Rhiwbina Living Issue 50

Virtual home assistant
Life is very hectic for many of us
and organisation can often be
overlooked as we struggle to
keep up with the pace.
If you have good organisational
skills, why not put them to good
use to help others? A virtual
assistant could be the answer
- someone to do the online
shopping, organise diaries and
events, taking care of household
budgets - the list of services
you could offer to do from the
comfort of your own home is
pretty exhaustive!
Whether you want to charge
per service, or a simple monthly
retainer fee, positioning yourself
as a virtual home assistant could
see you building a new career
from scratch and for the most
part, you don't even have to
leave home.
Dog walking
Dogs always need walking and helping
out your local canines and their owners
is another way to make some money.
Do your research first though - if you
can get yourself certified as a dog
trainer, it will be of benefit to the dogs,
their owners, and the ability to sell
your services. Perhaps start by walking
your family or friends' dogs to get
experience under your belt.
Online shop
There is plenty of money to be made from online shops - and the best
part about it is that it won't cost you much to get going.
There are several ways of running an online shop. First, there is the
traditional way of selling physical goods, whatever they may be. You'll
need to hold stock, manage inventories and take into account shipping
costs.
You can also make money by selling goods that you don't need to
physically store. Websites such as RedBubble and CottonCart allow
you to sell your designs on
T-shirts, mugs, and all kinds of
merchandise. They also take care
of delivery and you get a small
commission for each item sold.
You can also look to open your
own shop on websites such as
Etsy or even eBay, which is a good
place to sell bits and bobs that are
hanging around the house and are
no longer needed.
Book keeping
Many small businesses often overlook the important task of keeping their
accounts up to date. It's always advisable to have some kind of qualification
in this field (you can get this online
too) and if you are just starting out, it's
worth helping people you know so that
you can get to know the processes
involved.
Book keeping is becoming
increasingly digitalised, which means
that you can often work remotely using
specialised software. Working within
a specific niche also means that you'll
find clients easier.
Stock photography
If you're the sort of person that
loves taking photos, you can
always look to make money
from them by selling them on
stock photography websites.
Every time your photo is
licensed, you get a royalty
paid. Check out websites like
Unsplash, iStockPhoto and
Shutterstock to see what sort of
quality they are looking for, and
also to see what kind of photos
are doing well. A great way to
build a passive income.
Become a translator
Your second (or third or fourth!)
language could be translated
into money in your pocket by
becoming a translator.
There are always people
and businesses looking to get
their work translated. It's worth
checking to see what kind of
qualifications you think you might
need but you can complete
these alongside small pieces of
work to get you going.
It's always a good idea to focus
on one industry-specific area
of translation so that you can
become a go-to expert in your
field.
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