There are few things more admirable than the men and women who risk their lives to serve our country and keep our liberties intact.
According to the U.S. Census in 2014 there were more than 19 million veterans and, of those, 3.8 million had service-connected disabilities.
Pew Research reported that the majority of Americans (75 percent) would like to see an increase in spending on veteran’s benefits because, sadly, the amount of reimbursement for these heroes is never enough to provide a comfortable living.
The U.S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs calculates these disabilities on a scale from 1 to 100 in increments of 10 and while there are far too many debilitating disabilities reported by the VA, the majority of these disabilities – while certainly regrettable – are such that our veterans can definitely earn an income online.
Why Would Disabled Veterans Choose Online Work?
There are a few reasons why this is a viable option for many:
- Whether your service-related disability is mild or severe, you can choose your own hours and your own way to create an online income.
- In many cases, veterans can work from home and continue to collect their disability income.
- Being able to create your own work schedule allows you to maintain your medical care and rehabilitation services to help you get back up and running.
- Veterans with hearing-related disabilities are not limited with online work.
- You can choose to make however much or little you want. The income amount is dependent on how much time, effort, and work you put into it.
What Kind of Work is Available?
The wonderful world of technology puts just about anything you need to make an income online, at your fingertips (literally).
For example, if you’re an expert at, say, cake-baking but you have little skills for writing, there are plenty of options for you to find a writer online to do that work for you.
Almost anything you need to know can be found on the internet and outsourcing certain services has never been easier. This means opportunities are everywhere.
Here are a handful of top work from home ideas to consider…
Online Writing
Today’s digital world is full of information, but where does that information come from? Behind each blog post, web page, white paper, or ebook is a writer.
In 2015, statistics show that freelance writers earn anywhere from $10,000 per year up to more than $40,000.
If you’re the type of person who is curious about everything and enjoys researching and learning, online writing might be a good option for you. There are content mills that pay for articles ranging from 100 words up to thousands of words per piece and the pay is as variable as the content.
Be aware that – just like brick-and-mortar companies, online companies pay differently so shop around and try to find the best fit for you.
There are also options to offer your written work (or any content/service, actually, such as photos, editing, proofreading, ghostwriting, etc.) for sale for a fixed price.
Sites like Fiverr.com allow members to list their work for sale in their marketplace for companies (or individuals) to purchase for a fixed price.
Surveys
While the income from taking surveys is not as lucrative, the work itself is equally less.
For example, Enroll pays anywhere from $.10 to $20 for your opinions about the friendliness of a particular aspect of a website. Their goal is to “make the web a better place,” so they send out, for example, two samples of a contact form and ask their participants to choose which one they prefer. The process takes approximately 30 seconds.
By answering questions about your areas of expertise, they determine which surveys would be best to send you and that’s it.
Other survey sites ask you to sign up for a service, try a product or even test a website and report back on your experience. UserTesting.com is a one example of such a site.
Photos
Photography can be a fun and relaxing pastime that allows you to be as creative as you want but did you know you could also earn a little bit of extra cash selling those snapshots?
Stock photos are available on many sites for users to purchase for their personal use.
One of the great things about selling photos online is that you can continue to receive a passive income once the photos are purchased via royalties.
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is, of course, my favorite way to earn an income online. This is where you promote other peoples’ services or products for a commission, and the choices are limitless.
As with any online work, affiliate marketing income is going to vary depending on how much time, effort, and interest you put into it. The first step to getting started in affiliate marketing is to learn how affiliate marketing works.
There are thousands of affiliate marketing sites on the Web and that makes it difficult for newcomers to discern between the truly legitimate ones and the posers but just consider it as part of the job: researching legit vs. non-legit marketing opportunities.
Some of the more popular ones are Amazon and Clickbank but there truly are thousands of services and products that you can use a website to promote and sell.
Some affiliate marketers report earning hundreds of thousands of dollars per year and this is indeed quite possible if you’re dedicated to it.
In many cases – such as mine – beginning as an affiliate marketer can lead to earning a passive income which means once you put the work in, there can be little to no more work to do except sit back and watch the cash roll in!
Obviously, I’m a little biased so affiliate marketing may not be the right thing for some.
Start by getting to know the industry and from there, you can decide if affiliate marketing is for you. You’ll need to build a website (don’t worry, it’s a piece of cake) and determine what products or services you want to promote but that’s not as scary or hard as it sounds.
Ultimately, the choice to work from home is a good one for anyone who is otherwise unable to obtain a regular job. Not only for the convenience but also for the flexibility.
I would caution anyone who chooses to do any online work, to research thoroughly before investing in any kind of online work. There is a lot of free online training available for many internet-based jobs so be sure to find sources that are reliable and authentic before determining which route best suits you and your lifestyle.
If you’re just not sure and have any questions about affiliate marketing, feel free to post a comment below and I’d be happy to help you out.
And if you are a disabled veteran reading this post, I would like to close with a truly heartfelt thank you for your service and sacrifices.
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