Since the job market has yet to fully recover from the economic downturn of 2008, many people have turned to working from home either out of design or simple necessity.

Full-time jobs are incredibly hard to come by these days, and even low-paying opportunities are flooded with applicants. Since many experienced job-seekers are settling for anything they can get, that means other hard working Americans are being pushed to the side. To compensate for that crush, people have begun working from home.

But, starting a home-based business is no easier than it ever was, and most people find they have to pick up side work in order to make ends meet. Is this actually a viable strategy?

Regrettably, many times it is not.

Here are a few reasons why you should reconsider your strategy and look for side work when working from home won’t always pay the bills.

Finding Side Work when Working From Home Just Doesn’t Cut It

First off, working from home means you have to generate every opportunity, and you must do so without a team to lean on. That means that even simple side jobs, such as babysitting or writing blog articles, will require you locate the opportunities and apply for them individually. You may find that this is as rigorous as if you were applying for a full-time position.

People looking for babysitters have plenty of options, but freelance bloggers are up against thousands of out-of-work English and Journalism graduates. It can take several months to locate the opportunities, receive the work and develop a timely payment system, and during all of this time, your monthly expenses won’t simply wait for you to catch up.

If you don’t have an emergency fund to draw from, you could find yourself running out of time. This is a sad reality for many.

Juggling a number of side jobs also means inconsistent pay and a more complicated financial picture. People with one steady job find their finances incredibly easy to navigate. They can set their monthly budget based on the paychecks they receive, and therefore chart the best time to pay their bills.

Side work is not always consistent, which means you may make significantly more or less one week than the following week. It’s tough to plot out monthly expenses with this sort of schedule. Additionally, you’ve got to deal with all the infrastructure you’ll need in place to handle your tax situation.

Depending on the work, you may need to set up one or several corporations or LLCs, all of which take start-up costs, and you may even need separate bank accounts and a tight ledger come tax time. You could find you spend as much as a quarter of your time managing it all, which is 25% less time you have to actually get the work done.

Finally, you could develop enough work to cover your bills, but it might take an unsustainably heavy workload to do it. Many people who work two to four jobs to pay the bills can find themselves working as much as 80 hours each week. This is a comparable schedule to a lawyer or a stock broker, but for a bare fraction of the take home pay.

Additionally, you don’t get paid vacation or sick days, and the work doesn’t get done if you’re not there. That means no downtime, and no flexibility if issues come up in your life that you need to handle. A wedding magician, for example, only gets paid when he shows up, and if his children are sick or his wife goes into labor, he either skips out on his family priorities or loses the day’s pay. That could throw the whole month off if you don’t have much of a margin.

Burnout could come quickly under these situations, and all that work may still not leave you prepared to pay your bills. Think long and hard about the lifestyle you can sustain before you get in over your head.

Outsourcing is all about using your time effectively. It’s about trying to decide which tasks you should do yourself and which ones are best outsourced.

Sooner or later, there is going to be a time in your business, if it hasn’t come already, where you will have to hire people to do work for you.

When that time comes, you’ll need to decide whether it’s best to go with a freelancing site, or one of those micro job places.

There are obviously advantages and disadvantages to both, and in this post I will discuss them to give you a better idea of what to consider.

Micro Job sites VS Freelancing sites

What work do you need done?

If you have a simple banner you need created, a single article you need written or a quick editing job, it is probably best for you to try and use micro job websites.

Doing that will ensure that you get your job done quickly, and that it will be completed at a reasonable price.

There are places online where people will do simple tasks for five or ten dollars. You can try someone out, pretty much at no cost, and see if they’re good enough to work for you.

Then, if you like their work, you can hire them full-time or part-time.

What’s more, most micro job websites allow you to accept or reject the work that gets provided, so you really don’t risk anything. You never need to pay for low quality service. This is a huge plus as I’ve gotten some pretty crappy work handed to me from some freelance sites in the past.

On the other hand, if you have a complicated project, and you don’t want to divide it up into little micro jobs, then it is probably best for you to go with the traditional outsourcing services where you’ll be able to find dedicated workers to work on whatever you need done.

