by Frontier Business on
Working at home in your pajamas may seem like a dream, but it’s more of a reality than ever before. Between 2005 and 2012, there was a 79.7 percent increase in the number of remote workers in the United States — and for good reason. Seventy-seven percent of remote workers report greater productivity, and 53 percent say they are less stressed. Global Workplace Analytics reports that 63 million Americans will work remotely by 2016, which is more than one-third of the total workforce.
As the number of remote workers increases, many businesses have adopted new policies to ensure their remote workers thrive. Some companies allow employees to work at any time of the day, and others have implemented company-wide chat programs to make it easy for team members to communicate with one another.
Today, a wide range of industries offer remote-working capabilities, including fields you may not expect.
1. Marketing
From public relations to social media, many small businesses rely on remote markets to assist with their promotion and advertising needs. If you’re interested in a remote marketing job, look for job titles such as social media specialist, public relations coordinator, email marketer, and marketing manager.
2. Legal
Depending on their expertise or focus area, lawyers can work remotely when they aren’t in court or meeting with clients. Working remotely may be difficult for criminal attorneys, and is a more viable option for attorneys in family law, estate planning, and corporate law.
3. Nonprofit Fundraising
Nonprofits are on tight budgets, so they frequently hire remote workers and freelancers. Major gifts officers, for example, often work remotely. These professionals are responsible for cultivating, soliciting, and closing donations. While some travel is involved, these professionals can work anywhere.
4. Sales
As long as you have a phone and an email account, you can work from home as a sales representative selling physical products or virtual services. Major companies, including Dell, IBM, and American Express, offer remote sales positions.
5. Design
Both Web and graphic designers can work remotely, designing materials and building websites for businesses. For this position, you can either work from home for one company or rely on job sites and work on multiple projects.
6. Accounting
Accountants working from home can take on multiple clients and businesses to assist with bookkeeping, tax preparation, and other tax and financial needs. While tax season may cause a spike in your work schedule, the rest of the year you can set your own hours.
7. Translation
If you speak multiple languages, you can work from home as a translator, writing captions for videos and translating news articles. Your translation abilities will be particularly in demand if you speak and write in Spanish, French, German, Japanese, and Portuguese.
8. Software and Technology
From designing apps to developing software, many software developers work remotely, either for one company or multiple smaller businesses as a freelance developer.
9. Customer Service
Major businesses like Amazon and Apple both rely on remote workers for their extensive customer service teams via chat functions, email, and telephone.
10. Your Job
If you’re working in the office and dream about working from home, talk to your boss. You may learn that your job, or another similar position within the company, can be completed from home. Come prepared with legitimate reasons why you wish to work from home and how you will ensure it doesn’t cause any issues for the company. Be prepared to negotiate and try to be as flexible as possible. If your company doesn’t allow for remote work, research other opportunities. Other companies may allow your position to be performed from home.
Once you secure a remote job, it’s time to set up your home business. To succeed as a remote worker, treat this job as if you were in the office and not at home. Wake up at specific times each day and keep to a daily schedule. Instead of setting up camp on the couch, create a home office with all the essentials — a computer, Cloud storage, software, wireless Internet, a landline, and a printer. Not sure where to start? Check out our home office bundles for the necessities.
