If you’re looking for the best remote freelance jobs that pay well, then this blog post is just what the doctor ordered.
Whether you’re a new freelancer trying to make sense of this crazy new world, or a side hustlin’ OG wanting to make a massive shift to greener pastures, I’ve got you covered.
Instead of simply presenting you with a list of the “best” options, I want to dive a bit deeper and break up my recommendations into categories that will match your situation so that you can assess what path makes the most sense to achieve your desired outcome.
The best remote freelance job is way different for a stay at home mom than it is for the professional programmer looking to go off on their own for the first time. So it’s important to consider your unique situation, financial goals, and non-negotiables.
As of 2022, the average yearly income of a freelancer is sitting around: $67,169 to give you an idea of what’s possible. It’s important to note that averages could be realistic for you, but so could making a lot more or less.
With that being said, this first category of jobs is for those of you who are FED up.
Best Paying Freelance Jobs For Those of You That Hate Your Current Job
One of the most common reasons for someone to make the switch to freelancing is because they hate their current job. Do any of these sound familiar to you:
- Your supervisor is the worst.
- You’ve been there for a few years but haven’t received a raise.
- Every contribution you make or try to make isn’t taken seriously.
- The only reason you make the 45 minute commute every day is for a paycheck but the actual work has no soul.
If you’ve been nodding your head so hard that it’s close to falling off, you’re this kind of freelancer. For you, the start of your freelancing journey is going to be crucial to not fall into the same patterns within your freelancing business.
You’ve got to sit down and really analyze what you’re dissatisfied with at your current job before making a decision about which freelancing job to pursue. I suggest getting a cup of coffee on a saturday morning and making a long list of what you want and don’t want out of a job when you start freelancing.
As an example, it might look like this:
Alright, now that you’ve anchored yourself, let’s go over the top 5 freelance jobs for folks like you who hate their jobs.
Online Advertising Copywriter
Online copywriting, particularly direct response copywriting, is the practice of creating web content with the goal of compelling a user to convert or become a customer. Think writing for the title of a Google ad.
Skills needed: Scrappy, creative, quick witted, lover of the english language, command of human psychology.
Average yearly pay: $71,919
Pros:
- You get to show off your work
- Most of the time you’ll be working with a team
- You’ll be helping the businesses you work with directly make money
Cons:
- Can lose motivation when you have a lot of writing to do with a short deadline
- Creative freedom can be an issue with some companies
- Scope creep from micromanaging clients
Executive Virtual Assistant
A virtual assistant is someone who assists a business owner or someone within a business with their day to day business related tasks. These could be anything from answering emails, updating their email marketing list, and even sending invoices.
An executive assistant is someone who helps out the CEO, founder, president or any other high level member of the leadership team.
Skills needed: Attention to detail, good with people, great active listening, efficient, isn’t put off by taking direction or orders.
Average yearly pay: $51,097
Pros:
- Get to work on multiple types of tasks each day
- Clear direction about what’s expected from you
- You are helping to organize someone else’s busy life
Cons:
- Clients can be over demanding (paying their personal bills for them)
- Not a ton of autonomy
- Mistakes could have big consequences since you represent a highly important person
Social Media Manager
Social media marketing has been on the rise for a while now and is consistently in high demand. As a social media manager you will be managing the day to day strategy and implementation of a company or person’s social media profiles.
This could be writing a new Instagram post, scheduling two tweets for next week, setting up paid ads on Quora, or creating an infographic on Canva to be used on Facebook.
Skills needed: Eye for design, up to date on popular culture, love of social media, creativity, enjoy writing.
Average yearly pay: $54,360
Pros:
- Get to be on social media all day
- You can flex your creative muscles
- Freedom to make fun decisions if the company isn’t familiar with social media
Cons:
- Need to be up to date with what’s fresh and relevant in your industry
- Might have to post and be ready to react at odd hours
- Mistakes are public
Online English Tutor
English tutoring has become extremely popular as the global economy has taken off in conjunction with remote working and video conferencing.
Even better, it doesn’t require a degree, certificate, or any kind of specialization beyond having a good command of the English language. Since it’s done online through scheduled video conferencing, this is an excellent leap into freelancing.
Skills needed: Patience, good understanding of grammar, dedication, a big heart.
Average yearly pay: $52,568
Pros:
- Lessons are scheduled and little prep is needed in between sessions
- You are making a difference in someone’s life
- No technical skills required
Cons:
- Requires a ton of patience
- You’ll be spending a lot of face to face time with people over video
- Time zone differences might be an issue for you
Best Paying Freelance Jobs For Those of You That Want Flexibility
It’s one thing to know you need to get out of your soul sucking job ASAP, but it’s another thing to want to completely change your lifestyle.
If you’re like me, the freedom to wake up and choose what I want to do each day beats anything else and so flexibility was the number one reason I started freelancing in the first place.