Speed and efficiency is key

When you work with micro job websites, you need to be sure that your job is quick and easy to complete. People on these sites try to do as many simple tasks in an hour as they possibly can, to keep their hourly wages up.

If your task is complicated or takes a long time to get done, the service will most likely be of low quality, or your job will not get done at all.

Again, if your task is time consuming, you should consider hiring someone by the hour or on a fixed-price basis. Both of those options are available to you through conventional freelancing websites.

Avoid hassles

There are literally no hassles when you work with micro job sites. I mean, the worst thing that can happen is you’ll lose a little time finding someone to work for you and then reviewing their work. That’s better then paying for sub-par work, losing both time AND money, and maybe having to find someone else to complete the project instead.

That’s it!

Getting low quality work done for you is not very common, but it does happen. If it happens to you, just forget the experience and move on.

With a dedicated freelancer site, if you don’t have experience hiring people, you might have to deal with workers that rip you off by wasting a whole lot of your time on the job (not to mention money), or people that are late with their work if you have deadlines that need to be met.

Sometimes you might never even see anything delivered at all. This is rare, but unfortunately does happen.

Most beginner employers have a hard time deciding who to hire, so a micro job site is a great way to find out what you need to be aware of, what to get ready for and what to pay attention to when hiring workers to work on your projects.

Make the call

I hope that you now know whether to use micro job sites, like Fourerr, Fiverr or TenBux, or conventional freelancing sites like oDesk and Elance for your next project. Both of those options are great, it just depends on what it is that you need done.

About the Author:

Thomas De Vos is the creator of Micro Job site Fourerr.com, the world’s biggest place for micro jobs costing only $4. He has a wealth of knowledge when it comes down to Online freelancing and micro jobs.

Photo source from FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

The job market continues to be difficult to crack for the millions of Americans that find themselves out of work. The economy is improving, but not quick enough to realign the glut of people vying for job openings. Highly qualified people find themselves going up against tons of candidates for every possibility, and recent college grads are struggling to compete against much more experienced applicants.

So what sorts of options are available?

Many people have turned towards ways to make money at home, either as the beginnings of a new small business or a stopgap to pay the bills before something more consistent comes along. People have been making a living from the comforts of home for years, and advances in technology have made it even easier.

The internet offers tons of opportunities, and mobile meeting communication services and the proliferation of smartphones give people the chance to make money without the need for a traditional office. But just because the opportunities exist doesn’t mean you can forgo some careful planning in advance of the transition to working from home.

Not every opportunity is real and consistent, and you don’t want to waste time getting involved in a scam, or working too hard for too little return.

With that in mind, here is a look at a couple of real options for making money while working at home.

Customer Service Representative

Companies large and small have begun outsourcing a lot of the work traditionally handled in their office. It saves the organization money while offering work opportunities for people who may not be geographically close to the company’s business address. The larger the business, the more customer service issues that need attention.

Many American companies outsourced these jobs across the world, to massive phone centers in India. But there has been significant backlash as the economy struggled, and these same companies are now looking to move these jobs back onto US soil. You don’t need a ton of education or experience to work as a customer service representative. In many cases, an associate’s degree in communications will suffice.

Starting salaries are around $30,000, so while it may not be an option if you have a large family, it is a consistent source of revenue for people just out of school.

Teacher

There are tons of opportunities for those that want to teach but don’t want to be stuck in a classroom all day. The popularity of online degree programs has soared in recent years, as people go back to school with an eye towards bettering their career while hanging on to their current job. If you have a bachelor’s degree in education, you can take advantage of this niche and teach an online course. The benefits of traditional teaching may not all be there, but the pay is more than decent.

Travel Agent

If you love to travel, you can certainly find work as a travel agent. All you need is a bachelor’s degree in business, and you can start your own travel agency online. People are always booking trips, regardless of the poor economy, and there is plenty of room to plant your own flag in the leisure industry. Since more and more people book their travel online, not needing to carry the expenses of a traditional office can actually work in your favor.

