Work from Home, Part-Time Opportunities

K

KrissK

Recycles dryer sheets
Joined
Sep 20, 2014
Messages
62
Hello All, I am hoping you can provide some details on any work from home or part-time opportunities you have had. What type of work, how did you find the job, etc. Thanks in advance.
 
I manage my own portfolio from home. It takes me about an hour a year, but pays a handsome rate.
 
I was an expert in a niche technology, fading but still critical for some major customers. Others on the project wanted to move to new technologies, so I negotiated staying with the old project if I could telecommute. As it became less than a full time job I negotiated part-time. The point is that it's easier to do if you have special skills and/or are willing to do something others would rather not be doing.
 
RunningBum said:
I was an expert in a niche technology, fading but still critical for some major customers. Others on the project wanted to move to new technologies, so I negotiated staying with the old project if I could telecommute. As it became less than a full time job I negotiated part-time. The point is that it's easier to do if you have special skills and/or are willing to do something others would rather not be doing.
Click to expand...

COBOL programmer?
 
Check out indeed.com. They usually have a good selection of telecommute jobs. Also blogging and freelance writing are good options if you like to write. If you are crafty, an etsy.com store is a great option.
 
RunningBum said:
No, SNA networking.
Click to expand...

Wow that is a specialized skill, now. I know some internal stuff was still using it, enjoy!

Buddy of mine supports some old assembly code, all of a critical applications security rules are implemented there. Great gig.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Early Retirement Forum mobile app
 
Wow, brings back memories. Years ago, I programmed SNA/SDLC communications protocols for IBM 3270 and 3774 "look alike" devices. Before that, did Bisync.
 
Not sure exactly what the OP is looking for but there's mechanical turk and ODesk
 
Do you have a hobby that has potential business options? Such as search out for valuable items in your hobby area you have good knowledge of that you can resell? Just as an example off top of my head, say you like fishing and are knowledgeable about older equipment. By going to estate or yard sales you can find vintage fishing equipment that may have collectible value. Buy them cheap then flip for some profit. This may be a poor example, but you get the point.

The main advantage to this is you can be a home-based business and get deductions for taxes and at the same time you are doing something that is not really work, it is something you have fun with.
 
Stay away from anything advertised with you paying for a course on how to make money working from home, like Medical billing etc. That stuff is saturated.

Best to be something you have an in depth knowledge in already.

Maybe some kind of customer service thing , for a smaller company, like you here in the states, from your kitchen table, instead of a call center operator in India. Not sure if any companies are doing this.
 
DW started a business doing Reiki as well as hypnotherapy. She really enjoyed both of them, and especially liked working with and helping people. And horses. She spent some time doing Reiki on horses. She loved that.


But the aspects of having to hustle for business as well as the costs of being a businessperson (in MD, anyway) got to be too much and she let it drop. She still does it, but she uses a "pay it forward" concept and lets people decide themselves how they want to pay for it. The gov't hasn't gotten involved in that yet.
 
Think about all those craft fairs you might have seen. Are you talented enough to make something like they do ?
Then sell it on etsy and consider a craft fair once you get a pile of stuff to show.

Frankly, unless you have some good skill at something, and are lucky, you will be going in to work as everybody likes to see a warm body.
 
Also, forgot to mention - you can always do freelance gigs. Check out peopleperhour.com to see what others are doing. There are also careers like family photography and graphic design that can be mostly work-from-home businesses.
 
Most of the people that I know or our kids know who work from home full time do some kind of tech work - DBA, programmer, forum moderator for a software company, contract app developer and tech writer. One of our neighbors used to publish a niche newsletter.

If you search for digital nomad type jobs in Google and that might give you some more ideas.
 
People do everything part time at home, from babysit neighbor kids after school to making cupcakes to writing user documentation to maintaining websites to programming apps to sewing window treatments to songwriting. All or more or none of these may fit OP's interests or skill set or contact network.

I worked from home for maybe ten years doing complex editorial work after working for a publisher (and before going back to the office). I loved it, and I never looked for projects; people contacted me. I wish I had a nickel for all the people who said they could do that work too. Um, no, they couldn't, no more than I could do custom website graphic design today, no matter how many opportunities there might be, because a., I would hate it, and b., I don't know how to do it. So my advice is to OP is figure out where her skills and interests are first, and go from there.
 
If you are good with google searches - try Lionbridge - it gives you some 1099 income and not a huge time commitment
 
I know of someone (do not know them personally) that works full-time from home making hotel reservations for a Hilton's International hotel chain. He initially got the job working the night shift, (USA hours) but eventually moved into day hours. He had to travel to Chicago for 1 week of training which was paid for by the company, and had to agree to repay those costs if he did not stay employed for at least 6 months.

I do not know how he got the job though.
 
I know someone that teaches Koreans English from home and claims to get paid enough to make it worthwhile.
 
outdoorgirl02 said:
There are also careers like family photography and graphic design that can be mostly work-from-home businesses.
Click to expand...

One would want to be careful with that. Going down to Best Buy and dropping $800 on a digital camera does not make one a professional photographer and that is what people would justifiably expect.

Although it is targeted at photographers this book is good reading for anyone contemplating starting a sole proprietor business. And it is a business. This is the book that made me realize that while I enjoy photography, and I can be pretty good at it, I do not want to run a business.

http://www.amazon.com/Best-Business...1-1&keywords=best+practices+for+photographers
 
There are a lot of options for home based businesses. But the only ones that make sense are those that you enjoy and have a lot of knowledge and experience in. If you don't have knowledge and experience, there's a good chance you'll fail because you won't be as good as your competition. And you'll need business skills to stay afloat as well. A lot of people think that they can just start any business at home and rake in some cash, but it's not that easy. It takes commitment.


Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum
 
Walt34 said:
One would want to be careful with that. Going down to Best Buy and dropping $800 on a digital camera does not make one a professional photographer and that is what people would justifiably expect.
Click to expand...


So very true Walt. I know numerous family/wedding photographers well and it is definitely a lot of work to run the business and also be good at photography. With that said, they are very happy running their home based photography businesses and make a solid income.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

FlaGator
Direct Marketing Incompetence – A Vexing Problem
2
Replies
35
Views
922
athena53
athena53
S
  • Locked
How dangerous are our streets
Replies
13
Views
451
MichaelB
MichaelB
S
Returning to full-time (government) work, mainly to get insurance
2
Replies
43
Views
2K
tryan
tryan
street
Inspection Camera for iPhone Viewing
Replies
7
Views
290
Gumby
Gumby
R
Retirement Date Target Set at Aug/Sept 2025
Replies
3
Views
74
Route246
R

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom