2021 Data Study: The Rise (and Rapid Fall) of Remote Workers

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Key Findings

  • As of August 2021, 20.5 million Americans are working from home due to COVID, fewer than half (42%) that were working remotely at the start of the declaration of the pandemic in 2020 (48.7 million)
  • On average, 13.4% of Americans worked remotely in August 2021, an increase from 13.2% the month previous (July 2021)
  • July 2021 into August 2021 is the first increase of remote workers in America since December 2020
  • There are 15 occupations where over 50% of employees still work remotely, including finance, insurance, and tech jobs
  • Rates of remote work are highest in coastal states, including Massachusetts (24%), Maryland (22%), and New Jersey (21%)
  • Across metropolitan areas, employees in San Francisco, CA (36%), San Jose, CA (34%), and Madison, WI (29%) were most likely to work remotely in August 2021

 

Working from home was something many Americans were forced into. This was rightly burdensome for somemostly those left to juggle childcare, work, and household activities from home. Yet for others, remote work became a positive opportunity.

Some of us got to do some gardening in the middle of the workday, or skip a crowded commute, or completely move out of an overpriced city to live somewhere quaint, green, and most importantly, affordable. 

But now, 18 months into the pandemic, how many Americans are still working remotely? In this data study we break down changes in remote work patterns in the U.S., look at how rates of teleworking vary by state, metropolitan area and occupation, then examine whether the rise of the delta variant may have had any impact on remote work.

Back to the Office? Remote Work in Steady Decline Since the Start of the Pandemic

When the Bureau of Labor Statistics began reporting on the number of people forced to telework due to COVID-19 in May of 2020, more than one in three (35%) adult Americans were working remotely.

remote workers 2021Heading into the end of 2021, remote work is in firm decline. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, as of August 2021, 13.4% of all employed Americans are most currently listed as working from home due to the pandemic. That’s almost three times fewer than the figure of remote workers from May 2020.

Worth noting, however, is that 13.4% is actually a higher share than the 13.2% that were working remotely in July 2021. This is the first time the number of remote workers has increased since the pandemic peaked in late 2020. Could this bump be related to the fact that the more aggressive delta variant of COVID has become a prevalent strain of the disease in the U.S. in July? Possibly, though we can’t say for a fact.

For many occupations and industries, the share of remote workers was never particularly high. Over 90% of healthcare professionals, construction laborers, truck drivers, agricultural workers haven’t at any point in the last 18 months worked remotely, and that makes sense, given the nature of their work.

For people in certain knowledge-based roles, the rates of remote work reached as high as 80% in May of last year. Yet even Americans in these occupations have been slowly returning to their usual workplaces.

 

“According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, as of August 2021, 13.4% of all employed Americans are most currently listed as working from home due to the pandemic. That’s almost three times fewer than the figure of remote workers from May 2020.”

 

Most statistically notable of those returning to the workplace are teachers and educators, 80% of whom delivered lessons and lectures from home after the pandemic shut down schools in May 2020, yet are now almost entirely back to work.

Meanwhile, the share of Americans working remotely in community and social services has decreased by a factor of three. Similarly, only half as many scientists and researchers carried out their work from home in August 2021. 

The same goes for general business services (think sales, marketing, and human resources), where only 37% of employees work remotely due to COVID in August 2021; that’s a far cry from the 67% that did so in May 2020.

Even in tech, whose workforce seemed to have culturally embraced teleworking the most successfully, the percentage of employees continuing to work from home has reduced by 65%.

Finance, Insurance, and Tech: 15 Occupations Continue to Embrace Remote Work in 2021

While the above statistics describe the behaviors of broad groups of professions, let’s delve into individual occupations to see where remote work is still remarkably popular.

 

“Most statistically notable of those returning to the workplace are teachers and educators, 80% of whom delivered lessons and lectures from home after the pandemic shut down schools in May 2020, yet are now almost entirely back to work.”

 

Figures from the Current Population Survey suggest there were 15 occupations where over 50% of employees worked from home in August 2021. The three professions with the highest share of remote workers are all in economics and finance. Economists (92%), budget specialists (77%), and actuaries (71%) were more likely to work remotely than any other occupation.

Further down the list appear people in science-related jobs. Among them are astronomers and physicists, aerospace engineers, procurement clerks, and environmental engineers, all of which had between 60% to 70% representation of those who still worked remotely by August of 2021.