Writer

With millions upon millions of websites and blogs needing content, anyone with a degree in English, communications or journalism can get work writing copy. If you have a real talent for writing, you can even make a good living on it. You get to choose how much or how little work you take on, so it can work within any schedule. And if you’ve studied or have experience in technical writing, you’ll earn a very nice wage. Check out Craigslist to hunt down your initial leads.

The following is a guest post by Carmen Rane Hudson. If you would like to write for this blog, please check out the guidelines here.

Freelance writing provides a wonderful opportunity for people who want to work from home.  However, building a successful freelance career is about more than getting the words on paper. Some of the most helpful skills a freelance writer can possess are not writing skills at all.  These “other skills” are the skills that can set you apart from your competition and help you land more jobs.  Here are 4 skills that will help keep those gigs coming.

Interviewing Skills

Some of the best information, the information that will really make projects great, can’t be found on any website or in any library.  Some of this information is all locked up in the minds of some fairly fascinating individuals.

You don’t have to be a reporter to make this work for you.  Often, the only person you’ll have to interview is your client.  Clients often start looking for ghostwriters specifically because they have information or stories to share.  They don’t necessarily want to waste a lot of time jotting down a bunch of notes for you.  Yet many freelance writers don’t want to use any other mode of communication besides e-mail and instant messaging.  You can land these gigs by being the one guy who is willing to spend a few hours on the phone, asking questions and listening to the answers.

Besides, these writing pieces can be some of the easiest products you’ll ever craft.  Interview subjects, especially those who want you to write a book for them, tend to be very passionate about their subject matter.  Many can talk for hours while you quietly take notes.  Once you’re off the phone the research phase of your project is generally complete.  You will be able to immediately turn your attention towards presenting that information in a format the reader will enjoy.

Formatting Skills

A lot of people who buy writing services just want a finished product so they can get on with the business of marketing that product.  Offering even the most basic of formatting help can give you a jump on your competition.  This could mean adding borders, inserting a table of contents, creating basic covers and using footers in a professional way.  Offering a PDF version of your work could also represent a major boon for clients.

Though it’s not an art I’ve yet comfortable with for myself, writers who learn how to format their work for e-readers are likely to enjoy a massive income in the very near future.  This skill isn’t an easy one to master, but it’s growing in demand.  Clients ask me about this service constantly. I predict that anyone who can both write, and format that writing for the Kindle, will find clients ready to hand them money by the shovel-load.

Posting and Submission Skills

Do you know how to post an article directly to WordPress or Ezine.com?  Can you create an auto-responder with all of the correct settings in GetResponse once you’ve written the text for the e-mails?  If a client asked you to submit his press release through PR Web, would you know how to do so?

Many of your potential clients don’t know how to do many of these things.  Many more of your potential clients would prefer not to take the time to do them.  These skills give you an easy way to add value to your work.  They also don’t take up very much of your time.  Thus, you achieve a win-win for both you and the client.  Few writers offer these sorts of services as part of their standard service package.  Being one of the few writers who does will give you an edge.

Consulting Skills

It pays to understand exactly what a client is attempting to accomplish with a particular writing piece.  It also pays to know how he can go about accomplishing that goal.  That way, you’re prepared with a real, helpful answer should the client ask you what his next steps should be.

Educate yourself on branding, marketing, traditional publishing, self-publishing, list building, traffic generation, social media and copywriting.  At some point, one of your clients will have a question about at least one of these items.

Some of your clients are brand new entrepreneurs.  They may be using your writing services to help them build their work-from-home internet business.  Don’t just be a contractor to these people—be a resource.  Be ready to steer them in exactly the right direction.  If they’re about to make a change to the title of their book, for example, that would absolutely gut their ability to differentiate their brand, be ready to say so.  They might not always take your advice, but they’ll appreciate the fact that you’ve given it with confidence.  Just make sure you know enough to give good advice.  Be able to tell your client why you’re advising what you’re advising.

This awareness also helps you up-sell, which will increase your income faster than finding brand new clients each time you try to get to work.  Up-selling is as simple as asking: “Will you need a press release to go with this book?”  It’s a sale you’re more likely to make if you understand how and why the press release would help your client in the first place.

