Gigs During the Era of COVID-19

I was recently asked by a friend to give her some online gigs for extra income. She has recently being laid off since her company could not sustain their current workforce with the coronavirus wrecking havoc on the usual economic wheel. Finding a job takes time and in the meantime, she has to eat! Unemployment money only goes so far and that process takes some time to approve as well.

This situation of suddenly finding oneself without a job is not unique to her. In the past, I have been in a similar boat, though not due to the coronavirus, and hence I figure I can put together a list of online gigs that I have examined or partook in.

In general, here are a few links to help you get started:
 
https://www.reddit.com/r/WorkOnline/
This is a great forum to connect from others and learn about online opportunities.

https://www.roberthalf.com/jobs/creative
More of a job posting site and there are full-time work as well as gigs.

https://talent-appen.icims.com/jobs/search?ss=1&hashed=-435655911&mobile=false&width=1425&height=500&bga=true&needsRedirect=false&jan1offset=-360&jun1offset=-300
Ready to find a long-term gig? Appen may be good for you.

https://realwaystoearnmoneyonline.com/work-at-home-job-leads/
Constantly updated list of jobs that you can do online!

Writing Gigs

Writing gigs range from writing blogs online to full-fledged ghost writing. They usually pay by the word, page or article.

Livingston Research
https://livingston-research.com/freelancer 
Do freelance writing and get paid.

Writers Access
https://www.writeraccess.com/talent-overview/
Write, edit or translate and get paid. How much? That depends on the client!

Upwork
https://www.upwork.com/i/how-it-works/freelancer/
One of the most popular freelancer sites out there for writers (and other types of work). However, you really have to stand out since you'll be rated by your clients and you'll be competing with a bunch of other highly qualified freelance writers.

Go Transcript
https://gotranscript.com/
If you type fast and can listen well, this may work for you. This doesn't pay the best even if you're a fast typer but you do get paid.

CACTUS
https://cactusglobal.com/careers/work-from-home
If you're a scholar with a background in the humanities or medicine, you can apply for online jobs here!

Micro-work Gigs

Micro-work is defined as tiny tasks that you do. A lot of companies require some user input to do something computers are incapable or are inefficent at doing. Typically, these range from $1 to $10. You do a bunch of those and when you accumulate enough minimum dollars, you can cash out.

Amazon Turk
https://www.reddit.com/r/HITsWorthTurkingFor/new/
https://www.mturk.com/
Amazon has a lot of microtasks which need to be done. These are called HITs (Human Intelligence Tasks). Unfortunately, many of them take a lot of effort for the amount you actually get paid for. This Reddit page offers insight into tasks that are actually worth the time.

Clickworker
https://www.clickworker.com/clickworker/?customer=false 
A popular microwork site where you can create or correct texts, take surveys, or search and categorize data.

Idle Empire
https://www.idle-empire.com/earn 
Do some surveys, complete some offers, watch some videos, etc.

microWorkers
https://www.microworkers.com/
A popular microwork site where you can do things like transcribe shopping lists, annotate images, take surveys, transcribe audio, review classifications, etc. 

Testable Minds
https://minds.testable.org/browse
Testable Minds is a platform where you can participate in many psychological/behavioral experiments and other studies from the world's leading universities. It is an ongoing thing, with a constant flow of new studies.

Other Gigs

Houston Focus Groups
https://findfocusgroups.com/paid-focus-groups/houston/ 
Join a focus group and earn some cash. Note that many of these focus groups require you to be eligible in some way, e.g. you're between 18 - 28 and you smoke. You can apply but there is no guarantee that you will be selected. They do pay fairly well for the time you spend though.

School Solver
https://www.schoolsolver.com/
Solve problems that students post online! You will get paid for each question answered. As stated on the website:

Skill Share

https://www.skillshare.com/teach 

Create an online course and teach folks. They pay. You earn. This may take a little while but your imagination and knowledge (and some marketing), you can definitely make some cash. Best thing is that you do it once and you can keep earning.

 

volKno

https://volkno.com/welcome

For movie and TV lovers, rejoice! You can watch videos and get paid. Unfortunately, you get paid by reward points which can only be redeemed for gift cards on their store. Not a good way to actually buy your groceries unless you can find something on Amazon.