In today’s economy, it’s not unlikely to find yourself in need of another source of income. Lack of stability in the workplace and a soaring cost of living means you might find yourself unemployed and in dire need of income at any given time.
Having an alternative source of income to fall back on could become a lifesaver during hard times.
Fortunately, in this digital age there are more than a few profitable skills you can teach yourself from the comfort of your own home, which in turn can lead to a lucrative freelancing career.
Seo
Search engine optimization is the process of optimizing a site in order to gain more visibility and better rankings. There is strong demand for experts that have the proficiency to help companies gain a higher ranking in search engines such as Google.
The main skills needed are an understanding of how websites are built, with Programming languages such as HTML and CSS. A good understanding of Wordpress, as well as similar popular content management systems.
Just as important is a solid writing ability. Today’s search engines heavily favor websites with strong well-written content.
Video editing
If you feel you want to express your creative abilities in your work but never get a chance to, this might just be the job for you.
Video editing is the process of creating video content in order to effectively tell a story. There is a need for video editors in many different industries. Corporate video production for large companies, event videos such as weddings or conferences, and even television work. All of these industries send jobs to freelancers on many different occasions instead of leaving them in-house.
While it’s true that a very skilled video editor should possess many different skills, Starting out you don’t need much more than proficiency in a video editing software such as adobe premiere, combined with a bit of creative ability to complement that.
Freelancing jobs in this field can be found in many different freelancing job sites, as well as offering your services on various social media websites and forums.
Web design
With the popularity explosion of the internet in the past two decades, a growing demand for people with the skills to create websites also grew alongside it.
Large corporations and small businesses alike need help designing their websites, with the most in-demand skills being programming languages such as HTML, CSS and Javascript, as well as Graphic and photo editing programs such as Photoshop. And more important than all, creativity.
There are many different websites where you can acquire these skills free of charge, with some of the most popular being Codecademy.com and Youtube, which features many tutorials on the subject.
Coding
The tech field and more specifically programming is in very high demand today. According to the Bureau of Labour Statistics programmers command a median salary of over 79000$ per year.
You can learn to code in different languages such as Python or C through any number of free online websites. The most popular being codecademy.com.
After you feel ready to start working you can find massive amounts of freelance programming jobs which are advertised daily in different freelancing job boards such as upwork.com, freelancer.com and many more. Just about every industry you can think of is currently in dire need of people with coding skills and the demand is not expected to weaken any time soon.
Copywriting
If you have ever felt that you have decent writings skills and creativity but you never get a chance to express them, this potentially lucrative career might be a good match for you.
While bad copywriters are a dime a dozen these days, finding competent copywriters that can write well and deliver a message in an effective way, can prove difficult. There are many different types of companies which are willing to pay handsomely for qualified copywriters. Their needs range from writing for their websites, to sales emails and brochures, as well as many other types of work they might have. Just about every consumer-facing text you see was written by a copywriter.
While Copywriting jobs can be found in many different freelancing websites, one of the best ways to demonstrate your writing ability and set yourself apart from the rest of the competition is to write a blog. Research in-demand topics which you feel you might be passionate about and start writing about them. In addition, promote your blog through relevant communities on social media sites in order to get more visibility.
As you can see, it is possible to start learning right now and quickly acquire a number of valuable skills that will supplement your income, potentially even turning them into a full-time career.