For much of history, work has been an activity that has taken place in the real world through some sort of mechanical effort. Whether you were a farmer, mason or soldier, it was essentially impossible to perform your duties without actually going somewhere after you got out of bed and got dressed. If you were lucky enough to have a good breakfast and brew some decent coffee it was all the better. All jobs were physical in nature, and jobs for remote work simply did not exist. Before computers, “remote work” almost always meant work in a truly remote and isolated location, such as being a scientist in Antarctica or being a fire lookout in a large forest.
Thankfully, this is no longer true and there are a whole bunch of great companies to work for completely and totally online, without ever having to plow a field or blow a whistle.
As society has progressed technologically, and thanks to the incredible growth of reliably fast internet, remote work (sometimes called telecommuting) continues to grow by leaps and bounds each year in a similar trajectory to IT services and other technology-related professions. Jobs for remote work are now a common staple on company websites and career aggregators alike, and telling people that you “work from home” no longer sounds like a strange and woe-begotten tale of isolation.
In fact, most people nowadays probably envy you as they continue to realize that an office is both a financial burden and continually unnecessary to their income. The coffee and donuts that your coworkers may sometimes bring in can be a perk, but overall they may begin to see that it just no longer makes sense in such a technological world.
In this article, we’d like to highlight a couple of things. First, we’d like to go over what type of equipment (hardware and software) you’ll need to be successful in completing jobs for remote work. Without these, it may be even more difficult to work from home than a traditional office or retail space. Then we’ll provide a brief list of some of the types of jobs available, from professional to creative and everything in between. We’ll highlight how working professionals can freelance online before ending with a reminder that at the end of the day, it’s still a job. Jobs for remote work are plentiful and available, and if you don’t find one you like, you can always create one!
What You’ll Need To Be Successful in the Remote Work World
So you’ve decided to enter into the remote world of working, and shun the office for more comfortable digs. At your last place of employment, you were more than likely provided with all the materials that you’d need to get a job done: computers, staplers, pens, and even coffee mugs filled with a steamy hot company brew. Unfortunately, unless you work for some amazing company that will ship all of that stuff to you (even the coffee) you will be sorely out of luck and have to provide it yourself to optimize your time, resources and not go crazy from frustration. But what do you need? When thinking about jobs for remote work, the list may surprise you.
The first thing that should be obvious to anyone interested in jobs for remote work is that they’ll need a quality computer, preferably a mobile one such as a laptop. What defines “quality” in a computer differs by the user and their requirements, so your best bet is to ask for help wherever you buy computers in recommending a performance model within your specific budget.
After you acquire this computer, if your job requires specific programs or hardware metrics you can always trade your model in or upgrade with income. But for now, aim for a computer that is able to quickly access the internet (for email and video calls), process basic documents and edit photos, and has a decent battery life. With those three things, you will be able to access 75% of what you need to be successful until more specific requirements (such as a drawing program for architect design or book publications) enter your life.
The next thing you’ll need is a quiet workspace and a phone. These things may seem simple enough, but sometimes they can be hard to find. It’s not your fault if you live in a noisy area or your cell phone sometimes drops a call, but anything you can do to mitigate these things from happening will be to your benefit. You can always upgrade your phone or switch providers, even if it is relatively difficult to soundproof a space. But if you land a job that is lucrative enough or will spring for extra expenses, you may be able to rent a quiet workspace down the line.
The last thing you’ll need is some sort of storage for all the work you do, as a backup to anything that is held locally on your computer. It never hurts to have a second copy of important documents, photos, or videos, and this backup storage prevents major frustrations if or when your computer ceases to function. It will be up to you whether you choose a physical backup (external hard drive) or virtual backup (cloud storage) as your medium, but try to make sure that it will provide the security and standards you’ll need in case a worst-case scenario happens. Jobs for remote work sometimes provide virtual storage for their employees or clients, but it never hurts to have your own under your control.
Types of Jobs Available
There are many types of jobs for remote work these days, in all sorts of categories. Whether you are a seasoned professional, blue-collar worker, or creative artist, there is something that you can do online to bring in an income. Whether you own a product design consulting firm or work as a secretary in a warehouse, you have skills and assets that are able to digitized and used from anywhere in this new technological world.
If you’re a professional, taking your existing work to the digital space may be as simple as telling your boss that you have a great idea on how they can save money: let you work from home and either stop coming into the office or cut down on your physical time to certain days of the week. If you continue to provide the same value without adding to their costs, it will quickly become apparent that everyone has made the right decision. You may even set the precedent in creating jobs for remote work within your organization itself by leading through good work.
