draw.
It doesn’t even matter what kind of drawing style you have. You can be into hyper-realistic drawings, cartoons, caricatures, comics, anime, portraits, doodles, and so on.
If you’re persistent enough in getting your drawings out there to be seen, it’s likely that you’ll find someone who would love your work enough to pay for it.
Here are a few ways to get paid to draw and websites to look into for opportunities.
4 Ways to Get Paid to Draw
When you explore opportunities available for artists, you’d be faced with these 4 choices:
1. Traditional Drawing Jobs
You can get paid to draw by becoming a graphic artist, storyboard, technical, or general illustrator, cartoonist, fashion designer, animator, and many other related jobs.
These jobs are available in job marketplaces, such as FlexJobs. I recommend starting your search here because all the companies here are vetted first, ensuring that the job opportunities you’re looking at are all legitimate.
You might also want to go through job sites that cater to artists and creatives for more opportunities.
Showcase your talent and announce to the world that you’re accepting drawing jobs.
You can start off by posting on your social media profiles that you’re looking for opportunities to get paid for your drawings. You may be surprised at how many would be interested in getting your services for a project or two.
You can also offer your services on freelancing sites where you can list the type of drawing you can do, set and negotiate the price, and post a portfolio to showcase your work.
Fiverr is an example of a freelancing site that lets users buy or sell services and digital products for at least $5.
The amount can go lower or higher depending on the subject, but the idea is that you can create a quick sketch of a person, a logo, or whatever else a client needs and get paid within an hour.
I’ve talked about the potential for earning money on Fiverr, but if you wish to get paid to draw, this marketplace can be a good place to start.
There are plenty of subreddits on Reddit as well looking for paid artists, such as r/HireAnArtist or r/DrawForMe, so feel free to dig deeper.
Call for artists are posted here regularly, but note that not all are paid jobs.
Drawing based on somebody else’s requirements takes time and experience.
Not everyone can easily accommodate a client’s drawing requests, but you’ll get there eventually if you wish to turn your creativity into a full-blown business.
While you’re getting used to the freelancing world and how to communicate your ideas with clients (or handle how clients communicate theirideas), it’s best to continue working on your own stuff.
Not only will these drawings become part of your growing portfolio but they could also be sold.
You can digitize your drawings and then turn them into vector artwork, which you can then sell on various websites.
Here are several art marketplaces where you can put up your drawings for sale.
The goal of most artists is the freedom to be able to create their own art while earning enough income to live on.
Venturing out on your own may be a scary prospect, especially if you’ve been working traditional drawing jobs or even non-artist jobs as your primary source of income and see drawing your own art as an outlet or a side gig.
But it’s actually never been easier to display your art to the world and get paid to draw what you want.
Comic artists, in particular, have found that Instagram works with their art because of the square format and the ability to upload multiple images. In effect, each photo displays one frame of their comic.
If you’ve noticed, most of these artists use Patreon to make money from their art and offer paying audiences a little or a lot of extras, depending on how much they’re willing to pay.
You can also create your own website to promote and sell your art and related merch to make money. This also gives you more flexibility in that you can also offer your drawing services for commissioned artwork right on your website.
In addition, you can do affiliate marketing for art-related goods, plus you can do sponsored blog posts for art companies. Not only can you earn as an artist, but you can also earn as an influencer.
Also, even when you have your own website, it doesn’t mean you have to stop displaying your work on art marketplaces (except if they have an exclusivity clause), submitting your drawings, or posting on social media. All of these channels can work with your website to increase your visibility and add to your audience.
Keep in mind, though, that maintaining your own website takes so much more work than selling your drawings or posting your work on social media and Patreon.
But owning your website gives you so much more opportunities to earn money.
How Much Can You Get Paid to Draw?
If you’re drawing for yourself, the fruits of your labor are usually longer to attain.
You’d have to put out a ton of drawings and slowly build a fan base. You’d also face an unstable influx of income.
However, once you’ve built a name for yourself, drawing for cash becomes pretty exciting. The highest-earning comic artists on Patreon take home around $3,000 to $20,000 a month.
If you’re drawing for clients, or for an employer, you’ll get paid regularly (weekly, monthly, after a job).
The money you’ll be earning is more stable this way, which is why many artists begin as employees (and work on their own stuff on the side). When they get enough fans on Patreon to support their artistry, that’s when they quit the office jobs and focus mainly on drawing for themselves.
Using all Your Creative Juices to Get Paid to Draw
It is absolutely possible to get paid to draw the things you’re passionate about or things a client wants you to make.
The path you take as an illustrator will provide you a more clearer look at where you’d like your drawing skills to lead you.
For example:
If you’re a fan of poetry and literary works, drawing for publishers or greeting card companies could be a dream job for you.
If you’re aiming for a career in RPG production, you should begin practicing working on characters by now.
If you dream to publish a book in the future, start creating comics or materials that you can compile.
What’s great about these opportunities is that most of them can be done from the comforts of your own home.
You just have to invest in equipment, such as a drawing tablet and pen, a computer, software of your choice, a printer (if you’re planning to print your stuff out), and traditional pen and paper for sketching.
More than anything, you’ll need to invest your time.
Clients need to see your work. Unfortunately, building a portfolio takes time. But if you’re passionate enough, you’d be surprised how easy it is to fill up a page with artwork, which could ultimately be the reason for fans to follow you, or clients to discover your talent.
Other Ways For Artists to Earn Money
If you’re a photographer, logo maker, or any other type of artist, I wrote quite a bit about the types of online jobs available for artists in the past, particularly those who have no idea where to begin.
If you’re a crafter, you can go over our list of the best crafts to make and well and decide what fits your skills the most so you can start selling.
Preparing for the SATs can be quite stressful for high school students, and having an SAT tutor can reduce that stress, for both the students and their parents. This is why online SAT tutoring jobs are currently in demand.
Building a career usually starts with one’s college course, and one’s SAT scores are one of the important factors by which a student’s application to college is assessed.
This is why students feel pressured to perform well on their SATs to get into their first choice of college or university.
In today’s article, we look at why students need SAT tutors, how you can become an online SAT tutor, what skills you need, how much you can make, and where to find online SAT tutoring jobs.
Why Do Students Need SAT Tutors?
The SAT, originally called the Scholastic Aptitude Test, is a standardized test created by the College Board in 1926. It is intended to assess students’ readiness for college by measuring a student’s skills in 3 core areas: Critical Reading, Writing, and Math.
There used to be an optional essay section, but it’s been discontinued after June 2021.
Most colleges and universities in the US use it for college admissions, although some schools have already dropped this requirement.
However, prestigious universities, including Ivy League schools, still use standardized tests to decide on admission as well as on awarding scholarships and student aid.
This is why parents are willing to spend for their children to be completely prepared to take the SATs, including paying thousands of dollars for a private SAT tutor.
If you’re an educator or want to become an educator working from home, online SAT tutoring jobs are one of the most lucrative and challenging opportunities for teachers today.
How to Become an Online SAT Tutor
1. Familiarize yourself with the SAT.
You’ve probably taken the SAT before, but let’s face it, it may have been a while.
Before you can be an SAT tutor, you need to know what you’re dealing with.
It’s best to limit your time as well and have the same materials on hand as test takers have, which is usually two No. 2 pencils and an approved calculator.
2. Get your SAT teaching materials together.
There are plenty of free resources on the internet about SAT teaching strategies. Read as many articles and guides as you can to help you create your own teaching strategy.
Also, get your hands on as many SAT test prep materials and books as you can. These have practice tests that will help your students greatly. There are also study tips in there that you can share with your students to help them in between tutorial sessions.
At this point, you also need to set up your home office with your computer, high-speed internet, high-quality webcam, headset, and microphone.
3. Learn about specific strategies to raise scores.
Your students (and their parents) would expect to learn tricks to increase their SAT scores. Although there aren’t any simple tricks to do this, what you can offer is to teach them how to approach each part of the exam.
For instance, you can teach them how to read SAT passages such that they can answer the next questions without re-reading the passage (remember, time is gold in the SAT). Students that can read a passage once and recognize the main idea and supporting sentences immediately have an edge.
Another useful strategy is to have students learn the most important formulas that will be useful in the Math section. They’ll be given basic formulas, but knowing more than the basics will save them a lot of time.
4. Know how to analyze mistakes.
When they’re answering practice tests, chances are they’ll make a few mistakes.
Don’t stop at giving them the correct answer. Help them understand how they came to the wrong answer so they’ll know not to repeat that mistake.
3 Unique Skills to Land any Online SAT Tutoring Job You Want
Many parents prefer one-on-one, face-to-face tutors to be able to meet in person and gauge the progress of their kids.
But there are instances where parents would go for online tutors.
For example, not all cities have tutors specializing in improving SAT scores and the next best thing is to find a tutor who could work with their kids remotely.
Even if you’ve been tutoring kids in math, English, or any other subject for years, this doesn’t automatically mean you’re going to be a good SAT tutor.
Here are 3 things you should have to knock down the competition for online SAT tutoring jobs.
1. SAT Specialization
Most parents just hire tutors for their kids as a general preparation for college admissions.
However, this shouldn’t be the case. Some students are quite good at math but not so much at writing essays, or vice versa.
A good SAT tutor must able to:
Assess a student’s strengths and weak areas. Tutors will focus on all sections of the SAT, but understanding a student’s strengths and weaknesses before creating a study plan can save both of them time and effort.
Help a student define their goals. For example: Get into a particular school, reach a specific SAT score, and so on. In the same vein, tutors should also guide students in setting “reasonable” expectations. Aiming for a perfect SAT score is well and good, but not everyone can do it.
Explain answers to students. Sometimes, the approach or computation can be confusing. Learning how to arrive at the answers, especially in math problems, can be beneficial to a student. Most students already understand concepts of biology, chemistry, statistics, and so on, but once applied to a real-world question, all the stored knowledge disappears.
Teach students how to answer an SAT exam. The SAT is a marathon – it takes over 3 hours to answer hundreds of questions. Sometimes, students simply fail at managing their time or prioritizing one section over another section.
Adjust your study plan according to student progress. An efficient SAT tutor should determine when a student is improving in a particular area and move on to another.
Motivate students to practice and study. You may be the best online SAT tutor in the country, but if your student doesn’t do the work, their scores won’t improve. A big part of being an SAT tutor is to be able to inspire and encourage your student.
2. Good Reputation
For tutors who are members of an online tutoring company, the website often maintains testimonials of past students under their profiles.
These reviews would give parents enough information to determine if a tutor is a good fit or not.
If you’re going to be offering online SAT tutoring by yourself, you’d have to prove your worth.
Know that many parents and students aren’t as impressed by “Ivy League tutors” as they did in the past, so the go-to step is to dig deeper into the tutor’s reputation and hopefully find testimonials from real, former students.
Unfortunately, since you’re a freelance tutor, you’d have to be the one requesting reviews and showcasing them on your Facebook page, LinkedIn account, or tutor-for-hire website.
3. A Record to Back it Up
Most online tutoring jobs require tutors to have a bachelor’s degree and teaching license.
A graduate degree is optional, but experience in SAT tutoring is a requirement. In some cases, you can be hired by a review center simply if you came from Ivy League schools.