The Bottom Line

Look for ways to increase your value as a writer and as a business partner.  If you do this, you’ll be more than just another freelancer—you’ll be that professional people are dying to have on their side.

About the Author:

Carmen Rane Hudson is also known as The Deadline Dervish, and has been a freelance writer since 2009.

The following is a guest post by Scott Lindsay. If you would like to write for this blog, please check out the guidelines here.

The cost of health insurance is a deterrent for many people who would love to work from home. However, without it, the cost of medical treatment and hospitalization could spell financial ruin for many families. It is the single reason why at least one of the parents in a family looks for employment outside the home. The need has become compounded in recent years with the huge numbers of people who have been laid off from their jobs due to the recession.

If you have a home-based business, you can still enjoy the benefits and the peace of mind of having health insurance. This makes working from home so much easier. You have the benefit of knowing that you and your family have health coverage and you can stay at home with them doing what you love. Just as you purchase home and auto insurance from an insurance provider there are many insurance companies that have affordable private health insurance.

The first thing you should do is to check to see the type of coverage offered by the state in which you live for health coverage for home-based business owners. You can find this information on the state government website. Various insurance brokers can also point you in the right direction to be able to purchase what you need in coverage. In this way you will be able to find a health insurance policy that is tailored to meet your specific needs.

There are other benefits to using an insurance broker for finding health insurance coverage when you work at home. You can compare the various policies and the premiums associated with each one so that you can get what you need at the cheapest possible price.

Evaluate the various parts of the policy. If you are an unmarried male or if you are beyond child-bearing years, then you will not need to have any maternity benefits provided for in the coverage. If you don’t have any dependent children, this can also lower the cost of the premiums. By choosing the highest level of deductible that you can afford, you will also be able to find very affordable health care coverage.

A health savings account is another option for those who want to work from home. If you enroll in such a program you can have monies available to pay for medical attention when you need it. This type of plan is not really health insurance. It is a type of savings account into which you make regular payments. Then you can withdraw money that you need if, and when, the time comes. It is not the best option, but at least you will have money for medical expenses.

If you are in good health, you will not have any difficulty being able to purchase health insurance for you and your family. You can also purchase a policy if you have any pre-existing medical conditions without having to pay any exorbitant premiums. You can have these conditions excluded from the policy.

Check to see if you qualify for Medicaid. If you have been laid off from your job where you did have health insurance, you may still be able to have health insurance under COBRA. Under this program you can keep your existing health benefits for about 18 months after you are laid off as long as the company still has at least 20 employees.

It certainly is possible to have the needed health insurance coverage for those who have work at home jobs. By searching online you will be able to find the insurance providers that sell such policies and you can do comparison shopping to get the best one for your needs.

About the Author:

Scott Lindsay is a web developer and entrepreneur and has been making a living online for over 12 years. He has been totally free from the 9 to 5 rat race since 1998 and enjoys every moment of it! You can contact Scott at: http://howtoearnmoney101.com/

The following is a guest post by Chi Norris. If you would like to write for this blog, please check out the guidelines here.

Often a mobile application will offer pared-down features, allowing the user to access necessary information without navigating a company’s entire website. No matter the applicant, from a student pursuing an online degree to a recent college graduate seeking that first professional position, having a bevy of employment search applications at one’s fingertips can help make the necessary connections to find a job and get hired.

Here are 10 applications to consider…

1. LinkedIn

A great place to network and make or renew professional contacts, LinkedIn is arguably the best resource for job preparation. Persons seeking a new job or a new career can upload a resume, make some connections, and sign up for timely updates from persons with whom they network. Staying in touch while out and about allows applicants to seize a professional opportunity while it’s still hot.

2-5. CareerBuilder, Monster, Indeed, Exact Hire

Invaluable for their mobile search options, applicants utilizing CareerBuilder, Monster, Indeed, and Exact Hire can find available positions according to geographic region, save their preferred postings as favorites, and apply for jobs online. Logging in to find jobs selected based on one’s search parameters can take some of the stress out of changing careers or hitting the ground running for the first time.

