Gone are the days where you must have a physical office to earn a living. There are several careers that you can pursue via telecommuting. If you rather not be tied down to a single location to work, exploring these career options could be illuminating.
1. Be a Blogger
Blogging is not something people find success with overnight, but with the right tools and ideas, it can be a viable choice. This career allows you to focus on your passion and turn it into a job. There are several things you need to ensure that you can be successful with blogging:
- Deliver excellent content that people want to read and share.
- You need a solid social media presence.
- Identify a niche that allows you to stand out, but don’t go too broad.
- You need an excellent host for your website.
- Learn basic HTML so that you can customize your website.
- Make sure that you understand copyright issues.
- Learn SEO basics to ensure you can generate traffic.
- Your website design must be efficient and aesthetically pleasing
2. Freelance Writer
As a freelance writer, you can choose to be a generalist, or you can focus on a specific niche, such as law, medicine or finance. If you have expertise in a specific area, it is a good idea to specialize in this niche to set yourself apart from the wealth of available freelance writers.
You can also choose the type of writing that you do. You might want to focus on brand content, blogs or even academic writing and papers. There is vast flexibility in how you choose to customize your career.
What is nice about this option is that you have total freedom regarding the clients that you work with. Ideally, the initial goal is to develop a portfolio so that you can prove your skills. A blog or website to market yourself is ideal for this.
3. Consult in Your Industry
Research shows that independent and freelance workers are becoming more common in just about every industry. No matter your background and expertise, there is often room for a consultant. As a consultant, you will develop a method to help businesses in your industry to solve problems. You might offer broad services, or you can choose to focus on a specific issue that is common in your chosen industry.
The job description of a consultant varies greatly, depending on the needs of the industry. You will likely travel often to meet with clients to provide your services. Many consultants today work from home and simply meet clients in their offices. This allows for a lot of flexibility in how you create your schedule. In addition to in-person meetings, a lot of your work will involve email and phone conversations, both of which are easily accomplished from home.
4. Work as a Virtual Assistant
If you have some experience in administrative or secretarial work, this could be a viable remote career option. You can create a list of the services that you will offer to make it easier to find clients that can utilize your skills. In general, you will help your client to manage their workload so that they do not get overwhelmed.
This type of assistant can work in just about any industry, but some of the most common areas include email management, project management and social media management. Common tasks include scheduling meetings, editing, contacting prospects and aiding with project management.
It is important that you are highly organized and detail-oriented to be successful as a virtual assistant. You should also expect hours that are set by your clients so that you are available when they need you.
5. Get Involved in Digital Marketing
Digital marketing involves marketing a service or product via online channels. There are different specializations you might choose within this industry, such as social media, email marketing, data analysis, content marketing and website design.
You will help brands and companies to reach their target audience. This may involve using SEO, writing blog posts, developing marketing material or a combination of these.
All of the tasks that you need to complete as a digital marketer can be done from anywhere. All you need is your computer and an internet connection. You might have some in-person meetings on occasion to discuss goals and projects, but the majority of your work can be done without going into an office every day.
6. Be an Online Coach or Tutor
There are several ways to be an online coach or tutor. This is ideal as a career, or even as a side job for those with busy schedules. As a coach, you may work in motivation, fitness or even general life coaching.
As a tutor, you can choose to specialize in any age group. You can be a generalist or choose to tutor on a specific subject, such as SAT preparation, history, math or specific software types.
You can use video communication, such as Skype, to tutor people so that you do not have to meet in person. Just schedule your sessions and be prepared to teach.
7. Do Website Design
Website design is one of the most popular remote career options. All you need is expertise in CSS, HTML or other programming languages, and a computer that can handle the job. You will also need a portfolio showing what you can do. You can build websites from the ground up, or work in mock websites and redesigning.
You can choose to specialize in certain platforms, such as WordPress or Blogger, or be more of a generalist. You might also consider specializing in one element of website design, such as optimizing the SEO, or improving the speed and navigation of a website.
Now that you know about some of the best location-independent careers, it is time to evaluate your options. Consider your background and what you enjoy to narrow down your choices, then go for it!