SAT tutor certification does not exist, not even from Khan Academy (the official “school” College Board assigned to give free SAT test preparation).
Aside from the testimonials of former students, you’d likely have more success if you’re up-to-date with how well they actually did during the real SATs.
If possible, ask your past clients if it’s okay to publish their SAT scores.
If your student or their parents do not like their names published, write them as case studies: list the problem (student weakness), list the steps taken to solve the problem (what techniques did you use as a tutor to help improve the student’s weak areas), and share the conclusion (how much improvement the student made, or what scores they actually got).
How Much Do Online SAT Tutoring Jobs Pay?
Online SAT tutors make an average of $40 to $100 per hour.
The amount tutors can make on an hourly basis depends on whether the tutor is working alone or as a contractor with a known tutor company, the reputation of the tutor, and subject specialization.
Some tutors who specialize in helping students get into Princeton, Harvard, or other specific schools are often sought out by rich parents, and they can charge higher fees (from $200 up to $1000 per hour).
Where Do You Find SAT Tutor Jobs?
You’d be surprised at how many websites are looking for competent SAT tutors.
Those looking for the best online tutoring jobs with a focus on SAT test prep, check out the available positions from these sites:
Tutors.com – One of the oldest SAT tutoring job sites from this list, you’ll also find other tutor jobs aside from SAT preps.
PrepScholar.com – Known for having some of the youngest online SAT tutors around, which means they’re likely relatable to students.
Chegg.com – It’s been around since 2003. Pays tutors about $20/hour via PayPal, which is low for experienced tutors, but will probably be good enough for those just starting out.
StudyPool.com – You have input about how much you’d like to charge, but StudyPool takes a 20-30% cut.
iTutor.com – A learning platform that works with school districts and college access programs to make virtual learning accessible.
Varsity Tutors – Offers test prep as well as academic tutoring.
Start Applying For Online SAT Tutoring Jobs Today!
Now that you know what it takes to be an online SAT tutor and where to apply to get your first gig, start applying!
Planning to start working as an SAT tutor soon? Have you applied to tutorial companies or directly to a client? Share your experience with us in the comments!
Do you have a way with ladies (or with the gents)? Does it genuinely excite you to help other people hit it off and possibly find love? If so, then being an online dating consultant may be the right fit for you.
A career as a dating consultant could be rewarding in more ways than one; you can earn a steady income, as there’s no shortage of people wanting to date, plus you get immense satisfaction from helping two people connect with each other.
In this article, I discuss how you can become an online dating coach and play cupid every day.
Skills Needed to Become an Online Dating Consultant
At the very least, you need to truly care about people and relationships in general.
Dating is an interpersonal activity, and you’ll need to be good at how the dynamics of dating work.
Being an online dating consultant is a very personal type of consultancy.
You’re likely to end up knowing plenty of sensitive things about your clients, and you need to be able to remain neutral and non-judgmental as well as keep these things confidential.
You’ll also need to understand that many people find it difficult to identify what exactly they’re looking for in a potential partner. They might say they want one type of person while pursuing another type of person. You’ll have to be patient and relentless in finding out what they really want in a potential mate.
Being friendly and approachable are traits that will definitely give you an edge in this career path, as well as being systematic and organized in dealing with your clients.
You’ll also need to be able to dish out honest advice in a subtle, tactful way that doesn’t alienate your client. They hired a dating coach to tell them honestly what needs to improve, not to nag them and call them names.
To develop your skills, you can start out working as a paid date so you’d understand what certain people look for in their dates.
Becoming an online dating consultant is also a great segue from being an online dating ghostwriter, where you can learn and hone your writing and conversational skills.
What Education/Training Do You Need to Become an Online Dating Consultant?
You don’t need to have a particular degree or certification to be a dating coach, but having a degree in psychology, social work, communication, or marketing can all help you do the job correctly and increase your credibility with potential clients.
Even if you don’t have a bachelor’s degree, you can take up certificate courses in counseling, sexuality, and other related subjects that can certainly help you in your career.
What Duties Should You Expect as an Online Dating Consultant?
Hold in-depth, one-on-one sessions.
At the very beginning of your relationship, you’ll need an in-depth session wherein you delve deep into your client’s issues with dating, relationships, and intimacy.
Get to know what your client is looking for in a date, what kind of relationship they’re looking for, and what good qualities they have to offer to their potential mates.
Knowing their strengths as well as their problem areas will help you help them, so to speak. It gives you a more complete picture of which areas need the most improvements and which areas they’re doing well in.
This allows them to get the most out of the service and makes your job as an online dating consultant much easier.
From time to time, as your client goes on various dates, they might want to touch base with you and realign their goals and what they’re looking for in a potential partner.
Create or make over online dating profiles.
Some dating profiles are simply more attractive than others, and it’s your responsibility to make your client’s dating profiles as appealing as possible to the type of person they’re looking for.
This shouldn’t mean you’ll have to post a fake photo or false information about your client. It should be more about presenting the truth in a way that’s desirable to others.
Manage dating site accounts.
You’re going to commandeer your client’s accounts on dating sites, which means you’ll be the one messaging potential matches, and setting dates with them.
You’ll handle their email alerts and notifications, go through private messages through the dating sites they’re a member of, and collect phone numbers and contact information from their potential matches.
It’s likely that you’ll be asked to compose and reply to text messages as well, either through the dating app or through actual SMS.
This also entails knowing your client’s personal information, so make sure to be extra vigilant in keeping this confidential. If any of this information leaks, even if you didn’t mean to, you may be held legally liable for any losses or damages.
Look for potential dates outside of the usual dating websites.
Maybe the dating sites or apps your clients are signed up with aren’t a good fit for them. Maybe all the matches on those sites are duds.
In this case, you’ll have to find potential dates that aren’t on the usual dating websites. You’ll have to find other dating sites that aren’t as popular but may meet your clients’ needs better.
Prepare clients for dates.
Some clients need extra help preparing for their dates for various reasons; either they feel they can’t communicate effectively, or they’re sending the wrong “signals,” or they simply lack the confidence.
It’s up to you to get them ready for their dates. Brief them with various conversation topics, coach them about their body language, and even plan their outfit for them.
Monitor relationship status.
Follow up with your clients and see whether they’re satisfied with their matches and their dates.
You’d want to know your success rate for your credibility as an online dating consultant.
Also, it’s good to maintain a good relationship with your clients; not because you want them as repeat clients (your job means you’re obsolete when they find their match), but because you want them to speak highly of you to other potential clients.
How Should You Price Your Dating Consultancy Services?
Like any other consultancy business, figuring out what to charge is a bit tricky.
How can you help your clients while being compensated fairly for it?
Some online dating consultants normally provide lower-priced “quickie” sessions to allow the client to gauge if they’re comfortable with them or if they want to get a dating consultant at all.
You can offer a 15-minute phone or video call, or an email consultation that allows clients to ask a predetermined number of questions (3 to 5 questions may be enough).
Eventually, you can set up a weekly one- to two-hour consultation over phone or video call, whichever way the client is comfortable. You can offer this as a one-off or a package at a discounted rate.
In the beginning, you can start charging $50 to $100 an hour, which can eventually go up to $300 when you build up your client list and have plenty of positive feedback from past clients.
Can You Start An Online Dating Consultant Business?
If you think you’re ready to spread your wings and offer your services from your own company, you certainly can!
Draw up a business plan, register as a business, market your business, and you’re off!
At some point, if you want to grow, you’ll probably have to shift from being a consultant to overseeing two or more dating consultants, so consider that as a possibility. Or you can remain lean and continue offering your own services independently.
You can also niche down your business. For instance, you can focus on elderly dating, dating after divorce or bereavement, or dating for busy people.
You can also branch out into relationship coaching, where you can counsel couples to strengthen their bonds and work on their problems.
How to Increase Your Profits
Here are a couple of things you can do to make your online consultancy business become more profitable.
Go into other income streams
One-on-one consultations are your bread and butter, but holding group sessions or seminars can help you charge more per hour, promote your service to more potential clients, and give them a way to get advice from you for a lower rate.
Eventually, as your consultancy business grows and you have people working under you, you have the time to teach or mentor others who want to be online dating consultants.
Learn about dating trends
You don’t want to give outdated advice. Learn about what different age and social demographics are looking for in dates and potential mates.
This may mean you need to sift through a few sociology research studies and surveys.
Keeping yourself informed also means you need to use dating apps yourself to find out what’s out there.
Try to learn about dating scams as well; your clients’ safety and well-being should be a priority.
Are you ready to be an online dating consultant?
Being a dating consultant is a huge responsibility.
Someone’s love life is in your hands, and they may either find everlasting love or they may get their heart broken. If you’re ever going to be successful, you’ll need to take this responsibility seriously.
But being a dating consultant can also be a satisfying and fulfilling career when you consider all the people you can help.
Have you always wanted to be an online dating consultant? How would you like to help other people find love? Share it with us in the comments!
We live in a world where people can make money beekeeping from home.
Hundreds of people do it on the side and earn cash from their passion.
Others have turned their home-based beekeeping business into a full-time venture and their main source of income.
Are you curious about what you need to start a beekeeping business?
Look no further.
Learn the ways you can make money beekeeping from home, what requirements you need to gather, and how to turn your beekeeping business into a profitable one.
How to Make Money Beekeeping From Home
From the conventional to the not-so-conventional, here are some of the ways you can earn money from beekeeping.
1. Selling Honey
Probably the first thing you think about when you hear “beekeeping” is honey.
Fake or adulterated honey is a real problem, and it’s widespread enough that many consumers don’t trust the honey in grocery stores or supermarkets.
There is also a high demand for raw honey for its nutritional value; commercial honey is often pasteurized, which destroys pathogens but also destroys nutrients.
You would need a little trial and error to know the right time to harvest and how much to take so that the bees don’t starve.
Keep in mind that the flavor of your honey will differ depending on where your bees get their nectar. For instance, if your bees like clover, the honey they produce will taste different from honey made by bees that like orange blossom.
2. Selling Beeswax
When you harvest honey, you remove the wax caps to access the honey. These wax caps can be strained and processed into beeswax that you can either sell in its raw form or use to make your own products.
Beeswax is highly sought after in the cosmetics industry as well as the candle industry, so you’ll likely have buyers of even the raw form.
You can also make beeswax-containing products yourself. Handmade goods like lip balm, hand cream, or healing salves are popular.
The markup is pretty decent, especially if you’re making the products yourself and selling them online or at the farmer’s market with minimal overhead or rent.
3. Selling Pollen
Bee pollen is a source of protein for the brood, the babies of the hive. It’s collected outside of the hive through pollen traps at the entrance.
As with honey, you need to be careful you don’t deplete the hive.
The problem is if you’re beekeeping in an urban or farming area, there’s a risk that the pollen is contaminated with pesticides.
But if you’re in an isolated area, you can collect, clean, frozen, and sell bee pollen.
4. Selling Propolis
Bees produce propolis, a resin-like sticky substance, from the buds of cone-bearing trees to seal cracks in their combs and disinfect it.
Harvesting and selling propolis is yet another way to make money beekeeping.
