GF needs suggestions for possible work from home/remotely jobs

[dieselburps]

First time poster, long time lurker here. My GF is looking into finding a work from home, or remotely type job. I am a travel nurse, so I am some place different every 13 weeks and the separation is starting to put some strain on our relationship.

She has a bachelors of english degree, taught for 2 years at a charter school, has nannied, currently a river guide this summer, and is crazy passionate about knitting. I don't know what possibilities are out there for her, but I do know that many people in this community either work remotely or are extremely creative when it comes to finding sources of income. I know there has to be a something out there for her, she is very intelligent and hard working so I am hoping we can find a way to make this work.

Toss around any ideas or suggestions you all might have, we are listening.

[2Birds1Stone]

What are her most marketable skills?

[MrsDinero]

That is tough, she doesn't seem to be focused in any one area.  What are her interests or goals?

[swick]

If she has taught and nannied, she could look at creating lesson plans on Teacher pay Teacher https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/

There is naturally some upfront work involved but if you get a good selection of materials up it is pretty good passive income. I have a friend who only has a few lessons and isn't really contributing anymore at the moment and she's bringing in about 500 a month.  So if she were to spend full time job hours on it, she could do really well.

Forbes post not sure if there is anything useful here but might be worth a look:http://www3.forbes.com/investing/want-to-work-from-home-part-time-these-are-the-top-35-companies-hiring-in-2016/?utm_campaign=want-to-work-from-home-part-time-these-are-the-top-35-companies-hiring-in-2016-ca&utm_source=FacebookTest1&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=3&kwp_0=187417&kwp_4=755330&kwp_1=380021

[aFrugalFather]

etsy?  How much income are we talking about needing to generate?  Maybe more schooling/education in a more high productive field if the sums need to be substantial. 

[TravelJunkyQC]

As an english degree, one would assume she is good at (and perhaps enjoys?) writing. There's a whole world of freelance copywriting, copyediting, ghostwriting, etc.

[dieselburps]

Swick, thanks for the tip on the teacher pay teacher site. I will send that to her as an option.

TravelJunkyQC,  she is good at writing, has a blog that she started for her knitting. I was also thinking the copywriting, copyediting etc. path might be a possibility.


I don't think she wants to go back school at this point, especially considering she is still paying on student loans, I also wouldn't encourage it unless there were some sort of end goals with a more lucrative career.

[4alpacas]

etsy?  How much income are we talking about needing to generate?  Maybe more schooling/education in a more high productive field if the sums need to be substantial.

She could create and sell knitting patterns on Etsy and Ravelry. 

[Rubic]

As an english degree, one would assume she is good at (and perhaps enjoys?) writing. There's a whole world of freelance copywriting, copyediting, ghostwriting, etc.

Agreed.

OP: Google "Digital Nomad Jobs"

[tralfamadorian]

She could create and sell knitting patterns on Etsy and Ravelry.

x2

[jrhampt]

I would think maybe some kind of online teaching/tutoring.  There is plenty of this for ESL, and if she has high test scores, she could look into test prep as well.

[1967mama]

is crazy passionate about knitting

I'd vote to go with the knitting! Etsy is a great place to sell her knitted projects! Take great photos and write great descriptions. How about custom work/custom colours, too?

Let us know what she decides!

[dieselburps]

I think the knitting would be a great side hustle, selling patterns, I know she has done some hand dyeing of yarn, test knits, made some patterns, I really know nothing about knitting, just that she seems to be good at it, and is passionate about it. I guess a dream job might be some writing/editing for  knitting publication, and knit on the side, she already writes a lot for her knitting blog.

I think if she could make 30 k a year to start that would be good income for her.

I can't really change jobs without making some serious sacrifices like a huge drop in pay and major decrease in job satisfaction, it would probably make me extremely depressed.

"digital nomads" sounds a pretty good key phrase to do more research on.

[brooklynmoney]

A lot of tech companies hire remote customer service workers. The pay is probaly not spectacular but a lot of flexibility.

