Think differently; make money during lockdown
Are you sitting at home, trying to think of ways to make money during lockdown? Is this even possible? For many industries, the world has literally come to a standstill. And for most people, the uncertainty of so much is frightening, especially when it comes to money. Schools, restaurants, and non-essential businesses remain closed. You may not be allowed to walk your dog or travel freely around your city.
Events all around the world have been cancelled. So many people have lost their jobs or taken a cut in their salary, however many landlords aren’t in a position to reduce their rentals. To see any sales on groceries these days is rare. You might need to find a job. Or you might need to find a way to subsidize your current income with a part-time job or even a side-hustle. The questions is, what can you do if you need to make money now?
Firstly, look at what IS working
There are still many businesses operating – have you thought if there is anything you can do within these industries?
1. Elderly people have been classified in the high-risk category of getting infected. Do they need assistance in shopping for groceries? How can you assist someone and still keep social distancing? Maybe the management of retiree villages needs assistance. Contact them.
2. Food is obviously an essential service. If you are able to obtain an essential services certificate, could you produce and deliver food?
One area that is really thriving right now is online businesses and the e-commerce space.
Changing your mindset
You might never have through of working for yourself, let alone working from home, or online. If you have always worked in the corporate world, gone into and office and sat among colleagues from 9-to-5, working from home might be a reality that you are going to need to consider.
One important and very lucrative aspect to consider with regards to working online, is that you can earn a stronger foreign currency. The exchange rate alone could be extremely beneficial to you. The best way to prepare for receiving payments in a foreign currency is to setup a PayPal account which is free. It is also such a convenient and simple way to make and receive payments, and it’s instantaneous.
Right now, in the year 2020, you absolutely HAVE to become adaptable to the way that the world is changing. Everyone around the globe is talking about how the world and commerce is never going to be the same again. Right now is the best time to take what you have (either your current business, your experience and/ or your skills) and look at how you can adjust and adapt what you have, to fit in with this ‘new world’.
What do you need to work online?
- A dedicated workspace
- Reliable internet connection
- Laptop computer
- Video conferencing and chat apps
- Ear phones
- A willingness to try new things, possibly fail, learn, adapt and try again
Online Work Ideas
1. Tutoring
Starting to tutor people is a definite way that you can make money during the lockdown. If you are qualified as a student teacher, intern or a qualified teacher, this could definitely be an option for you. With homeschooling and online or distance learning now becoming a part of normal day-to-day life for millions of families around the globe, not all parents are equipped to be able to teach all subjects to their children.
In addition, some parents are working and not able to spend the time needed to help their children. Tutor children via Google Classroom or Zoom and give each child the individual attention and assistance they require. Another option for qualified teachers is to look at tutoring children online through one of the following channels. These pay in US Dollars and each company has their own requirements. Here are three options that you can look at: * VIP Kid Online * Wonder Kids English * Teach English to Kids Online
You don’t actually need to tutor to make money online in the tutoring industry
Remember to think out of the box. If you are passionate about learning and helping other people, this might be something for you to get involved with. You don’t necessarily need to tutor anyone yourself. Can you find the need that people are looking for help with? Are you able to solve a problem? Think about young children who are struggling with reading and maths. What about history? Geography? Perhaps there is a need for children who need to learn to think more creatively. Can you find the tutors who have passion, patience and drive to do this? Create an online business and link the students with the tutors.
Right now during this pandemic, thousands and thousands of children around the world are participating in daily online learning. While they are at home, many still need assistance as parents are not always able to assist. Once children go back to school, there could very well be a larger need for more online tutoring to help students catch up with their work. There are a lot of children now who do not have a computer and cannot do this, but most families do have a cell phone. Do you have any ideas on how to bridge this gap? There is a big problem. If you are able to solve it, you would well be on your way to a great business idea. Here are three websites that are helping others by providing online tutoring:
- Janine the Tutor – Janine set up her business and tutors maths and chemistry. This has proven to be successful and she now has other qualified teachers working for her.
2. Teach me 2 – here is a South African website where tutors can register for tutoring jobs.
3. Digi-Teach is an online platform that helps people to start their online tutoring business.
2. Teach English as a Foreign Language
If you have a good command of the English language, this could be for one. TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) has offices around the world and they offer courses either in classrooms, or online which is perfect for right now. To qualify can take you 100 to 120 hours, however once you are qualified you can either sign up for one of the programmes mentioned above (VIPKid, etc etc) or you can set yourself up online to teach people anywhere in the world how to speak English! It could be a family who has immigrated to an English speaking country who needs your help. It might be a child learning English in school who needs some extra lessons. You might have business people who need to learn English to conduct business meetings globally. And once the pandemic is over, you will have a new skill set and would have built up a client base that you can maintain. Having this qualification also allows you to work and travel around the world.
