One Income and Counting Pennies

By taking early retirement, I lost a steady income. Even though my health insurance is paid, I still have to pay deductibles for any medical care. I do receive a very small monthly retirement benefit, but it is not enough to even buy food for two weeks. Now at the age of 57, I feel as if I’m starting over again. Employment opportunities are limited for anyone my age, especially if you do not have a marketable degree. Ageism can be a huge obstacle to overcome, but so can limited education. Not everyone can afford a college degree and sometimes it is just not an option. I understand that life can get in the way of your dreams and goals. I am in the same boat. Finding work from home opportunities, and affordable online learning opportunities was a must for me.

Researching Work from Home Opportunities

Below is a list of sources for work-from-home opportunities that range from a supplemental income to full-time, or part-time work.

Review Books for Pay

Online Book Club: If you love to read, this one may be for you. It is a site where you can sign up for free to get paid to review books. Right off the bat, they tell you that you will not get rich, or even earn enough to leave your day job. But they do pay you for each book you review, and you get that book for free. There are extensive guidelines that must be followed when writing reviews. You are scored on your ability to follow those guidelines and to produce accurate results as a reviewer.  I signed up to try my hand at this task. I plan to follow up this post with a report on how it worked out.

Virtual Assistant

If you are a person that is very organized, and good at multitasking, then working as a virtual assistant is something you would like to do. There are many businesses and entrepreneurs that are overwhelmed with daily responsibilities and better looking for a qualified assistant to help them with everyday tasks.

Virtual assistants work as administrative support or personal assistants. A virtual assistant may be asked to complete tasks such as answering emails and phone calls, scheduling appointments, assisting with online research, and performing data entry.

There are several websites where you can sign up for employment as a virtual assistant. Some that I have found include Upwork, Fancy Hands, and flexjobs. Flexjobs does require a membership fee which allows access to webinars and job coaching.

Online Surveys

There are legitimate sites where you can sign up to get paid to complete surveys. You will not get rich from taking surveys, but you can earn extra cash. Below are two that I have applied to.

Clear Voice Surveys

Branded Surveys

Teaching English Online

Teacher.QKids: This site offers employment tutoring English online. It does require a teaching certificate, and eligibility two work in either the U.S. or Canada. You can find a list of requirements on their site, and if employed you must sign a six-month contract.

VIPkids: offers employment opportunities tutoring children in English as well. It too requires a teaching certificate and two years of experience. They vet their teachers carefully, and from what I have read offer an excellent employment opportunity.

Note: Alison has a free course for those interested in teaching English as a second language. They also offer many other education-based courses including one the focuses on Effective Communication Techniques for Teachers and trainers.

Free Lance Work from Home Opportunities

If you want to look online for free-lance work, try Up Work. They partner with employers to match them with qualified applicants.

Linkedin is another search engine for employment that offers a networking platform as well.

Learning New Skills

I worked most of my adult life in the public school system. After taking early retirement I found myself unqualified for today’s workforce. At times I feel as lost as I did as a young adult trying to decide which path is right for me. I never thought that I would find myself in this place again. Learning new skills that promote self-advancement is easier and more affordable than it was in the past. In my search for self-improvement, I have found several sources where you can take classes for free, or at little cost, that can move you towards a new career. I’m sharing this list of resources in hopes that it will save you a lot of work and research.

Udemy: Udemy offers a wide variety of courses from programming to business management. There are fees for their courses. Udemy often offers sales where you can enroll at a lower rate. I am currently taking a course through Udemy.

Alison: This site offers free courses with either diplomas or certificates. Their courses range from personal development to social media strategy and social media marketing. I am very excited about this site and plan to utilize its marketing content. Alison has a guide for those interested in teaching English as a second language.

Coursera: Coursera has both paid and free courses. You will find a wide variety of offerings including those aimed at personal growth and happiness, business, computer science, and many others. Coursera offers certificates at an added cost that many find helping in padding their resume.

Typing Lessons: If you would like to teach yourself how to type, this site offers simple lessons for beginners. They offer free typing lessons and timed skill tests. It offers reviews of basic grammar and writing rules.

Wrapping It all Up

Today’s high-tech world offers many work-from-home opportunities. The problem is wading through countless sites in order to find those that are legitimate. Therefore, I recommend that you research any work-from-home opportunities before you commit.

Good luck on your journey to finding the right money-making gig. Remember that the key to success is determination and persistence. You’ve got this!

I am learning as I go as well. You can check in with my Pinterest site for updates on work from home and Online Learning Opportunities. I plan to pin them to my board as I find them.

If you have found this post helpful, you may also like my post 24 Free Online Courses That Teach Blogging and Social Media Marketing. Please subscribe and share. Stop back often for updates and new posts.

Disclaimer: Some of the links are affiliates of this site.

Best of Luck,

Vikki

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