Turn Your Existing Skills into Your Ideal Side Job from Home

Everybody’s good at something, right? Maybe you’re a designer. Perhaps you can type 100+WPM. Or maybe you
have an uncanny ability to plow through to-do lists and tackle a day’s worth of tasks in just three hours.

Whatever it is you’re good at, you can turn it into a work from home career. No. Really.

Look at Chantel Waterbury, founder and CEO of Chloe + Isabel. While she built a successful corporate career in the jewelry business, she knew she wanted to use her existing skillset to help others. That’s how Chloe + Isabel, a direct sales/ecommerce business, was born.

Now she empowers women to “tackle their financial needs” while building their own successful careers that make good use of their unique skills.

The good news is, you can too. Whatever it is you’re good at, I bet you can find a work from home job that puts those skills to good use. 

I’m Social Media Savvy

In 2016, about 78 percent of Americans have at least one social profile. And worldwide, there’s nearly 2 billion people active on social media — that sure is a whole lot tweeting, snapping, pinning, instagramming, posting, and sharing going on.

This also means there’s quite a lot of social media work that can be done from home. If you know a thing or two about engaging an audience online, check out these work from home social media gigs.

ModSquad

When you become a Mod over at ModSquad, you get the chance to work with some big-name businesses and familiar brands. You might be tasked with spreading the word about a new product on social media or responding to social questions in a helpful and friendly way. As a Mod, you get to choose the projects you want to work on and work as much or little as you’d like.

Appen Social Media Evaluator

As a global language company, Appen has a number of work from home jobs available, but if social media is your thing, you’ll want to check out their Social Media Evaluator gig. If social media is a daily part of your life, i.e., you get your news via social channels and stay in contact with friends and family on Facebook, you’d probably be a great fit for this easy gig.

Time Etc.

Time Etc. is a leading virtual assistant company. They break down their assistant roles by skills and, you guessed it, one of those positions is Marketing and Social Media Assistant. The pay rate here starts at $11.00/hour. You’ll also get a pretty flexible schedule and only need to make a small commitment each week (as little as three hours!).

Crisp Thinking

Join the team of freelance social media moderators at Crisp Thinking and help clients keep an eye on their social channels. This can include responding to user-generated questions or making sure comments left on social pages and profiles are appropriate.

Even More Social Media Jobs

With so many businesses and brands using social media to reach their target audience, there sure are a lot of ways to earn from home if you’re social savvy. Check out these companies for additional at-home social media gigs:

• ICUC
• eModeration
• LiveWorld
• 99Social
• Lithium

You could also head on over to the Mashable’s Job Board where they have an entire section devoted to social media and marketing jobs — you just never know what you’ll find.

I Can Type Quickly (and Accurately!)

Head on over to TypingTest.com and take their quick 60-second test. How’d you do? If you typed more than 75WPM with at least 95% accuracy, you can turn those typing skills into work.

Transcription

And, no, I’m not just talking about small typing gigs here and there. Instead, how about starting your own general transcription business? When you source your own clients and set your rates, you can earn much more than what you might expect to earn as a contractor for one of the many transcription companies that hire beginners. You can earn as much or little as you’d like when as a general transcriptionist — this side job can easily turn into a full-time career.

Captioning

If you’re more of a visual person, consider captioning videos. Rev has been around a long time and has enough work available that allows their top earners to make $1,200+ a month — if you’re looking for a flexible way to add to your income while putting your typing skills to use, Rev might be the place for you.

I’m a Time Management Pro

Lucille Ball once said: 

'If you want something done, ask a busy person to do it. The more things you do, the more you can do.' Click To Tweet

If you’re great at getting things done, I bet that quote resonates with you. And the good news is, you can use your skills to help others get more done each day when you work from home as a virtual assistant.

Fancy Hands

This is a crowdsourced VA company that pays you for each task you complete. Work is available 24/7/365 so you can login whenever and wherever and work as much or little as you’d like.

Time Etc.

Time Etc. doesn’t just have jobs available for social media pros — there’s also opportunities for general administrative assistants, writers, and customer service experts.

eaHelp

If you come from an admin background, you might be a good fit for the open positions at eaHelp. This is a part-time contract position mostly helping professionals with typical time sucks like email and calendar management.

