Do you need some extra cash? Maybe you’re saving for something, or you just need a little more to help with bills. Either way, you just can’t face getting a second conventional job – a part-time, nights and weekends gig outside the house that drains your time and energy. That’s no good for you or your family! Instead, you need something you can do at home, on YOUR schedule and with the time commitment YOU decide. You, my friend, need a second job that’s purely work-at-home.
But what can you do? I can hear you saying it’s hard enough finding a work-at-home job that’s legitimate, much less one with that much flexibility! Well, I’m here to tell you it can be done, and to help you see how!
First things first: what are your skills? There is a work-at-home job out there for every skill level, from no experience required to specialized jobs with specific requirements. In order to find them, you just need to identify what you can do – then brainstorm (along with using my site!) to find opportunities that will work for you.
Are you great at listening and typing?
Let’s say that two of your best skills are that you’re a great listener and a fantastic typist. You are able to carefully listen and quickly comprehend another person when they’re speaking – you’ve always got the answer when a friend misses a line in a movie or didn’t understand a song lyric. You also blaze away on the keyboard and have great accuracy at least 60 WPM (here’s a typing test if you don’t know your WPM or have a good feel for your accuracy.)
You should try your hand at transcription or captioning! Keep an eye out for transcription job listings on my site, or you can head over to Rev.com – Rev can offer you an entry-level dip into the world of transcription, and you can find out if it’s a viable opportunity for you.
Are you a good writer, and happy with writing on any topic?
If you have some solid writing skills and have been known to turn a clever phrase or two, you should consider freelance writing! All you need are a good command of grammar and spelling, and the self-discipline to get the writing done. You should also have reasonable Internet research skills. Combine that with the ability to consistently make the word count on the schedule you and your client decide on, and freelance writing could be the perfect second job for you.
There are so many websites out there that need content, and there are just as many ways to find jobs writing articles, blogs, presentations – even social media updates! One great way to seek out these writing opportunities is to check out sites like ProBlogger .
Do you love analyzing data and doing Internet searches?
If one of your ideas of fun is doing a weird search on Google and seeing what the results spit out – well, I love your moxie! There’s some crazy stuff on the Internet, and you probably discover it on a regular basis. Now, do you also have a mind that’s great at analyzing data? Are you ALSO up-to-date on pop culture and the latest media trends? Then you should absolutely consider being a search engine evaluator!
Search engine evaluators do exactly what you think – they perform specific searches, then analyze the results – rating the relevance of the websites in those results, comparing results between different search strings, and then providing feedback on everything they learn. Check out my recent write-up on being a search engine evaluator with Leapforce.
Do you love trying something out and giving your opinion on it?
If you have fun trying out new things – like testing a new website feature, or visiting new websites regularly – why not make it work for you? If you also don’t mind speaking your thoughts out loud for a recording (just audio, not video), you should definitely consider User Testing.
User Testing will pay you $10 per task just to play with a website or an app and give them your thoughts on it. It really is that easy – you may not make a large, consistent amount from it, but it’s a great choice when you don’t have a lot of time to invest and want to make a little cash off of doing something you’d probably do anyway.
Do you enjoy doing odd jobs – maybe organizational, maybe administrative?
Do you have great organizational skills? Are a bit of a jack of all trades with office tasks – you don’t mind making phone calls, booking trips, keeping track of schedules, or doing odd jobs like customer service, light graphic design, or letter drafting? If yes, you could try being a Virtual Assistant on your evenings and weekends!
Basically, this means joining a website such as Time Etc. You tell them what skills you have, and they match you with clients. That’s it. You can set your own available hours, then work with your clients within those time frames. This is also something that can grow into a career if you ever decide to leave your day job!
Getting creative with a second job idea that you can work from home is also a great way to find more fulfillment in life and put all your skills to goo use! You know, those creative skills you don’t necessarily get to use otherwise. If you’re good at drawing or creating images in Photoshop, try your hand at being a freelance artist – you could do book covers or t-shirt art! If you’ve got a great voice, put it to use – you could do commercials or narrate audio books or perform in audio plays! The only limit to making your skills work for you is your imagination.