Greeting Steemitians

This isn't a "get rich quick" scheme, but rather a fully fledged guide to so many opportunities many many people just haven't a clue about. At the ripe age of 33, I have a plan and 50 actionable plans or steps I'm going to follow each week to set myself up within one year of me publishing my first online post. Unlike many others in this world, I don't have any social media profiles (albeit LinkedIn for work) and Twitter (which only gets used to rant about something directly to another company which gives terrible service here and there). 

It really doesn't matter if anything I write gets viewed by 1 person or 100, I will continue publishing regardless. As one who has never taken to the social media scene or jumped on the train of YouTube, this platform is going to be used as a personal incentive to push along and do what I need to do to secure myself in the near future. 

Born in South Africa and lived in England for almost 6 years now, I've learnt a lot about life, seen some incredible things, as well as some horrific scenes that most people shouldn't ever have to endure. As of 17:48 this evening I broke off an 8.5 year relationship with my fiancé, reasons I shall not divulge in a public forum out of respect for her. So why am I telling you all of this? The answer is simple, to bare myself open and be humbled by a very public spotlight that could be shone on me going forward. 

So let's begin, as I know you didn't click the title to read some sob story. 

This program shall be called 50 ways to make online (I'm not creative, so this heading will have to do for now.)

The world is changing rapidly due to the internet. Workplaces are changing, jobs are changing, automation is advancing and the digital economy is booming. Over the coming years you will most likely either be in a position where you are self-employed or running your own business and making your living online OR you’re working for someone else who is running their business entirely or predominantly online. We are now entering the era of the ‘Internet of Things’ where almost anything can and will be connected online from waste bins in the streets that will notify the authorities when they need emptying to wearable devices and smart clothing that will tell you when it’s best for you to eat and when you’re most productive.

For the purpose of this series we will split the various ways to make money online into 5 categories:

⦁ DIGITAL WORKING

⦁ RESIDUAL (SEMI-PASSIVE) INCOME

⦁ ONLINE BUSINESS (ENTREPRENEUR)

⦁ ONLINE INVESTING

⦁ SELLING or RENTING WHAT YOU HAVE or MAKE

Which way will depend on you – what you want to achieve, what risks you are prepared to take, what time you have and how much money you may already have or what kind of income you would like to achieve.

Digital Working is low risk as you are essentially undertaking work that pays you for your time or output. There are plenty of options but you are never going to make a lot of money this way. 

Residual (Semi-Passive) Income opportunities on the other hand can be low-high risk depending on whether you’re investing only your time, or time and money, into creating the assets needed to hopefully produce a semi-passive residual income. You may not find the formula that works for you first or even second time, but the rewards can be truly life-changing if you get things right. Affiliate marketing is a popular form of generating residual income. We prefer the term ‘residual income’ over ‘passive income’ which is commonly referred to online, as ‘passive’ implies you don’t have to do anything once you have something that’s working but in reality this isn’t usually the case.

DIGITAL WORKING

Getting paid for doing work online

(trading your time for money like any regular job)

The following 16 ways to make money online in this section are for those people who don’t like any risk and just want to be paid for their time like any regular job. There are a wide variety of ways to earn money online for your time and the best one for you will depend on your current skills or what skills you are prepared to learn.

Digital working can offer tremendous life freedoms such as freedom to work the hours you want, freedom to work from wherever you are or want to live, freedom to work pick and choose who you work for and freedom to work around your family and lifestyle.

Digital working can also offer some drawbacks to a conventional job such as the risk of not getting paid on-time or at all (be careful to check out your employers), the risk of losing your work at very short notice and the risk of slack periods without any work at all.

The secret to success with digital working is to be great at what you do.

Choose something you are really skilled in or passionate about to learn and master the work you do. This way you can command higher rates per hour (or per job) and you will always be in demand. There are some jobs online though that don’t require as much expertise and these are generally lower paid.

NUMBER 1

FREELANCING

Freelancing services on sites like: upwork.com - fiverr.com - guru.com freelancer.com - peopleperhour.com - microworkers.com or similar.

A freelancer is an individual who offers different types of online work for an employer or a company. They are usually not committed to just one employer. They can also be called online contractual workers. Freelancers are allowed to switch or take several different jobs at the same time. They can be short-term or long-term.

Freelancing is a popular way to make money online and it’s also one of the easiest ways to get a job. There are several places online where you can start doing freelance work. Some of the most popular websites are:

Registering on a website like freelancer.com is usually free; but some of them also offer packages or paid memberships which give the freelancer extra exposure.

Doing freelance work gives you the benefit of working in the comfort of your home and working at times that suit you, as you usually have the freedom to work at your own pace. Getting paid is also relatively fast for this type of work too. You can get paid via online money transfer services such as PayPal or TransferWise (direct to your bank account). On the other hand, freelancing can also be a risky job. You could work for scammers unknowingly, which is why you must do ample research about your clients and be very careful about whom you do work for. Taking work via reputable sites such as those mentioned above is also a way to help protect yourself.

One of the most reputable freelancing sources online is Freelancer.

Some featured job types at freelancer:

• Web Development
• Website Design
• SEO Marketing (Everyone is an "SEO GURU" apparently.) Try avoid being categorised as one of these self proclaimed internet search engine wizards.
• Mobile App Development (Yes ANYONE and I mean ANYONE can learn anything with enough time.)

2 years ago I didn't even know what html was, now I'm a fully fledged web developer with 5 programming languages behind me (OK maybe 3, the other 2 we would say is my kitchen English attempt at them)

I personally do freelance work on Fiver, and some of the projects I have done have run into hundreds of dollars. Anywhere from helping someone with a WordPress install to a fully fledged custom plugin or database migration. The lesson here is it doesn't matter if you don't have a penny to your name, you can make whatever you want if you have enough drive. If you have a computer, and an internet connection then there is absolutely no reason why anyone can't provide themselves with an income that provides a means of furthering their own development to achieve more and more.

I know number 1 isn't exactly something new to many people, but I have to start off light. In Lesson 2 and 3 I'll come another 2 online methods to generate what I consider a pretty decent income. As a "taster" I'll let you know what I'm going to talk about. 

• Virtual Assistant

You can literally be an assistant to someone across the globe and get paid a ridiculous amount of money, provided you're prepared to put the work in and be vigilant in everything you do.

• Talking English to People online.

Yes, you can actually get paid for just talking to people. I know it sounds exceptionally odd, but there are 10'000's of people around the world who don't have the time to go to classes to learn the English language. And these people aren't completely new to English, they just want conversational skills that most lecturers just can't give them as it takes one on one interaction and patience. Not to mention this is actually one of my favourite activities as I have met some pretty amazing people online, not to mention is really funny and rewarding. 

Well that's it for this article. If you managed to get this far and weren't completely in a TLDR state of mind, then I say thank you for taking the time to read my first ever online post. I believe Steemit can be a fantastic brand to work with and a place to allow original and fresh content to be created. 

Take care Steemitians 

(yes this is now my own created word for steemit users. I know I'm an idiot don't judge me.)

Sean