Most of us spend our professional careers watching clocks. Whether we’re racing against them to get to work on time, or watching them slowly tick towards five o’clock, our lives are often governed by our work schedules. This leaves most of us longing for more flexible jobs.
Careers with flexible hours allow you to take more control over your life. More time for the things you want to do. More time for family. More time for you. You can work when and where you want. And you often don’t have to worry about working with other people — great news for introverts.
However, there is a belief that adding more flexibility to your work life means accepting less money. But this simply isn’t true. There are tons of flexible jobs that pay well. Very well, in fact. And if you pick the right field, you can have a job for years to come.
To help you do this, here are some of the best flexible jobs available today:
The Best Flexible Jobs are in: Digital Marketing
Digital marketing is marketing that takes place in a digital space, i.e. online. Therefore, as you can imagine, it is one of the most in-demand careers you can find.
The things you can expect to be doing as a digital marketer involve some or all of the following:
- Planning and implementing digital advertising campaigns
- Identifying opportunities to improve sales and developing strategies to do so
- Creating and distributing digital content designed to reach new audiences and drive sales
- Optimizing the “user experience” so that customers are encouraged to spend money; this includes designing landing pages and other posts, as well as curating content to your specific audience.
- Managing social media accounts
- Generating traffic through search engines and other available digital channels.
Of course, what you do in your specific role will depend on the position you land, but expect to do some or all of this.
Don’t feel qualified? Or like you don’t have enough experience to do some of these things? Don’t worry! It’s not as complicated as you think, and you can learn these skills rather quickly.
To see what it takes to land a job in digital marketing, and to start learning the skills needed to do so, sign up for our free training program and get your career started today.
The Benefits of a Career in Digital Marketing
In addition to being one of the most flexible jobs you can get, there are also a lot of other benefits to launching a career in digital marketing.
For example, one of the best things about digital marketing is that there is a relatively low barrier to entry. You don’t need any special degrees, and you’ll often find that your past experiences apply in some way or another. This makes it perfect for people who are 30 and have no career! But it doesn’t really matter how old you are since there are so many opportunities available.
After you complete our full training program, you will be able to clearly see how your specific experience applies to this field and can help you win jobs. Sign up today!
In addition to being accessible, digital marketing is also in very high demand. There is no shortage of jobs out there, and many of these positions are salaried, full-time jobs. It’s not uncommon to make $70,000 per year, and $100,000 is also very much in play.
Just ask Seth Hymes, the founder of In Demand Career, who found himself making more than $100,000 just a few years into his new career in digital marketing.
Other Flexible Jobs in Digital Marketing
Many digital marketing jobs are “generalist” or “specialist” positions. In these roles, you will be asked to wear many different hats. You will therefore need to be knowledgeable about all areas of digital marketing.
However, there are other, more specific positions that are some of the most flexible careers you can have. This is often a good place to start. This gets your foot in the door of the digital marketing world. From there, you can add more skills and grow your career.
Here is a short list of flexible jobs within the digital marketing space:
Content Marketing
One arm of digital marketing is content marketing, and this is one of the more exciting careers with flexible schedules you can get. Why? Because you get to spend most of your time creating exciting content for your clients and their audiences.
In content marketing, the focus is on creating (free) content that resonates with your audience in the hope of attracting them to your company or client. In this way, you’re not so much promoting the company but rather the brand.
Typically, this involves providing educational materials (blogs, videos, lists, etc.) that are useful to your audiences.
This helps build trust in your brand, and, over time, these individuals are more likely to become customers.
Content marketing is an exciting field because it is growing and always changing. People are always looking for new content, and you get to help meet their needs.
SEO/SEM
Search engine optimization, which is part of search engine marketing, is all about using search engines to reach new customers.
SEO is focused on getting web pages or blog posts to “rank,” meaning they appear at or near the top of search results. To make this happen, you need good content, links pointing to that content, a fast site, and much more.
SEM includes SEO but also expands to other areas of search engines, such as Pay-Per-Click advertising.
Again, if you’re not familiar with this field, it might seem too technical. But once you learn the basics, which we teach you in our training program, it’s more than possible to land jobs in SEO/SEM
Writing
If you haven’t figured it out yet, a big part of digital marketing is content, particularly written content. Therefore, one of the best jobs with flexible hours you can get is as a writer.
The world has always needed writers. But in a time where people’s attention spans are shorter than ever, there is great demand for scribes who can catch people’s attention and convey information quickly and accurately.
If you work as a writer, expect to write ad copy, blog posts, SEO-optimized content, emails, speeches, and much more. And don’t buy into the stories that writers don’t make any money.
According to ZipRecruiter, the average salary for freelance writers in the US is a little bit more than $63,000 per year. Not too bad, especially considering you get to work when and where you want.
Graphic Design
Just as businesses and other organizations need written content to reach their audiences, they also need exciting visuals to catch people’s eye. Therefore, graphic designer is one of the most flexible careers out there, and it is also highly-creative.
You may be responsible for creating logos, graphs, infographics, emails, and more, all with the intention of connecting with the audience and encouraging action.
Of course, to be a graphic designer, you need to have an artistic touch. But you can learn a lot of the technical skills rather easily, and from there you can start winning jobs. Plus, if you find out later that digital marketing is not for you, there are lots of other ways to make money as a graphic designer.
Web/Software Development
If we want to talk about flexible careers that pay well, then the conversation must include web/software development.
In case you haven’t noticed, pretty much everything we do takes place on a digital device and on the internet. This means there is a ton of demand for people who can design websites and other programs, and they are often paid quite well for their work.
With web/software development, you may need to spend some time learning new skills, such as coding and programming languages. Or you may need a degree, making this one of the best flexible jobs you can get with a BA.
But this isn’t always true, and learning these skills isn’t as hard as you think, especially if you’re motivated. And once you have these skills, you likely won’t ever go a day in your life without a job, if that’s what you want.
Other Careers with Flexible Schedules
At In Demand Career, we want everyone to enjoy the benefits of a career in digital marketing. These positions are high-paying, in-demand, and professionally gratifying. However, we also recognize this isn’t for everyone, so here are some other choose your own hours jobs:
- Translation — If you know more than one language, you can make some good money as a professional translator.
- Data entry/transcription — While not always the most exciting, data entry/transcription jobs pay well and allow you to set your own hours.
- Gig economy jobs — Our new digital world has opened up lots of opportunities. You can work for companies such as Uber, Lyft, Doordash, TaskRabbit, etc., and work as much or as little as you want. But these jobs often treat you as an independent contractor, so if you’re looking for a flexible job with benefits, then this might not be the field for you.
- Tutor/teacher — Online learning is more popular than ever, and you can make money teaching others what you know. Get certified to teach English, tutor kids, or become an SAT coach. You may need to hustle for clients, but this is rewarding work that also pays well.
- Photographer — What could be better than getting paid to take photos? Not much. But while this is a great flexible job, it’s hard to find good paying work. Only pursue this if it’s a true passion of yours.
Start Your Flexible Job Today
As you can see, there are tons of flexible careers from which you can choose. But the best flexible jobs are in digital marketing. Sign up for our free training program today, or attend one of our digital marketing freelancing masterclasses, and take the first step towards your new career!