Work-from-home rates for operations research analysts, mathematical scientists, financial analysts, and credit analysts were between 55% and 60%. Rounding out these 15 occupations are eligibility interviewers, engineering managers, and public relations specialists.

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Fear of Fourth Wave? Some Occupations See Increase in Remote Work for the First Time This Year

For all the gradual return to what used to be known as “normal life”, specifically due to the increase of the vaccinated population, future mutations of COVID remain a concern

The rate of COVID cases persisting upward and hospitals nearing capacity in some states are likely the reasons why many employers still haven’t made up their minds about their stances on remote work going forward. 

The employees who still have a choice

When left to their own devices, a segment of workers choose where they work for themselves. And many, it would appear, are still choosing remote work. 

According to the Current Population Survey, there were 117 occupations where the share of remote workers went up in August 2021, as compared to the month prior. Notably, this is the month when the delta variant of COVID-19 became the dominant strain in the U.S.

For occupations like marketing managers, it’s also the first such increase since January 2021, back when the pandemic reached its peak of 250,000 new cases a day.

Work-from-home Hubs: Places in America Where Remote Work Still Thrives

At a rate of 56%, Washington, D.C. had the highest percentage of employees working remotely in August 2021 versus any state in America. Given the very specific government workforce that inhabits this part of the country, this is not so surprising.

All other top remote states in the top 10, except Illinois, are all on the coast. In Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey, and Virginia, that share reaches between 20% and 25% of all workers.

In three of the most populous states of AmericaCalifornia, New York, and Illinoisnearly one in five employees (~18%) worked from home in August 2021.

The cities with the highest remote workforce

Zooming in on citiesor metropolitan areas to be precisewe see that there are six metros where more than a quarter of workers carried on working remotely in the last month. Except for Madison, WI (29%) and Austin, TX (23%), all of these areas seem to echo the states with the highest remote workforce listed in the previous section.

Metro areas versus states

At the state level, the upswing in remote work between July and August looked marginal, whereas at the metro level—places where workforces tend to be more specializedwe see a different picture.

These metros aren’t all cities in the states we mentioned above. Instead, it’s places like Miami, FL and Houston, TX where 31% and 29% more people were working from home due to COVID-19 in August 2021 when compared to July 2021. Places like Omaha, NE (+15%) and St. Louis, MO (+13%) have also seen a double-digit increase in the share of remote workers month-to-month.


Sources and Methodology
The data on remote work due to COVID-19 by occupation group, occupation, state, and metropolitan area came from the Current Population Survey, as made available via IPUMS and the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Illustrations by Rachel Tunstall

The Best Small Towns for Working Remotely in the US in 2020

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Key Findings:

  • The best town for working remotely in the US is Gatlinburg, TN
  • Three Delaware towns are in the top 10 most remote-friendly places in the country
  • Leland Grove, IL is the smallest town in the top 10, with 1,464 residents

As more and more people choose (or are forced) to work remotely, many are realizing they don’t necessarily have to live in the big cities where their employers tend to be based. In fact, they can move to save money. If you can work and be productive remotely, why endure a concrete jungle with barely affordable rent, high cost of living, and a crowded commute? Working from home is in.

To help all the remote workers out there, HireAHelper created an algorithm that ranks a town’s internet accessibility, cost of living, and much more in order to figure out where the best places to work remotely in 2020 are.

Lo and behold, HireAHelper’s ranking of the top places for working remotely in the United States!

See the chart below to explore the rankings. Check how towns compare on the overall scores, plus compare the top 50 towns on individual factors.

The Top 10 Towns

The top of our table offers something for everyone. From mountainous Gatlinburg TN and Manitou Springs, CO, to the suburban Leland Grove, IL, and Collingwood, NJ. 

And of all the towns, Delaware somewhat surprisingly dominates. The Diamond State, with its affordable high-speed broadband, excellent local amenities, and plenty of open green spaces, has a total of three towns land in our top 10! 

Here is each town in our top 10, all perfect for your next Zoom meeting.

    = Financials (i.e., cost of living, local income, property and sales tax rates, housing prices) 
= Comforts (i.e., coffee shops, restaurants) 
= Broadband offerings (i.e., terms of coverage, speed, and cost, & free Wi-Fi hotspots) 
= Conditions (i.e., greenery, open-air, air quality)

1. Gatlinburg, TN  |

Gatlinburg, TN
Gatlinburg, TN

Winning the #1 spot in the ranking, it’s Gatlinburg in Tennessee. On the doorstep to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, this town is affordable, has a reliable 2 GB internet connection, and no shortage of places to grab a hot brew or a bite to eat. Not to mention, you have access to lots of green spaces inside one of the greatest national parks in the country.