Teaching English is a really great way to make money during lockdown. If you have found yourself unemployed or with a large salary cut, this is a really great option to explore.
3. Teach Classes Online
What are your passions? What are your skills? What is your hobby? What is your brick-and-mortar business? During this lockdown you want to make money, and one way you can do this to to take what you know and teach others online. Right now is the best time. People are at home and they are bored. People are using apps to learn new languages and baking had taken off immensely. If you haven’t baked a banana bread yet, then you haven’t experienced Level 5 lockdown. Here are some ideas for brick-and-mortar businesses – you need to get creative and again, adapt to our new world. Hairdressers: Teach people how to treat dry hair, oily hair, curly hair. Give a class on how to give yourself a hair treatment with homemade products. Teach dad’s how to do hairstyles for school. Carpet retailer: Look at the most common questions that you get asked and put these into a mini-course. How to lay your own flooring. How to clean wine/nail polish/crayon off carpets. How to look after laminated flooring. Dog trainer: Set up an online video course teaching people how to train their dogs from home. Include information on treats – what you should or shouldn’t use and how much you should give per training session. You could have various levels: Level 1 for introductory and basic training commands Level 2 for more advanced tricks and so on.
4. Teach People to get Fit at Home
The fitness industry has always been big but right now it’s HUGE! Get creative with your classes and consider targeting a specific niche. Look at Zumba, yoga, aerobics, kettle bell classes, boxing, dance and anything that gets your body moving and your heart rate up. Or, look into a specific niche such as: *Postpartum moms *People with high blood pressure *Exercises from home with everyday equipment in your house *80’s themed classes
5. Become a Virtual Assistant
Are you the most organised person that you know? Is there something that you do professionally or for a hobby that you are good at that can help someone? If you have any experience with admin, or you have specific skills like graphic design, IT experience, web design, managing someone’s email or calendar, social media management and more, you can start offering your services to other people who might need help, particularly to SMEs and entrepreneurs. Becoming a virtual assistant online now is a great way to make money during lockdown. Don’t try and do everything. Select a niche that you are competent and successful in and focus to grow those strengths and help businesses with your expertise. Remember that you are not only limited to your local community – you can work as a VA internationally as well. It is recommended that you set up a website to be able to market your services in a professional manner and once that is done you need to join a variety of Facebook groups consisting of people who might use your services or be able to assist you with referrals. In addition you can join online platforms such as Fiverr, Upwork and Freelance.com to find work and you should advertise on social media channels too.
6. Start a Blog
You can 100% make money online if you find out how to start a blog and monetize it.
Making money with a blog is going to take a while but there is not better time to start working on it than right now! It is also one of the online businesses that requires very little investment. You do not need to have a business to start a blog. You need to have a good idea, an interesting topic or a great skill or something that people are really interested in. The very popular niches are fashion, make-up, jewelry and accessories, making money, sports and mom blogs (babies, home schooling, crafts, games to play). But this does not mean that what you are interested in won’t work. Just don’t pick something completely obscure. By adding a blog to an existing business is extremely beneficial as your blog will create more awareness for your business, and it will be a second income source.
Let’s look at an example. If you own an ice-cream shop you can start a blog now. Always remember, the information that you put out there to your audience either needs to solve a problem, be helpful, or be entertaining. Here are some ideas you can video or blog about in your online ice-cream blog: – How to make soft serve from home – How to make sorbet from home – How to make a baked Alaska – Create vegan ice-cream
How would you make money from this type of store? Let’s continue working on that ice-cream blog.
- When you are seeing large traffic numbers (25,000 page views a month), you can apply to companies like Mediavine for example, and they will advertise on your site. You will make money from these adverts. By putting in the time now to start your own blog, you will create an additional income stream alongside your brick-and-mortar business.The best way you can ensure success with a niche blog like this is to always focus on your audience.Put out all the stops and go in-depth with your posts and the information that you provide. Always continue to build your audience. One of the best ways to do this is by creating a Facebook page.