6. Twitter

Never underestimate what can be said in 140 characters. The power of tweets – from the job seeker, the people and organizations that the applicant is following, or a timely retweet – can lead to a position the candidate never knew existed. Tweeting a link to one’s online portfolio can help companies in the search for future personnel too, especially if they’re farming social media channels looking for applicants.

7. Facebook

With the ability to post status updates announcing a new or renewed job search, share items that contacts have posted (such as job announcements), and link to companies with their own Facebook pages, the best-known social media application in the world can be a formidable force when seeking new employment. Just be careful to keep the professional and the personal separate. A job search could easily be hampered by those vacation photos from Cabo.

8. Gigwalk

For those looking for more casual employment opportunities, Gigwalk offers the chance to find and complete a short job, e.g., reporting back about a store’s hours of operations, and get paid via Paypal. This search option is especially handy for those whose employment needs aren’t necessarily tied to business suits and boardrooms.

9. Craigster

The wealth of information on Craigslist is distilled in their mobile app, giving job seekers the chance to act on the numerous professional opportunities posted to the site on a daily basis. The app is especially helpful for candidates from out of state. Marry an employment search with a glance at available apartments and a visit to the jobs discussion forum, all from a mobile phone.

10. The Local Newspaper

For those who once looked for jobs in the classifieds and came away with newsprint-covered fingers, searching jobs using a mobile app is a welcome and mess-free option. Users can search for job postings, catch up on their business news, and see the latest headlines all at once. It’s an excellent resource for searching within one’s community, especially for companies who might only be seeking local applicants.

These ten applications are but a suggestion. With a world of opportunities online and a smart-phone in nearly every person’s hand, information gathering on the go is more than convenient – it’s the norm.

About the Author

Chi Norris is a writer and visual artist who likes painting, poetry, and reading memoirs. She writes for www.professionalintern.com.

The following is a guest post by Sebastian Brown. If you would like to guest post for this blog, please visit the Write For Us page to view the guidelines.

With unemployment rates reaching an all time high and many workers finding their old jobs obsolete, the need for a position in a recession proof industry is critical. When the economy is bad, even jobs that were lucrative at one point can become negatively impacted when consumers spend less money. However, there are several industries which are not effected by a downturn in the economy because the services that they provide are always needed.

Even in a bad economy, people will still become sick or injured and require care, which makes the medical industry virtually unaffected by a recession. While it is common knowledge that doctors and nurses make a steady income, many fail to realize there are many other positions available within the medical community that don’t require years of schooling. Obtaining a position as a medical billing specialist is one easy way to make good money in a bad economy as there is a high demand for these types of jobs.

Why Medical Billing is a Good Job for a Bad Economy

There are several good reasons to get into the medical billing field when the economy is bad. For one, it is an easy way to work in the medical field without having to go to medical school to become a doctor or nurse. While a career in medicine can be lucrative, it will take years of study and thousands of dollars in tuition. Instead, working in medical billing will require only an MBA, which is easy and affordable to obtain. You can sign up for distance learning programs and obtain your MBA online in the comfort of your own home.

Obtaining a Certificate of Completion in Medical Billing and Coding will help you to better comprehend the medical terms that doctors and nurses use so that you can relay this information to patients in a way that is easy to understand. In addition, you will learn valuable computer skills as understanding the latest billing technology is crucial to keeping up with an ever-changing work environment.

Working for Yourself

Medical billing experts can also forgo working in an office altogether and can choose to perform freelance services for a variety of clients. This makes it an ideal career choice for stay at home parents or individuals who prefer to be their own boss. As a freelance medical billing expert, you are the owner of your own small business, which can give you a new-found sense of independence. You get to set your own schedule and pick which clients you wish to work with. Freelance services can also be performed as a side job to supplement your existing income which is always helpful in a bad economy.

However, if you’d rather work in an office, medical billing is a flexible career path which gives you several options. You can work at a private practice or a hospital if you prefer to work in a smaller office that is closer to the medical field. Insurance companies also hire medical billing experts and are a good choice for people who prefer a larger office setting. You can expect to work either part-time or full-time in these types of office settings, with the opportunity for overtime by working nights and weekends.