Propolis’ antibacterial, antifungal, and anti-inflammatory properties make it in demand for those who are into alternative and complementary therapy.
5. Offering Bee Venom Therapy
Bees excrete venom through their stingers when they sting a threat.
Why would anyone be interested in bee venom, though?
Scientific studies have actually found that bee venom contains anti-inflammatory compounds, peptides, phospholipase A2, and melittin, which have therapeutic effects.
Currently, the delivery of bee venom for therapeutic purposes involves stinging oneself in the affected areas.
Bee venom is also used in skincare products, particularly serums and creams, to reduce wrinkle depth and wrinkle count. However, extracting bee venom for cosmetics requires expensive, specialized equipment.
Extracting bee venom or using it for therapy involves having the bee sting, which is fatal for the bee. If you dislike the idea, you may not want to go this route.
6. Offering Commercial Pollination Services
The bee population is dwindling. Everybody knows this.
But industries that rely on bees for cross-pollination, such as the almond industry, feel the effects more significantly. They’re the ones who have to import bees from other states during the blooming season in order to obtain enough production for the year.
Unfortunately, the demand for pollinator services is high, since bees continue to decrease in population each year. The good news for beekeepers is that this demand can be an opportunity for extra money.
7. Selling Pollinator Seeds
Selling pollinator seeds and seedlings do not require transferring bees to another location; only the “food” that attracts bees to a particular garden.
Individuals and businesses look for this service so that they can get pollination services without having to maintain beehives.
8. Selling Beekeeping Equipment
Beekeeping equipment is widely available in the market, but as you’re going to discover, you may require some specialized equipment.
For example, beehives may work better with custom-made feeders, screens, escapes, and so on.
Having the knowledge to create custom workarounds on ready-made equipment is a skill in itself and many beekeepers are cashing in from this demand.
There are also other money-making opportunities in the beekeeping industry, such as consultation services.
Maintaining beehives is hard enough, but doing it for profit makes it 10x harder. Other people would gladly pay you to guide them every step of the way of starting a beekeeping business from scratch.
Home-Based Beekeeping Business Requirements
Like any business, you’ll need to comply with a few requirements before you can make money beekeeping. These include:
Basic Equipment
Here are some of the basic equipment you’ll need to start your beekeeping business.
Beehive
Hive Tool
Bee Brush
Bee Smoker
Protective gear
Frame grips
You can also invest in specialized equipment, such as Flow Hive, which allows you to harvest honey from your beehive straight into jars.
Paperwork
Aside from getting a business permit from your city or state, there are other specific beekeeping-related documents and paperwork you’d have to complete.
Your house where you will be beekeeping must be licensed and inspected annually.
Note that this is important because not everyone is allowed to take care of bees. Check if your home is zoned for beekeeping and if your homeowner’s association allows beekeeping or not.
If permits are gathered, you may also have to register bees (some states do not need this though).
Beekeeping inspection, licenses, and laws may vary among states, so it is best to check your state’s department of agriculture.
Startup Costs
If you’re starting the business from scratch, you’ll need money to buy equipment and starter bees, attend workshops, get insurance and settle government paperwork that requires fees.
Those who began beekeeping as a hobby may also need funding for expansion unless of course, the beehives you currently have are enough to sustain the number of honey jars, amount of beeswax for cosmetics, or generally the size of the company you want.
As a beekeeper, you’ll be considered a farmer and you’d likely receive special tax considerations. Check the IRS Farmer’s Tax Guide to get an idea.
In the U.S., setting up a single hive is about $600, depending on the type of boxes, tools, equipment, and beekeeping wear you buy.
If you’re interested in beekeeping mainly because you can technically run this business from home, it isn’t as simple as that.
The space available within your land should have enough food for bees without being a nuisance to your neighbors, livestock, or pets.
Insurance
Beekeepers aim to produce safe products, whether they focus on honey or its byproducts.
But being 100% careful and following rules doesn’t guarantee that your products will be safe 100% of the time. Having insurance in place prevents you (the person) from being liable if products from your beekeeping business become entangled in safety concerns or lawsuits.
Aside from these requirements, you’d also need to be constantly aware of new laws, the use of treatments, techniques in swarm collection, raising queen bees, or preventing diseases. You’d have to attend workshops regularly and be up-to-date with beekeeping news.
In addition, packaging (bottles, labels, and other materials), as well as labeling and marketing will also add to your expenses.
Should You Start Beekeeping From Home?
Making money beekeeping is not a walk in the park. Here are some pros and cons to consider before taking the plunge.
Benefits
Beekeeping isn’t too expensive to start.
A starter kit with a beehive and basic beekeeping equipment will set you back around $450 to $600.
It may sound like a lot, but compared to other home-based businesses, it’s pretty low.
Plus, if you decide that beekeeping is not for you, you can always sell the equipment, even at a loss.
Bees are low-maintenance.
Once a colony is established, you don’t need to spend hours a day monitoring them.
Depending on the climate, a few minutes to an hour a day is enough to check on your colony; probably longer during colder weather and during the winter.
Beekeeping is a rewarding hobby.
Tending bees can be a calming and peaceful experience, whether you do it for profit or not.
Experienced beekeepers report that watching their colonies build their homes, forage for food and water, make honey, and do their different dances to communicate is an amazing experience.
Risks
You risk getting stung.
If you’re one of the unfortunate people allergic to honey bee stings, a single misstep can cause serious medical problems or even death.
Your colony may just suddenly fly off or even die off.
Bee populations have been declining for the past several years, and your bees aren’t immune.
They may get diseases, parasites, or contaminated with pesticides.
You need a dedicated space for your hive.
You can’t just set up a beehive anywhere. The hive needs a sheltered area and a nearby source of nectar and water.
Also, bees take the quickest path from their food source to their hive; they’re not very considerate of people and pets that can cross their path.
Maximize Your Beekeeping Profits
Beekeeping can make you some excellent cash, but here are just some more tips so you can get the most out of your beekeeping business.
Learn all about your bees.
Being a successful beekeeper hinges on your knowledge of the bees themselves.
Learn all about honey bees, what makes them thrive, how they behave, and how external variables can affect them.
Research all about what kills a colony: parasites, pathogens, colony collapse disorder, poor nutrition, and pesticides.
Be realistic about the money you can make beekeeping.
If you’re expecting an immediate payout, you’ll be very disappointed. It takes around a year or two of hard work and intense learning to be able to recoup your startup costs.
Labor, equipment maintenance, taxes, disease, and other factors can increase your startup costs.
Also, you might find that bee products are not going to be your top money-makers, although very much in demand; you’ll earn more from renting out your beehives (at $100 to $200 a hive).
Get into as many income streams as you can.
Successful beekeepers take advantage of all possible ways to make money from their bees.
They harvest and sell bee products, create their own bee-based goods, then offer commercial pollination to businesses.
Some may even become beekeeping consultants, coaches, or instructors to pass on their wisdom.
Join beekeeping communities.
You can use the wisdom and encouragement of other beekeepers, especially in the beginning.
Joining beekeeping communities also provides you with awesome networking opportunities.
There may be a local Beekeepers Association near you, or you can try to find online communities on social media and beekeeping-focused forums and websites.
In time, you’ll be the one dispensing out advice and inspiration.
The Bee-ttom Line
The future of beekeeping is alive and well, as it should be, since the bee crisis isn’t even close to being solved.
Bees are also being wiped out by colony collapse disorder all around the world, so not only will you be able to help replenish our earth-saving bees, but you can also earn passive income with beekeeping.
If full commercial beekeeping is not your call (or if it turns out you’re allergic to bee stings), but you’d love a business centered on animals, check out my guide on how to start a dog daycare business from home.
What if I told you that you can make money doing everyday things?
We can always use some extra money, whether it’s to buy the newest gadget, save for a rainy day, or invest in a fund to get even more money.
You might think that to get extra money, you’ll have to do an extra job.
But what if I told you that you can squeeze some dollars from your ordinary, daily tasks?
And you wouldn’t have to make drastic changes in your lifestyle?
Well, it’s true!
In fact, here are 16 ways to make money doing everyday things.
16 Ways To Make Money Doing Everyday Things
Here are some everyday things that you can make money from without exerting much effort or changing up too much of your routine.
1. Listen to music online.
Yup, just plug in your headphones, listen to some music, and get paid!
You can either download an app from a market research company and listen to your usual music. The app will let them know what type of music you normally listen to.
Or you can listen to internet radio with ads and get a portion of the ad revenue.
Swagbucks is mainly known for its surveys, but it offers points for doing so many other everyday tasks.
The easiest way is to switch your default search engine to Swagbucks instead of Google. This way, you can start racking up points for surfing the web as you would normally do.
It’s simple to start, too: create your free account, claim your signup bonus, choose a task, and start earning points. At a certain point threshold, you can exchange these points for cash or gift cards.
3. Take photos on your phone.
If you love taking pictures on your mobile phone and can find ways to make even the most mundane moments look interesting, you might find the Foap app interesting to use.
The Foap app (available in the App Store and in Google Play Store) provides a platform for amateur photographers to upload their photos and videos, where companies, advertisers, and website owners can then buy these photos for royalty-free use.
If you sell a photo on the app, you get 50% of whatever the buyer pays, which can be anywhere from $2 to $60, and even $80 for photos that get transferred to Getty Images.
Market research companies want to know what people are buying and what people want, and that’s why there are plenty of cashback apps around that you can sign up for.
These companies are willing to pay you in exchange for your shopping information.
An example of an app that gives you cash for your purchases is Ibotta. Not only does it look for coupons and discounts for you but also, it will give you cashback when you take a picture of your receipt.
Remember to only enroll in cashback programs and apps that include stores that you really buy from. It defeats the purpose if you have to go out of your way to shop at stores you don’t normally shop at.
5. Unlock your Android phone.
How many times do you unlock your phone and see if there are any notifications?
Just made you look, didn’t I?
Why not earn some change from unlocking your phone?
Download the S’more app on your phone and earn points from looking at relevant ads and content on your lockscreen. Exchange points for gift cards from major retailers.
6. Drive.
Have to drive to town every day to get to work, or occasionally to run an errand? Are you planning to go on a road trip soon?
Why not drop off a package while you’re at it and earn some cash?
Sign up as a driver with Roadie and get matched with gigs that are going on the same route as you are and earn discounts and cash for your trouble.
Since you’re only driving packages, not people, you don’t need to give up an inch of your personal space and privacy.
Plus, you get to choose which jobs to take; you can make money every day of the week, or choose a few days a week to drive and deliver packages.
Download the TV-TWO app on your phone and smart TV (Samsung or LG), watch your usual videos, shows, and movies, and earn cryptocurrency for every second you watch.
8. Walk your dog.
If you have a dog and you’re going on a walk, why not find other dogs in your area that need to be walked?
You can simply promote your service to your neighbors, or sign up on an app like Rover as a dog walker.
9. Exercise.
Everyone wants to be a little bit (or a lot) healthier this coming year.
If you’re trying to build that habit of exercising daily, you might as well get paid to lose weight.
Apps like DietBet and stickK allow you to set goals, bet a certain amount of money that you’ll achieve those goals, and then win money for achieving those goals.
