Tips for finding remote work?
October 21, 2021 1:34 AM   Subscribe

Suggestions sought for getting work that can be done remotely, for 25-35 hours a week, at $15-20 an hour. Where do I look and how quickly could I start?

The main issue is that my spouse is in declining health, but I, at least still need to work. I currently have a job, but requires long hours away from home on not set schedule. I often don't know if I'm working from day to day, as any day I'm not on the schedule I can be called in.

Currently the spouse has a visiting nurse come by for a few hours, but they're not the usual, as the spouse often needs help bathing and going to the bathroom or changing soiled undergarments and understandably not many are eager to help with that.

At least working remotely I could be around to keep an eye on the spouse or nurses.

So do you have suggestions about where to look for remote work that pays $15-20 an hour for 25-35 hours a week that isn't a terrible place to work? Thanks in advance for advice!
posted by clocksock to Work & Money (15 answers total) 51 users marked this as a favorite
 
Response by poster: Is DoorDash a decent possibility, where I could work a few hours here and there during a week?
posted by clocksock at 2:08 AM on October 21, 2021 [1 favorite]


I'm not sure if you can get as many hours as you're looking for but online tutoring might work.
posted by crocomancer at 3:29 AM on October 21, 2021 [2 favorites]


You might be able to find a remote customer support position - the small financial services company I work for has hired remote customer support people recently, and although we’re full-up I’m sure we’re not unique and there are other companies with similar jobs open. If you have friends whose workplaces are remote, ask them if their companies are hiring for anything you’d be suited for! I’d advise applying for positions even if they say they want full-time because a lot of places are fairly desperate right now (and 35 hours IS full time at a lot of places).

This is such a hard thing. I went through a similar situation last year (although when my husband entered hospice care I was fortunately able to stop work entirely for a while) and balancing caring for your declining spouse and supporting yourself (financially and otherwise) is no joke.
posted by mskyle at 4:17 AM on October 21, 2021 [1 favorite]


My stepmother is in a very similar situation. She works from home for teledoc, and I understand they are hiring for a lot of remote positions.
posted by Vigilant at 4:36 AM on October 21, 2021 [2 favorites]


Shopify remote customer support roles could possibly work. I have a friend who did that job and can vouch that it’s a not-terrible place to work and they pay fairly well. I don’t know if they’re hiring in your general region right now but it’s worth a look.
posted by mekily at 5:23 AM on October 21, 2021 [2 favorites]


Customer support, sometimes called customer care now, for tech or finance firms. Those industries are hiring like crazy right now.
posted by phunniemee at 5:27 AM on October 21, 2021 [5 favorites]


Doordash around here pays 15-25 an hour before vehicle expenses. Just don't accept every delivery if you want to stay on the high side of that range.
posted by Mr. Yuck at 5:56 AM on October 21, 2021


Banks, insurance companies, and maybe hospitals in your area should fit the bill. Its likely call center, customer service stuff, but you'd be at home and hopefully can take breaks between calls for caretaking or whatever you must do. Many also have evening hours, which might be good if you have lots of appointments in the mornings.
posted by greatalleycat at 6:29 AM on October 21, 2021 [2 favorites]


Virtual Vocations has remote job listings. You can also try using "remote" or "telecommute" in your keyword search on any major job search site. And here's a custom search expression that will search all of Craigslist for remote jobs.
posted by mezzanayne at 7:49 AM on October 21, 2021 [1 favorite]


I can recommend FlexJobs as a good place to find hourly, remote work. They do require a subscription for full access to job listings but they have so many jobs that I can't even sort through them all. Hopefully you could find one quickly and cancel the sub. (I have canceled in the past and it is easy.) I get emails each day with new jobs "for me" based on my settings and there are days when there are more than 20 jobs.
posted by bijou243 at 7:55 AM on October 21, 2021 [2 favorites]


https://weworkremotely.com/ has lots of listings. Don’t be scared off by the programming jobs, because there are also lower level customer support jobs and other things. Just monitor the site and perhaps the right thing for you it will pop up. Your situation sounds really hard. Good luck!
posted by Bella Donna at 8:56 AM on October 21, 2021 [2 favorites]


I've never used it and can't vouch for it personally, but Appen is a site where you can sign up for remote projects.
posted by Leontine at 10:02 AM on October 21, 2021


Not exactly plug and play, but an artist colleague of mine set up a very slick looking instagram business offering digital personal assistant services - website upkeep, schedule management, e-mail management, that kind of thing, at very reasonable "normal people" prices - and has booked more work than she knows what to do with. Everyone is burnt out and thus everyone could use a hand with that kind of thing.
posted by stray at 12:40 PM on October 21, 2021 [2 favorites]


Virtual assistant for bloggers. Are you good with blog-style writing, social media post scheduling and engagement, light design for creating pins for pinterest and graphics, basic SEO, photo editing, etc? My VA works about 10 hours a week, many bloggers have VAs who work more hours. The hourly rate you're looking for is a realistic rate for a VA with experience or a newer one who learns quickly. Don't forget you would be paying self-employment taxes and not get health insurance benefits, when deciding the rate you need for your personal budgeting.

You can Google for tips for how to get started, and there are Facebook groups for promoting your services. It might be hard to get the first client, but if you take direction well, work independently, and don't suck with computer tasks that I mentioned above, you can learn quickly (though probably at a slightly lower rate at first) and get more clients.
posted by never.was.and.never.will.be. at 8:27 PM on October 21, 2021 [1 favorite]


I've never used them, but I get emails from these people.

JustRemote
posted by freakazoid at 3:37 AM on October 22, 2021


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