For instance, if you currently work as a data processor at a physicians weight loss clinic and simply organize/aggregate client records into a digital database, there is no reason you can’t digitize at home. It could become like a rotating cycle where you pick up paper copies to digitize elsewhere, before coming back to pick up a new set. You will incur fewer costs for the employer if you only utilize the office as a dropbox while being able to make the same amount of money, effectively raising everyone’s income that is involved in the transaction.
Whatever you do, whatever skills you possess, there is some online equivalent. If you fix cars for a living and know a carburetor inside and out, you can make simple videos that train people on how to identify common problems (or even what a carburetor does). If you’re an actor, you are just a short video call or YouTube series away from providing acting classes online to people that you can charge for on a sliding scale. If you love talking politics or religion, you can make a podcast or can tribute to others’ content with just a microphone and a good mixer. The possibilities truly are endless when it comes to jobs for remote work, you just have to think outside the box and have some flexibility.
Remote Freelancing: Working for One
There are some jobs that are easily digitized because you are the sole employee or worker. Usually, this is called freelancing, but it also ventures into entrepreneurship in many cases. These are usually not listed in jobs for remote work databases because many of them require your own effort, but some are. By their nature, they are solitary professions and not for the type of person that does not like to be alone. If you can get past this, there are a lot of opportunities to peruse.
In the physical world, setting up a retail space can be a hassle that is not only fraught with time and money investments but also the additional risk of not being able to sell your items simply because you are in the wrong (or less than desirable) location. When you set up an online store, you still have the frustrations of owning a business, but the location and the expenses that accompany it cease to matter.
Instead of having to stock your auto parts store and protect it with a security system and insurance, you may be able to contract warehouse space for your online store to somebody else at a lower price. Your products are always available online for people to buy 24/7, while you rest easy knowing that they are packaged safely away in a remote location. This will help ensure that your genuine Mercedes Benz parts are safe for your customers. Shipping is important to an online store, and you’ll want to make sure that you charge fair prices while shipping promptly or else people will poorly review your store. Poor reviews are the easiest way to go out of business, so you’ll want to provide excellent customer service just like a physical store. In that sense, some things never change.
Freelance writing used to be a job that was fraught with consequences, including travel, danger, boredom, and not being able to collect payment. Writing was limited to those publications that could make money (such as magazines and newspapers) and it could take weeks to receive compensation. But now, there is a whole host of online writing that you can do from anywhere and get paid almost instantly. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) writing has become incredibly popular in recent years. In fact, SEO writing can be quite a lucrative side gig for the literary inclined person and upwards of 14 million small businesses in the USA have invested time and money into SEO because they see its value.
If you have a particular professional skill, such as being a lawyer or business consultant, this can also be freelanced remotely if you promote yourself correctly. Using your legal knowledge and clever tech skills, you can provide advice or the phone/video call for things like mediation for divorces, property disputes, criminal charges, or whatever your specialty is. Being a business consultant is a similar field in which the client is paying for your information and knowledge base, not your body. Once they give you the appropriate metrics (sales numbers, contracts, production, etc) it will be a conversation that either requires you to visit someplace to observe more (such as a factory) or a verbal transaction. In this way, there are many permutations of professional skills that can be digitized to readily adapt to the world.
It’s Still a Job at the End of the Day
In this article, we’ve gone over how the new technological world that we inhabit has enormous benefits when it comes to your working life.
Jobs for remote work are not only plentiful, but any professional skill that you have can be digitized and translated online in some way, shape, or form. Automating your home is just one way to stay on top of all the work you can do from the comfort of your home office.
Freelance writing and photography are quick options for creative types. If you keep up with technology, you can create a series called “Computers For Beginners” to sell online to the paying public. Any other subject can be equally lucrative if done correctly, perhaps even uniquely if you’ve cultivated a fan base. Even if you’ve never worked in an office and don’t have a resume, your expertise and knowledge base are valuable to people.
While jobs for remote work may seem like a blast, at the end of the day you have to remember that it’s still a job. You do, after all, still have to exert your labor in order to justify receiving some income. In this way, make sure that your schedule for being “on the clock” remains relatively the same, even if you now do have the ability to walk around in your underwear and eat McDonald’s for breakfast. More than likely your mind, wallet, and stomach will thank you for the consistency. If you can achieve this, you will have put one more stake in the ground for your own personal and financial freedom that others in history could have only dreamed in their wildest fantasies. Your efforts might even work out so well that you may inspire others in your life to do the same, and that’s certainly something worthwhile to think about in time.