The catch is that if you don’t achieve those goals, you’ll lose the money that you bet. That’s the motivation for you to achieve those goals.
Or, if the thought of possibly losing money doesn’t motivate you, sign up for Achievement instead. You don’t risk any money; this app rewards you with points for doing healthy things for yourself.
The great thing is that exercising is not the only behavior it rewards.
You get points for keeping a food diary, meditating, and answering health-related surveys that give you some insight into your own health.
These points can be exchanged for cash or donated to charity.
10. Play video games.
If you love playing video games and are good at it, why not squeeze a few dollars from it?
Sign up for an account on Twitch and start streaming yourself playing your games.
To earn a few dollars, add a donation button (at least at first), collect subscribers, and earn ad revenue as you continue playing.
11. Hang out in other people’s houses.
Being a house sitter allows you to make money from what you normally do every day, just in another person’s house.
Of course, you’d probably have to do activities out of your normal routine, such as basic housekeeping (i.e., don’t be a pig), pet sitting, watering plants, getting the mail, and other menial tasks.
Applying as a house sitter will take some time and effort, but once you’re hired and staying in the house you’re taking care of, it doesn’t demand much from you.
12. Download an app.
You download apps for many other reasons.
How about downloading an app that pays you $50 just to download their app?
The Nielsen Computer & Mobile Panel only asks that you install their apps so they can collect your (non-personally identifiable) internet usage data.
In return, they’ll give you $50 if you keep the app installed for a year. You’ll also get entered into their sweepstakes, where it’s possible to win $10,000 a month.
Who knew downloading an app and using the internet as you normally do can be possibly this lucrative?
13. Read.
For someone who likes books and loves getting to read books by new authors, getting paid to read books sounds ideal.
Apply to be a reviewer on a per-book basis on sites such as Online Book Club and Writerful Books to not only get free books but also to get paid $5 to $60 per review.
14. Recycle.
Helping save the environment is good.
Getting paid to do it? Even better!
Take a look at what you consume and discard every day: glass bottles, aluminum cans, cardboard boxes from your online purchases (not judging!), egg cartons, toilet paper rolls, and many more.
From now on, think twice before you throw away this stuff. Here are some ways you can get paid to recycle.
15. Be a friend.
People are increasingly becoming isolated, and meeting new people and making friends has been difficult. The recent pandemic certainly didn’t help.
Websites such as RentAFriend make it easier for lonely souls to find people to spend time with or even just to talk to once in a while. Sign up to be a friend and get paid for your time while getting to meet new people and experience new things.
If real-world interactions aren’t your thing, or you’re concerned about your safety, you might feel more comfortable signing up to sites such as RentaCyberFriend where the interactions are all virtual.
Keep in mind that these aren’t escort sites, adult sites, or dating sites. The interactions here are strictly platonic.
16. Sleep.
Of all the everyday activities you can be paid for, this may be the most unexpected.
Paid sleep studies help researchers study sleep-related problems and disorders so that treatments could be developed for them.
Look for ongoing sleep studies in ClinicalTrials.gov, a database of paid clinical studies currently being done.
Most of them require that you’re onsite for the whole duration of the study, but some studies allow you to stay out and then go back to the facility to sleep.
Is doing the daily grind taking a toll on your body and soul? Go through our list of small, profitable business ideas and see if it sparks something in you to leave the daily grind behind and start your own business.
Thanks to the internet, there are now numerous opportunities for entrepreneurs of different backgrounds.
It doesn’t matter whether you’re a working student looking to augment your income, or an employee working 50 to 60 hours a week just to get by, or a retiree or almost-retiree looking to have some spending money in the twilight of your life.
If you have a computer and an internet connection, you can launch a business.
The internet has solved previously difficult problems for entrepreneurs: training, selling platforms, suppliers, marketing, and even temporary or full-time employees can now all be found online.
If you want to succeed so badly that you’re willing to learn everything you can and dedicate as much time to your business as you need, you’ll likely build a profitable business.
Here is a list of small but potentially profitable business ideas to inspire you to launch your own business.
Product-Based Business Ideas
A product-based business, as the name implies, sells actual physical, tangible items.
Many factors can drive the success of a business, but for product-based businesses, the major factor that can make or break it is the quality of the product you’re offering.
It doesn’t matter if your website looks good and functional, or if your buyers receive their products on time. If the product you’re offering is shoddy and poor quality, they’ll never buy from you again, and worse, they’ll let everyone know how bad your products are.
Here are some small product-based businesses that are potentially profitable.
1. Making and Selling Handmade Products
With sites like Etsy and Amazon Handmade, selling your own handmade products is easier than ever.
These are some handmade products you can make and sell.
Jewelry. You’ll need training, excellent tools, high-quality raw materials, and a unique creative instinct.
Wire-wrapped crystals, personalized engraved necklaces and bracelets, and beaded jewelry are some of the types of jewelry that sell best.
Home and living products. Handmade home décor, such as handpainted wall hangings, hand-poured candles, and handmade doilies are some products you can make and sell from home.
Aromatherapy products. Essential oils and blends are making a comeback, and making your own oil blends can get you some profits.
Shower steamers, inhalers, and roll-ons are some of the best-selling aromatherapy products on Amazon Handmade.
Skin care and hair care products. With the increasing demand for environmentally friendly, organic, and natural skincare products and packaging, you can fill that demand with handmade products.
Some of the popular products in this category are soaps, shampoo and conditioner bars, moisturizers, and salves.
Bear in mind that skin and hair care products are classified as cosmetics, and there are FDA guidelines for these as well.
Hair accessories. Headbands, floral crowns, and tiaras, especially for children, are currently trendy.
Other hair accessories you can make include decorative hair combs, sweat-wicking headbands for workouts, and one-of-a-kind hair clips.
Retail arbitrage, is the act of buying products from retail or online stores and then selling them for higher prices so you can make a profit.
It may have had a bad rep lately, but this is a small lucrative business idea that you can comfortably start from home.
The first and probably most important rule of retail arbitrage is to choose items that you can get for cheaper than what people are willing to pay for them.
When shopping for items for retail arbitrage, always have a smartphone with internet access so you can scan bar codes and compare to prices on Amazon or other marketplaces such as eBay.
This will help you determine whether the possible profit is worth the trouble, especially considering you’ll have to shoulder packaging and shipping costs.
Merchant fees also take away from your profit, so keep that in mind as well when you tack on your desired profit to the product cost.
Here are a few suggestions for products to buy and sell.
Clothing. You can get the most profit from brand-name items, and even more if they still have the original tag.
Kids’ toys. You can get toys on clearance for a lower price, sometimes even for a mere 10% of their original retail price.
Kids’ toys are in demand around the holidays, so make sure you have enough stock during the months of October to December.
Cosmetics. Makeup junkies are always on the lookout for discontinued shades or product lines.
Stationery. Journaling buffs are on the lookout for low-priced notebooks and writing implements.
You can find and buy these items from clearance racks of stores like Walmart, Target, Costco, Big Lots, Ross, Marshall’s, and TJ Maxx.
Even specialty stores such as Home Depot, Lowes, GameStop, Office Depot, Staples, Walgreens, and CVS may have random items on sale or clearance that you can sell.
Thrift store flipping is similar to retail arbitrage, but instead of buying and selling new, unused items, it involves buying secondhand, used items and reselling those.
If you’ve ever been to a thrift shop, you’d know that people will donate anything, and you’d have so many choices of products to sell.
Here are a few suggestions for products to look for.
Clothing. If you can find brand-name items, even if they already show some signs of wear, you can sell them for at least some profit.
You can also put together a collection or a clothing lot. For instance, you can put together 10 garments in the same size and the same type (e.g., blouses, summer dresses, winter coats) and sell them as a lot.
This way, you can move several products at once, save on shipping costs, and keep a larger profit.
Video consoles and video games. Older consoles and old games have a large nostalgia factor for gamers. As a general rule, the oldest ones and the newest ones sell best.
Book sets. Popular books can make you some money, but book sets are more profitable since people are willing to pay more for them instead of having to find each book in a set.
Limited-edition book sets, such as anniversary releases or boxed sets, can earn you even more.
Glassware. You’d be surprised at how many buyers look for glassware online.
Look for glassware in unique shapes and colors (blue glass is particularly in demand). Vintage Pyrex cookware also get snapped up pretty quickly by collectors, so keep an eye out for these.
Furniture. If you have a talent for repairing and refurbishing furniture, flipping furniture may give you the highest profit margins among all the other products I mentioned.
As the name suggests, your main sources of products are your local thrift shops. Other sources you can look into are flea markets, garage/yard sales, Craigslist (if you’re lucky, you might even get some items here for free!), and library book sales.
The main marketplace for thrift store flippers is eBay, but the site Decluttr is also popular.
If you manage to find vintage items like jewelry, rugs, silverware, and other antique items, you can also turn to Etsy to sell them.
Not everyone can make handmade products or have the time or access to source products in actual brick-and-mortar stores.
Fret not; another option you have is dropshipping.
Dropshipping is a fulfillment method in which the retailer (you) does not stock the items; instead, the retailer forwards the order and the customer details directly to the supplier, who then packages and ships the items directly to the customer.
The retailer is in charge of marketing and promoting the products, as well as processing customer payments and making sure the payment is forwarded to the suppliers.
The advantages of running this type of business are that it’s very simple to start (you can start now if you want to), you don’t have to put out a lot of money for inventory, and you can work from anywhere that has an internet connection.
Here are a few products to dropship that are currently more profitable than others.
Shapewear. This product category includes waist shapers, bodysuits, butt lifters, and any other garment designed to improve the body’s silhouette.
It first became popular a few years back, and with its popularity still growing, it may well become an evergreen product category.
Pet products. You can take your pet to a groomer, but more and more pet owners are now trying to do it themselves.
Pet grooming products, such as brushes, clippers, rakes, flea combs, dental care tools, and shampoos and conditioners specially formulated for pet hair.
Pet accessories also sell well. Pet clothes, diapers, fancy leashes, and beds are sought-after items.
Athleisure. Athleisure is growing faster than any other fashion category, as the line between activewear and daywear is slowly being blurred.
Athleisure includes hoodies, leggings, sweatshirts, sweatpants, sports bras, tank tops, and capris, all available in a wide range of colors and material.
Travel products. The travel industry continues to flourish, and travelers are always looking for ways to make their travel experience easier and more comfortable.
Packing cubes, travel-sized containers, travel pillows, and folding bags (for those times when you suddenly need to hand carry some items) are a hit with travelers.
Smartwatches. Wearable tech surprisingly remains popular, so make sure to find suppliers that provide high-quality smartwatches that can track steps, measure heart rate, and even monitor sleep.
Your choice of suppliers will make or break your business. Look for reputable suppliers who carry high-quality items, pack them carefully, ship on time, and address issues quickly and in a satisfactory manner.
5. Selling Private Label Products
Private label products are those that are manufactured by one company for another company or retailer (that’s you) that places their own brand on the products and sells them as their own.
It’s not like buying wholesale for a lower price and then selling at retail price, because in that scenario, you’re clearly a middleman; the brand is already established, and you’re merely making it available to people who want it but can’t access it, for instance.