2. New Castle, DE  |

Closely behind in second place is New Castle in Delaware. Set on the outskirts of Wilmington, New Castle offers a manageable cost of living, speedy broadband, and plenty of spots for food and coffee. It’s a town full of quaint charm, but one thing that put New Castle so high in our ranking is a relatively low house pricing compared to many other towns in Delaware, and beyond.

3. Lewes, DE  |

Another historic beach town in the state of Delaware, Lewes combines the charm of an East Coast beach town that offsets a lot of the East Coast cost of living with Delaware’s famously low taxes. Add a strong local food scene and some affordable high-speed internet, and you’ve got yourself one of the greatest towns for remote working.

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4. Collingswood, NJ  |

Despite being a proverbial stone’s throw away from Philadelphia, Collingswood in New Jersey town was able to preserve its small-town feel. Benefitting from a fair number of parks and coffee spots, here you also find some relatively affordable housing, along with the ubiquitous fast-speed broadband.

5. Leland Grove, IL  |

Leland Grove, IL
Leland Grove, IL

Another suburban entry on our top ten is Leland Grove, just outside Springfield in Illinois. Much like in other places at the top of our list, here the houses are affordable, coffee spots – plentiful, and broadband – cheap and fast.

6. Rehoboth Beach, DE  |  

A third Delaware town in our top ten, and similarly to its counterparts, Rehoboth Beach mixes colonial history with its beach town charm. Despite the relatively high cost of living and house prices, the taxes are “Delaware low”, and with excellent internet connectivity and no shortage of coffee shops, this 1,500-strong town is firmly in the sixth spot on our list.

7. Manitou Springs, CO  |

Manitou Springs, CO
Manitou Springs, CO

Situated in the foothills of the beautiful Rocky Mountains, the town Manitou Springs in Colorado boasts unrivaled access to scenic parks, hiking trails, and some of the freshest air in the country. On top of that, it has plenty to offer in a way of food and coffee… not to mention the fast internet and low taxes. What’s not to like?

8. Southport, NC  |

Southport, NC
Southport, NC

Back on the East Coast, another attractive town beckons. This time, it’s Southport in North Carolina. Come for the attractive combination of good parks and glorious ocean views, stay for the burgeoning restaurant scene and affordable housing. 

9.  Nevada City, CA  |

The highest-ranking Californian town in our rating is Nevada City. This old Gold Rush town wins its spot by offering its residents excellent internet connection for a good price, a decent selection of food and coffee, and some incredible parks and hiking trails. 

10. Winter Park, FL  |

Hardly any ranking is complete without an entry from the Sunshine state, and the one on our list is Winter Park. Close to Orlando, it might not be the cheapest around, but it’s renowned for its vast green spaces and has excellent amenities in terms of coffee, Wi-Fi, and not to mention high-speed home internet. And it’s hard to beat that Florida sunshine.

What Are the Best Remote-Friendly Places in My State?

America’s best places for remote work might not be in your state, but don’t worry, we found that each state has a town or a small city suitable for working away from the office.

Check out our handy city-finder map down below. You can search through the highest-rated remote-friendly location in your part of the country. 

Affordable, Connected, Green: How We Ranked the Towns (and 382 More Great Places) work from home

To get started with the places we were going to choose from, we rounded up some of the most beautiful towns in America. (If you’re going to move somewhere to work remotely, it might as well be beautiful, right?). To do this, we relied on various articles, like this one from The Culture Trip, to find the most attractive places in each of the 50 states to work from home in.

Then, using the data from the US Census Bureau, we filtered anywhere with a population less than 1,000 and more than 50,000, leaving 392 towns on our final list.

To rank them all, we crunched the numbers on four different factors, then aggregated them.

To get a sense of what living in each town is like financially, we gathered the estimates of the cost of living, local income, property, and sales tax rates, as well as housing prices. 

A speedy and reliable Internet connection is critical to successful remote set-up, so we looked up each town’s broadband offering in terms of coverage, speed, and cost. Plus, we counted up the free Wi-Fi hotspots in the area. 

