Working from home is not a new concept. It has been around for many years as technology has grown, remote working has gained ground. COVID-19 has brought to light the jobs that can be performed from home and people have jumped at the chance to fill those positions. Before quitting your day job in the middle of a pandemic, you first need to consider a few things.
It takes a lot of drive and dedication to be a profitable independent worker. You have to give it all you’ve got. You cannot be afraid of rejection or be easily offended. For everyone who likes your work, there will be two that do not. The work doesn’t jump out of the trees and into your pocket. So you have to know where to find remote jobs, how to price them, how to get them, and how to hit your deadlines. You may be happy to work in your pj’s and fuzzy socks and glad that you can keep your baby home with you, but remote jobs are jobs. They must be done well and on time. If there is an error (even if you believe the client made it) you fix it and fix it fast. Why? Because there are 50 other writers waiting for that client’s work. Getting the job is not as important as keeping the business.
It’s a business
Don’t sell yourself short. When things go right and when things go wrong, this is your business. You volunteered for it and you have to stick it out. You cannot just cut the rope and run. In the world of e-commerce, your name gets around. Once it is bruised, you will have a hard time getting folks to trust you again. So you put on your big-kids pants and stick it out even if you don’t make a dime. You will build it, letter by letter.
Do You Need Insurance?
A lot of people believe they do not need insurance if they work out of their homes. This is not true. Your homeowner’s insurance will not pay if you or someone else gets hurt on your property while you were conducting business. Industry leaders can explain all of the various types of business protection (and other types of small business insurance).
Here are a few examples of situations that would require small business or General Liability Coverage.
- If someone comes to your home to pick up or deliver something related to your home business such as flyers, a printer, or anything you are going to use and they fall and get hurt.
- If you are hired to research for an attorney or health site and you missed something that caused someone injury. While this is not likely, you could be sued.
- If your home office is damaged in a fire and your homeowners insurance refuses to pay.
- If you hire someone to help you and they turn out to be a thief. You can claim your money or the price of your computer or what they took through your business liability insurance.
Price of insurance
The cost of Small Business General Liability insurance is inexpensive. Tell your agent everything you want to be covered before you get your quote. Ask for discounts. If he is an independent agent, he may want some blogging or advertising help and he may be willing to trade. In any case, this is very cost-effective insurance, so get the best.
What else is needed?
Check with your local government or your state. Most states require you to have a business license. Some of the other requirements you should check on include:
- Professional Licenses
- Homeowners Association Certificate (depending upon where you live)
- Zoning Ordinance
- Health & Safety Permit
- Sign Permit
- Sales Tax License
Note: All of these requirements are not required at every location. Check with your city or state licensing department for the information.
The growth of remote jobs in 2020
Businesses like Forbes and flexjobs.com predicted a major increase in remote jobs and working from home in the year 2020. The pandemic may have had a lot to do with it, but regardless, there has been a massive growth in remote jobs. In some markets, the rise has been more than 50%. The USA Bureau of Labor Statistics has stated in their annual report that they expect an increase in jobs of 4% – 6% across the board. However, Coronavirus has made a bigger impact in some industries causing increases as high as 56% in e-commerce jobs.
Necessity became the author of diversity and we found there are usually at least two ways to do everything. Once we found an alternative way to do business we determined that allowing employees to work from home is more productive, less expensive, less stressful, and allowed employees to do what they do, better.
While 2020 hit some grand sales numbers, in other ways it was devastating. Some companies did not find their way with the help of e-commerce. Others simply could not grasp the fact that people can be trusted and computers have monitoring capabilities to determine if an employee is working at his assigned time. While these companies took their time getting it together, they lost their good employees who simply could not wait for the new plan. With the end of the year pressing down on us, some of us have to look for different solutions. For some, it is as simple as looking within and determining what we have that is marketable and learning how to market that talent.
Great jobs that are now being handled by remote workers:
These are jobs that are now worked remotely, and they will stay in the remote market for jobs in 2021. There are more coming every day. These are holding strong so we feel comfortable making the above statement.
1. Accountant
This includes accounts receivable and accounts payable and creation of banking reports, profit and loss sheets, as well as any other duties assigned by the CEO or head of accounting. This position has grown in the work at home market steadily since 2018. These jobs are not low-level positions. They are for educated, talented, and knowledgeable people. Most of the employees are just out of college and are paid as much as an in-house equal employee. Some of the largest banks in the nation hire these men and women. Some experts expect the work at home/remote accounting jobs will surge to well over 50% in 2021.
2. Engineer
There are various types of engineering jobs today. The majority of them are created and shared via a computer. Even those with 3D models can be printed remotely. Meetings can be done remotely and few face to face meetings are needed.
3. Teacher/Faculty/Tutor/Instructor
With the on-going pandemic, many online-teachers have come to the rescue. However, this is not new. Tutors and instructors have always been around for those of us who needed them. Now, we are simply allowing more people in the group. This is a great career and let’s hope they are finally getting what they deserve in pay.
4. Writer
There are many ways to make money freelancing writing. You can create and market your own blog, or spend your time pitching your ideas to other bloggers to sell your writing on theirs. There are many places to write articles for. Online or print articles will allow you to write for them and they pay quite well. Of course, you have to write on the subject and in the manner they tell you to. This is a good way to make a few hundred dollars a month. It takes a while to build up a clientele so you are staggering your cash flow. There are stories, product reviews, ad copy, technical manuals, and cookbooks. Find what you love to write about, then find out who will pay you to write about your passion. If you love the subject, you will probably write it well. There are writing jobs to be had and good money to be made.
5. Consultant
If you have been in a certain business for a long time, you carry decades of experience. Companies will hire you as a consultant. Your job is to find where the problems are & recommend solutions.
Consultants help companies and organizations solve problems, find areas in need of improvement, and finish projects. If there is a product going obsolete, you will be able to give management if the new product is being sold before the old product is out the door. There are many other issues you can see that others may not. Is a department virtually shutting down during the lunch hour so everyone can go together? Are warranty claims being filed on time?
Consultants do not have to be in the office to do their job. Companies would rather pay them to work from home and save the expense of another office to run all year.
This is just a small list of jobs that are being worked remotely. While many companies said they would return to the office after COVID-19, now large corporations are finding it more productive and employees are finding it less taxing to work from home. Here are a few more jobs that have crossed over to remote positions in some businesses:
- Program Manager
- Project Manager
- Human resources Manager
- Payroll
- Customer Service Representative
- Account Manager
- Territory Manager
- Web Developer
- Medical Coder
- Nurse
- Editor
Now, do you think you need insurance?
Looking over this list of jobs, do you see more than one thing you can do? We have not even talked about taking care of people. What if you take on the job of helping a Territory Manager get his files in order so he can turn in his work on time? He brings in 2 large files. On the way in, he trips and falls. You may think your homeowners insurance will cover the injury, but you are probably going to be in for a shock. If they find out you were running a business, they will not cover anything. If they believe he is a friend just stopping by, they may pay a small (limited) amount. The amounts they will pay are listed in the fine print of their policy. You need to carefully read your homeowners policy, and you need to get a general liability business insurance policy.
As 2021 gets closer and e-commerce grows, it is safe to bet that many of these businesses will receive more than the 4% to 5% increase in sales predicted. For some, these predictions are off the chart. Now is the time to brush up on the latest programs, set the wheels in motion, and be ready for 2021 with your insured business ready to go!