When you’re selling private label products, you control the specifications, the packaging, and how you want to sell them, without having to build infrastructure for manufacturing.
The ideal private label products are those that are easy to ship, affordable, and are in demand.
Below are some suggestions of what to sell.
Clothing. Customers are always on the lookout for unique, high-quality clothing that fits their lifestyle.
Make up. There is a general movement away from conventionally produced makeup with preservatives, irritants, and potential carcinogens that are tested on animals.
Look for cruelty-free, paraben-free, fragrance-free, organic cosmetic private label products.
Packaged food. Health-conscious consumers are looking for “guilt-free” snacks that are gluten-free, nut-free, organic, non-GMO, and low in trans-fat.
Supplements. Various supplements addressing various needs or nutritional deficiencies are popular online.
Phone accessories. Cases for Apple AirPods, mobile phone grips, mobile card wallets, and self-charging mobile phone cases are a hit with customers online.
As with all product-based businesses, you’re only good as the quality of your products. Choose private-label manufacturers carefully. See the list below for some high-quality product manufacturers.
Instead of selling physical products, service-based businesses sell a service that involves skill and expertise.
In this type of business, your relationship with clients can significantly impact the success of your business.
Unlike product-based businesses where the quality of your product is the main factor of your success, in service-based businesses, your interactions with your clients largely dictate whether they return as clients, give you larger tasks, and recommend your service to others.
All of these businesses have you starting out as a freelancer or an employee.
Upgrading to a business almost always involves hiring your own freelancers or employees, while you become in charge of the management side of things: workforce and project management, training, and marketing.
Below are some service-based businesses that you can start from home.
6. Virtual assisting
Being a virtual assistant doesn’t sound very glamorous, but the pay can be decent if you have unique skills to offer.
You’ll need to be a good communicator and have great organizational and time management skills.
The duties may vary depending on your client, but usual tasks include organizing calendars, booking meetings, and replying to emails.
Offer advice to businesses or individuals about how to use social media for promotion and marketing.
If you feel you don’t know enough about social media marketing, you can take online courses for you to learn basic to advanced knowledge and techniques.
8. Website development
Note: Need at least a certification, more preferably a bachelor’s degree.
Websites, quite simply, are in demand nowadays. Every business, online-based or brick-and-mortar, small to medium or multinational, needs a website to reach out to potential customers and widen their reach.
You’d need to have the programming knowledge to develop websites, and plenty of courses are available online that you can take within the comfort of your home.
Some of the projects you can do include building e-commerce pages (with product pages and shopping carts), online galleries (for showing off portfolios and artwork), and other specialty websites that are specific to the clients’ preferences and needs.
9. Graphic designing
If you’re an artist who knows how to use digital tools like Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator, you can put those skills to use as a graphic designer.
There is a constant demand for visual and branding elements for companies big or small. You can be asked to design logos, flyers, pamphlets, newsletters, infographics, slide decks, promotional emails, banner ads, and other marketing materials.
10. Financial advising
Note: Need at least a certification: Certified Financial Planner.
Managing personal finances is difficult to do on your own.
Add student loans and credit card debt to the mix, and you have a disaster in the making.
If you don’t have control over your personal finances, it can result in crushing debt and ruined credit.
Here’s where you can help.
Provide sound financial advice to individuals so they can get out of debt, avoid debt, or know where to invest their hard-earned money.
You can also help other entrepreneurs organize both their personal and business finances so they can separate personal and business expenditures and pay the right amount of taxes to avoid penalties.
11. Copy editing/proofreading
Nowadays, content is king.
But not if the content is error-laden.
If you have a knack for syntax and grammar, or if you have experience in teaching English or proofreading, this line of business can be a perfect fit for you.
There are hundreds of thousands of documents out there that need to be edited or proofread: from college application essays to college homework, from business proposals to marketing plans, from blog posts to sales pages.
If you’re bilingual, or at least reasonably fluent in more than one language, offer translation services to individuals and companies.
Marketing nowadays isn’t just limited to one’s local area; companies are now able to sell worldwide, and they’d always need translators to accurately communicate their marketing messages in the local language, considering social and cultural quirks.
13. Video production
If you’re already a videographer by trade, or if you’re proficient with video editing tools, such as Adobe Premiere Pro or Final Cut Pro, offering video production and editing services from home can be a lucrative business.
Video production is in demand for commercial and real estate applications, as well as for events and weddings.
You might also get an aspiring YouTuber or two who create compelling videos but can’t edit their videos to save their lives.
14. Travel planning
You can now purchase travel agency software online and book flights, hotel accommodations, car rentals, and tours.
If you love to travel, and love planning for travel, have great organizational and planning skills, and a talent for finding bargains and deals, this can be something you can help fellow travelers with.
15. Online teaching
Do you have teaching experience, or currently teaching? Online teaching may turn out to be profitable for you.
If you’re proficient in a few subjects, especially English, you’ll always find students who’ll need tutors like you. Offering this service online allows you to reach students from all over the country and even around the world.
Building an online business from the ground up can be a harrowing experience if you don’t have the technical, marketing, and social media expertise to start.
If you’re an entrepreneur with capital, willing to hit the ground running, and confident of your business idea, a turnkey business might be a good fit for you.
A turnkey online business is an existing business that is ready to operate at full capacity from the moment you purchase it.
It’s similar to buying a grocery store with the infrastructure built, licenses and permits current, electricity and water hooked up, complete inventory, employees, suppliers, and POS installed: all you have to do is turn the key in the doorknob and you’re open for business.
However, because you’re likely putting a great amount of capital into this business, you’ll want to research the business you’re buying very carefully. Always be clear about what is included in the price you’re paying and if you can, have it valued by a third party.
Here are a few turnkey business ideas that you can start from home.
16. Franchising
Franchising is an agreement between a franchiser and a franchisee (that’s you) that enables the franchisee to use the brand and trademarks of the franchiser, as well as its business systems and processes, to sell products and services according to specifications set by the franchiser.
Franchising traditionally has been for brick-and-mortar businesses, such as coffee shops and fast-food restaurants, but nowadays, franchising an online business is now possible.
Check out sites such as Franchise Direct to read details about possible online businesses open for franchising, such as a website builder business, a social media agency, or video marketing agency.
The good thing about franchising is that the business model is already proven and tested. However, you may have to pay royalties continuously to the franchiser, depending on the franchise you purchase.
17. Direct selling/multi-level marketing (MLMs)
MLMs have been controversial, to put it mildly, but contrary to popular belief, MLMs aren’t always pyramid schemes.
Direct selling refers to selling products directly to the customer in a nonretail environment; that is, not in malls, stores, or kiosks. Instead, sales occur at home, work, or other non-store locations.
This eliminates many steps in the distribution process that drive up the price of the item so that consumers get the lowest price possible.
You or your mom has probably bought makeup from a Mary Kay beauty consultant, lotion from an Avon lady, or containers from a Tupperware dealer. Those are established, legal direct sales companies.
Multi-level marketing (MLM) is a technique used by direct selling companies to encourage existing distributors to recruit new distributors. They incentivize it by offering a percentage of their recruits’ sales.
So how do you know if an MLM company is legit?
A good way to ascertain if an MLM company is legitimate is to read the fine print and determine whether the focus is on making sales to consumers or on recruiting new members or “downlines.”
Does it encourage its sellers to make money from selling its products to consumers? Or does it encourage sellers to recruit new members to buy their products? If it’s the former, then it’s quite likely that it’s a legitimate MLM company. If it’s the latter, it’s likely a pyramid scheme.
Aside from that, search for any cases against the company from the FTC or any class action suits.
Some of the top legitimate MLM companies you can consider joining include the three companies I mentioned above, as well as Amway, Herbalife, and doTERRA.
18. Flipping websites
Perhaps you don’t like any of these other turnkey business ideas.
Why not try your hand at supplying a turnkey business?
Flipping websites involves checking out websites that have potential, buying them, improving them, and selling them.
Your prospective customers are those who want to run their own website but don’t have the time or inclination to start from scratch.
When customers buy from you, they expect a fully functional website, with content and special features required by them, such as ordering products, booking appointments, or enrolling in online courses.
They would also expect that the website already has a significant amount of traffic and their responsibilities will be to maintain that traffic.
Others
These are businesses that don’t fall exactly into the categories above but are solid business ideas nonetheless.
19. Application development
“There’s an app for that.”
Thanks to application developers who create these apps, there’s an app to help with almost every conceivable problem, from the mundane to the extraordinary.
If you have a knack for creating apps, with or without experience, you can certainly take some online courses and study how to do it.
You can then create the application for a client, or let your creativity and problem-solving skills kick in and create an application by yourself.
Once you’ve created your application, promote it with a marketing strategy designed to promote your application to whoever needs it.
20. Stock photography
If you’re a professional photographer or even a passionate amateur, consider selling stock photos to photo selling websites or sell them from your own website.
You can also expand into selling prints of your photos, or daily items, such as mugs, t-shirts, mousepads, etc. with photos you’ve taken.
Which Small Profitable Business Idea Will You Launch Today?
Of the 20 business ideas I’d enumerated, which ones are you most interested in? Do you have any other small business ideas? Tell us below!
Whether you’re a novice job seeker or you’re already working in social media and want to switch jobs, this list of 8 social media jobs should be useful for you.
People who spend their time online spend 30% of it on social media; even more if you’re a millennial or Gen Z.
Social media has opened up plenty of opportunities for businesses who want to reach this wide and connected audience, speak to their target audience, and convince them to do a specific action, such as read a blog post, answer a survey, or share the post on their social media.
Here’s a rundown of social media jobs you can do from home that only require a computer and an internet connection.
Entry-Level Social Media Jobs
Entry-level positions usually require at least a bachelor’s degree, even without experience, though those who already have at least a year’s experience generally get paid more.
1. Social Media Copywriter
As a social media copywriter, you’ll be in charge of writing and social media posts, day-to-day management of social content, as well as the monitoring, tracking, and analysis of metrics for your client’s social media program.
Your copy needs to work with the graphics on the post, so you’re probably going to be asked to work with the graphics design team to make sure the messaging matches.
You’d also need to understand how your social media content integrates with other digital marketing programs of your client, such as their email marketing, blog, website, and other digital marketing.
It’s preferable to have an undergraduate degree in English, marketing, or communications, though it’s not required.
Also known as: Social media content specialist, social media content creator, social media writer and editor
2. Social Media Graphic Designer
Social media platforms are increasingly prioritizing posts with images.
Businesses know this and are prepared to hire graphic designers specializing in creating digital images for social media.
These digital images include illustrations, designs, motion graphics like GIFs and cinemagraphs, and the aim is to create engaging and informative social media content.
The digital images also need to be consistent with your client’s branding and messaging.
Also known as: Social media visual designer, graphic design specialist
3. Customer Support Representative
Bigger businesses have dedicated social media accounts and messaging app accounts solely for answering questions by customers and potential customers.
Customer support representatives answer these inquiries and requests for assistance in a timely manner, all while projecting the desired brand voice and personality.
Social media followers that post anything—a question, feedback, suggestions—expect to be replied to within hours, if not minutes. It’s important to make them feel that what they have to say is important to your company.