As the medical industry continues to grow and reach new innovations, the demand for medical billing specialists will continue to rise, making it a good job choice for a bad economy. There is an unlimited amount of opportunity in medical billing with a variety of jobs to suit your economic needs and your personal working habits. Best of all, the career path is easy to get started with, and obtaining your certification will take a short time. Until doctors find a way to make it so patients no longer become sick or injured, there will always be a surplus of medical billing positions available.

About the Author: Sebastian Brown helps run and maintain Medicalbillingandcoding.org. Medical Billing is a quickly growing home-based career that offers stability and a lucrative income.

The following is a guest post by Joel Ohman. If you like to guest post on this blog, please contact me.

The person who says that there’s a business that can be started in a day without any real work or planning involved is simply lying, and the person who says freelancing is not a real business but just someone living day to day finding whatever work happens to come along is plain wrong.

Growing any business takes time and effort, and freelancing takes dedicated determination — sometimes even working a regular 40 hour job on top of the freelancing until the freelance work begins to bring into the household a regular, steady paycheck.

That all said, here are 10 freelance jobs that can be started up in a single day without requiring a large upfront investment or causing you to ring up charges like crazy on your business credit card and go into debt:

1. Catering
2. Consultant
3. Delivery Driver
4. Desktop Publishing
5. Event Planning and Promotion
6. Freelance Writing
7. Home Cleaning
8. Telemarketing
9. Tutoring
10. Web Page Design

Each of these freelance positions require little to no equipment, have very low start-up costs and do not necessarily require any special kind of education (additionally, most do not even require any special business licenses or certification as does many types of sales oriented careers like selling auto insurance as an insurance agent or selling real estate as a realtor).

Catering

A lot of people believe catering is all about setting up fancy dinner parties inside hotels or entertainment halls. For the most part, they would be correct; however, there is much more to catering than big wedding parties or corporate sponsored events. Plus, one can start up right out of his or her own kitchen.

Some caterers specifically work for restaurants, providing specialty dishes and desserts. Other caterers work on a smaller level, coming into someone’s personal kitchen, preparing several weeks worth of meals, then freezing the rest for the client to use at a later date.

To work on a larger scale, such as a wedding or graduation party or other event, a caterer can contract with a company that provides catering equipment and supply rentals. Most larger cities have such a service, and the caterer can rent anything from salad forks and tablecloths to candle globes. The caterer does not have to store or maintain any of these supplies, only pass the cost onto the client, set-up and tear down.

Consultant

In today’s tough economic environment where the displaced worker seems to be more of the norm than full-time, regular employment, consulting can become not only a viable option, but a lucrative option. Anyone that has acquired enough experience in one specific field can become a consultant. Flip to the back of any industry trade magazine, and there is a list of consultants for hire.

Of course, advertising in a trade magazine can be an expensive up-front investment, especially for someone just starting out or for someone who has just lost his or her job. Job, Interview, and image specialists (which are consultants themselves) offer the following advice: put aside bad feelings, and approach the company that fired you. More than likely, the company did not want to do the firing or the laying off in the first place, but the budget had to be cut somewhere, and now they are left short-handed.

Delivery Driver

Small companies are popping up all over the country’s metropolitan areas offering delivery services. These delivery services handle everything from medical supplies to hospitals and nursing homes to hamburgers and milkshakes to local households.

Interestingly though, these delivery companies normally do not have employees; instead, they contract out with people to do the deliveries. All one requires to get involved in such a freelance job is a vehicle and a clean driving record, and depending upon how the delivery service is set-up, the driver can contract with various companies.

