1. Virtual Assistants
Entrepreneurs, professionals, and small teams often need help with a variety of administrative tasks.
These include scheduling meetings, liaising with clients and investors, following up on orders, creating business documents like PowerPoint presentations and Excel sheets, maintaining blogs and websites, etc. A Virtual Assistant (VA) works with such clients remotely and manages the aspects of their business or affairs that they are too busy to handle on their own.
To become a VA, you will need to undergo some training and instruction depending on your qualifications. However, if you have good communication skills and can use applications such as MS Office, you can register with sites such as Elance.com and Zirtual.com and start looking for work as a VA.
Earning potential: 500-4,000 rupees per hour
2. Translation
If you are bilingual or trilingual, this could be an opportunity for you. Fluency in English and one or two Indian languages may be enough, but taking a language course will significantly increase your earning potential.
Once you can prove your proficiency, many international companies, academics, and writers will hire your services for their translation needs. To start earning money, sign up with popular freelancing sites such as Fiverr.com or Upwork.com and list the languages you are proficient in.
Potential earnings: 1-5 rupees per word, up to 10 rupees depending on the language.
3. Blog
Over the past decade, blog monetization has gained momentum. To monetize your blog, you sign up for Google Adsense, which allocates you ads to appear on your blog. Then you just wait for your account to be approved. Once approved, you can continue to receive ads and make a steady, if not huge, income. Adsense pays based on the number of clicks and impressions your ads receive.
Alternatively, you can get into affiliate marketing (promoting other merchants’ products on your blog) and selling products through your blog to turn it into a profitable business. If your blog already has a significant amount of traffic, you can also seek to sponsor your blog. This can involve selling advertising space on your blog to merchants, which can provide a more stable source of income in the long run.
Potential Earnings: Ads can pay anywhere between Rs 2,000 to Rs 15,000 per month for a 2″ x 2″ space, depending on the niche and readership. AdSense earnings vary widely depending on the blogger’s reach and popularity.
4. Sell products online
If you enjoy crafting, picking out fabrics, or putting together ensembles, there’s probably a market for your products. Once you’ve decided what you want to sell, build up your inventory by buying products wholesale or manufacturing enough to fill orders, and set the price at which you want to sell them.
To sell these products, you can register on the websites of popular online sellers, ranging from Amazon and eBay to smaller portals like indiebazaar.com. These portals charge a small fee for hosting your products. Once you receive an order, you pack the products and have them ready for the logistics partner of your selected portal to pick up and deliver them. You will receive payment within 5-7 days of completing the order.
Potential Earnings: Earnings vary depending on the product and price. After deducting a small portal fee, the remaining earnings are yours.
5. Creating YouTube videos
YouTube is popular and easily accessible. If you’re camera-shy or good with a video camera, YouTube might be the perfect platform for you. Get started by choosing a category or subject you want to create videos around, but make sure it’s a topic that will interest a lot of people.
From cooking shows to political debates, YouTube has a huge audience. You don’t need professional equipment or the right setup to record videos; a mid-range smartphone will do. You need to create a YouTube channel, which works on a similar model to a blog. As your channel becomes more popular and you gain more subscribers, so does your earning potential. From promoting your brand to covering events, YouTube offers many earning opportunities if you become popular.
Potential earnings: Rs 200-300 per 1,000 views. Ads are paid based on engagement and clicks.
6. Web Development
Do you know a little about coding and web design? Then you can easily work from home as a web developer. Beginners interested in this job can find plenty of easy online tutorials to help them get started. Web development is usually outsourced by companies, so finding work should be easy.
But remember, there are plenty of freelance web developers out there who are just as good as you, so it’s important to find your niche, build a good reputation, and keep your prices fair.
Earning Potential: Depending on the client and the work, you can earn anywhere between Rs 20,000 to Rs 100,000 for a single project.
7. Content Writing
One of the most popular avenues of freelance work is content writing. There is always a high demand for well-researched and well-written web content, and recruiters are always on the lookout for experts who can create fresh content that grabs attention and drives traffic.
If you are good at grammar, can write compelling sentences, and are interested in researching and writing about different topics, this is the perfect job for you. Most clients prefer to pay via Paypal, so set up a Paypal account before you start working. Once you have an account, you can sign up with freelance job websites such as Fiverr.com, Upwork.com, Freelancer.com, Elance.com, and Worknhire.com.
Earning potential: Beginners can earn Rs 8,000-10,000 per month. Experienced content writers can earn Rs 20,000-25,000 per month.
8. Data Entry
Though this job is under severe threat from automation, there are still plenty of data entry jobs available in India. This is one of the easiest jobs you can do online and it doesn’t require any special skills. All you need is a computer and an internet connection, fast typing skills, and the ability to pay attention to detail.
Most freelancing websites list such jobs, and you can sign up on one of them to start working. Clients provide you with printed or scanned sheets of data that you need to enter into a digital form. This simple task allows you to earn a steady income while working from home with a flexible schedule.
Earning potential: Rs 300 to Rs 1,500 per hour.
9. Online tutoring
If you already have experience as a tutor or are an expert in a particular subject, you can earn money by tutoring online. Register as an online tutor on websites like MyPrivateTutor.com, BharatTutors.com, tutorindia.net, etc. and create a profile mentioning the subjects or classes you want to teach, your length of experience, qualifications, etc.
Once your details are checked and approved, you will be shortlisted by taking an online test or a phone interview.If private academic tutoring is not your style, portals like Udemy allow you to have a virtual classroom where you can teach anything from cooking to yoga.
Earning potential: Beginners can earn around Rs 200 per hour, which can increase to Rs 500 as you gain experience and expertise.