Aside from answering them punctually, followers need to have their concerns resolved and all their questions answered in a satisfactory way.
Also known as: Social media customer service representative, social media customer care agent
4. Social Media Analyst
A social media analyst uses social media tools to monitor conversations about the company, current trends in social media and helps inform the overall social media strategy for the brand.
They also determine how effective the current social media strategy is and whether engagement is happening on various social media platforms.
They should be able to analyze complex data from a variety of sources, such as social media listening and monitoring tools.
Also known as: Social media associate, social media strategist, specialist
Managerial-Level Social Media Jobs
Managerial positions often require at least a bachelor’s degree and at least 2 years of experience in digital marketing or something related.
5. Social Media Manager
This is perhaps the most common and the most obvious position that you can apply for.
A social media manager creates and executes long-term social media strategies in accordance with objectives set by or approved by the company.
This involves optimizing which social media accounts should be active, planning the content (words and visual elements), scheduling the content, and making sure that everything reflects the brand personality.
Aside from organic social media posts, social media managers are also responsible for planning social media advertising campaigns.
They are also the ones who analyze the data from tracking software so they’d know if their strategies are working or not so they can adjust their strategies accordingly.
They may also be asked to delegate actual social media content creation and design to other employees. This is so that social media managers can focus on the overall strategy.
Note: If you want more details, check out our post on this site about being a social media manager.
Also known as: Social media content manager, social media content coordinator, social media coordinator, social media specialist
6. Content Marketing Manager
This is not a purely social media job, but it involves plenty of social media planning, promotion, and content creation.
A content marketing manager is responsible for creating content marketing endeavors that aim to direct traffic and engagement to a website.
The main component of content marketing is blogging and creating articles with calls to action (CTAs) for subscribing to newsletters, purchasing something on their site, or simply commenting on the posts.
Social media comes into play when it comes to promoting these blog posts and articles by posting compelling social media copy aiming to attract readers.
These content marketing initiatives normally includes social media campaigns to promote links and drive users to the site.
The main skills needed to do this job well are SEO writing, organizational skills, and creativity.
Content marketing managers also need to know how to monitor and analyze the results of their campaigns.
Also known as: Content marketing strategist, content marketing coordinator
7. Community Manager
A community manager is someone who is not only in charge of social media messaging but also in charge of engaging with customers.
When you’re merely in charge of social media posts, you can just drop the posts and then leave them to go about composing and scheduling the next posts.
But a community manager doesn’t just post and leave; they monitor each post for follower comments and shares, as well as reply to the comments as a brand representative.
Communities can be in the form of Facebook Groups, but more often than not, replying to audience comments on a post on a business’s social media page increases engagement and makes followers feel that they are seen and heard.
Depending on the company requirements, you can either reply to social media posts using the brand’s social media accounts or using a social media account of a certain persona.
You could, of course, use your personal account to do this, but it’s not advisable, especially if your personal account has been around for years.
Zealous social media followers of the brand are likely to scrutinize social media accounts that reply to them as a brand representative.
All your personal tweets are now subject to close examination, and if there’s even a single tweet that doesn’t match the brand personality, your campaign is going to fail.
Also known as: Engagement manager, social media brand advocate
8. Art Director
An art director is responsible for overseeing the overall aesthetics and imagery of a client’s social media campaigns.
Usually, an art director would be working with a team of graphic and visual designers, so companies would prefer art directors with experience in working with a team.
Also known as: Social media art director, digital art director for social media, senior social media graphic designer
Innate Abilities You Need to Be Successful in Social Media
There are skills that can be learned; using various social media, creating and designing compelling content, or working with social media tools to plan and schedule social media content.
But there are just some skills that can’t be taught.
Here are some of the inherent traits you need to have so you can do your social media job well.
Social skills
Posting on social media is one thing; posting on social media while able to really connect with an audience and building a relationship with them is another thing altogether.
Additionally, you should be able to carry on a conversation with anyone, regardless of age, gender, education level, or political affiliation.
Social Listening
Everyone can read a tweet or a status update, but not everyone can get meaningful insights or draw conclusions from them.
If you have a knack for social listening, you’re able to go through conversations happening around your brand and get a sense of what customers think or feel when they’re talking about your brand.
Do they like your brand or hate it? Are they complaining, or recommending your brand to someone else?
Analytical Skills
Because social media strategies are data-based (or at least, they should be), you’ll be dealing with a lot of data when you formulate these strategies.
Besides being comfortable with looking at numbers and data, you need to be able to analyze that data, formulate a hypothesis, and inform your decisions regarding planning and scheduling social media content.
Curiosity
Social media shifts quickly. What’s trending now may fizzle out tomorrow.
A curious social media worker would be someone who immerses themselves in social media, stays up to date with the trends, and examines them to find out what made them successful.
Adaptability
Adaptability complements curiosity.
When you find out about trends and what makes them work, you need to be able to adapt them to your social media job.
For instance, if you’re working as a social media content writer and you notice that a particular topic is trending, you’ll need to be able to turn around and write more of that topic so you can jump on the trend.
Where To Find Social Media Jobs
To help you find the best jobs, you’ll have to get into the best job seeker websites, starting with FlexJobs.
FlexJobs makes it safe to find legitimate jobs. Every company and employer who posts openings on their site has been thoroughly vetted and verified, so you can rest assured that you get high-quality jobs without being scammed.
Here are the other websites to find social media jobs.
Digital marketing, and social media marketing, in particular, is a thriving field offering numerous jobs that people can do with just a laptop, an internet connection, and a space to work.
If these social media jobs don’t pique your interest but you still want to work from home, check out these work from home jobs that you can start right now.
Maybe you like smelling lavender-scented candles during your me-time or enjoy displaying beautiful candles in your home.
You may even have tried your hand at creating candles at home as a hobby.
Whichever way you appreciate candles, you’d probably agree that they are nice to have and beautiful to look at.
Candles make excellent home décor and gifts that people buy all year round. Thus, making and selling candles can be lucrative if you know what you’re doing.
Today’s blog post is a guide on how to start a candle business: considerations, requirements, and steps to take when you’ve decided to build your business.
Should You Start A Candle-Making Business?
A candle business can be profitable, as I’ve mentioned, but it may not be for everyone.
Here are some factors to consider before you decide to start making and selling candles:
Candle Making Laws
First, read up on your state laws and learn if your state allows you to manufacture candles in your home.
Aside from state laws, individual cities and counties may have conditions on such businesses, and zoning laws may not allow you to operate from home.
Thus, before you even decide to do it, be sure to check the fire safety regulations applicable in your area to ensure that you can do it.
Space to Make Candles
You can certainly start making candles at home, but make sure that you’ll have plenty of space for making the candles, as well as storing the materials and equipment you need.
If you don’t have space in your home, you might want to rent a nearby facility to use as a workspace, though of course, this will entail rental costs.
Investment Needed to Make Candles
You’ll have to invest at least some money into the raw materials and the equipment so you can start with your candle business.
As I’ve mentioned above, if you end up renting a workspace, you’ll have to consider that in your initial investment.
Research early about possible suppliers of materials and equipment so you can estimate how much you’ll need to invest.
If you don’t have money to invest in the business, maybe a candle business is not a good fit for you.
Candle Making Business Objectives
How much you’ll make is highly dependent on how big your candle business is, and the good thing about owning your business is that you can decide how big or how small you want it to be.
Figure out what you want to achieve with your business and keep a record of it so you can have that goal in mind in everything you do.
Ideal Customer
The bottom line is, what type of customer do you want to sell your candles to?
It’s good to draw up a profile of your ideal customer: their demographics, likes, dislikes, wants, and needs.
When you have a profile of your ideal customer, you can then weigh your candle-making skills and find out if you have the skills to meet your target customers’ needs and if not, if you’re willing to invest time and money to learn new skills and hone existing ones.
What You Need To Start Your Candle Business
If you’ve considered the factors above, and you’ve decided to start with your candle-making business, you’ll still need to put some things in order before you actually start.
Here are some of the things you’ll need to organize before you begin.
Market Research
As I’ve mentioned, knowing who you want to sell to is important so you’d know if you can meet their requirements.
This is why you need to do market research.
Market research is the process of gathering and analyzing data about a target market’s needs, preferences, and buying triggers.
The aim is to be able to draw a mental picture of your target customer so you can understand how they decide to buy something and form your business and marketing strategy around that.
We’ve previously covered the details of doing market research in another article.
Niche
In general, your target market is anyone who wants candles.
But different people want candles for different reasons.
For instance, there are those who buy candles as purely an emergency light source for an event such as a blackout.
There are those who want beautifully shaped candles for decorative purposes in their home.
Others want scented candles for aromatherapy, ambiance, or to mask pet or cooking odors.
Custom and novelty candles are for more specific niches. For instance, religious candles, photo candles, and holiday candles fall into this category.
Business Plan
A clear, concise business plan is necessary for you to chart your journey and help steer you toward achieving your goals.
Candle-making classes are available in online learning marketplaces, such as Udemy.
Local classes may be a little harder to find (and maybe more expensive), but hands-on classes may be a better fit for you.
Even if you’ve been making candles as a hobby for a while, you can always hone and perfect your craft.
Practice
Quite simply, the more candles you create, the better you get at it.
As you get better at it, you’ll probably create some candles that aren’t store-worthy, but it doesn’t need to be a waste; you can give them out as free samples or sell them at a heavily discounted price.
Network
Local craft groups can also be good venues to meet other artisans and suppliers from whom you might require services.
For instance, you might meet graphic designers who can design your candle labels. Or you might meet suppliers of containers for your candles.
You can also meet with local groups of entrepreneurs and small business owners who can help you with tips on how to get your business going and how to set it up for growth.
If you’re looking for a more focused organization, the National Candle Association is a nonprofit organization that has a great resource website on the science of candle manufacturing, fire safety, and legal issues.
Raw Materials
Your raw materials will largely depend on your customers’ needs, so you don’t want to stock up on too much wax or too many wicks.
However, you will want to research all the best places to source your raw materials from.
Amazon carries pretty much everything you need to start, but you can also look at wholesalers, craft stores, and beekeepers for beeswax.
To give you an idea of what you’ll need to buy, here are some of the raw materials you’re likely to need.
Candle wax. The most popular wax in candles is paraffin wax, but many different kinds like beeswax, soy wax, palm wax, and gel wax.
You can buy many different dyes to color wax in many different ways.
Wick. There are many different materials of wicks: all-cotton, cotton-paper combos, wooden, paper-cored, metal-cored, and many others.
Certain types of wicks go better with certain candle materials, so research and experiment to find out exactly which combinations work best.
You can also buy accessories to make it easier to assemble your wicks: wick tabs, glue spot, wick bars, and wick pins.
Fragrance oils. There are thousands of types of fragrance oils, which you can blend in literally hundreds of thousands of combinations.
Some general categories of fragrance oils include earthy, citrus, fruity, floral, and spicy. For novelty candles, you can consider smells of food, random stuff, and even stinky smells.
Candle molds. The usual candle molds are made of aluminum and create typical cylindrical candles, like votive candles or tea lights.
