5 Jobs to Consider for Freedom and Flexibility 

The number of work-at-home job opportunities is rapidly growing. Whether you’re a new mom seeking greater independence so you can spend more time at home with your kids, or a recent graduate on the hunt for a job that allows you to travel the world, landing a great gig that lets you work from anywhere is an easy, exhilarating possibility these days.

Have a look at the following list of five job opportunities we’ve pulled together that may align with your skillsets, would allow you to work from home — and, down the line, potentially anywhere in the world!

1. Virtual Assistant – Do a quick internet search, and you’ll likely find an impressive list of virtual assistant job postings. Two reasons for this: most busy career-driven individuals — especially small business owners — don’t have enough time to do everything on their to-do list, and they may lack the necessary budget to hire full-time help on the admin side. Voilà a virtual assistant to fill that gap, a smart set-up that allows flexibility for both client and worker.

Since the job description can cover multiple things, decide at the outset whether you want to help with multiple activities across several industries — or instead be task-specific or stick to one industry.  Corporate event planning, making business travel plans, bookkeeping, social media management are all examples of duties you might handle.

Downside: Potential tedium of dealing with admin tasks all day long.
Job opportunities: Take a look at virtualassistants.com or elance.com.

2. Tele-Sales and Customer Support – New cloud-based technologies, such as virtual desktop, are allowing companies to move from onsite call centers to home-based models, reducing operational overhead and opening up virtual employment opportunities.

A particular benefit of this type of job is that some offer full-time employment, so a salary and benefits are a possibility.

Downside: You’ll likely need to deal at some point with unhappy customers, since the bulk of phone-based jobs are customer service-oriented. Also, employers in this type of position typically require a set work schedule, so the jobs don’t always offer the “anytime or anywhere” flexibility.
Job Opportunities: Work at Home Moms has pulled together a reliable, scam-free list of resources to peruse for home-based call center jobs.

3. Web Developer/Designer – With the growth of digital devices, more and more companies are enhancing their web presence, with some launching online-only businesses. Those who have the expertise to design and develop websites, especially from their own homes, are particularly in demand.

A career in web design and development can be as task-intensive as building a website from scratch and working with offshore resources on template modification and redesigns, or as light as working a few hours a week overseeing a project.

Job Opportunities: Take a look at Smashing Magazine, a website and community  dedicated to web development and design that has resources, tools, and even job postings.

4. Education Professional/Career Coach – Nowadays, home-based schooling has moved from the dinner table to the internet, and universities are no longer exclusively made-up of brick-and-mortar buildings.

From elementary schools to higher education to on-the-job training, high-speed internet and collaborative software solutions have made web-based learning more accessible — and even preferred — in some cases. This digital format offers opportunities for students to learn virtually, and more importantly, for individuals to teach from anywhere.

If you’re a trained educator or have expertise in a profession or industry, being a virtual teacher or coach might be a great home-based job opportunity for you.

Job Opportunities: Online teaching jobs can be found at GetEducated.com, and a quick web search for executive coaching jobs will deliver a long list of opportunities by profession and industry.

5. Writer/Editor – Writing has always been predominately home-based work, but as more legacy print publications move instead to exclusively digital formats, job listings have exploded for online writers, editors and bloggers with the ability to work from anywhere and almost anytime.

Downside: Writers and editors are in abundance and the pay is typically low, especially just starting out – but for experienced journalists and writers, this type of home-based freelance work could be profitable when multiple assignments are taken on, especially for quality publications on the web.
Job Opportunities: Try Elance or do a web search for “writing services” to see the variety of projects out there. And if you need moral support from other scribes, try to find a writers organization here that will fit your needs.

SharpHeels Tip:  As enticing as a work-at-home job sounds, there are two key personality characteristics that are required to be successful with flexible employment: self-motivation and discipline. As a freelancer, you won’t have a management structure, so finding employment, maintaining your job, finishing (or even re-doing) tasks — not to mention getting dressed in the morning — will all fall on your shoulders.

Make sure you have the ability to keep a work regimen in place, and a “self-regulating” type of mentality to keep an eye on the clock, so that you can complete the tasks you’ve signed-up for, produce quality work, and reap all the benefits of this 21st century path to freedom and flexibility!