Earn Active (and Passive) Income from Writing or Home-Based Work

Working from home is a growing trend, but those who succeed or stay this course are those who find motivation and energy from groups and communities, either online or offline.

 

Don't Go it Alone

 

Over the internet, it’s even better to join with fellow creatives or colleagues to forge ‘work teams’ that share projects or tasks to one another. This can really help to focus the mind and make it through to the end of a project, or shared project. This comes in useful particularly down the road, when having ‘backup’ when it comes to working on a project can alleviate some of the pressure.

 

On Writing

 

We write best about what we know about or what we love. It’s no good taking on blog projects where you have little experience or find yourself ripping off someone else’s article. Sure you can rewrite articles, but you’ll find it laborious, and that it takes twice as long. The trick is to find an aspect - any aspect - that you can relate to in a subject, or find an angle where you can convey some personal experience. You could soon find that you have an emerging interest you’ll start to become very familar with, even an expert. Then it might be easier to find regular work that matches this passion.

 

Sites and Options

Blogging etc

 

Keep your options open. This means using or leveraging a number of different platforms where there are writing projects available.

 

Freelance marketplace sites are of course the major source, but they take time to set up and get going. A serious one is PeoplePerHour, which can open up a steady supply of work, once you get over the hurdle of gaining a reputation and presence. Running a business with familiar clients is possible thanks to the quality and filtration features that are built-in until you might decide the time comes when you can break free from it.

 

Are you still having trouble finding projects on these freelance sites? Copify, a Uk-based site is where you can find many different projects on copywriting without having to bid on them.

 

TranscribeMe is a site for transcriptionists with great typing and grammar, where (once you pass the understandably extensive exam) you can find projects of audio files that need accurate transcribing.

 

In between projects, or to keep inspiration alive, try writing about something you love, on your own professional/personal platform - such as Wordpress or Blogger - to share with friends and family, even if it’s about your endeavors making money from writing.

 

Wordpress is much better if you already have a niche, or a long-term or target audience in mind. Start with a free account, and then consider going for the full package, so you can customise your site with sophisticated plugins. Get your own adverts on there and start earning referrals straight away by joining relevant affiliate schemes (or designing your own ads). If you have web-savvy friend who can give you a crash course in Wordpress and SEO, it’s going to be a lot easier.

 

But be warned...

 

Running your own blog is pretty time-consuming, so only consider this if you’ve got a passion for certain things. Otherwise, see the option below.

 

Crypto-blogging

 

These days you can earn cryptocurrency (or tokens) by writing about different things on sites such as Trybe and Steemit.com. These give you your own profile pages automatically, which will also have the added advantage of already being linked into a community of fellow active writers. This gives you the chance not only to learn from reading what others are writing about (a bit distracting though), but also gain a swift following for your own thoughts or contributions. Not only that, because these are blockchain-based tokens, the cryptocurrency you earn there can be used elsewhere in the ecosystem, for staking, or on other applications. Getting in early to some of these crypto ecosystems could see any value gained increase as the technology grows.

 

Other writing projects

 

You could consider joining Wattpad and using this platform to write and structure your own ebook or larger writing project. This platform also gives you access to a vibrant community of writers who can comment on or provide active feedback as your book takes shape. However, it requires engaging with the platform (reading and commenting on other people’s work) before you can benefit from the community, a lot like Steemit.com; a lot like any community.

 

Referrals and Staking: Passive Income

 

A good example of this is not only Steem and Steemit (where you can invest your Steem back into the platform), but Everipedia (a wikipedia alternative where writers can earn IQ tokens) and also a site called Red Pulse. Red Pulse is more for writers with knowledge of Asian markets who can contribute articles that earn them a token called PHX. This can be ‘fired up’ into PHF that stays on the platform and accumulates with the growth of it. Watch out for similar platforms such as these emerging. Narrative is another one taking off, where people manage and contribute towards various topics, voted on by the community. You can earn NRVE tokens there. 

 

This kind of thing is called ‘staking’, and it’s where you can turn your income from writing into passive income. Thanks to blockchain tech, there are now a number of dApps (decentralised apps) where you can immediately put any crypto-tokens that you earn from writing, back into the platform, or ‘hodl’ to as these young projects grow.

 

Finally: A Few Good Tools

 

Grammarly (with its free browser extension) can help you correct grammar, along with, of course, the wealth of online resources and research available to writers like never before.

 

Facebook is of course one source of information and community, with its diverse range of focus groups, public or private. A first step is to join one of these and help motivate, share ideas and even find work or workgroups.

 

Telegram - is a fast, free messenger service with high security and privacy features, that will soon be launching its own blockchain payments system (cryptocurrency), which could come in very handy when working for clients. Its channels and groups features are also arguably ahead of the Facebook game. Note that it doesn’t (yet) have its own web-based app. Discord is another alternative.

 

Asana, Trello, Google Keep/Sticky Notes: These are all excellent tools for writers and freelancers to help keep on top of projects and daily tasks, and for managing an entire project.

 

Whatever your situation, writing takes time to generate feedback from your contributions, but it's still true that quality is better than quantity, especially if you can tap into what people are really needing to know. Everyone has something to contribute, and there's nothing better than being paid for what you know about or love, and your desire to share it. Failing that freedom, you may have to take on regular assignments which bring with them pressure and commitment, but will also force your mind to focus, research and gain experience in a certain subject matter.