Mission 2021: Build Your Second Act with these Online Opportunities

Are you nearing retirement? Do you want to earn, save, and invest more to secure your financial future? If so, you aren’t alone! We never can predict how the economy will jolt our income or our quest to retire, so it’s up to us to build our future. A side gig may be your secret super power – and the internet is your secret weapon!

With thanks to Valentina Wilson for contributing this article, she has collected several sites that provide plentiful opportunities to earn extra dollars. For additional inspiration, career coaches such as John Tarnoff, Wendy Mayhew, and Deb Gaut, can guide you through the process of customizing your second act.

Here are Valentina’s top sites to earn money online.

1. Online Teaching. 

Earn money by sharing your knowledge. What do you know? What are you good at? What do you enjoy? Have you experienced an event that others could learn from? (In my case, it would be the executor process following a parent’s death. Hmm…maybe I should consider this!) Explore your interests and experience then check out these e-learning sites.

Getsetup: Earn dollars by teaching others how to apply for Social Security online, learn Pinterest, how to develop a website, or any other skill. Courses are taught through Zoom or other video conferencing platforms. (If you need to learn how to use Zoom, Getsetup has classes on that!) Earnings potential: up to $25 per hour. 

Udemy: this online course provider offers instructors the opportunity to teach professional adults and students through 130,000+ courses. Anyone can build a video-based course on a range of topics with the ability to interact with students through message boards. Earnings potential: it gets complicated, but Udemy offers 3 pricing tiers and depending on the source of traffic, your earnings could be as high as 90% of the course cost to as low as 25% of the cost.

Skillshare: This is an online learning community for creatives in areas of art, photography, design, writing, and a few others. Do you have strengths in these areas? If so, create a video, create a project, and share your tips, techniques, and resources with your students. Skillshare is learning by doing. Earnings potential: instructors earn between $0.05 and $0.10 per minute watched.

Chegg Tutors: Do you have a natural knack for engineering, math, science, humanities, and other high school or college courses? Then you will make a great Chegg Tutor! Create an online profile, select the subjects you know well, and the Chegg platform will match you with students. You will earn  as you help students with problems, questions, or writing a lesson plan. Earnings potential: $20/hour.

2. Virtual Assistance and Customer Care.

Is organization, time management, and workflow one of your strengths? Consider virtual assistance or customer care as your side gig. Many companies, business owners, and CEOs need administrative assistance and lack the time, energy, or patience to do it themselves. Similarly, an ability to work with people, patience, and positivity combine well for customer care representatives. Tasks for both may include but are not limited to scheduling appointments, managing email accounts, making phone calls, managing professional connections, performing market research, interview experts, writing, and communication. 

Alorica: this site is a virtual call center that hires remote employees to manage inbound customer calls within a variety of industries. They offer flexible schedules and plenty of opportunity for growth, along with training to ensure you are ready to help. Earnings potential: there are several roles and pay rates available through Alorica. For instance, Data Entry can range between $9.69 to $22.91/hour. Explore other opportunities such as Account Manager, Call Center Representative and many others.

Sykes: this company provides customer contact management solutions and business process outsourcing services, such as customer service agent, tech support, and call center representative. Their SYKESHome platform offers numerous virtual work opportunities and covers a wide range of top industries. Earnings potential: pay rates range from $8 to $15/hour plus they offer a benefits plan that includes healthcare and a 401k savings option.

Rev: become a freelancer with Rev by providing transcribing, captioning, or translating services. As the top rated speech-to-text service, you can work from home and earn while providing vital transcribing services for any industry. Earnings potential: Earn $.40 to $.75 for each minute of captioning or transcribing. According to Rev, the average earner can earn $240/month with top earners at $1500/month. 

TaskRabbit – do you enjoy tasks and errands? This platform matches busy people with freelance labor in your area. Do you enjoy car washing, helping others move, cleaning, organization? Maybe carpentry, sewing, or pet sitting appeals more to you. TaskRabbit helps you build a freelance profile and connects you with people needing your services.  Earning potential: “Taskers” are independent contractors who set their own hourly rates. Earnings are based on a number of factors including requests for particular services, the prices the Tasker sets, and the number of hours willing to work.

Zirtual – this company offers virtual assistant, data entry, and other support services for their clients. Jobs range from part-time to full-time, and all are virtual! Check their open positions regularly to find jobs that fit your interest and availability. Earning potential: Hourly rates start at $13 to $18/hour (based on 2018 prices). Check the open jobs listing for more details. 