For more artistic designs, there are customizable designer plastic molds, polyurethane molds, and clamshell molds.
Candle containers. Glass is the classic material for candle containers, as they come in all shapes, sizes, and colors.
For travel-friendly candles, candle tins are becoming an increasingly popular choice.
Equipment
Your raw materials may be the purest, best-quality ones, and your technique may be impeccable, but if you don’t have the right equipment, your candles will come out substandard.
Here’s a list to give you an idea of what equipment you would need.
Pouring pots
Bars, bowties, and glue dots for holding wicks in place where the cal
Wax melters and heaters
Candle molds
Thermometers
Workspace
Candle-making is an activity that necessitates enough space for assembly, storage, and packaging while adhering to fire safety requirements.
Make sure you have a fire extinguisher in your workspace that’s compatible with wax fires.
This early, read up on your city’s zoning laws and fire codes to ensure that your workspace is safe, not only for you but for the surrounding area.
How To Start A Candle Business
If you’ve made the decision to start this candle business, and you’ve arranged everything you need, then you’re ready!
Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to start your candle business.
1. Acquire all necessary licenses and permits.
As I’ve mentioned, running a candle business requires special licenses and permits, so you’ll need to get all of them before you start manufacturing your candles.
If you can, schedule an inspection with a fire safety officer so that you’re entirely sure that your facilities and workspace are up to fire safety standards.
Make sure you register with the IRS as well. Having a tax permit allows you to save tax on buying supplies and passes on the tax to your buyers, so make sure to register with the IRS to pay state and federal business tax.
2. Register your candle business.
It is advisable to register your company as a limited liability company (LLC) so you can disconnect your business assets from your personal assets.
In the off-chance that your candle business gets sued or bankrupt, your liabilities are limited to your company, and your personal finances can’t be touched.
3. Organize your business financials.
As I’ve mentioned above, your business and personal finances should be separate, so assert this separation by opening a separate business bank account and credit card.
Doing this establishes a credit line for your business that you can use for when you decide you want to expand the business.
In line with this, organize your bookkeeping records so that your personal expenses and business expenses are distinct.
You’d also need to get insurance for your company: general liability for cover against bodily injury, property damage, and personal injury.
If you need to hire employees at some point, you’ll also need to get workers comp.
4. Define your product offerings.
There probably are infinite types of candles that you can make, and you’re only limited by your creativity, skills, and raw materials.
You’d want to start with a limited product line, just so you don’t get too overwhelmed at the outset.
Religious candles (e.g., Jewish-themed, Catholic-themed, Wiccan)
Embedded object candles (e.g., candles with seashells, flowers, glitter)
You can also make your product line one of a kind with the materials that you use.
The candle material, wick material, scent, and containers you use can all be combined in different ways to create a product line that’s unique to your brand.
Note that I said “unique”; make sure that your product line doesn’t infringe on any trademarks, copyrights, or patents of other candle companies.
It’s easy to make this mistake; after all, how many candle scents and names could there be?
But the burden is on you, the manufacturer, to ensure that there is no copyright breach.
Aside from selling the candles themselves, consider selling candle accessories that your customers may want.
Accessories include plates, warmers, wick trimmers, candle snuffers, wick dippers, and candle holders for additional income for you.
5. Test your products.
Normally, this would be lumped with the product creation phase, but since candles are higher risk items compared to other non-food products in terms of physical injury and property damage, the stakes are higher in terms of adhering to standards.
Also, if you’ve developed your own scents for your candles, test the candles to make sure that your candles smell the way you intend them to smell.
6. Come up with a pricing plan.
At this point, you should know how much investment you’ve put into this business.
Monetary investments include money down for supplies and equipment (and space, if you’re renting it), license applications, training (if you need it), and other incidentals.
Aside from your monetary contributions, factor in your time in making the candles and assign a value to it. How much would you pay for yourself for each hour of work?
Finally, your artistry and effort need to also have values assigned to them.
It’s most effective to have a target profit per candle, so figure out the cost per candle based on the above values, add your target profit per candle, and you have your selling price.
7. Choose where to sell.
First, think about where you’re going to offer your products/services.
Selling your candles online is easiest, as there are plenty of platforms for you to choose from. The most popular ones are Etsy, eBay, and Amazon Handmade.
Here’s a good read if you’re debating whether to go with Etsy or eBay. And this is another great article on our site about selling crafts online.
If face-to-face selling is more your style, you can look for flea markets and craft shows where you can physically sell your candles.
You can also set up a storefront to sell your candles, like a mall kiosk to start or a larger space when you’re getting enough income to rent one.
Make sure your selling location is also compliant with fire safety standards.
If you’re going to have a physical location, register this location on Google My Business so potential customers in your area can easily find your business.
8. Establish your online presence.
If your candle business is going to be successful, you’ll need to build an online presence to make sure that when customers research about you, they’ll find information about you and confirm that you do insist.
First, open social media accounts for your business. Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter are the basic ones that your business should have.
While social media marketing is important for networking and advertising, aim to launch your own website at the same time, or at least very soon in the future.
Having your own website is a huge content marketing opportunity through a self-hosted blog and a newsletter if you have the time and motivation.
The next step is to set up a shop right on your website so you can sell your candles directly and not depend on third-party marketplaces, online and offline.
9. Organize your contact information.
First, create a business email so you can register your social media with that email and not your personal email. You don’t want to be flooded with emails on your personal inbox.
Also, you’ll want potential customers to be able to contact you in a variety of ways, not just email and social media.
However, just like you want your business finances distinct from your personal finances, you’re going to want your contact information distinct from your personal contact information.
If you’re working from home and registered as an LLC, you can technically have your home address listed as your business address.
The problem is that business addresses, called Registered Agent addresses for LLCs, are part of the public record.
I would imagine that you don’t want to have your home address publicly available, so you can either get a mailbox through UPS or look for a co-working space that offers the use of a street address as a mailing address.
Another thing you’ll want to take care of is a dedicated business phone number so you can turn it off during non-work hours. You’ll also want to have a smartphone by which you can do your social media updates and answer emails.
Final Thoughts On Starting A Candle Business
Running a candle-making business takes skill, dedication, and patience.
Of course, there is no guarantee that your business, or any business for that matter, will be successful, but I hope our guide on how to start a candle business helps you.
If you decide you don’t want to open a candle business but may want to open another business, you can go through this article with 50 ways to start an online business.
Or maybe all this post achieved was to convince you that starting a business isn’t for you, but that working from home is a better fit for you. Here is a list of jobs that you can work from home.
How does starting a candle business from home sound? Has my blog post inspired you to try it?
So you want to learn how to start a greeting card business.
Making people feel warm and fuzzy with awesomely matched words and graphics is big business. These greeting cards are present in almost every occasion, from birthdays to funerals, anniversaries to job promotions, baby announcements, and even just day-to-day of expressing one’s love for another person.
Have you been a part of this industry as a writer crafting the words for greeting card companies? An artist making the graphics? A poet adding rhyme and rhythm to texts? Or are you inexperienced coming into the business?
Steps to Take to Start a Greeting Card Business
There are many questions to answer when figuring out how to launch any kind of company, which is why your first line of business should be to build a solid plan.
1. Create a Solid Business Plan
A business plan not only gives you a “map” to the business you want to build, it also helps you decide if you really want to pursue such a venture.
Money matters: How much money you can invest. If you have a partner investing on this idea, how much will he/she put into the business and how much of the income will be put back into the business.
Perform proper costing (list down cost of paper, printing services, artist fees, writer fees, and so on)
Amount range you plan to sell your greeting cards for
Amount you must set aside for paying employees or contractors like cartoonists, poets and so on.
Ongoing expenses to run your greeting card business (This could be anything from business insurance to printing equipment, desktop publishing software, computers, rental cost if you’re leasing an off, and so on)
Target market: Who is your initial target market? Do you plan to expand this to include other market groups?
Niche: Are you planning to focus on a niche for your greeting card business? For example, greeting cards with funny jokes, greeting cards drawn in a particular style, hand painted greeting cards, greeting cards handmade with buttons, greeting cards embellished with leaves or other nature’s trinkets.
Important Decisions to Make
Selling online, vs. selling in real life
If you decide to sell your greeting cards exclusively online, it will remove big expenses like office rental and upkeep of your own printing equipment.
If you plan to sell in real life, think of the commitment level you’re willing to give.
Can you join artist markets and introduce your brand to the world, talking to would-be customers face to face? Of course, you can also sell both online and offline, if you wish.
Handmade vs. Print-on-demand
When it comes to greeting card design, you need to decide if you want to go the handmade route or print-on-demand cards.
Choosing between these two methods will affect everything from your business plan, to production, selling method, and even marketing.
The main benefit of going the handmade route is you’ll attract a very specific target market who value how artists do it old-school.
Every card is undoubtedly special.
However, producing these cards require a lot of time and effort in the artist’s part, which means there will be less cards produced and less income made.
Print-on-demand greeting cards begin just like any handmade card, but once the first card is designed, it will become the prototype for future cards and only printed when a buyer decides to pick a design from your greeting card catalog.
2. Make Your Business Legal
You may be starting a business that revolves in creativity, but you must still take care of the legalities:
Name Your business. Know that the legal name can be different to the brand you’re going to use throughout your greeting card business. But picking one that resonates with your product should be your main goal.
Establish a business entity, such as corporation, LLC, etc. This prevents anyone from suing you as an individual (and sue your company instead).
Secure a permit. Check with your city or state what kind of business license you’d need to operate your greeting card business. This is super important because delaying a business permit could lead to paying fines, or worse, get shut down.
Open a business bank account. This separates your finances as an individual and as the business owner of your greeting card company. If you can secure a business credit card while you’re at the bank, do so. It could help with future expenses and build your company’s credit history.
Get insured. If you plan to hire employees or rent an office, it is important that you get business insurance. It will prevent would-be headaches in the future.
Set up the company’s accounting. Learn how to do your own company’s books at the earliest stage of your company’s life, so you’d be able to keep an accurate and detailed record of your company’s revenues and expenses.
3. Begin Branding
Now that we finished the serious side of how to start a greeting card business, let your creativity fly free with branding and brainstorming card ideas, themes or collections.
“Branding” means promotion of a product or company, so why would be begin branding before actually creating the product? You’ll see.
There are 3 important things you should do first:
Build a website – It’s very easy to build websites these days, especially if you choose the drag-and-drop, hosted sites like Shopify, Wix, Squarespace, and the like. Joining any of these sites is easy. Just register, pay for a plan, choose a website template, and within an hour or two, you have a working website. You can even add a shop to your website.
Build your company’s online presence – The easiest way of marketing products (without any investment) is through social media. Join the big 3 – Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Set-and-forget LinkedIn. And turn Pinterest into your catalog of greeting cards.
Print business cards and samples of your product – If your goal is to sell greeting cards beyond the internet, you should be armed with business cards whenever you join art bazaars, artist conventions and other similar events.
Make sure you use the same business name for all 3 tasks. You want people to know your greeting card business, so using different names for every platform would just confuse your potential market. Be consistent. Decide a voice for your company (formal? conversational? Not-safe-for-work? Too cool for school?) and then stick to it all throughout your channels.