Desktop Publishing

Desktop Publishing does require at least the availability of a computer. Software requirements include software applications such as:

• Adobe’s InDesign
• Microsoft’s Publisher
• Quark Express
• PageMaker

However, these commercial-grade desktop publishing software solutions can cost a hefty penny—Adobe’s InDesign, for example, costs nine hundred dollars. Freeware is not a bad option to get started with. Several excellent programs are available for desktop publishing experts. Here are a few:

• Scribus
• Serif PagePlus Starter Edition
• OpenOffice
• Avery DesignPro
• GIMP
• Inkscape

Some of the different products a desktop publisher can put together and design are:

• Newsletters
• Flyers
• Banners
• Posters
• Business cards
• Invoice and purchase order designs
• Print media kits and news briefs
• Professional letterhead

Event Planning and Promotion

Event planning and promotion is sometimes confused with catering, but the majority of event planners actually contract with caterers to provide the food needs of their clients.

An event planner and promoter coordinates and advertises an event. An event planner can provide theses services to many different and varied clients. The most common clientele is the up and coming music band.

A band schedules a gig at a local bar, but they want to turn this into more of a party or public relations effort as opposed to just a gig at a local bar. The band then hires the event planner and promoter to turn a simple gig into the must attend event of the season.

The second most common event a planner and promoter will coordinate is a wedding. Other possibilities include:

• Corporate team building events
• Anniversary parties
• Class reunions
• Gala openings
• New Business Opening Celebrations

Freelance Writing

For the general public not involved in freelance work, the most common or well known freelance job would be that of a writer. People tend to picture a brooking author hunched over a desk or sipping coffee at the local coffee shop, alone and enjoying the solitude.

This is far from the truth.

The freelance writer is heavily involved with people – editors, clients, newspaper and magazine publishers, just to name a few.

Some of the possible jobs for a freelance writer include:

• Newspaper sports stringer
• Magazine author
• Short story author
• Creating online content
• Brochure content
• Greeting card content

One does not need a degree, experience or a computer to get started freelance writing. He or she just needs to be a good writer. For Internet work, a library computer can easily be utilized.

Of course, experience is a plus, but this can be easily aquired through online based writing sites such as textbroker.com or Demand Media Studios.

Home Cleaning

Home cleaning can be an interesting line of freelance work. People who don’t want to clean or don’t have the time to clean will hire the cleaner to come into the house either while they are present or sometimes when they are not present.

A home cleaning freelancer will do everything from the laundry and dishes to dusting and sweeping. The home cleaner may also branch out to office cleaning as well.

Telemarketing

In the past, telemarketing jobs involved going to a call center office to make the phone calls. A lot of companies still operate in this traditional method of telemarketing. However, with today’s advanced technology, the possibility of telemarketing from home is a real and valid way of making money (and usually means that you do not even need to purchase business insurance as your home insurance policy may cover you already).

A lot of home-based telemarketing companies are a scam though (not all), asking for a considerable upfront investment of money and/or equipment.

Tutoring

For the most part, a tutor does need at minimum a bachelor’s degree in the field of study he or she will be teaching. Some cases may not require the degree — such as a parent looking to tutor his or her child in math may opt for a current college student majoring in math.

Or a college student can contract with the university he or she is attending to tutor other college students. Normally, in this situation, the tutor must have passed with high grades in the specific class he or she is tutoring for.

Tutoring is a business one can start pretty much immediately if one does possess the degree.

Web Page Design

Web page design is completely different from web programming. One does need to have a basic understanding of HTML, which is pretty easy to grasp, but the designer does not need to understand CSS sheets, java, C++ or PHP scripts.

The web page designer does need to have an excellent working knowledge of a graphics program such as PhotoShop (the industry standard) or its freeware equivalent Paint.NET.

The designer puts together the web site’s artwork design concept, then forwards this information off to the programmer who tears apart the artwork and design and turns it into functional programming for the Web.

Finding Clients

Though no entrepreneurially spirited venture can be totally and successfully started in a single day, this list of 10 freelance jobs that you can start today, come pretty close.

One still needs clients though.

Clients can be found through services such as Craigslist, Freelancer.com, posting your own website, or approaching your friends and family.

The following is a guest post by Kyle Simpson. If you would like to Guest Post on this blog, please contact me.

