Working from Home Ideas Needed in The Current Situation

LBusybee20 on 18/03/2020 - 16:53

I work in a restaurant and it got extremely quiet as not many customers are coming through the doors due to Corona virus. I am a casual employee and getting no shift now. I am also diabetic. The management knows it and they are concerned as I am someone in the high risk category. So, they are not very keen for me to go to work. I understand that as well. I myself is bit worried too, trying to avoid as much social contact as possible.

I am in a dire financial situation now being a single parent of a 5 year old. The new start allowance is not even enough to cover the rent. Is there any work that I can do from home? I could look for a job in the supermarkets but as I mentioned above- as someone with a compromised immunity I would rather stay indoors if possible and not risk myself and others. I am generally good with computers but no IT skills. I had completed a certificate IV in accounting many years ago and previously worked in a bookkeeping business part time. So, I am somewhat familiar with accounting systems but that’s about it. I have done some research online about working from home and found they all require some sort of IT skills or making a youtube video, writing an ebook etc. I don’t have any of those skills.

I would really appreciate if you could give me some ideas and suggestions regarding working from home. If it’s not possible immediately and I need to upskill myself I am willing to do that too. I just don’t know what to learn and what is in demand. Thanks in advance.

Education & Work

Comments

  • Crosscade on 18/03/2020 - 17:15
    +2

    Not working from home yourself but you may be able to do in house babysitting for others forced to work from home.

    My sister is working from home on maternity leave but has to have a babysitter look after her child so she can concentrate on work.

    The pay is reasonable but not fantastic. You would need to confirm they wouldn't mind you bringing your 5 year old potentially if they could not go to day-care or school.

    • Meho2026 on 19/03/2020 - 03:40
      -1

      That’s a great idea
      It sounds like I’m taking the piss but I’m dead set serious
      Close all the schools, a government stimulus package to provide parents who are health care workers with child care benefits so they can employ all the people who are losing their jobs as baby sitters and employ more doing working with children checks on them.

  • Muzeeb on 18/03/2020 - 17:18
    +1

    Not a get rich quick scheme but sign up for as many online survey sites as possible eg. Octopus group.

    20 bucks here and there might help a bit and fill in some time as well.

  • orangetrain on 18/03/2020 - 17:48

    Try to ask for rent relief as you can't work.

    Not sure which state you are in but there may be coronavirus related services. Ie free toilet paper or similar.

    Look at finances and see where you can cut some fat, ie cancel netflix, PIH, etc.

    Ultimately, I would suggest moving out ASAP to a cheaper rent place before lockdown hits. PM says schools may be closed for 6 months. Why do you need to stay in that place?

    I know you want to make money but times are going to get harder.

  • John on 18/03/2020 - 17:52
    +1

    I can't imagine being in your situation. I do hope things get better for you. If you haven't perhaps look into joining your local community groups (eg. church), they may have someone can help with providing jobs

    Some suggestions from me anyway that may be practical:
    - Open up a family daycare
    - UberEATS/Menulog delivery partners (demand should be increasing now)
    - Offer house cleaning/ironing service/babysitting/housesitting to neighbours
    - Keep applying for jobs that have minimal social interaction

  • popsiee on 18/03/2020 - 17:59

    Retail arbitrage on products that provides entertainment or needs to people staying at home .

  • GordonR on 18/03/2020 - 18:04
    +5

    My brother’s partner makes a decent living doing high-value transcription - she is sent audio files of meetings (medical / legal etc) and has to type them out.

    Need high-level English skills as accuracy is vital - these are things that are too critical and complex to outsource to India / Philippines.

    • Busybee20 on 19/03/2020 - 13:18

      That sounds like something I could do. Would you be able to kindly give me any link/leads to look at more info.

      • GordonR on 22/03/2020 - 23:08

        Sorry been off for a bit.. will get some links from her.

