If you’re reading this article, you’re probably looking for ideas of what easy freelance jobs are out there that you can start making money with right away.
Ideally, you want something that allows you to work from home, set your own rates, and has minimum barriers to entry.
Whether you’re looking for a little bit of extra cash to supplement your income, a lucrative side hustle, or a full time job, I promise you that there is something out there that suits you down to the ground – you just haven’t found it yet.
With a little creativity, you can find some opportunities that will fit in with your schedule and provide a decent income.
In this article, I’ve compiled a list of easy freelance jobs that don’t involve taking online surveys or joining a predatory MLM.
Now, it’s important to note that ‘easy’ means different things to different people.
For example, translation work could be considered ‘easy’ to somebody who is bilingual, but impossible for somebody who only speaks their native tongue.
In this post, I am using the term ‘easy’ to mean that you do not need any formal or specialist qualifications for any of the freelance jobs on this list.
You may need knowledge or a certain skillset, but you will not need a degree in any particular subject or any work experience.
So, if you’re ready, then let’s get into it!
25 Easy Freelance Jobs for Beginners
What is freelancing?
Before we get into it, let’s outline just what freelancing actually is, so that we’re all on the same page.
A freelancer is someone who is self-employed (meaning they work for themselves and don’t have a boss), they are not tied down to any one company, and they have the freedom to choose their own hours, set their own rates, and work from wherever they like.
However, while all of this sounds great, it can be tough to get started.
Not only is competition for freelance work high, but many of the easiest freelance jobs out there are just not things that people even consider when they’re brainstorming ways to earn more money.
For example, did you know that there are people on Fiverr making money by simply rating your online dating profile out of 10?!
Yep, there’s a freelance job out there to suit pretty much anyone – you just have to get creative.
How much money can freelancers make?
While I’m sure you’re curious, the truth is that there is no correct answer to this question.
Freelance jobs are not all the same, and asking ‘how much do freelancers make?’ is like asking ‘how much do full time workers make?’ without specifying a position or industry.
Different freelance jobs pay different rates, and because you have the freedom to set your own rates as a freelancer, this muddies the waters even more.
Some freelancers are making around $15 per hour and only getting a few hours’ worth of work a week, while others are making 5 or even 6 figures per month!
Earnings will also depend on how much experience you have within your field, how good of a salesperson you are, and how quickly you work (the faster you work, the more clients you can take on).
Advantages vs Disadvantages of Freelancing
As with everything in life, there are many advantages to freelancing, but it isn’t without its drawbacks.
Some of the most obvious advantages of freelancing include being able to work from wherever you want, choosing your own hours, setting your own rates, but there are also some things to take into consideration if you’re thinking of quitting your full-time job to go freelance.
Some disadvantages of freelancing include:
- You have to file your own taxes, which can be complicated. You will also need to set aside money so that you’ll be able to pay your tax bill when you receive it, as it won’t be deducted from your wage like with a regular job.
- You don’t receive any paid time off with freelance work, so you will have to factor vacation time into your rates.
- You will have to pay for your own health insurance/private healthcare and pension contributions as you don’t have an employer providing those benefits.
- You don’t get sick pay when you’re a freelancer.
- Your income isn’t consistent. You may have months where you bring in $10,000, followed by months where you bring in $2000. Freelancing is all about being smart with money and not spending it as soon as you receive it.
- You may have to chase slow-paying clients. Luckily, with the freelance websites listed at the end of this post, that won’t be an issue, but it can be if you’re working directly with the client.
25 Easy Freelance Jobs
Content Writing
Content writing is one of the most popular freelance jobs for beginners, and it encompasses such a wide range of things.
The best bit is that you don’t need an English degree to get into freelance writing. Even if you didn’t excel at writing essays in your college days, writing for an online audience is way easier than writing academically, and there are tonnes of entry-level content writing jobs out there.
All you need are the following skills:
- Basic writing skills (or a willingness to learn them)
- A starter portfolio that has some samples of your writing
- A good laptop with a decent internet connection
- Determination, patience and a little confidence
The more experience you have under your belt, the more you can charge, and if you can get on the books of an agency, you’ll be getting consistent work (if you want it).
