A guide to self employed jobs

A saturated job market is one of today's most depressing statistics. So, put your brain to work and create your own fantastic job by owning your own business. The Internet has provided people with the means to do this. So, find your niche and earn from home.

Clerical work from home

Focus on what you do best As an example, if you have excellent secretarial skills, why not capitalise on that and become a virtual assistant. There are many examples on the Internet of people who have done this successfully, and excellent keyboard skills can be a significant bonus to computer work from home, such as freelance copy-editing. Book keeping Another self-employed business that you can do from home is book keeping, and you do not need formal qualifications to do this. Just learn the basics of book keeping through an online free course and get yourself some clients who are themselves self-employed. If you do not have formal qualifications, you will only be able to do this for people with less than five employees. They need the service and you can provide this, working from home.

Working online from home

Use the Internet to find a gap in the market and start your own business from home. What you do is completely up to you and if you cannot find a gap, create one. So, how do you develop a work at home business when you have no business experience? It is actually easier than you think.

Set up a business

Do not let a lack of business experience to stop you. Look out for free business start-up courses run by your local council as there are many enterprise schemes available, although the availability of courses will be country dependent. Learn how to use your transferable skills - often referred to as ‘soft’ skills, such as good communication, good time-management and organisational abilities. If you have spent your working life in a particular area, your experience and skills are directly transferable to the business world. The beauty of it is that you can learn on the job. Get the right books, take advice from those who have succeeded (and failed) and make decisions based on what works for you.