It’s no secret that the workforce these days is craving jobs that offer a stellar work/life balance. One of the pivotal pieces to a healthy work/life balance is having the option to make your own schedule. There’s a lot of reasons why Make Your Own Schedule Jobs are awesome. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with requiring that in your job.
People are beginning to realize more and more how important it is to have a flexible career because we only live once. We shouldn’t be working now only to enjoy our life later (that’s insane). We should enjoy our life and our jobs right now or else there is simply no point.
Take a look at some of the jobs that allow you to work when you want and make your own schedule:
**This post may contain affiliate links. That means I get paid a portion of the sale if you purchase something, and that helps support cat feed in the house of The Drifting Desk. Don’t worry, my opinions are my own and aren’t influenced by this.**
1. Blogger
Blogging has eclipsed the days of ‘online journaling’ and has since created a legitimate opportunity for creatives who want to get paid to write about what they love, whenever they feel like it. Blogging allows you to work at any time of the day, because you own your own business and run your own website. This job takes time to build up revenue, but once you do you can enjoy multiple income streams from placing ads on your website, selling e-books, writing posts about other products, guest posting on other blogs, etc. Freelance blogging is perfect for someone who is business-savvy, wants to make their own schedule and be their own boss.
I’m a big fan of fellow blogger Ruth Soukup of Living Well Spending Less and learned so much from her online course. I highly recommend Elite Blogging Academy for anyone interested in starting or advancing their freelance blogging journey. If you’d like even more info on how to become a blogger yourself, check out:
How Bloggers Make Money with Affiliate Sales
2. Direct Sales Consultant
For some weird reason, everyone at my work always asked me which dentist I used. Because the area I live in is saturated with transplants (love you guys!;)) they seem to rely on me as a native to Colorado to recommend doctors, salons, and dry cleaners. I’m also a pretty friendly girl and get along with most people, so I’m naturally diplomatic and an accidental networker. Last time I counted, I had referred six people to my hair stylist and ten people from my desk-job to that dentist. That’s a small testament for how powerful network marketing is. Too bad I was never paid for my honest recommendation! In comes Direct Sales.
You probably already know someone in Direct Sales. Remember the Avon lady? And the Tupperware party? Also known as Multi-Level Marketing or Network Marketing, the invention of the internet has seen sales and participation soar for Direct Sales companies by adding in the element of digitizing and offering ‘online’ parties. This has allowed people to reach far outside their circle of friends by marketing themselves on the internet to an endless client base.
A lot of people make money doing direct sales while setting their own work schedule. 2.4 million people earned upwards of $50,000 last year according to Direct Selling News. The job can be fun, too. You just need to make sure you research the company and that you love (and maybe already use) the products. Some examples of the most popular direct sales products include candles, cosmetics, essential oils, food, jewelry, purses, vitamins, romance items and clothing.
3. Ride Share Driver
If your car meets the requirements, you can drive for a ride-share company like Lyft or Uber. When you are ready to work, you sign into their app, and a notification pops up telling you who needs a ride and where they are. You drive to pick them up and drop then you drop them off. The financial transaction is handled over the app, so you don’t have to worry about collecting your ‘fare’ yourself. You can sign in as out and work as much as you’d like, whenever you’d like, 24/7/365.
I suggest you download the apps and try them first as a rider and ask your driver how they like their job! Drivers love answering questions about working for a ride share company! I personally have worked for one and absolutely loved the experience. Plus, it’s a great chance to meet people in your area and market yourself or your business if need be!
Try Lyft for free (up to a $30 ride) CODE: LISA1660
Try Uber for free (up to a $20 ride) CODE: XLG6Y
If you have a friend that has a code, ask them for it or use mine above. (I’ll get a ride credit too!)
4. Data Entry Specialist
Freelance Data entry work is out there – but it’s coveted so it can be hard for newbies to know where to look. It’s best to start on large sites like Amazon MTurk, (formerly oDesk), or Elance for data entry assignments to see how you like it.
You can make a legitimate living working on your own schedule once you are able to pickup consistent data entry tasks. The Money Making Mommy has a fantastic resource page on her blog that lists companies that hire for Data-Entry Jobs. Most should allow you to make your own schedule.
5. Transcriptionist
Are you ever watching your favorite show or movie and see someone misspelled the name of a well-known character? If you are critiquing the words on the screen when you watch TV, you’d probably be a good captioner. Also, if you are a fast-typer and a great listener, you can work your own schedule as a transcriptionist typing audio you listen to. You won’t bother anyone buy jumping online in the middle of the night to pick up a captioning assignment for an hour or so.
Rev.com lets you work whenever you want, as do most transcription and captioning companies. Anna at the blog Real Ways to Earn Money Online has an awe-inspiring list of these companies. Make sure you read each job description carefully before applying to make sure they offer a flexible work day so that you are able to choose your own hours. Making sure you’ll be an ‘independent contractor’ is a good way to ensure flexibility working from anywhere, too. NOTE: Independent contractors need to buy their own health insurance (but it’s not as hard as you think).
6. Tutor
If you have a four-year degree, you’re passionate about education and like helping others, you have the capability to teach online via your webcam. You’ll have the opportunity to work with all age groups while increasing your own skills on your favorite subjects. Foreign languages, math, accounting and science are subjects that have the most need for specialized tutors. Check out sites like Tutor.com and TutorVista.com if you are interested in that type of incredibly flexible work.
7. Virtual Assistant
Do you remember the wonderful people that worked at your office-job as the office managers and executive assistants? They were lovely, welcoming people that organized everything in the office, not just coffee inventory. They helped run the show by dealing with the gritty details. As more and more companies are becoming remote and more people turn to self-employment and freelancing, the need for people just like them, but that can work virtually, is rising.
Virtual Assistant jobs normally allow you to set your own schedule, so if you are a detail-oriented type of person and don’t mind work on someone else’s company or project, check out The Work at Home Wife, who wrote a spot-on post explaining what a Virtual Assistant does and where to find these type of jobs.
8. Freelance Writer
Freelance writers get paid to write. There’s a lot of work writing copy for businesses, and the possibility to find creative writing assignments exists as well. Because you choose which assignments to work on and are already aware of the due date, this is a job that truly lets you set your own schedule. The Freelance Writers Den is a fabulous community to learn more about the ins and outs of Freelance writing.
By far, the most vastly available type of jobs that let you choose your own schedule is involves freelancing (working as an independent contractor). We just spoke about writers in this post, but there’s a ton of different types of freelancer you could be. Freelancing over the internet encompasses just about every skill and talent.
So…Which kind of hours would you work if your job let you make your own schedule?
Ready to get serious about your work from anywhere job search? I whole-heartedly recommend Flexjobs, the site where I found my first freelance writing gig. There are zero scams on their site and they have their own 100% remote team, too!
Great list Lisa! I’ve tried everything except tutoring and virtual assistant. 🙂 Passing this along. Hope you’re having a great week.
Cori
Corina Ramos recently posted…The 52 Week Money Saving Challenge for 2016