A few examples of things that you might write include:
- Blog posts
- Articles
- eBooks
- Website copy
- Press releases
- Resumes
- Cover letters
- Product descriptions
- Scripts for podcasts/YouTube
Copywriting
Copywriting is kind of a specialised version of content writing, because the goal is to compel the reader to take an action (usually this would be to buy something).
This could involve writing sales funnel email sequences, ads on social media, sales letters and basically anything else that involves a bit of persuasion.
Copywriting can usually command a higher income than content writing as the results can be easily measured.
Transcribing
Transcribing is a pretty easy freelance job, especially if you’re a fast typer!
Being a transcriptionist basically involves listening to a piece of video or audio and converting it into written content.
You can do general transcribing, or legal transcription, which will involve learning some legal terms but pays better and can be really interesting if you love listening to court cases (true crime junkies, I see you).
You don’t need a lot of money or training to be a transcriber, and while it’s never going to make you rich, it can easily become your full time job if you work hard enough.
Proofreading
You don’t need a degree to be a proofreader, just a basic knowledge of punctuation, capitalisation, grammar and spelling, as well as an eye for detail.
General proofreaders get paid to proofread anything from blog posts to website copy, books and even transcripts and court documents (although these require a bit more technical knowledge).
If you’re a sucker for good grammar and are one of those people who corrects people’s punctuation in Facebook arguments, being a proofreader might be one of the best freelance jobs there is!
It’s worth noting that proofreading is not the same thing as editing.
While editing involves improving the tone, sentence structure and overall flow of a text, proofreading is strictly about perfecting the grammar.
This means that it pays a bit less, but this is precisely what makes it one of the best online freelance jobs for beginners.
Plus, there’s nothing stopping you working your way up the ladder later on.
Data Entry
Another one for the typists out there is data entry.
Data entry may not be the most exciting or glamorous job out there, but basic online form-filling is about as simple as it gets, making this one of the most easy freelance jobs on this list.
You essentially have to take information from one source (like a Word document) and transfer it into another source (like a spreadsheet).
The beauty of data entry is that as well as not needing any formal qualifications or training, it doesn’t exactly need much brain power, so you can easily listen to a podcast or watch some Netflix while you work – just make sure you don’t make any mistakes!
Graphic Design
You don’t need to be a professional graphic designer to be able to create great designs.
Graphic designers are so high in demand at the moment, and that demand isn’t going to slow down any time soon.
With free tools like Canva, anyone can be a graphic designer, and while the highest paid designers won’t be sitting around on Canva, you can easily make $50,000 per year doing the most basic graphic design there is.
As a freelance graphic designer, you could flex your creative muscles in the following areas:
- Logo design
- Pinterest templates
- Instagram Story templates
- Banner images
- eBook graphics
- Posters
- Book covers
- Infographics
- YouTube thumbnails
- T-shirt designs
- Business cards
Bookkeeping
If you’re good with numbers, online bookkeeping is a great freelance job – in fact, when I was a young kid and my mom had quit her traditional job, she actually worked as a bookkeeper for a while!
Back then she did everything by hand with a calculator, but with the internet, bookkeeping has never been easier!
Photographer
If you know your way around a camera, the freelance job opportunities for you are endless.
From photographing weddings, graduations, and taking professional baby pictures to selling your landscape pictures to stock photo websites, there are plenty of ways to make money as a freelance photographer.
If you enjoy taking pictures but don’t quite feel confident enough to buy a mega expensive camera and call yourself a pro, you can even use your iPhone and sell your services as an Instagram photographer, showing people all the most photogenic spots in your city and taking the perfect shots for them.
Social Media Management
If you’ve ever grown a large social following or studied digital marketing, social media management could be a great freelance job for you, especially if you sit around on social media a lot anyway!
Many small businesses know that they need a presence on social media, but have no idea where to start, which is where you come in.