Living in a small town doesn’t have to mean missing out on good food and coffee, so we estimated the number of coffee shops, restaurants, and food delivery options for each town in our selections.

Finally, the big draw of living in a small town is fresh air and access to green spaces, which is why we looked at the number of parks and hiking spots around each town, took in data on air and water quality, and threw in an estimate of weather comfort to round off the rankings.

If you’re keen to explore the data in more detail, check out the full table below with all 392 towns we profiled.

Sources and Methodology
The sources of data used in the piece are as follows:
The overall score has a maximum of 100 points and is based on a selection of 16 factors, which were weighted as follows:
Financials
  • Cost of Living – 10 points, 
  • Local Tax Burden – 5 points 
  • House Price – 5 points
Work Amenities
  • Broadband Speed – 10 points 
  • Broadband Cost – 5 points 
  • Broadband Coverage – 5 points
  • Coworking Spaces per 1,000 residents – 5 points 
  • Free Wi-Fi Spots per 1,000 residents – 5 points
Comforts
  • Coffee Shops per 1,000 residents – 10 points
  • Restaurants per 1,000 residents  – 10 points 
  • Food Delivery Options  per 1,000 residents – 5 points 
  • Libraries per 1,000 residents – 5 points
Conditions: 
  • Parks per 1,000 residents – 10 points
  • Weather Comfort – 5 points
  • Air Quality – 3 points 
  • Water Quality – 2 points 
Image credits:
  1. Gatlinburg, TN, photo by Evan Nichols, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0).
  2. Leland Grove, IL, photo by Jim Roberts, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0).
  3. Manitou Springs, CO, photo by vanitea, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY-ND 2.0).
  4. Southport, NC, photo by by Space Mule, license under the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY-ND 2.0) 

    Illustrations by Chelsea Beck

8 Jobs That Are Great If You Move A Lot (And How Much They Pay)

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Do you long for a job that pays you to travel? If you’ve been stuck in the endless nine-to-five slog for a long time, the idea of traveling the world can seem like a distant and unattainable dream.

However, thanks to the internet and our always-connected world, there are plenty of jobs out there that can offer the freedom and fun of being constantly on the move alongside a regular paycheck. It’s true! Here are just a few of the remote-working jobs that will take you out of the cubicle and into the world.

Web Designer

This classic, on-the-go title is a classic for a reason.

Thanks to the wonderful technology of the internet, many jobs no longer require you to be physically present in the company you’re working for, which has created a generation of people who call themselves digital nomads.

What do web designers do?

Web design is the process of creating websites, from the aesthetics right down to navigation logic and, by its very nature, is done entirely online. This means that if you’ve got a laptop and a good Wi-Fi connection, it usually doesn’t matter where in the world you are.

How do I get started?

There are a number of routes you can take to become a qualified web designer, and because they’re so different, each employer will tend to have their own explicit definition of “qualified” which will often be detailed on a job listing. 

For most employers, entry requirements include skills in visual design, UX, SEO, coding software (like HTML, CSS and Javascript) and design software (like Photoshop and Illustrator). Many websites curate freelance job offerings, like the site Working Nomads, allowing you to make sure you’ve always got another project in the pipeline.

Want to start taking classes? Know that some employers may only be looking for a candidate with a college-level certificate in web design or a multimedia subject.

Once your skill set is up to par, you’ll be greatly rewarded. According to Payscale, entry-level salaries for full-time web designers can start around $33k, but quickly rise to $73k with more experience.

If you’re going freelance, you can set your own rates that reflect your level of experience, how picky the client is, how difficult the project is, etc. According to NJ Creatives Network, the average rate per hour is $59. That’s not bad going if you’re a nomad on the move.

Virtual Assistant

Virtual assistants (VAs) work remotely, and their job is to carry out administrative tasks for various clients. These tasks could be within the professional, technical or creative sectors and could include anything from bookkeeping and data entry to social media management and desktop publishing.

What do virtual assistants do?

Businesses tend to hire VAs because they don’t need someone full-time and in-house to do certain admin tasks. By taking on a VA, this saves the company money on space and providing full-time benefits.

To get started as a VA, you will need a reliable phone and internet connection, and at least five years of experience in a senior admin role within an office environment. If you can’t deal with a PC meltdown on your own, or can barely stay on top of your own to-do list, this may not be the role for you.

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How do I get started?

