For most of college, I had jobs that required me to be in a physical location. My post office job required me to be in the mailroom, while my English department assistant job required me to be in the department office. Starting my sophomore year, however, I got my first taste of online jobs when I started writing for this website. While it would take a few more years for that to turn into my main job, I was forever hooked on the flexibility that online work offers. In an effort to help you enjoy some of the same benefits, I’ve put together a list of the best online jobs for college students . You don’t need a degree to get any of these jobs, and you already have the skills to do many of them (or can learn the skills in a few afternoons). So if you’re ready to trade working in an office for working from the comfort of your laptop, then keep reading. Freelance Writer I’ll start with the first freelance gig I ever got: writing. If you know how to write, there are all kinds of opportunities for you to earn money online. You could write articles like this one, but you could also write scripts for videos or even material for web pages. What it pays: You can easily charge $50 for a 1,500-word article when you’re starting out. More experienced writers can charge $150 (or more) for a 1,500-word article. How to get the job: Start your own blog and write articles for it. Then, use those articles to put together a portfolio . Finally, start pitching your work to websites. Freelance Editor In addition to writing work, I’ve also done a fair amount of freelance editing. This category is quite broad, including everything from editing short articles to full-length books. Beyond that, you could choose to specialize in a particular topic (like my friend James Ranson does with business books). What it pays: As an inexperienced editor, I was able to charge between $350 and $500 for editing a short book. But you can charge a lot more once you have experience, or if you work out a retainer deal where a client pays you to edit a set number of articles per month. How to get the job: When you’re in college, the easiest way to get started is editing work for your friends. Getting into other positions where you can edit is also helpful (such as the campus newspaper or literary magazine). Also, meet as many professional editors as you can. Editing is a niche world, but if you can get into it, you’ll find editor friends sending you work they don’t have time for. Freelance Graphic Designer Graphic design is another time-honored field for freelancing. You can do something as simple as a logo or as complex as an entire brochure. You can even do fun illustrations for blog posts, such as Ashley does for us here at College […]