Social media managers write posts, engage with followers, reply to messages and keep accounts fresh and active.
The great thing about this job is that it easily lends itself to taking on multiple clients, meaning that not only will you not get bored, but there’s great earning potential here.
Voice Acting
Voice acting is a bit of a niche pursuit for sure, but if you enjoy acting and have a distinctive voice, there’s nothing stopping you!
Your calling could be anything from advertising to reading audiobooks, and you can list your services as a voice actor on all of the major freelancing websites out there.
Designing Printables
I talked more about this in my post about digital products to sell on Etsy, but in a nutshell, printables are something that you can design on a website like Canva that people can purchase, download, and print at home.
Here are some examples of printables you can sell on Etsy:
- Wall art
- Planner pages
- Budget trackers
- To-do lists
- Packing lists
- Bookmarks
- Gift tags
- Invitations
- Meal plan templates
- Menu designs
- Chore charts
Life Coaching
Are your friends and family always telling you that you’re a great problem solver and listener?
Well then why not consider becoming a life coach?
Although anyone these days can call themselves a life coach (yeah, don’t be one of those people), there are plenty of life coaching courses out there that will have you on your way to being a qualified coach in no time.
Fun fact – my best friend became a life coach during the pandemic, and she had her first £10,000 month last month!
Tutor People
It isn’t just English teachers that can make money online.
If you have a skill (any skill), there will be people out there willing to pay you to teach it to them.
This could be in something obvious like maths or piano, or it could be something like choreography or teaching people how to play chess!
There are even video games coaches on Fiverr who will teach you how to improve your gameplay or complete a certain game in record time.
Seriously – if you have a skill, consider teaching it to somebody.
Fitness Lessons
Are you great at dancing, Zumba, Pilates or yoga?
If so, you might want to consider giving fitness lessons to people!
Most local community centres allow people to run classes in person, or if you’d prefer, you can always set up a YouTube channel or membership programme where you conduct your lessons, either by live streaming or by uploading pre-recorded content.
Running Errands for Senior Citizens
Running errands for people, especially disabled people and senior citizens, has become a huge thing, and it can be such a rewarding job.
By doing people’s everyday tasks for them, such as grocery shopping or driving them somewhere, you are making the world a better place and making money at the same time – how good is that?
My aunt voluntarily does this for a few people in the UK, and she says that being able to make people’s lives that bit easier is a really special feeling.
Working as a Virtual Friend
Yes, you read that right – you can literally get paid to be an online friend to somebody.
A virtual friend exists to offer companionship to somebody. It could involve online chat, video calls, or even playing online games together.
Virtual friends are great for people who might not be able to get out often due to a physical disability, mental illness, or social anxiety, as well as the elderly, or people who live in very remote locations.
Popular websites where you can get paid to be an online friend include Rent A Friend (which gives the option of in-person friendships as well), FriendPC and, of course, Fiverr.
Ride Sharing
One of the most easy freelance jobs out there (provided you can drive) is becoming an Uber or Lyft driver.
These jobs are super flexible, meaning you can time them around your schedule, and all you need is a car and a clean driving record.
If you enjoy driving, are good with people and want to work when it suits you, this is a great option.
Web Design
While you definitely need knowledge and skill to become a freelance web designer, you don’t need any formal qualifications.
Web design can be anything from building an entire website to simply offering WordPress help, creating plugins, designing fonts and fixing bugs.
You can set your own rates and offer your services on the major freelance websites out there such as Fiverr.
Teaching English Online
Are you a native English speaker?
If you are then you’re in luck – you can help both adults and children improve their English online, and you don’t even need any teaching qualifications!
There are many platforms available for native English speakers who want to teach online. and some of the most popular include Verbalplanet, Cambly and iTalki.
With most of the platforms you can set your availability, list your own rates and let people know how you can help them improve their English.
This job requires a strong internet connection and good quality webcam (you can find some super affordable webcams on Amazon).
Petsit
Petsitting is a great alternative to babysitting, and it is becoming more and more popular.