[1967mama]

I would think it would take a while to build up a clientele and a business on etsy, similar to building a bricks & mortar business. So maybe knitting and *something else* until she has her etsy knitting store up and running?

[tomorrowsomewherenew]

There are customer service call people who work remotely. I do not work for, nor have I ever worked for these companies, but I have heard from other people who have, and say they are legitimate:

Arise Solutions
Alpine Access/Sykes
Alorica

I believe they start around $9-10/hr. But maybe she could pick up some overtime or get into a manager/supervisor position later on?

[Syonyk]

I ran into someone doing call center work while playing Pokémon Go with friends. She was running around with a laptop.

[cchrissyy]

Are you able to be a travel nurse who goes from one city to another and then back to the original one? 
Like,  city #  1 2 1 3 1 4 1 5 1 6 etc?  So she could maintain a normal career in city 1?

[aFrugalFather]

Why do you have to do travel nursing instead of staying put?

[letired]

Note that developing patterns of any kind is not exactly trivial. If she's interested, she should definitely do it, but it is secretly a lot of work, especially for knitting patterns, especially if you are going to offer them in multiple sizes. Good knitting patterns usually go through and entire testing process. But if she's into knitting, she probably already knows about this.

Ditto for selling knit goods. Depending on the object, knitting takes a lot of time and it can be very difficult to get a decent hourly rate going, as with many types of handicrafts.

[nora]

Stay at home mom?

[YogiKitti]

I know someone who works for a call center for an airline remotely. She also gets standby passes for flights so that might be a perk for your job.

[Villanelle]

I don't know how much money she is needing to make, but tutor.com is often hiring tutors. 

[brute]

If she can land a job as an editor for a website, that can work out well. Friend of mine did that remotely for ~6 years. Not amazing money, but enough to live on.

[dieselburps]

Are you able to be a travel nurse who goes from one city to another and then back to the original one? 
Like,  city #  1 2 1 3 1 4 1 5 1 6 etc?  So she could maintain a normal career in city 1?

Sort of not really. I can have some say where I go, but it really depends on where the needs are. At some point in the future I would like to be able to only work 6 months out of the year and do whatever I damn well please the rest, paying off my students loans super aggressively right now living in a truck camper so no rent and I have an extremely high savings rate.

Why do you have to do travel nursing instead of staying put?

Mentally I don't think I could ever go back to staff, I mean if I found a situation that worked out I could do it for a year maybe two, but no more, and then there is the money, right now I make over double and then some what staff makes, and I don't have to deal with all the BS of being staff.

ote that developing patterns of any kind is not exactly trivial. If she's interested, she should definitely do it, but it is secretly a lot of work, especially for knitting patterns, especially if you are going to offer them in multiple sizes. Good knitting patterns usually go through and entire testing process. But if she's into knitting, she probably already knows about this.

Ditto for selling knit goods. Depending on the object, knitting takes a lot of time and it can be very difficult to get a decent hourly rate going, as with many types of handicrafts.

That's kind of how I feel, and I think she feels the same way, the amount of time involved with the pay off of selling goods doesn't seem to really pencil out, but she sure enjoys it and spends a lot of time doing it.

Stay at home mom?

Oh god no!

I know someone who works for a call center for an airline remotely. She also gets standby passes for flights so that might be a perk for your job.

I don't know how much money she is needing to make, but tutor.com is often hiring tutors.

If she can land a job as an editor for a website, that can work out well. Friend of mine did that remotely for ~6 years. Not amazing money, but enough to live on.

All three of those things sound like they could be real possibilities, thanks for the tips.

[Cranky]

I "went to" an Edmodo online conference this week, and a company called VIPkids is looking for online English teachers for Chinese schools. I haven't looked into it at all, but they advertised quite a lot and it looked interesting.

Also, what about online SAT grading? I know several people who have done that.

[robartsd]

Sounds like a lot of good ideas here. I'd probably lean towards a stable remote customer service job while building up knitting as a side hustle in some way. She'd need excellent internet connectivity to work which can be a hassle and get pricey when moving every quarter.