Many people today work from home and either have their own small companies or they are freelance workers. The internet has changed the way we do things, including the way we work.  There are so many possibilities online that it is no longer necessary to go and work for a large corporate company. Provided you have some skills or hobbies, you can create, get and give work from home.

Working from home is rewarding.  You don’t have to pay rent, manage staff, maintain huge overheads or get to the office at a certain time.  As long as you are disciplined with your time and your work, a good freelancer can earn a lot of money working online. The Internet has opened up the whole world!  Today you find people in India designing websites in South Africa.  You find South Africans writing articles for Americans.  Anyone can handle a Social Media account, no matter the country of the account holder.   Anyone, as long as they have the skills, can create content for a website.  Or provide the photographs.  Or the captions for the photographs.

The world is no longer internal.  Everyone is looking externally, for everything.  We are global!

Here are a few sites where you can make money, from home, working on the Internet.

Udemy

Udemy is an online learning platform and an International website where you, no matter who you are or where you are, can create your own virtual classroom.  You only need to have a skill, ANY skill, and you can create, and get paid, for helping others to learn the skill.  Perhaps you’re a great baker and want to share your baking secrets.  You may be brilliant at advanced mathematics and want to teach students the math basics, special formulas or help them get through an exam. It could be website development or design, web programming or Social Media.  You can create an account on Udemy, follow the guidelines for set up and then offer online courses in whatever your particular skill may be.

The guidelines for using Udemy are fairly straightforward and clear. There is a process to go through – you do need to be verified in your particular skill, which Udemy will do for you – and then you create an account as a Tutor, get your tutorials and your video online and away you go.   Udemy will match the right students to your course and will also handle the payment, follow up, customer service and reviews.

There are currently more than 10 million students listed on Udemy, from all over the world.  Four million of these students log on every single month.  This could be a great way for you to make money.

Tours by locals

This is such a clever and creative idea.  Basically,  Tours by Locals  is an International website  that hooks up travellers with local guides.  If you live in Paris (an example only) and love your city, why not show it off.  Of course you need to know your city very well, be a  decent guide, be good with people and with their kids, and have a great personality.  You can register with Tours by Locals, tell them what tours you can offer, how long they are, if they are child friendly, and then by following their guidelines, set up your own page. A visitor to the page who is travelling to your city will find you!  It helps to be creative – offer a coffee walk, or a  pastry walk, perhaps a public transport tour, or a history tour.  The team at Tours by Locals will check your credentials and then once your application has been approved, you will be ready to go! It’s a great way to meet people, share your city and your knowledge and make some money.

Tours by Local handle the bookings, the payment and any customer service that is required.  They allow a space for good reviews (or complaints) and you can do this as a way to make some extra money, or if you are good, as a full time job!

Fiverr, Guru or Freelancer

Go and have a look at all of these sites.  You will be astonished at the amount of people advertising for skilled workers. On Fiverr you may find someone looking for a graphic designer, a skilled writer, or a website developer.  On Guru you’ll find thousands of jobs offered to skilled freelancers, ranging from photographic to writing to SEO to design.  You need to set up an account on one of these sites (or all three if you are just getting in to the market), create a profile, highlight your skills and then – go for it.  Usually you will need to put in a bid for the job by giving a short précis of why you are the right person for the job and what your skills or experience are.

Once you have the hang of how the site works, you will be surprised at how busy you can be.  If you’re a writer, you can get writing jobs from all over the world.  You can also choose how you want to interact with the person offering you a job.  Usually, interaction is all via the ‘messaging system’ online.  But the jobs are all legitimate, vetted by the site, and payment goes via the site too.

It takes a little navigation in the beginning to understand the system.  On almost all of these sites there is no joining fee.  You can pay a small sum if you want to be ‘bumped’ to the top of bidding queues, but none of this is necessary.  If you are good at what you do, you will find work.

It is a good idea to be specific.  Don’t be shy when someone offers you work.  Ask questions about the job.  Negotiate the pay.  Tell them exactly what you can and cannot do.  If you are good, you will find you keep working for the same people.  Communication is key.

Similarly, if you are looking for someone to do work for you, you may find that person on any of these sites too.  In the old days if you wanted content for your website you would research website people in your area.  Now, you can do it online.  The person best for the job, and at a competitive rate, may just be in another country!

Fantero

Similar to Fiverr or Freelancer but on this site you update your work in advance so people can see what they are buying.  You can put your writing out there, photographs, visuals, video work, fonts, logos, 3D templates and more.  Go and have a look at the site.  If you are developing a website, or a letterhead, you may want to employ someone off Fantero.  And if you have special skills, create an account, follow the guidelines and upload the work you want to sell.

This is a really good way to get your work out into the entire global market and you have nothing to lose.  You own your work, you decide on the price and you decide who you want to sell to.  It’s a win win situation and you can be on Fantero and still do other freelance work.

Photomoola

Photomoola is an online and worldwide branded photographic content service.  You can go online, create an account, upload your images (themed or unthemed), and sell them.  You can sell photographs for websites, social media sites, blogs, magazines or to anyone looking for a specific image.  You can also enter photographic competitions.  As with the other sites, Photomoola creates the platform for you to create a page and sell your work, they arrange payment and customer service.  Clients will get hold of you directly, on the site, and you work with the client directly. Photomoola takes a cut of the payment, or a commission.

This by the way, applies to all these sites.You use the sites to make contacts and get work.  You don’t have to pay to be on the site but the site has to make money too.  They take a cut of your earnings.

You can use these sites  as a ‘sideline business’ and as a way of making extra money, or you can use them full time.  You need to be fairly committed in the beginning in getting to understand the systems.  Once you’ve got it though, you’ve got it.  Always read the terms and conditions carefully.  The sites takes a small cut or commission, for hosting you and promoting your work.  But you can make a lot of money on these sites if you do it right.  Have a look, it is definitely worth it?