Online Paying Jobs in Zimbabwe – Get Hired By Employers Around The World - Make Money From Freelancing, Book Publishing and Online
Tutoring
This articles features local and overseas-based Zimbabweans making money online on:
- Freelance Platforms
- Amazon KDP Book Publishing Platform
- Online Tutoring
Are you one
of those people wasting their Econet Data on social media, browsing Facebook
all day and leaving comments? There are more productive things you can do with
your data rather than chasing Facebook Likes, things which can earn you money online and get your money’s worth
for your data.
The internet
was invented in 1983 by the US Defense Department as a military communication
project (ARPANET) during the cold war era. However, it was not until 6 August
1991 that the internet was officially available to the public. The internet is
over 30 years old now and during this time, it has opened many opportunities
for people around the world to work from home and earn money online. The world
is now a virtual global village whereby employers and workers from any part of
the world can meet online to complete projects.
Global employers
and clients usually outsource their work, assignments and projects to people in
low-wage but highly skilled countries such as India, Philippines, Pakistani, Egypt,
Morocco, Venezuela, Iran, Bolivia and Eastern Europe (Poland, Ukraine, Romania,
Serbia, Albania etc.).
In Africa, outsourcing
countries which are popular with overseas employers/clients are South Africa,
Kenya, Egypt and Morocco). Countries like Zimbabwe have been too slow to get on board, sleeping for
decades, unaware of the contractual employment and business opportunities which are available on online freelance platforms. However, a check on popular freelance
websites shows that Zimbabwe is starting to grab the opportunities with a
notable number of freelancers getting high ratings and good reviews for their work in fields
such as software development, programming, web design and graphic design.
Zimbabwe looks like a promising and upcoming country for outsourcing web and
software development. Of course, I also came across a few highly rated freelancers specializing in writing, virtual assistant work and accounting, but the majority of highly rated Zimbabwean freelancers seem to be software/web programming gurus.
Make Money From Freelance Sites
What is a Freelance Platform or
Website?
A freelance
platform is an online job outsourcing platform (website) where employers and
workers around the globe meet. The employer/client posts jobs and projects on the
platform on which workers must bid on. The winning bid gets the job. There is a
timeframe on which the job must be completed, and the worker gets paid once the
job is delivered. The worker can withdraw their earnings via different payment
methods such as Payoneer, Wire Transfer and PayPal.
How Much Can You Earn on Freelance
Platforms?
How much you
earn depends on the number of jobs won and completed. You must aim to get good
ratings and reviews on your first jobs, because employers will read your
profile before hiring you. Good ratings and reviews will get you more jobs from
repeat buyers who are impressed with your work as well as new employers who are
impressed with your ratings and reviews.
The trick to
win jobs is to bid low when you are starting out, because there is a lot of
competition on the platform. Once you are established, you can raise your price
a bit.
Is This a Full or Part-Time Job?
Being a
freelancer allows you to work on your own schedule because you are a self-employed
contract worker. Based on their success on the platform, some freelancers have
turned this into a full-time job while some prefer to do it part-time to get
extra money in their pocket.
Is It Free To Join a Freelance
Platform?
Yes, most
online freelance platforms are free to join because they are legit. There are
no upfront fees for anything. Bidding for jobs is free. Just sign up and
complete your profile, then start bidding for jobs. Some of the most popular
freelance platforms are:
· JobsMarket
· Freelancer
· Upwork
· Guru
· PeoplePerHour
· Fiverr
Write a Book and Publish It on Amazon
A check on
Amazon KDP book publishing platform shows that there is only a handful of writers and book
authors from Zimbabwe. Of course, Zimbabwe has classic literature and classical writers such as Dambudzo Marechera, Charles Mungoshi, Yvonne Vera, Chenjerai Hove, Tsitsi Dangarembwa and Doris Lessing whose literature can be found on GoodReads. I am talking about the ordinary writer like your next-door neighbour, the school leaver and the common man in the streets who wants to write books for fun as well as make a few dollars to buy some KFC and coke. Tapiwa Mugabe is a young UK-based poet who seems to be doing well on Amazon and GoodReads.
How Do You Make Money from Amazon
KDP?
All you need
to do is write a book and publish it on the platform. Amazon doesn’t charge you
any money or fee for publishing books on their platform. It’s totally free. Just
fire up your computer, open Microsoft Word and start writing your book, whether
it be a novel, poetry, documentary, fiction or non-fiction, thriller, fantasy,
mystery, romance, horror, adventure, suspense or whatever genre.
Upload your
book on Amazon KDP, set the price for example $15 and click Publish. Your book will
appear on Amazon and anybody from around the world can buy it online. Amazon
allows you to publish a hard copy of your book as well as a digital version
(ebook). When somebody purchases your book online, Amazon will print the hard
copy and ship it to the buyer. The digital version is accessed on the Kindle
Reader Tablet. Its price is set lower than the hard copy.
The good
thing about publishing a book on Amazon is that it’s totally free and once your
book is uploaded, you don’t need to do anything except earning royalties while
you sleep and relax.
Online Tutoring Jobs
Online
tutoring is a big market with lots of part-time employment opportunities for
anyone who is qualified in their field. The market has exploded, becoming even
bigger and necessary in this Coronavirus pandemic where social distancing and
lockdowns are being implemented to prevent the spread of the virus. Millions of
parents around the world hire full and part-time tutors to help their kids with
homework. You don’t need to be a qualified teacher to work as an online tutor.
Anybody with specialized knowledge or good academic grades in specific subjects
can be an online tutor. Most online tutoring platforms pay per question
answered or per assignment done.
The
following are some of the online tutoring platforms than you can sign up for
and start helping students with their assignments:
· StudyPool
· Toogit
· VIPKid
· Tutors.com
· Teacheron.com