But if you are an organized person with in-house admin experience and a decent understanding of word processing, email and contact management software, you’re on the right track to becoming a VA. Bear in mind that your prospective clients will want to be sure you know what you’re doing before employing you. Therefore, getting some experience within a VA company, such as Zirtual, is also a good idea before you take the plunge.

Once you’ve learned the ropes, it’s fairly easy to fly solo. First steps include deciding your niche, setting up your brand and website, marketing your services, and getting your kit ready, such as a work phone and laptop.

But you’re not doing this job for free—so you’ll need to decide your rate too. Though the earning potential at a basic level is low, you can make up to $100 an hour for a specialist virtual role, which is why it’s important to seriously consider your niche before you launch your brand, rather than take on any client that needs a hand with admin.

Source: Indeed

The real appeal of being a virtual assistant is working at home, working when you want, and supreme job flexibility. Also, if you find that freelancing as a VA is not working for you, but you love the job, you can always transition agency-side and reap the benefits of a permanent position once again.

Digital Marketer

Digital marketing is another job that perfectly suits remote working, as all you need is a laptop and a café or hotel with a decent Wi-Fi connection.

Digital marketing is a branch of marketing that sits under the umbrella term “online marketing.” Working inside the digital marketing industry involves developing a range of multi-channel communication strategies, such as social media, SEO, PPC, email, mobile marketing, and affiliate marketing. You can work horizontally across all of these things, or you can specialize in a certain vertical.

What do digital marketers do?

As a digital marketer, general duties include, creating and uploading website copy, writing and sending email campaigns, designing website banners, communicating with affiliate networks and partners, and managing contact databases, just to name a few.

How do I get started?

Start by getting some full-time, in-house experience. While employers will take on entry-level professionals with no experience, many seek candidates with a business, marketing, media, or journalism degree. If you lack this certificate, there is a broad range of digital marketing taster courses available online, such as the free courses from Google Digital Garage, which will help boost your skills for the digital world and help you land a work placement.

This time spent boosting your knowledge, ability and experience will eventually pay off. The average entry-level salary is only around $28k, but it quickly raises to at least $50k with a little experience.

Source: Payscale

Online Tutor

Did you know that you can teach online too? There are places on the web where tutoring is a viable job, and it can be a great job to have if you’re moving a lot.

What do online tutors do?

Traditional tutoring involves one-to-one teaching sessions with a student, helping them improve academically. As a tutor, you may go through the class material, homework, or help your pupils improve their note-taking.

Online tutors, or “e-tutors”, conduct the same line of work, but via online media. Sessions are typically carried out through video chat, but also phone calls and email. This means you can be anywhere in the world and still communicate.

How do I get started?

To become qualified, you tend to need a bachelor’s degree in your chosen subject, but be aware that the credentials to teach as a tutor vary from state to state. You need to be aware of homeschooling laws which may interfere with your work, as they are a completely different ball game regarding qualified teacher status.

If you’re inexperienced, it may be worth working for a tutoring company as it will deal with finding your clients and paperwork. Alternatively, you can go solo. Both options involve the potential to tutor on the move.

Online tutoring is well-paid work when you consider how few hours tutoring can take up. Glassdoor reports that the average hourly rate is $12 per hour, but salaries can go up to $55k in certain areas of the U.S.

Freelance Photographer

Becoming a successful freelance photographer requires tenacity as much as talent, and an income is never guaranteed. But travel photographers and photojournalists see some of the most amazing parts of the world, as well as some of the most distressing.

What do freelance photographers do?

Studio photography, product photography, stock photography, nature photography, pet photography … there are as many different types of freelance photography as there are things in the world! There are also some incredible options for travel, and quite often all you need is a camera and a laptop, enabling you to send your photographs to editors across the world in mere moments.

How do I get started?

A photography degree will be useful but not always necessary, as the most important thing is a good eye for a shot and a well-put-together portfolio demonstrating your talent.  

Pricing photography is quite a difficult task for any professional. Put your rate too high, and you may scare your prospect away. Too low though, and you could end up forcing yourself out of business.

Advice from photography expert Rosh Sillars states that if you’re an amateur, you should aim to charge between $25 to $100 an hour. You should go for the higher end if you have an online portfolio or dedicated website for your services.

If you’re a student photographer, shoot for anywhere from $35 to $90 per hour. This should increase to $50 to $160 per hour for semi-pros, and to $75 to $300+ per hour for the seasoned professionals.

