We have a contribution today from the lovely Victoria Greene, a brand marketing consultant and freelance writer. Put your hands together! 

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People who suffer from chronic pain sometimes worry that they won’t be able to have a successful career. While this concern is understandable, it’s also something that can be overcome. There are lots of jobs you can do at home and in your own time. If you’re having a particularly difficult day, you can rest and save all of your energy for when you’re having a better day. You can fit your work around you and you won’t have to worry about commuting either. If you need to find a work solution like this, here are five work-from-home business ideas that could be ideal for you.

1. Writing

Can you string a few words together with at least a modicum of cohesion and elegance? If so, you might just have what it takes to become a writer. There are a lot of opportunities out there for somebody to start working from home as a writer, as businesses need them for content marketing and SEO purposes. The numbers are only increasing, too.

What’s great about writing is that if you’ve got an idea, you can get the work done with just an internet connection and some basic word processing software! Some kinds of writing work will just require you to write good content about subjects you’re familiar with – other kinds will require a little more time and research. If you’re relatively new (or inexperienced) at writing professionally, you’ll want to start with the former.

You can also use dictation software and tools to take the pressure off your typing hands — but you will need plenty of time to train the tools to react to your voice in the desired way.

2. Ecommerce

The ecommerce industry is growing all the time and sales can be a great form of ‘passive income,’ especially as a lot of ecommerce management tasks can be automated and outsourced to talented virtual teams.

There may be a lot of competition, but now could be the ideal time to set up an online shop. This is especially true if there’s a specific niche you know you can fill, or a passion project you feel compelled to follow. There are lots of ecommerce solutions out there that make it quite simple for you to put together and manage your own store from home, and you can go for one that has 24/7 support if you need a little more reassurance.

You may worry about logistics, but if you are unable to handle this side of the business (and I don’t blame you), there are options like dropshipping, which is ideal for working at home — it will make your life a lot easier, and your customers need never know!

3. Customer Support

This is the ideal kind of work for somebody who wants to work from home, but doesn’t want to lose the aspect of human interaction that comes from working with people. Lots of businesses have somebody external manage their customer support services – and that somebody could be you! This is great for people who have bubbly personalities or who love to have conversations with people, but you’ve also got to be patient with cranky customers.

Generally, the way this works is that businesses will have their customer support line redirect to your mobile phone, so that you can take the calls no matter where you are (make sure you’re being healthy about it though). Other options include using email and Skype — you can probably sort out a relatively flexible work schedule, depending on the company and their needs.

4. Social Media

If you’re a bit of a social media expert, then perhaps you could do social media marketing from your home as a service? It’s the kind of work that requires creative flair, but it’s enjoyable and relatively easy to fit around your life and daily schedule. Most social media platforms will give you the option to schedule your posts in advance. If you don’t feel like working in the middle of the day, you can schedule all of your upcoming posts at a more convenient time.

It’s easy to spend your day making a ton of posts for a single business, but not everyone wants such comprehensive social media coverage. You could instead try to offer these services to several businesses to help fill up your work day (and earn more money). With tools like Feedly available to provide you with loads of interesting and relevant content, running social media accounts has never been easier, and you can easily design shareable imagery using tools like Canva (no graphic design skills required).

5. Graphic Design & Illustration

Speaking of specialized skills, if you’re good at graphic design or illustration, then that’s another potential avenue for you to use to make money from home. There are always going to be people looking for logos, for someone to touch up images, and other little jobs like that. If you know where to look, this can be quite a useful source of income, and you can say yes to projects as they come in, declining work when you don’t feel up for it.

You might also find that there’s a market for creatively oriented visual design work on the internet. People will pay artists to draw specific things that they’d like to see. Websites like DeviantArt allow the artists who use them to take commissions for their work, and by posting more pieces, they reach and expose themselves to more people. Illustrations can also be used for loads of different celebrations and occasions, from custom wall art to corporate anniversaries.

Chronic pain does not mean that you cannot start a business and enjoy the successes that come as a result of taking charge of your own destiny. Any of these five suggestions could make for a fantastic home-based work life. There are lots of other career paths that are possible too, though some will require very specialized skill sets. You may also find, if you’re lucky, that you can get a contracted position with a business, which allows you to be entirely home-based. What’s the best work-from-home job you’ve ever encountered?

Victoria Greene: Brand Marketing Consultant and Freelance Writer.

I work with ecommerce businesses & marketing teams to create content and targeted digital strategies. I’ve worked from home many times and I’ve encountered many businesses based around this lifestyle. It’s something that is very feasible and is opening the door for more people to have meaningful careers that work around their unique needs.