- Guest Contributor
- March 16, 2021
Earning extra money online is imperative now more than ever. We’re all aware of the adverse economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic that struck the world in early 2020, forcing countless people into joblessness. The new normal that exists now makes it imperative to work online and earn extra money. It can help us shield ourselves from any future threats of losing our main source of income. If you build your skillsets or find side income, it can help stave off a lot of problems that can occur due to shortage of money.
While working online to earn extra money can be fairly and lucrative, it does require adequate skillsets. Having superb skillsets can prove to be the decisive factor between your success and failure and decide the quality of lifestyle for your family and you.
Here are the top 10 ways to build your skillsets and earn extra money online.
Define Your Niche
Not defining a niche where you wish to work online is the most common blunder that people that wish to build skillsets to earn extra money online commit. It’s important to remember that working online requires you to define a niche. Think of a niche as the specialization or expertise you have to offer. Employers will hire your services only according to the niche where you specialize in.
When you define your niche, it’s easier to develop matching skillsets. It helps online employers identify you as the person suitable for their work. And you can find work that lets you focus on something you’re good at. Not defining a niche is like the proverbial shooting in the dark. And that often translates as not getting online work.
Start a Blog
Starting a blog is the best way to build your skillsets and begin earning extra money online. Nowadays, you can open a free blog through websites such as Wix and Blogger, among others. Or you could opt to invest a bit on developing your skillsets and buy a superb domain name, website hosting and other essentials.
Blogging helps you develop several skillsets. Topmost among these is content writing. The next is digital marketing that includes processes such as email marketing, social media marketing and Search Engine Optimization. You needn’t spend on an expensive digital marketing course to acquire these skillsets. Instead, you’ll find lots of tutorials on YouTube and blogs that provide the necessary information.
Online Side Gigs
An online side gig is different than freelancing, though most people confuse between the two. A side gig is something that you do in spare time and not frequently. Freelancing is a full time profession, though it offers the convenience of working with flexible hours. Therefore, I recommend you take an online side gig to make some extra cash and build your skillsets.
A side gig allows you to fine-tune your existing skills during spare time. There’re several websites such as Clickworker.com among others, where you could find simple online tasks that match your educational qualifications, existing skills and work experience, passions and hobbies. Working on these side gigs enables you to develop your skillsets because you’ll learn a lot of new skills with performing small online tasks that you like. And earn money of course.
Take Online Courses
Taking online courses that’re available from e-learning portals like Skillshare as well as reputed universities is something you shouldn’t ignore if you’re serious about building a skillset that would help you successfully make money online. You’ll find a lot of free online courses that match your educational qualifications or even work experience and skills. These courses can be taken during your free time and at leisure.
A lot of these courses come with free downloadable certificates too. Such certificates are very important because you can upload them on your LinkedIn profile and platforms that provide freelance jobs and side gigs. All buyers of side gig tasks and freelance work look for certificates that an applicant holds, before shortlisting and selecting a person to do the necessary work.
Use LinkedIn Daily
LinkedIn is perhaps the most underrated online resource among people that wish to build skillsets and earn extra money online. Instead, I term LinkedIn as the best resource in its genre.
That’s because LinkedIn allows you to network with professionals around the world. LinkedIn also provides another vital resource. These are tutorials in the form of content and videos uploaded by professionals around the world. Reading content and viewing videos daily that’s uploaded by professionals in your field of interest is the topmost way to develop your skillsets.
Another advantage that LinkedIn offers is the capability to network with people that share your professional or career interests. Adding them as your connection on your LinkedIn profile helps exchange ideas, news and views that eventually enable you to grow your skillsets.
Focus on Developing Soft Skills
Soft skills include a whole set of different talents. These include everything from social skills to emotional intelligence, communications to troubleshooting. Obviously, not every soft skill is necessary for online work. That’s because soft skills are more about your overall personality traits instead of those necessary for online work.
At the same time, there’re certain soft skills such as communications and troubleshooting that you’ll require for working online to earn extra money. Learning communications and troubleshooting skills isn’t easy. That’s because these are intrinsic or inherent skills. However, you can develop these skillsets to some extent by training yourself to think outside the box.
Join Online Forums & Associations
Social media platforms such as Facebook make it easier for us to join online forums and associations of persons working in our niche. Some organizations also have own websites. Joining them is simple. If the Facebook group that deals with your niche is “Closed”, all you need to do is send them an online membership request. Sometimes, you may have to answer a few questions before getting admission while some offer instant membership.
Websites of professional organizations and forums usually operate on a membership basis only. Some offer various levels of membership. However, joining a Facebook forum or a professional organization through their website has several advantages. You get to learn a lot of new skills and stay updated about latest events in your niche. Some also have regular lectures and presentations conducted by experts in your niche.
Apply on Crowdsourcing Platforms
Crowdsourcing platform are one of the best resource to build your skillsets and earn extra money. There’re plenty of very respectable crowdsourcing platforms where you can join for free or a small membership fee. Basically, crowdsourcing involves working as part of a remote team of professionals within your niche.
It’s possible to acquire latest skills as well learn newer ones through crowdsourcing, when you work on a project. Often, the team consists of people with various levels of experience. Working online alongside these professionals enables you to learn a lot of new things while upskilling yourself for the online work market.
Find a Hobby in Your Niche
Finding a hobby in your niche isn’t difficult at all. A clear example of this is app and website testing. A lot of people that test apps and websites aren’t software professionals or engineers. Instead, they’re ordinary people that test apps and websites as a hobby and learn a lot of things.
Similarly, you can also find a hobby that suits your niche. It could be anything from creating graphic designs to writing, reading books relevant to your profession or performing micro tasks. Though these ways to build your skills might not necessarily earn you money instantly, they’ll help you enjoy the work you do while honing your skills for the online work market. This could help you earn much higher income from online work using your skillsets by fetching better and bigger work contracts and assignments.
Take it Easy
And finally, take it easy. There’s no need for undue haste to build your skillsets to earn extra money online. Instead, take the time you require for building such skillsets. Rushing to learn something often ends up as a disaster.
You might not acquire proper skills or gain the necessary knowledge for online work. At the same time, it’s important to ensure that taking it easy doesn’t cause your skillsets to go redundant. The best way to take it easy is by finding shorter courses to learn something new to upskill yourself. And practicing what you’ve learned by working on smaller tasks.
In Conclusion
Building skillsets for online work isn’t difficult. Nor is it easy. You’ll have to invest a lot of time and effort and sometimes, money to earn more income. These 10 tips should help you achieve these goals.
About the Author: Alice is a career and productivity copywriter who believes in the power of networking. He’s passionate about blogging and writes web content for a variety of clients. As a gig worker, he understands the benefits and challenges of the industry. Blogging about education and career regarding ideas to grow is something that he loves doing.