You can choose to either host pets in your home, or visit people’s homes to look after their pets in their own environment.
This is a fairly passive type of job that would allow you to study or do other online work while you snuggle up with a cute cat or dog!
Rover is a popular website that lets you get paid for taking care of people’s pets.
NaviSavi
NaviSavi certainly won’t make you rich, and is more of a hobby than anything, but I’ve still made around $400 by using this app, so I’ve included it on this list.
NaviSavi is a money making app where you upload short travel videos and get paid 1 USD per video.
Videos can be anything from touristic landmarks in your city (such as the cathedral or main sports stadium), restaurants, bars, beaches, museums and more.
Simply record a short, >30 second video, upload it to the app and voila!
Pro tip: I made over $100 on NaviSavi simply by using old videos from my camera roll.
If you use the code ‘travellingjezebel’ when you sign up to NaviSavi, you’ll get your first dollar on me.
Translating
If you speak another language fluently, translation work is a fantastic side hustle.
Whether you know people in your social circle who could benefit from a translator (a British girl I know in Spain helps other Brits with their residency applications), or whether you want to sign up to a website like Translate.com to find work, there will always be people who need things translating.
Dog Walking
Dog walking is one of those easy freelance jobs that allows you to earn money, get fit and hang out with some cute dogs in the process!
What’s more, it doesn’t have to take a huge chunk out of your day, meaning that you have all the time in the world to dedicate to being a mom.
Plus, if you walk 5 dogs at once, you get paid for each dog – winning!
Virtual Assistant
If you’re looking for administrative work, becoming a virtual assistant is one of the best side hustles for single moms there is as there is such a huge demand for them and businesses of all sizes use them.
As a VA, you can work from home and offer services like transcription, data entry, admin, administrative assistance, or simply handling customer service for a company that doesn’t have any in-house agents.
Many bloggers also use virtual assistants for their email marketing, blog post formatting, Pinterest management and more.
Photo & Video Editing
If you’re handy with photo or video editing tools, there are so many opportunities waiting for you online!
Video has blown up in the last few years, and everyone from social media influencers to small business needs video content these days.
From editing an influencer’s Instagram pics to working with YouTubers, there are so many possibilities out there when it comes to photo and video editing.
Where to Find Easy Freelance Jobs for Beginners
There are so many freelance websites for beginners out there!
Some of the most popular websites for freelance work are:
- Fiverr – Fiverr is a website where you can both buy and sell freelance services. Some of the categories are for the most unusual freelance jobs out there, including knitting lessons, cooking shows, gaming tutors and more. The great thing about Fiverr is that the buyers come to you for work rather than you having to apply for jobs.
- UpWork – another super popular website where you can sell your freelance services to buyers.
- Freelancer – while there are tonnes of categories on this site, this is the place to go if you’re into web design, software development, coding and other tech stuff.
- FlexJobs – FlexJobs has a membership programme that you can subscribe to and pretty much guarantee to be matched up to freelance jobs that suit you.
- Facebook and Twitter – Never underestimate the power of social media when looking for easy freelance jobs. Facebook in particular has tonnes of groups dedicated to finding freelance work, such as Virtual Assistant Network. Twitter, on the other hand, is all about building your network and going from there – I am follow a lot of SEO/niche-site building people, so if, for example, I was ever to sell this website, I would easily be able to find a buyer on Twitter.
Easy Freelance Jobs for Beginners | Final Thoughts
Hopefully by now you’re feeling full of ideas and motivation to get started in your freelance journey.
It may seem daunting at first, but once you find your groove, freelance work is so rewarding and the freedom that it provides is priceless.
That’s about it for today, but if you have any questions then please don’t hesitate to leave them in the comments section below and I will get back to you!
The post 25 Simple Freelance Jobs for Newbies first appeared on Not Your Boss Babe.
Featured Image Credit: Shutterstock / Vadym Pastukh.
The content of this article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute or replace professional financial advice.
For transparency, this content was partly developed with AI assistance and carefully curated by an experienced editor to be informative and ensure accuracy.
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