2. Link up with affiliate programmes and sell products online. You do not need to buy the stock yourself, you need to recommend the product, give it a positive review and ideally show a video of how it works. The company will give you an affiliate code and when someone clicks through to their store from your link, you will earn a commission from every sale that is made. The shop takes care of the order, the payment, the shipping. Your ice-cream blog could link to items such as ice-cream scoops, ice-cream décor, ice-cream machines and more. The list is endless.
3. Teach a course. Set up an online course and teach people how to make the perfect ice-cream cake or grilled pineapple sundae. Use a platform like Teachable and charge people to take your course.
4. Create an eBook with various ice-cream recipes or milkshake recipes and sell this online.
5. Get paid to include sponsored posts. This is when you have an agreement with a brand and they pay for you as a sponsor for a post.
By putting in the time now to start your own blog, you will create an additional income stream alongside your brick-and-mortar business. This is a perfect opportunity for people to change their perspectives of their business and use a blog to help them make money during this lockdown. The best way you can ensure success with a niche blog like this is to always focus on your audience. Put out all the stops and go in-depth with your posts and the information that you provide. Always continue to build your audience. One of the best ways to do this is by creating a Facebook page.
7. Get Your Voice on the Air with a Podcast
Another way you can make money online during lockdown is with a podcast. Have you ever thought of starting a podcast? The most basic equipment that you need is a smartphone and something to say. The great thing about podcasts is that they are downloadable and people can listen to them while exercising, sitting in traffic or during their daily commute. And for all of your great stories, there are wonderful listeners out there. This is a great way to start making money during lockdown as people are very limited to where and when they can go out, so most are simply stuck at home. People are bored and if you have a good idea for a podcast, launch it now as you have an entire world filled with people looking for something new to listen to. How do you make money with a podcast? There are various ways such as crowdfunding, affiliate marketing, advertising, sponsorships, coaching and more. The sky is the limit on this one and podcasts are extremely popular and cost next to nothing to get started with.
8. Sell your images online or freelance for other bloggers and online businesses
If you have a hard drive stashed full of photo’s, or you have been documenting your world during this pandemic, or you enjoy taking sunset shots, pictures of doors, animals, nature – anything, there are very likely buyers out there who will buy your photos. A lot of entrepreneurs, bloggers or small business owners are too busy conducting the research for their next article, or interviewing guests and writing articles so they do not have time to take the high quality images. This is where you enter. Offer your services to others. Can you create aerial shots of people’s desks with a laptop, camera and a pen and a feather that looks exquisite? Are you creative with food photography? Not everyone can pull this off. But perhaps you can? Here are a few online places where you can sell your photos: 1. Adobe Stock 2. Shutterstock 3. Alamy 4. Etsy 5. Snapped4U
9. Online Trading
Online trading is a possible way to make money, and good money, and you can start to make money during the lockdown. However, you do need to know that online trading is a high-risk income generating avenue to go down so please make sure that you do your homework and learn about this before you attempt to trade your own money. We are talking about trading forex, cryptocurrencies and stocks and commodities.
If you do want to trade but would prefer for someone else to trade for you, make sure you contact a reputable company like Traderly. You will need to work with someone who is transparent and who has experience with a proven success rate. Discuss your requirements with them and keep asking questions until you have all of the answers you need, and then make a decision. This is also a very good way to also start making a passive income stream.
Top tip: Do not trade with money you cannot afford to lose.
10. Writing
There are so many blogs, businesses, newsletters and magazines that are constantly on the look out for new articles to publish. In spite of popular belief, you do not need a degree in the English language and you do not need a degree in journalism either. You do need to be able to write fairly well, but more that that, magazines and blogs are looking for articles and posts that people will want to read, and they want posts that haven’t been done before. It is also beneficial to you as a writer if you are able to create compelling headlines that aren’t clickbait. Knowing how to SEO your post optimally as well will provide you with an advance. Many platforms also pay more if you are able to supply your own images, however this is not always an essential. When you are looking for a topic to write about, can you find a popular article and add your own unique twist to it? Now, especially during lockdown, there are great opportunities to make money as there are so many interesting stories that are emerging. Look around your neighborhood and your city and find out what is happening and be the one to tell the tale. Writing, while you are at home, is one way you can make money now during lockdown. So making money right now is not impossible, but you are going to have to change your mindset and step out of your comfort zone. You are never going to know what will work for you and what won’t, until you try. You will never know what you enjoy doing online until you try.
Here are two other posts that you might be interested in: – How to make money with surveys – 9 Ways to increase the income of your craft business
