COVID-19 crisis hit hard the economies of both the developed and developing countries. If you are one of the many staying home, either employed or not it is time to consider the new opportunities to make money. In the previous article “Sectors and companies benefiting from the COVID-19 crisis and national quarantine” we discussed the sectors and companies benefiting from the crisis. Now it’s your time to learn from the winners’ experience and start benefiting yourself.
1. Use your current skills
Any of your skills not involving face-to-face contact would work. Maybe you can sing, write articles, create videos, do graphic designs, teach or just create value by streaming activities. Now is the time to do it. Post over social media or create a simple free page and gather groups and clients.
Streamers earn millions of dollars streaming gaming or any other recreational and educational activities. Try Twitch today and start gathering followers, clients, donors, or patrons for your business or services.
2. Acquire new skills
Now is the perfect time to educate yourself into more profitable skills to serve you over the next decade. Always wanted to be a better investor? Read those books and take those courses you never had the time before. Maybe you wanted to learn how to marketeer your products and services better – there are plenty of free resources online. Never had the time to gather and create clients' e-mail-list – you should be able to now. Or, you are up to a completely new career path as a techie, start learn programming, designing, or engineering – there is no better time.
3. Adjust your mindset and change the way you serve your clients
Be creative.
Fitness gurus use YouTube and Facebook to keep their clients in shape. Makeup artists, singers, and photographers do tutorials and give lessons and offer services online. Master Chefs use Instagram, blogging, and video streaming to show recipes of their latest masterpieces in the kitchen. Have a look at your competitors and partners. What do they do to mitigate the income impact of the COVID-19 crisis and even earn more?
What your clients need the most? How could you serve them without face-to-face contact? Don’t be afraid to experiment, don’t be afraid to create a survey and ask your clients how you could serve them better online.
4. Become a freelancer
Try some freelance work at Freelancer.com or Upwork. They list creative, mostly technical, jobs to be done remotely. If you already have the technical skills, those are your best bet for additional income.
Learn how to create business and action plans. Try planning the rest of the year. Outline everything important to you and your business in the plan – your clients, your main sources of income, your timeline for executing and delivering your services, the budget needed, and the income expected. Put everything in a timeline, and don’t forget that the plan would probably change… and that’s ok. But still, your vision and your goals to achieve the vision should remain as close to the original. There are many templates, tutorials, and guides online – how to create a financial plan and how to adjust it when needed.
Keep in mind – the COVID-19 crisis will sooner or later end, elaborate vision, and plan actions and goals to achieve after the crisis.
6. Train, mentor, and coach
If you are already an expert – do not hesitate to promote yourself as a trainer or mentor for those who would like to learn in your field. Offer discounts to attract trainees or just train for free to gain more popularity and clients later. You can use Skype, MS Teams, Zoom, or any other platform for your teachings.
7. Promote your business with vouchers
People love vouchers and now is the best time your business could benefit from giving away vouchers for your products or services. It works not only online but for businesses like hotels, bars and events. Maybe some clients would like to cancel their reservation? Instead - offer them a discounted voucher to use your service or do the reservation later, up until the end of 2020 or even 2021. This way you are not going to lose business.
At the same time provide gift-cards and vouchers to every client currently using your services. This way their loyalty will increase, and they will keep coming back to your business.
8. Work online as a QA or feedback provider
There are plenty of sites offering opportunities to test products or take surveys and provide feedback. They will pay you for your time. In the meantime, you could use the opportunity to check what the other companies are doing and what products and services they require feedback on. In the long run – this will help you improve your own services and products to earn more money.
9. Sell unused items online
You could eBay your unneeded items at home, not only generating some cash but getting rid of those unnecessary items. Maybe you have an expensive car? Now is the time to get rid of it. Or you have another laptop you barely ever touch – it’s time for it to go for good.
10. Offer services to people in need
There are a lot of people in need and you could either volunteer or work part-time for them. Elderly or vulnerable people, staying at home could need somebody to do some shopping or simply walk their dogs. Although these would not earn a fortune – they are a nice extra additional income for some little time and effort on your side.