Many circumstances can cause unemployment – redundancy, ill health or having to take time away 
from work to care for children, elderly relatives or partners with disabilities. Some jobs just don’t have the flexibility to work around domestic situations due to the very nature of the work. Being unemployed can lead to depression and loss of confidence, and it is easy to feel disheartened when hearing reports of high levels of unemployment on the news.
Working From Home=Flexibility
Sometimes a little flexibility in working is all that is required to get people back on the road to employment, whether full time or part time, providing challenging and interesting work as well as a hard earned wage. There are also some particular benefits where ‘permitted work’ can be undertaken to supplement the benefits but only a certain amount of money can be earned and with a maximum number of hours that can be worked. Permitted work can be a useful way of helping those with an illness to take on a small amount of work to help aid their recovery or to give confidence getting back into the workplace.
If someone has an illness or is looking after a partner and they have time and the capacity for concentration, working from home can be the ideal way to bring in some extra cash and provide a valuable resume addition for future work. Everyone has skills and even if you can’t get into an office or place of work there are many different ways working from home could be the ideal way to get back into the job market.
If a daily routine exists, working out how much time can be given over to the work is easy but even a rough approximation should help to decide how flexible the work needs to be. Work out what materials will be needed in order to work from home – for example, is an office space needed within the home or just a quiet area with a computer?
Online Surveys For Money
One very useful way of working from home is to complete paid surveys online. There are many reputable companies online that provide surveys to complete in exchange for cash or prizes and these can be used to ease into the world of working from home. Lots of companies want to know individual opinions to improve their products, discover what people want or to find out how well their customers are being treated by their staff.
Completing paid surveys can turn into a very lucrative job in itself as all that is needed is an opinion, time and a computer with Internet access. As a starting point back into the job market, it can be very useful to show employers that despite unemployment, the person they are interviewing was doing something useful with their time while searching for a job – enthusiasm can go a long way.
Completing surveys can also be used to practice good quality writing and another way of earning some money working from home is to take up freelance writing.
Freelance Writing
On the Internet and in magazines, content is king and there are lots of sites and magazines crying out for writers to add weight and quality to their brand. Freelance writing can be fun and very interesting as researching and writing about different topics can lead to greater knowledge on subjects. At first this may seem daunting, but practise makes perfect and completing surveys and writing blog posts can fine tune skills for a writing career.
At first it is important to decide what to write about; it is much easier to write about subjects close to the heart, subjects that have been studied previously or things that provoke passion in the writer themselves. For example, after working in the Information Technology industry for many years, writing about technology or software could be a great way to hone writing skills in order to prepare for freelance writing. Another way to perfect writing skills is to write reviews on television shows, games, films etc and there are many sites that are looking for confident reviewers.
Freelance writing is the perfect way to earn money doing something entirely enjoyable and it is easily achievable working from home where all that is needed is a computer, word processing software and Internet access in order to research subjects. Many people already have a computer at home with Internet access so these components are probably already in place. There are many reputable companies online that are looking for competent writers and will pay per piece for quality writing on a wide range of subjects.
Being paid by piece may not seem a great deal of money at first but the more writing that can be taken on, the more money can be earned, and it is a flexible job with realistic deadlines that can be done in the comfort of the home environment.
Most companies can provide work with deadlines that fit around domestic situations making freelance writing the ideal home business niche. During self employment as a freelance writer it is important to keep a note of all earnings. The subject of tax may seem tricky but there is lots of free advice and help available.
Some types of work may require research on interesting subjects with the option to learn more about the topic, some pieces may require imagination and passion and the variation in subject can make the work fascinating. One day the subject may be travel, and the next entertainment and the next it could be fashion. Freelance writing is a good way to work from home, making money doing something fun and interesting, restoring confidence and helping people back into full time employment.
Attached Images:
- License: Creative Commons image source
- License: Creative Commons image source
This article was written by Ryan Jackson, a staff writer at Survey Spencer.