3 Smart Work From Home Ideas
Hello Qatar is the original expats guide to living in Qatar. It is often imitated but never replicated.
Millions of jobs have been affected since the outbreak of the COVID-19, altering the livelihoods of people around the world. In the U.S. alone, over 45 million people have lost their jobs since the start of the pandemic!
In Qatar, a lot of people have been impacted as well. So, here are a few ways you can earn some extra income using your head – rather than the 'old' way of using your home (Airbnb) or car (Uber).
If you were particularly good at school, then the first of these 3 options is for you. If school wasn't your thing, but you have a keen eye and a good camera, then jump to option 2. If you have a decent skill stack or are a techie, then you may want to consider option 3.
For each of these ideas, it is important to figure out how you want to get paid. Most people have set up PayPal in their home country, and that is one option. Payoneer, also used throughout the world, is another. It might offer easier integration with your bank in Qatar. Let's get started!
#1 Tutoring
With online learning taking center stage in recent months, online tutoring is seeing a renaissance. If you excelled in school, then you might have a decent opportunity to tutor students right from your home. Here are five tutoring websites that offer tutors a place to earn real money.
Chegg is one of the top-rated tutoring services available online and if you’re knowledgeable on certain topics, you can get paid to teach others ($1,000 per month). The topics can range from Calculus to Biology, Computer Science to Astrophysics, Zoology and thousands more. Students range in age from middle school through to college and even working professionals.
Learn more at Chegg.com/tutors/become-a-tutor
TutorMe is another platform that offers the opportunity to teach courses in over 300 subjects. You select the subjects you can teach "from Calculus, to Python, to Piano and everything in between." Once approved, they will start sending students to you. Students can message you directly, and after each lesson, you both rate each other. The platform makes payments on a weekly basis to you.
Learn more at TutorMe.com/apply
If you want to specialize in math and are particularly good at it, then check out Yup. According to their website, "Yup tutors are current and former teachers, educators, and graduate students with extensive tutoring experience." They help students around the world master concepts and gain greater math confidence. The process to apply includes taking a math proficiency exam.
Learn more at Yup.com/for-tutors
Skooli is another popular platform. They have requirements that include a government-certified teaching certificate. However, they offer the most advanced platform and pay the best rates (according to them).
Learn more at Skooli.com/for_tutors
Cambly doesn't require extensive experience and teaching certificates. If you are a native speaker of English and want to teach it to others, then this might be the opportunity for you.
Learn more at Cambly.com/en/tutorsignup
#2 Photography
Do you know the difference between a profession and a hobby? If your profession doesn't make any money, then it is considered a hobby.
Well, if you ever wanted to be considered a professional photographer now is your chance. You can upload some of your best photos from your travels (don’t forget to include Doha of course) and people will pay you a fee if they download them. Voilà! You can go from being a hobbyist to a professional.
Shutterstock has paid out over $1 billion to date and they are looking for more pictures everyday showing a variety of locations. It doesn’t seem like there are many new photos of Qatar and demand for these types of pictures will increase as we get closer to the World Cup, so find your camera and get started!
Getty Images / iStockphotos are another major source you can try.
#3 Freelance
Upwork is the global home for freelancers. If you have skills that can be delivered via email than you can make money here. Services include being a virtual assistant, translating documents from one language to another, running marketing campaigns online, writing articles or sales copy, making PowerPoint style presentations, accounting and bookkeeping, video editing, software coding, strategy consulting and more.
You can also browse a list of pre-packaged services to get some more ideas.
Want to multitask and work for multiple companies at once? No problem, Upwork’s got you covered. Upwork has a huge variety of options that allow you to work for companies from your home. Although the company is based in the U.S., many if not most of the projects are global.
At last check there were over 90,000 jobs listed – all of them are work-from-home! Keep in mind that although many of these are technical, a substantial number are related to non-IT categories. This is probably the largest jobs listing available for work-from-home freelancers anywhere in the world. We have used them to hire people for the past five years and can attest to it being a professional platform for skilled freelancers.
If you want to ensure your profile gets some good traction, you may want to read about the Top 100 skills that were most in-demand last year. Good luck!
What do you think? Have you tried any of these options? Share your experiences in the comments...