Some people just seem to have a better grasp of the English language than others.  Whether they know grammar, spelling, and punctuation like the back of their hands or they have a proven ability to turn a phrase, they can inform, influence, and inspire with their work.  And yet, a strong background in poetry, prose, or even technical writing does not necessarily ensure the ability to make a living with your craft.

So, here are 5 simple tips to help you get it together and adapt your writing style in such a way as to provide for a viable occupation.

1. Try everything.  You won’t really know what you’re capable of until you try, so get your hands on all kinds of work.  Write for publications and blogs with all different subjects, try your hand at marketing or advertising, create an e-zine, or pen some technical service manuals.  The ability to diversify will only make you more marketable (and it will help you figure out what you excel at and what you might want to avoid).
2. Join a service.  As a freelance writer, you will spend a lot of time hustling for jobs and fielding rejections.  This can be extremely disheartening.  To avoid some of the hassle, join a free website like Elance or ODesk that allows you to create a profile (that companies seeking service can peruse) and apply for jobs posted by their patrons.  If you get good reviews and offer a variety of samples, you may soon notice that you receive enough offers to keep you busy indefinitely.
3. Keep learning.  The best writers hone their style through both research and practice, so don’t be too hasty to rest on your laurels.  Just because blogging is big right now doesn’t mean it will keep you employed for the next ten years, so make sure you learn the ins and outs of different types of writing so that you have something to fall back on if the bottom of your bread-and-butter workload suddenly drops out.
4. Be professional.  This means you deliver what the client wants and exercise due diligence to ensure that your submissions meet their standards.  For example, an informative article written for a celebrity blog (think TMZ) is probably not suitable as a press release (even if they contain the same basic information).  And if you can’t tell the difference in style, you are going to be hard pressed to expand your business.  So put in the time to learn various formats so the client isn’t forced to explain your job to you (or give you the send-off).
5. Own it.  Your skill with language and proactive attitude will help you land jobs.  But it’s the personal flair you add to your work that will interest people in hiring you again and again.  Putting your personal stamp on your writing is what makes it desirable, so don’t be afraid to own it.  All famous writers are recognizable in their way.  For example, you wouldn’t confuse Stephen King with Edgar Allan Poe, or Jane Austen with J.K. Rowling.  In the long run, a signature style will get you a lot further than dotting the “i”s and crossing the “t”s.

About the Author: Kyle Simpson writes for Medical Coding Certification where you can find more information about a career and training in the medical field.

Following up with my previous post on finding freelance work from home, I wanted to share about another freelance opportunity. Freelance writing opportunities are in high demand. If you’re a writer, or aspiring writer, then this post is for you. Heck, even if you’re not that great at writing but are knowledgeable in a certain area or niche, then pay close attention.

There are numerous amounts of people that constantly require article writers on a wide variety of subjects. Just go to my previous post, linked above, and sign up with those sites as a service provider. You’ll be able to see firsthand at how many writing jobs are available.

Other freelance writing opportunities, and one that is very similar to the above, is blog writing. The same principal applies, but this time you’re writing an article or blog post for the owner of a blog. There are millions of blogs ran by webmasters, and many webmasters don’t have the time to keep up with their blogs.

The fact is that it’s hard keeping up with a blog, and I should know. . It takes time to research a topic and then write about it. It’s very time consuming to keep a blog updated on a consistent basis. And as we all know, Google loves new, fresh content that’s added regularly to sites. This is where you, a freelance blog writer, can help.

Many blog owners would like to keep their blog up to date and provide valuable content to their readers. The problem is that many just don’t have the time due to other interests or obligations. Many blog owners would be willing to hire a blog writer to post content on their blog.

It will take a little effort and time on your part, but if you run across a quality blog that doesn’t get updated very often, or seems to have been neglected, you could simply contact the owner and offer your writing services to them. Many will be so happy that you contacted them that they’ll jump on the idea.

The price you get paid per post for blog writing will vary and has many factors. Some factors include the niche, length of the posts and your writing experience. With a little effort there’s no reason why you can’t find a blog writing job.

So there you have it… two examples of freelance writing opportunities that are available to you. I’m sure with some creativity and strong will, you’ll be able to find other avenues as well.