Freelancing and working remotely was once a fun option, now it’s quickly become a necessity.

Before COVID-19, nearly half of millennials were turning to the gig economy for extra cash and those numbers are expected to grow as more people are laid off.

Now might just be the time to learn a new skill, pivot your career or switch to a new industry.–either way, chances are you’ll be looking for jobs that can be safely done from home.

Joy Valerie is the host of the Basic Brown Nerds podcast as well as being a data and marketing tech wiz who has been working from home for the last few years. On this week’s Wealthy Women Webinar she gave us 3 great tips on what people need to know in order to find and land online work.

Tip 1: Find a  job that allows you to transfer skills: 

Are you a waitress or work in the restaurant industry? Guess what, you are in the business of customer service. Are people always asking for your professional advice or opinion? That’s consulting! Joy recommends that folks get on sites like Upwork and Fiverr to explore different job descriptions.  Next she suggests creating a couple of profiles and resumes to highlight specific skills.

Broaden your horizons:

Look for jobs outside of your industry that share the same skill set. There are different kinds of freelancer jobs that can be done remotely, like  voice over, narration, transcribing, as well as sales and customer success positions at tech companies. 

Tip 2: Understand how to price your time:

If you’re transitioning from a traditional job, freelancing and contract work means that you’re going to have to learn how to price your time.  Joy recommends that everyone look at how much they want to make or how much money they need and work backwards from there. 

Pro tip: If you want to make $60k that means, $60k divided by 12 months. $5k per month= $1,250 per week. That’s $31.25 an hour or $250 a day. Then you add at least 20% for taxes and insurance. Do your research on median pay range but also be prepared to bid high and negotiate down. 

Tip 3: Diversify your income:

It’s time for a mind shift! Lean into being a Jane-of-all-trades. For so long we’ve all been told that it’s best to be great at one thing rather than to be good at a lot of things. As we’re seeing now, the people with the most skills have the highest likelihood of pivoting into other industries and careers. Joy reminded us that you have more skills than you think and the best way to identify them is to use a spreadsheet to identify the skill the potential job titles and industry.

Download these slick resumes from our friends at Girlboss.