      • GordonR on 23/03/2020 - 00:31

        pacifictranscription.com.au

        • Busybee20 on 23/03/2020 - 22:56

          Thanks a lot but this is what their website says, ”Dear Typing Contractor Applicants,
          As the world quickly moves towards COVID-19 responses and implementing contingency plans, we have made the very difficult decision to close our typing contractor opportunities to all new applicants, effective Monday 23 March 2020, until further notice."

  • screensaver on 18/03/2020 - 18:08

    I do bottle/can recycling. I do bin nights in my area, and have worked out where the bottles are in my local area, I cant exactly tell you where, and I have 2 additional bin nights nearby. I can do this everyday and night if I want to now that I have worked out some places to go.

  • screensaver on 18/03/2020 - 18:21

    I agree about surveys, I did them for awhile and there is a few good sites. Newcomers generally get a $30 survey that takes a few hours.One site still gives me a telco survey every month that takes only 2 minutes. I do microsoft rewards for free Coles vouchers

    • popsiee on 18/03/2020 - 18:29

      Hehe I think OP needs a little more than chump change 😊

      • screensaver on 18/03/2020 - 18:36
        +4

        my chump change jobs have kept the wolf from my door

        • popsiee on 18/03/2020 - 18:41

          Just. That OP has a young kid and with that being the case something at a decent hour rate I’d think would be needed .

          • CheapskateQueen on 19/03/2020 - 06:30

            @popsiee: sure, but until there's something more stable, market research is the way to go.

            When I spent considerable time at home recovering from surgery, I did them. normally I'd not spend an hour for $10 bbbuuuuttt when you're at home all day everyday, distraction is important.

  • screensaver on 18/03/2020 - 18:27

    I also did mystery shopping. I had one job every month that paid $40 and did lots of small ones because I needed money at the time

  • screensaver on 18/03/2020 - 18:35

    Sign up for market research. I had a Greater Sydney one that paid $500 and a tobacco one that paid 1000 last year and on my birthday I had one paid 100 and gave me a nice feed

    • Busybee20 on 19/03/2020 - 13:20

      Would you kindly share the names of some good companies. When I search in google many names appear. I don't know which on to sing up to.

      • screensaver on 19/03/2020 - 17:59

        add your city to the google search

  • [Deactivated] on 18/03/2020 - 18:59

    Not working from home but Coles and woolies are looking for casual staff . From an email I was sent from Coles:

    To help us continue to offer the best possible service to customers during this busy time, we are recruiting an additional 5,000 casual team members to join our supermarkets across Australia. This will allow us to serve more customers and replenish shelves faster, while offering employment opportunities for Australians in industries impacted by COVID-19. We'll be fast-tracking inductions so we can boost the number of team members on the shop floor as quickly as possible.

    Worth a shot if you can find a babysitter.

    • serpserpserp on 18/03/2020 - 19:07

      Not working from home but Coles and woolies are looking for casual staff

      If you read her entire post you would see that she already explained why she doesn't want to work for a supermarket:

      I could look for a job in the supermarkets but as I mentioned above- as someone with a compromised immunity I would rather stay indoors if possible and not risk myself and others.

      • [Deactivated] on 18/03/2020 - 19:15

        Ah, sorry. I was speed-reading.

        as someone with a compromised immunity I would rather stay indoors if possible and not risk myself and others.

        The problem is that even those without a compromised immunity wants that.

        • Busybee20 on 19/03/2020 - 13:21

          Thanks for trying to help.

  • toristo on 18/03/2020 - 19:06

    Check out upwork.com - freelancing effectively. If you can find a niche that you think you have good skills in, try promoting that more over "general" (there is heaps of people who do lots of everything, cheaply. Don't bother competing with them.

  • jjjaar on 18/03/2020 - 19:18

    Dog walker?

    • GordonR on 18/03/2020 - 20:21
      +2

      In Spain, where dog walking is one of the few activities for which you can go out of the house, some people are renting out their dogs to their stir-crazy neighbours without dogs..

      So when we reach lockdown, you could become a dog-walker, charge $25 for each pooch, then immediately rent them out for another $25. Dog gets walked so dog owner is happy, neighbour gets fresh air so he is happy.