Translator

Whether you can speak one other language or many, your skills as a translator are invaluable. How invaluable? According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, this number is currently set to grow 46% by 2020, with the projected workforce of interpreters reaching almost 93,000 strong.

What do translators do?

The work usually involves converting written material from a “source language” to a “target language,” which is done on a computer and doesn’t require you to be physically present.

There is a variety of content that translators work with, including commercial, educational, legal, literary, and scientific, so previous experience or expertise in one area will be necessary, and you will have to do some training in translation before you take on any clients. 

How do I get started?

Translate Media boasts plenty of research for in-house translation opportunities, internships, and yes, freelance translation.

Translators can make a lot of money, especially if you specialize in a more difficult or in-demand language. Most translation agencies allow people to work at home, and freelancing is widespread throughout the industry. Here is a handy map of translation salaries from 2014, ranging everywhere from just under $30 thousand a year, to just over $70 thousand a year.

Source: Translation Rules

Freelance Writer

Are you reading this right now? Do you read articles online often? Thank your local freelance writer, and they’re easy to find, as many of them work remotely filling up coffee shops all around the world.

What do freelance writers do?

The internet is made of words, and somebody needs to write them. From copywriting to ghostwriting to content writing, there is an abundance of freelance writing opportunities if you know the right places to look.

How do I get started?

It can be difficult to get a freelance writing career off the ground, as most potential employers will want to see a large portfolio of good quality writing before they agree to give you a gig. But if you’re prepared to start small and put in the effort, this is very achievable.

If you have very little experience, the easiest way to gain some is by contacting small blogs and the websites you love for guest writing opportunities. While you may have to do a small amount of freebie work, it’s the simplest way of boosting your portfolio without enrolling in a course. You just need the drive and basic knowledge of spelling and grammar to succeed.

Your freelance career will take off more quickly if you have a background in writing, such as journalism. Job sites like Upwork are a great place to start getting clients and building your portfolio as you can advertise your services and display your most recent projects.

Most freelance writers charge by project or per number of words. The rate you should choose all depends on your years of experience and your subject matter knowledge. Typically, entry-level freelance writers can earn $30 per 800 words, whereas experienced writers can earn up to $100 for the same project. While you debate your rate, it’s also worth checking out the site Who Pays Writers to see what businesses are willing to pay for your talents.

In other words, that means that the average freelance writer makes .17 cents a word.

Caption: Venngage

While you’re at it, if you’ve got solid writing skills, setting up a website of your own is a great way to monetize your talents. Blogging is big business.

You might consider running ads on your blog. These “Ads by Google” will appear on your website and reflect the content you post—therefore, they don’t interfere too much with the aesthetic or branding of your blog. Every time a blog visitor clicks on one of these ads, you earn yourself some cash.

You can also monetize your blog by writing affiliate reviews. That means you write a review of a product on your blog. In your review, you insert a link that users can follow to buy the product. If a user clicks that link and makes a purchase, you can receive up to 10% commission. Now that’s easy money for a remote worker.

E-commerce Merchant/”Dropshipper”

One final flexible income route to go down if you move a lot is creating a dropshipping store. That might sound like a bunch of buzzwords, but it’s a lot simpler than it sounds.

What do e-commerce merchants/”dropshippers” do?

This job involves displaying products from someone’s digital store on your site. Once a customer buys one of these products, you place the order with the third-party supplier, and then the supplier pays you, as you’ve just given them extra visibility and a sale. It’s the quickest and easiest way to get set up as an e-commerce seller (other than selling on Amazon using their Fulfillment By Amazon option).

How do I get started?

This is less of a job you seek and more of an additional income if you have the right avenues open to you. But it can be underutilized.

E-commerce is a potentially lucrative market to get into—if you get the product price and value proposition right. Though the initial investment in time and strategy can be hefty, the potential for earning a solid monthly revenue is high:

Source: The Data Point

Just remember to keep innovating and listening to your customers, and e-commerce could be the key to your remote work success.

These eight jobs are just a few of the options available if you’d like to make the leap from desk-bound worker bee to free-flying digital nomad. Especially as freelancing is convenient for the worker and reduces costs for the employer, it is an increasingly popular method of employment, offering you an incredible opportunity to travel while still earning a good salary. That’s what I call a win-win for everyone involved.


Victoria Greene is a branding consultant and freelance writer. On her blog, VictoriaEcommerce, she offers tips on how ecommerce business owners can take advantage of the latest technology in the industry.
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