We’ve all seen the ads pop up in our email inboxes: Work from home. Be your own boss. Make more money in ten days than you’ve ever seen in your life.
While our first inclination of throwing these emails right into the trash is accurate, there is some truth behind the spam.
You can be your own boss. You can work from home. And you can, with time, hard work, and mastering your skill, quit your traditional job to become a remote worker earning a steady paycheck.
While you won’t be sipping daiquiris on white sand beaches in just days like spam emails promise, it is completely possible to make a living as a remote worker. All you have to do is decide what you want to do, master the skills required to do that job, market yourself, and work your way to a full-time position doing something you enjoy, all from the comfort of your home office.
Every day more and more people around the world have explored the idea of working from home
Whether it’s simply because they don’t want to incur debt from student loans to earn a promotion at their current company or the costs of daycare, gas, and transportation are just becoming too much of a burden, working a remote job is something that is intriguing to many men and women.
The thought of working remotely may inspire you to put in your 2-week notice with your current employer, but this is a mistake you don’t want to make. While you’re learning the ropes, establishing yourself, and building up a base of clientele, you want to keep the steady job you have to ensure a continued cash flow. After all, you can’t work remotely if you don’t have enough money to pay the Internet bill.
One of the most difficult parts of becoming a remote worker is deciding what you want to do
With the popularity of the Internet rising worldwide, the demand for remote workers is growing at a steady pace. From medical transcription to freelance writing and even animation, a variety of common jobs once performed in a commercial office setting are quickly moving to the home office. Deciding what you want to do can be easy if you’re already in a line of work that can be done from home, such as web design, writing and editing, or transcription. Newcomers may have a more difficult time making the choice but with so many different jobs available, the possibilities are endless.
It’s important to note that you don’t just want to know the skills required for the job you wish to pursue. A mastery of these skills is required for success. You want to be the best at what you do, which helps build your reputation and brings clients directly to you. More clients mean more money in your pocket.
This doesn’t mean you have to pursue a pricey education or spend thousands in specialized courses. The Internet is a vast resource right at your fingertips that can help you build your skillset. Research your chosen position, ask experts in the industry, and even offer free services to people you know in exchange for positive testimonials. You want to be skilled at what you do, and you want to spread the word that you’re the right professional for the job.
As a freelancer, you don’t want to give your skill away for free – you want to make money from your skill and earn what you are worth. Remote job sites make it easier than ever to get paid for doing jobs you love.
- Elance is one of the most well-known remote job sites on the web, with thousands of jobs available in all categories, including Sales & Marketing, Writing & Translation, and IT & Programming. With just a simple search, you can apply for short- and long-term freelance projects. *
- Fiverr lets you choose your own offering, whether it’s crafting the perfect resume or creating fun caricatures.
- Freelancer offers a variety of remote positions that range from web development to data entry.
- Rent a Coder is a great example of an online workplace that offers work for a specialized skill set. This site caters to IT developers, designers and writers.
Sites like these are a great choice because the job possibilities are so vast, and the online feedback systems make it easy to spread the word about your excellent work. Remote workers with excellent ratings and feedback receive more job invitations, increased pay rates, and more opportunities in general.
Being a remote worker requires more than just learning skills and finding jobs. You also have to maintain client relationships and keep records of your earnings, send out invoices after work has been completed, and are responsible for filing taxes. Getting paid through sites like Elance is generally hassle-free, as the site offers a tracker for hourly job, a built-in invoicing system, and payment protection. If you choose to work with private clients or off of a platform, keeping accurate records and sending correct invoices that your clients doesn’t have to be challenging when you utilize an online invoicing system like Shopify, which also makes payment processing easier than ever.
Once you’ve made a name for yourself with established clients who bring in referrals, your revenue will steadily increase. What initially started as a few hundred dollars a month can easily turn into several hundred each week, which can continue to grow to an even larger salary than what you’re currently making at your traditional office job. At this point, you can make the decision to leave your previous job to become a full-time remote worker, doing what you enjoy and getting paid to do it.
With commitment and discipline, it’s possible to achieve this type of freedom in 120 days
Some remote workers may find success sooner, while some may transition into their position a bit more slowly. While expecting to become a millionaire overnight without lifting a finger isn’t going to happen to most of us, making a living wage while working remotely is realistic. By taking the proper steps, you can turn the fantasy of doing what you enjoy into a reality.
*Elance is an Upwork company that will make the transition to Upwork at some point in the coming year.