      Both of them pay YOU but you do no actual work, so you collect OzBargain kudos by the bucketload….(and the money).

  • saviour1108 on 18/03/2020 - 19:18

    You could start coaching students for IELTS/PTE. Students take classes via Skype/Google Hangouts.

    Go through the curriculum and see if that's feasible.

  • OzCheapo on 18/03/2020 - 19:34

    Join Nextdoor. It is a local social media platform. When I started my career and didn't have anything to my name except a desire to make ends meet, they were able to refer me to a couple of casual positions. That should help you float until you find something more permanent.

  • GordonR on 18/03/2020 - 20:15
    +1

    Here’s another idea - universities are moving to online instruction, but there is a problem with exams.

    So there are various services like ProctorU or ProctorExam which have “remote proctoring” systems. Basically the student does their exam at home in front of a web cam while the software verifies identity and monitors their computer and/or environment to pick up any behaviour that seems like it might be cheating.

    The top level these proctoring companies offer is to have (in addition to the software) the students monitored live by a trained proctor. Each proctor watches the web cam feed live (maybe 5-8 students at a time) and watches out for anything out of order (such as students frequently looking to one side etc).

    I think that there is going to be a huge upswing in demand for “remote proctors” and it doesn’t seem like it will take any specific prior knowledge, just some training to identify specific types of cheating and normal common sense to be confident that the student was busy facing the screen and not receiving outside assistance or using another device etc.

    And probably they will suddenly need proctors in our timezone.

    • Busybee20 on 19/03/2020 - 13:24

      Thanks a lot. I will definitely search for that. Hopefully searching in Google for Proctor Exam/remote proctoring will take me somewhere.

  • miwahni on 18/03/2020 - 22:44
    +1

    Do you speak / write another language? Appen is often looking for translators for documents, also they have "microjobs" that are computer based and done from home. It may not replace a pay packet but could supplement, along with some of the ideas above.
    https://appen.com/careers/

    • Busybee20 on 19/03/2020 - 13:25

      I will try that. Thank you.

  • Apexpower on 23/03/2020 - 22:14
    Merged from How to Make Money Online ? Recommend Me Some Please

    As we are currently experiencing doomsday like scenario! Like myself those who are Working in hospitality sector are currently jobless. Is there any good ways I can find a job or make money online ? I just want to pay my bills.

    • [Deactivated] on 23/03/2020 - 22:16

      Join the millions.

      If you don't have an original idea, the person with the original idea would be capitalising on it.

      What you're left with is the generic idea that millions of others would be trying to scrape together.

    • toristo on 23/03/2020 - 22:16
      -1

      This is always a dangerous question on ozbargain, normally you'd get the token porn site jokes, but sorry about your situation, and for anyone else there too.

      If you have a particular skill, check up upwork.com - it's a freelancer site. Try to show your specialty (rather than "everything" - there's a million of those and they'll do it for $4 an hour).

      Good luck

    • ausdday on 23/03/2020 - 22:19
      +1

      my.gov.au

      • Apexpower on 23/03/2020 - 23:03

        I logged into and most of the jobs I found was full time. I am looking for part time or casual job because I am only able to work 40 hours fortnightly. My only other option is to apply for coles or woolies but there no vacancy left anymore.

    • Diji1 on 23/03/2020 - 22:25

      Be careful of "making money online": there is a niche in internet marketing called Make Money Online which involves selling shitty courses about how you can make millions online by setting up websites or arbitraging ads or social media spamming. It's all or mostly shit. Avoid unless sailing the high seas of freedom.

      There are some long running MMO scam artists (who are multimillionaires) that are regularly parodied https://saltydroid.info

      These guys just built up their scamming business over years like most businesses.

      • spackbace on 23/03/2020 - 22:28
        +1

        How to make money online - become a member of the Greens party. Don't need to come up with ideas, just argue any ideas brought up by LibLab

        Simples!

  • screensaver on 25/03/2020 - 06:20
    -1

    I sell on Ebay, people do buy stuff

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