VANetworking.com – is a social networking platform run and managed by virtual assistants. Potential customers post virtual assistant jobs here. Freelance virtual assistants can apply for jobs that fit their skills. If working as a virtual assistant is new to you, this site offers a Virtual Assistant Career startup system to help you set up and run your virtual assistant business in 30 days. Beware: the career startup prices start at $998! Earning potential: You can earn anywhere between $25 and $100 per hour based on the services you offer. 

3. Website, Product, App Reviews

As of December 2020, according to HostingTribunal.com, there are over 1.6 billion websites on the internet, and over 6 billion indexed pages through Google. Many companies need to make sure their sites, products, and customer experience are fulfilling their clients’ needs. As a reviewer, you can earn by participating in user testing opportunities. 

Usertesting.com: this site connects testers with a client needing to know more about their product, service, or experience. Your feedback, utilizing custom tests, will provide companies with needed information to improve their services. Earning potential: $10 per review for a 20-minute video.

Apperwall.com: this service allows candidates to earn money by downloading apps using their iPhone or Android phones, testing the app, then rating them. Earning potential: up to $30/month writing just one review per day.

4. Website Design

Do you enjoy technology? Do you enjoy designing visual things from scratch and giving them a digital home? Then web design may be the side gig for you. Not to be confused with web developing – computer programmers who use plans, layouts, and coding to build functional websites, web designers are the creative, digital professionals who craft the vision and plan for a website. Web design is less about coding and more about a site’s layout, color palette, font choices, and visual themes. While the skills and knowledge may overlap, both call for specific skills to perform their functions. Skillcrush.com has detailed information about web design and guides to get you started.

Wix: is a template website builder frequently used by designers. It offers a drag-and-drop element with many design templates to work from. Additionally, the Wix platform helps designers reach out to more clients for more earning potential. Earning potential: web designers are independent contractors and set their own prices. New designers start at $25/hour.

Squarespace: Squarespace is a popular site that simplifies web design using templates and drag-and-drop elements. It provides additional options for SEO and blogging tools as well as resources to learn web design. Earning potential: web designers are independent contractors and set their own prices. New designers start at $25/hour.

5. Content Writing

With 1.6 billion websites on the planet (and growing), there is a need for content to fill all those pages. Not everyone likes to write, and busy business owners lack the time and patience to provide the constant demand for content. You can build up your own business as a content writer (freelance) or work for sites such as those listed below – p.s. There are many sites! Note: as a content writer myself, there is a lot of competition yet specializing in a niche helps increase your marketability.

Uxbooth: this site focuses on design and will pay up to $100 per article.

Sitepoint: seeks articles related to web development and design professionals. Rates vary. 

Metro Parent: this site seeks fun and substantive local stories of interest to parents. Rates range between $50 to $75 per article.

B. Michelle Pippen: this site seeks articles on small business profit, influence, and impact. Rates range between $50 to $150 per article.

Watch Culture: a site dedicated to the entertainment industry and seeks articles on film, music, gaming, television, and more. Rates range between $25 to $500 per article.

Make a Living Writing: this freelance site offers a collection of additional sites seeking writers with a wide range of earning potential. More on freelancing below.

6. Opt for freelancing

Freelancing is a popular choice for a side income and a wide variety of abilities and skills opens many doors to freelancers. 

Popular freelance websites include:

• Upwork. 
• Fiverr.
• Indeed
• Flex Jobs
• ClearVoice
• nDash
• PeoplePerHour.com
• Freelancer.com
• Makealivingwriting.com

Each site operates slightly differently from obtaining clients to how you are paid. Study each and get to know their processes then choose the sites that most fit your goals. You will be required to build a profile on most sites and then will bid for projects posted by potential clients. Earning potential: varies by site, client, project, and payment preferences (hourly or project-based).

Lastly, Life In The 50s Can Give You A Feeling Of Financial Insecurity. Ageism, job hunting, the economy, and even a pandemic puts us all at risk of an uncertain future, especially related to retirement. If your projected (or current) retirement plan does not fulfill your financial needs, then the internet gives you endless opportunity to supplement your income. 

Where will your second act income come from?

Kristen

Image source: courtesty of Pexels from Pixabay