Create Your Virtual Assistant Own Side Job

So many people needs VAs — bloggers, small business owners, busy professionals — that it almost makes sense to create your own side job as a VA. There’s plenty of work to go around and going solo gives you total control over your schedule, rates, and clients you work with. Plus, you’re only limited by how much you want to grow — a VA business can easily start as a side job and turn full-time!

I’m Comfortable on the Phone

Whether you have a pleasant phone demeanor or simply have the ‘gift of gab,’ you can use your on-the-phone prowess to pick up an online side job that puts your skills to good use.

Call Center QA

Become a mystery shopper at Call Center QA and earn money for making phone calls  — dial a shop, ask some questions, write a quick report and, bam, you just earned $5.

ARC

You can earn extra money as a phone mystery shopper at ARC, but they also have opportunities for Objective Call Center Evaluators, too. This is perfect for those with an excellent telephone presence and can be done on evenings and weekends — making it an ideal opportunity for parents, disabled adults, grandparents, students or anyone wanting a side job that makes good use of their incredible phone skills.

MaritzCX

MartizCX is a customer experience company. They hire part-time virtual market researchers to conduct surveys over the phone. This is a great way to put your personable phone presence to work with a great company that will hire you on as an employee and not a contractor.

NextWave

If you enjoy talking to people, consider joining the NextWave Advocacy at Home team. They offer flexible schedules that match your schedule. Projects on their GO Team give you a chance to use your phone skills to motivate people to take grassroots actions.

VoiceLog

Become a Live Operator at VoiceLog and receive live verification calls to help battle sales fraud. This is a flexible side job that lets you work in shift as short as two hours.

I’m a Pretty Great Researcher

I love a good research project. But, too often it leads me down the Internet rabbit hole where I emerge two hours later with no real research to show for my journey. I suspect I’m not the only one since more and more people are choosing to outsource their research tasks to, one, save time and, two, get real research results.

Wonder

Wonder is a fast-growing network of online researchers. You too can join them and get paid for each question you thoroughly research and answer. You can login in at any time to see what work is available, making this a super flexible side job you can do from home.

Accurate Background

As a Verifications Researcher at Accurate Background, you’ll combine internet investigation with phone work to verify applicant information. In other words, you’ll be making sure that what people put on their applications is actually the truth. There’s a lot of work to go around with shifts ranging from overnight to midday — so whatever your schedule is, you can make it work as a Verifications Researcher at Accurate Background.

10EQS

From time to time, you can find fact finding tasks and jobs available on 10EQS. Keep an eye on their hiring page to see what online researcher employment positions are currently open.

Article One

Become a Researcher at Article One and choose the projects you want to work on. To date, they’ve paid out more than $7,000,000 to their researchers!

I’m Somewhat of a Grammar Pro

So, you proudly wear a badge that says Grammar Police and want to put those skills to work? Great! Grammar buffs can find many different opportunities to earn on the side.

For starters, you might want to consider taking on work as an online editor or proofreader. These are contract positions that come with a lot of flexibility. You might want to also consider proofreading transcripts as a way to earn a side income. Babbletype is a market research transcription company that often hires transcript proofreaders to make sure finished transcripts are perfectly polished.

There’s also proofreading transcripts for court reporters. Caitlin Pyle was able to turn a proofreading side hustle into a full-time income of more than $40,000/year — and you can, too.

Another way to put your words to work is to become a Pop Culture or Automotive Metadata writer at Crawford. This is a project-based side job that lets you work as long as there is work available.

If you’ve always wanted to launch a freelance writing career but just didn’t know where to start, this guide will show you the way. You’ll learn everything from picking a profitable niche to best practices when pitching to clients — it’s a must-read if you want to use your grammar skills as a paid writer!

Start Side Hustling

I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again, getting started is usually the hardest part. So many people want a side job to add a little to their bank account each month but because there are so many options, they just don’t know where to start. So, they don’t. And a side hustle remains a good idea but never becomes a reality.

It’s time to stop thinking about a side job and get to work. Take this fun 11-question quiz and you’ll find out which kind of side hustler you are!

Side Hustle Help!

Need a little extra boost to get started side hustling? No problem! Head on over to Side Hustle To Success.

Whether you want to get out of debt, add to your bank account, or just save more money, Side Hustle To Success can show you how to make extra cash when it’s convenient for YOU.

Once you know, you can get down to business and actually put your skills to work. Have any questions? I’m just a tweet away at @AshleeWrites or send me an email ashlee@workfromhomehappiness.com

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