New jobs fueled by online platforms that help you find freelance work, are going strong.
From remote positions as a virtual assistant to moving jobs, caregiving opportunities and consulting gigs, here are a half dozen newly-reviewed online platforms that can help you find work.
New jobs
Unfortunately, not all of these new jobs are good ones. In fact, two of the six recently reviewed online platforms received substandard ratings from SideHusl.com for poor pay or rotten terms.
The remaining four platforms provided good opportunities, but several were either limited by geography or age. (Young platforms often don’t have the scale to hire widely or quickly.) That said, where these new platforms are limited or not available, we’ve recommended better established competitors.
Virtual assisting
Virtual assistant jobs are among the most attractive and flexible remote positions available for freelancers. These jobs involve handling email, scheduling, basic bookkeeping, social media and project management for busy executives.
It’s like being an executive assistant, except you work from home. And, instead of having a company dictate your hours, you generally set your own.
MyVA360 is among a half-dozen sites that help seasoned virtual assistants find clients. The site pays just $13 per hour to start, but will provide raises to those with good customer ratings. Owner Jelena Mijajlovic says the site will also help train VAs in sought-after skills, such as using Asana and HubSpot.
Other good sites to find virtual assisting work are Boldly and Belay.
Moving
Got muscle? Laborjack recruits part-time workers to provide moving and yard services. Pay ranges from $15 to $20 per hour, plus tips. But you’ve got to be able to lift up to 100 pounds.
Unlike other moving and general labor jobs, Laborjack doesn’t expect you to have a truck, a dolly or other tools of the trade. The customer provides anything you need to complete the job. Laborjack only offers muscle. The catch? While the company has national aspirations, it currently only operates in Colorado and Arizona.
More widely-available options for those who want to provide moving services, are GoShare and Truxx. For those willing to do yard work and landscaping, the best options are JiffyonDemand and GreenPal.
Surveys
PrizeRebel pays you to take surveys. However, like other survey sites, you don’t get paid much — somewhere between 50 and 70 cents for completing online questionnaires that take 10 to 20 minutes each. Since online surveys are one of the few ways you can make money while watching t.v., the low pay isn’t an overwhelming negative.
What raised our reviewer’s hackles were the myriad ways that PrizeRebel could take away even that sorry pay. From system glitches to last-minute “disqualifications,” PrizeRebel stands out as one of the poorer options in a poorly-paid field.
Better survey sites include Swagbucks, SurveyJunkie and Consumer Opinion Services. And, if you like having someone pay you for your opinions, you should also sign up for focus groups.
Focus groups convene less often, so there’s only intermittent work. But when you do get chosen for a panel, it pays pretty well — generally $15 to $50 an hour. Some worthwhile sites to sign up for focus groups: FindFocusGroups, Sifrin-Hayworth and FieldWork.
Building & Construction
Contractors looking for new clients may want to sign up with ToolBelt. ToolBelt is a referral service for general contractors, subcontractors and tradespeople. The site has a free sign up, which provides a limited number of job referrals. It also has a “pro” option, with unlimited referrals and searches.
Though the pro option is expensive at $99 per month, the free option can also get you on clients’ radar. This could be particularly helpful to contractors who are just getting started in business.
Notably, contractors review ToolBelt dramatically more positively than other building job-referral sites, such as Thumbtack, HomeAdvisor, and Handy. That may be partly because ToolBelt’s fees are transparent. At least in some markets, the site also draws significant referral business.
Personal care services
If you want to provide caregiving services in Northern California, you should know about Oneva. Oneva is a young company that provides caregiver referrals as an employee benefit. Caregivers sign up and list their services for free.
Oneva earns money by marking-up the caregiver’s rates before passing the referrals on to clients. You, as a caregiver, get 100% of the rate that you set.
The site lists babysitters, people skilled in eldercare and special needs care, as well as pet sitters, massage therapists, housekeepers and drivers. There are only two requirements: You must get a TrustLine scan. And you must provide at least two references for the services you’re listing.
Other good sites to list your child care services include UrbanSitter, GoNannies and Bambino. For eldercare, try ConnectRN, Carelinx and Care.com.
Pet sitters also can list on Rover and Wag. Drivers who want to work outside of Uber and Lyft, have a wealth of choices, including several sites that cater to transporting kids, such as Zum and Kango.
Product Testing
UTest bills itself as a way for freelancers to make money testing technology for bugs. However, there’s no guarantee that you’ll be paid for any, much less all, of your work. According to the site’s terms, you only get paid if you find a bug. And, the amount you earn if you do find something it is completely speculative. While some reviewers said they found the work stimulating, none called it lucrative.
The site also tests consumer products, but is equally opaque about how you’re paid for participating in these tests. After reviewing more than a dozen testing offers from the site, we found only one with a clear payment. That payment, $15, required that you give an unnamed application use of your Facebook page and access to your friends. It did not say why.
Other testing sites, including ProductTube and UserTesting, are better options.
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