4. Get Cranking with Crafting and Selling Greeting Cards
Everything we learned about how to start a greeting card business boils down to this.
Brainstorm ideas. If you’re hiring talent to do the artwork and text for your greeting cards, then begin brainstorming with them. If you’re the one drawing, then you just need to turn those ideas into something tangible.
Create a content calendar. Your goal as a business owner is to produce greeting cards enough to meet deadlines, seasons and holidays. You have to organize your staff so that you’ll be able to release Valentine’s Day greeting cards on time, or produce Christmas greeting cards two or three months before December.
Create, create, create. If you’re doing traditional greeting cards, you need to gather your supplies (paper, markers, paint, watercolor, etc.) and just create the cards you’ve brainstormed. If you’re making a digital version, then you just need a computer, drawing tablet, and the right software to do the job for you.
Printing greeting cards. This depends largely on how you wish to sell your greeting cards. If you’ve already talked to a publishing house where the greeting cards will be sold, then you have to print them on a massive scale. If you’re selling them one-by-one directly to customers, you have several options:
Continue promoting your stuff. While creating greeting cards, you should be consistent in updating your website, Facebook, Pinterest and other platforms. These will serve as free advertising for your business. Plus, it would let customers know that you’re open for business.
Wrap Up: How to Start a Greeting Card Business Successfully
You can control how small or how big you want to launch your company.
In fact, many small businesses begin operations on a part-time basis, then scale up to full time and gradually bring it out into the world when the company’s finances are stable and ready for expansion.
You may think that the $1 to $5 price tag of greeting cards won’t lead your business into success, but think about this for a minute: every time a greeting card is created under your wing, this card can be sold multiple times online and offline.
It won’t become a $20-billion Hallmark company, but since you’re running a passive income generating business, its earning potential is endless.
Traditionally, when you think “legal jobs,” one envisions men and women in power suits bustling about in an office with shelves full of law books. But recently, there has been more work-from-home legal jobs available for people who need or want to work in the legal field but want more flexibility in their work life.
The legal profession often requires daily face-to-face communications, negotiations, and transactions.
But times are changing.
Many law firms have been looking to cut costs and increase efficiency by being open to more flexible working arrangements.
With such set-ups, legal professionals can now come in as little as once or twice a week or even not at all.
Today, let’s look at the work-from-home legal jobs available for lawyers and other legal professionals can apply for.
15 Types of Work From Home Legal Jobs
The following jobs may have different names, depending on the company offering these roles.
This list of legal jobs isn’t exhaustive, but I’m sure you’ll get a good idea of the available work-from-home options for you.
1. Virtual Freelance Lawyer
By definition, a lawyer is someone who has finished training in the field of law and passed the bar exams who provides advice on legal matters.
As a lawyer working for a firm, you’ve probably worked from home, from a coffee house, or from everywhere else to juggle your workload.
When you switch to work-from-home legal jobs, the tasks you did as a lawyer in your traditional 9-to-5 job remain the same. You can continue practicing your specialization.
The only difference is that you’ll have total control over where you meet clients.
It can be through video-conferencing, a nearby restaurant, or even your home office.
2. Contractual Attorney or Trial Consultant
An attorney (or attorney-at-law) is a lawyer who is qualified and licensed to represent clients in court.
Although it is used interchangeably with the term “lawyer” in the US, we’ll adhere to the definition of the term “attorney” to differentiate the tasks.
When law firms suffer from work backlog, they hire contractual attorneys to help meet deadlines, even if it means they do the job from home.
Working from home as an attorney is quite possible thanks to technological advancements.
These days, attorneys are able to meet with clients, attend litigation remotely, and negotiate on behalf of clients with video-conferencing tools and cloud-sharing apps.
As an attorney-at-law with court experience, you can also work as a behind-the-scenes trial consultant for other legal professionals.
Since you’re not required to show up in court, your job can be completely performed from home.
3. Virtual Paralegal
Paralegals provide support to attorneys whenever they are swamped with caseloads.
As a virtual paralegal, you perform the same tasks, except that you correspond with attorneys and clients via e-mails, phone calls, video calls, and other similar ways.
Virtual paralegals can handle various tasks, from drafting documents to filling forms, helping with research, and other tasks that are allowed within the bounds of their role.
Since paralegals are not lawyers and have not passed the bar, their work often goes through a practicing lawyer.
The upside to this is that paralegals often take up an unofficial “specialization”, such as immigration law, human rights, and so on since they focus on the same specialization as the lawyer they work for.
4. Legal Researcher
Generally speaking, a person who works in legal research is someone dedicated to learning everything they can about the cases they’re currently working on.
The more information legal researchers gather, the higher their chances of helping the team win a case.
The bulk of the work of legal researchers happens weeks before the actual litigation process in the courtroom.
Legal research is what helps attorneys tie evidence presented to past cases and existing laws.
Outside the traditional law industry, you can also blog about law, write a legal e-book, and other types of publications.
In bigger agencies where tons of content are produced, legal editors work hand-in-hand with writers as a team. This helps in seamless submissions of work with a second (or third) pair of eyes double-checking written legal materials.
6. Legal Sales Executive
If you’ve found success in a sales position before, having the additional legal knowledge helps you land a very specific profession: legal sales executive.
This role is responsible for selling products or services that legal professionals may need in their day-to-day jobs.
This can be anything from a subscription from Bloomberg Law to Westlaw’s online legal research platform.
Since you know how to communicate with lawyers and other professionals in the law industry, you’d be able to use your communication and persuasion skills more effectively and hopefully land a sale.
This role can be freelance, or a full-time sales job with a company.
7. Legal Recruiter
Much like the job of an online recruiter or headhunter, a legal recruiter finds “talent” needed by law firms, courthouses, and private companies looking for specific professionals.
A legal recruiter needs to have a strong background in law as well as extensive experience in human resources.
Recruiters can work from home as a solo headhunter, or become a contractor to a headhunting company.
The choice will be up to you.
8. Legal Transcriptionist/Transcriber, Interpreter, or Translator
Legal professionals don’t need to look too far when it comes to their work-from-home job of choice.
As legal transcriptionists, translators, and interpreters, their job is to transcribe, translate, or interpret legal documents for law firms, law offices, and other professionals in the law industry.
Yes, these work-from-home legal jobs are three separate types of jobs.
I know this.
I lumped them together because their requirements are similar:
a firm grasp of legal jargon,
knowledge of citations,
fast typing speed,
writing and proofreading skills,
and so on.
Of course, you need to be familiar with the language you’re trying to translate, or the deep legal terms you’re trying to interpret.
9. E-Discovery Professional
E-discovery (shortcut for electronic discovery) is a billion-dollar industry.
With this role, people with legal backgrounds collect and process documents and evidence from lawsuits and criminal cases. They do this to preserve them as electronically stored information (ESI) for future research.
E-discovery professionals can work from home as freelancers.
If you’re lucky to land a contract for a local law firm or something similar, you can even build your own e-discovery firm from scratch.
And with ESI becoming the norm in the law industry, there’s good money and a positive outlook in this line of work.
10. Legal Nurse Consultant
This is a very specific job since you’d have to be familiar with medicine jargon (much better if you have nursing experience) and also know the ins and outs of the legal system.
This skill set enables legal nurse consultants to provide guidance to attorneys involved in medical-related cases.
11. Mediator
Lawyers are amazing at mediating since they can easily find all angles to a story, assess the situation, and settle legal disputes outside of the courtroom.
Private companies, individuals, and other kinds of institutions may hire mediators as contractors on an as-needed basis. With the right set of tools, this job can be performed from home or anywhere around the world.
12. In-House Counsel
Medium to large companies need in-house counsel to oversee legal aspects and provide solid legal advice to management with the main purpose of protecting the company’s legal rights.
Most of the duties of an in-house counsel can be done remotely, as long as you have an open line of communication via email, phone, and video conferencing.
13. Document Reviewer
Document review, known as “doc review” among law students and interns involves sifting through hundreds of thousands to millions of documents that need to be read and tagged for relevance to a particular lawsuit.
Out of all the other work from home legal jobs in this list, document reviewer is probably the dullest, most tedious, and least appealing one.
But it’s a good way to earn while getting your foot in the door in a law firm that you want to work for in a different capacity.
14. Compliance Officer/Specialist
Compliance refers to strict adherence to laws, policies, and regulations set by external entities, such as government agencies and independent organizations. Some of the industries that offer compliance jobs include the financial, healthcare, and telecommunications industries.
Companies prefer to hire lawyers as compliance officers because they’re adept at maneuvering legal intricacies of regulations as well as identifying, addressing, and avoiding compliance risks.
15. Legal Analyst
Legal analysts work with law firms and other non-law organizations.
The primary role of legal analysts is to analyze an organization’s legal documents. They make sure that the documents comply with laws and regulations.
When their organization is facing legal matters, legal analysts may also conduct research, gather evidence, and provide recommendations.
This role can also be fulfilled from the comfort of your own home.
However, because of the sensitivities of documents, legal analysts may be required to sign an NDA (non-disclosure agreement) when working with documents outside the office.
Where to Find Virtual Legal Jobs
There are listings for various work from home legal jobs in general job boards such as:
Use the job titles above when searching for a particular role. Take note of the job location and make sure the job indicates “remote,” “work-from-home,” “home-based.”
Here are also job boards specific to the legal profession where you can start the search:
Competition landing virtual legal jobs from these law-specific job boards may sometimes be tough, so be patient and don’t give up.
Transitioning from Office to Work from Home Legal Jobs
Transitioning from a traditional office job to a remote job is never easy, regardless of your field of industry or occupation.
But there are a couple of tips to make the transition to doing work from home legal jobs a bit easier.
First, update your LinkedIn profile.
You should be doing this anyway, whether you’re working from home or working in a traditional office setting, but this becomes even more significant for those who are applying for remote legal jobs.
The first thing prospective employers do is to search for your name on the internet and judge from that whether they’ll entertain your application and advance to the next step.
Make sure what they see on your LinkedIn is updated information that plays to your strengths and why you would be perfect for the position you’re applying for.
Second, hone and showcase your technical competence.
When you’re working through telecommute, your technical knowledge is crucial to the performance of your duties.
So when applying for legal jobs, you’ll need to show that you’re comfortable using current legal technology tools, especially data privacy and protection technology.
The less training you need, the more attractive you are to hiring managers and employers.
Finally, remain presentable.
The compulsion to work in PJs and stay in bed all day is strong, but being a legal professional means you’ll need to talk to clients and coworkers, and you’ll need to look your best.
Start your workday like you’re going into an office: shower, do your makeup and hair, wear smart casual clothes (or tops, at the very least), and have your nice coat or jacket handy for those impromptu video conferences or coffee shop meetings.
Work from Home Legal Jobs in 2024
If you’re ready to transition from office to work from home jobs, or simply want to work from home while putting your legal knowledge to good use, hopefully one of the choices we’ve listed resonate with you and inspire you.
With many law firms and companies embracing the work-from-home setup, the legal jobs above are available in 2024 remotely more than ever.
On the other hand, if you’re not picky and don’t mind getting a career that’s not related to the law, here’s a massive list of work from home jobs.