The following are the best paying jobs for people who value flexibility of work environment, expectations, and hours.
App Developer/Programmer
As a freelance programmer, coder, or software developer, you’re almost always going to know more than your client, atleast at first. The flexibility with this job comes from you being able to take charge and decide for your client the best way to get the code written or app built.
There are hundreds of different programming languages and many different levels of skill needed depending on the project, but if you already have coding experience or enjoy solving complex problems, you’ll be able to learn and quickly grow into this job type.
Skills needed: Focus, logical thinker, able to work on abstract problems, value independence, solutions oriented.
Average yearly pay: $75, 782
Pros:
- Not a lot of interaction with other human beings
- You get to solve interesting problems
- Can be done with simple equipment and minimal software
Cons:
- A lot of pressure from your clients if you’re creating their product from scratch
- Will be expected to have a certain level of expertise from day 1
- Typically paid on a per project basis
Bookkeeper/Accountant
Every business will need a bookkeeper or accountant at some point, and there are many small business owners who are especially dazed and confused with doing their own tax, payroll, and general accounting. Bookkeeping involves you keeping track of and organizing a company’s financial transaction data, whereas accounting involves reviewing the data, analyzing findings, identifying trends, and preparing reports to be used for major decisions like tax filing.
Skills needed: Patience, enjoy small details, communication with clients about their actions, good handle on math.
Average yearly pay: $54,888
Pros:
- In high demand
- Services are very well received and appreciated by clients
- With bookkeeping you can get started right away with some basic training
Cons:
- Accounting requires certification
- Mistakes are costly and you’ll have to triple check your work
- The day to day can get boring if you don’t like details
Technical Writer
The hallmark of a great technical writer is being able to understand and communicate complex topics through their words for a client. Think of a biotechnology startup who needs some thought leadership on their blog. Or an ebook for new dev teams on how to migrate their app to kubernetes. Your job is to take the complexity and wordsmith it into something that other humans can digest easily while keeping the subject matter expertise intact.
Skills needed: Excellent research abilities, able to negotiate your point of view, thick skin, passion for words, able to meet regular deadlines.
Average yearly pay: $69,365
Pros:
- You can work from anywhere with little technology
- Get to research tons of interesting topics
- Help clients make sense of what they do beyond the technical
Cons:
- Intense research will be needed at times beyond your realm of understanding
- Clients will be extremely picky about their knowledge and how it’s presented
- Get paid per completed project
Technical Editor (Medical, Science, Tech)
As a technical editor you will be reviewing documents and content for grammar, spelling, syntax, accuracy, and overall flow. It will be your job to ensure that the content is well put together and conveys the intended message by the client.
The fields of medicine, science, and technology / software companies will be the most lucrative because they are also the most complex.
Skills needed: Skeptical eye, patience, open to learning regularly, consistent, able to focus for long periods of time.
Average yearly pay: $67,243
Pros:
- You are the last line of defense towards a great finished product
- Get to learn something interesting every day
- For these fields, you work could result in large societal changes
Cons:
- You are the last line of defense towards a great finished product (not a typo)
- Massive pressure and expectations from the client
Graphic Designer
Freelance graphic designers can perform a wide variety of tasks for clients including logo design, web design, color palette creation, sales materials, business cards, banners for paid ads campaigns, and more.
The goal with this job type is to develop a few complementary skill sets as a specialty. That way you will gain expertise more quickly and begin to be able to charge more for higher quality work over time.
Skills needed: Highly creative, able to work with teams, love for human behavior, ability to see into the future without direction.
Average yearly pay: $55,810
Pros:
- You get to see your work out in the wild and show it off
- Wide degree of creative freedom
- Get to work with technology, and psychology, and art all at the same time
Cons:
- Clients usually aren’t clear with what they want done
- A lot of one of project work
- Tasks can be repetitive
Best Paying Freelance Jobs For Those of You That Don’t Have A Lot Of Money
Another common reason for new freelancers making the jump is due to lack of money.
If you are experiencing difficult times with your finances or even simply want to make some money on the side for a big purchase, then you’ll want to start with these job types.
The focus here is these jobs can be done with relatively little formal training or certification, and have the ability to scale quickly as your skills develop and you position yourself correctly.
Business / Sales Development Rep
Sales is a dirty word to some, but no matter what path you take in freelancing, you’ll have to sell yourself eventually.
As a freelance job, a business development rep (also known as a sales development rep) is in high demand and you will be responsible for developing new business relationships, finding potential new customers, and closing new deals for the client.
In order for this to work well for you in the beginning, find a client with an established and profitable business who wants to grow, versus someone with no reputation and no existing leads.
Skills needed: Perseverance, desire to work hard to achieve results, no fear of rejection, good ethics, an inviting demeanor.
Average yearly pay: $61,089
Pros:
- Unlimited earning potential
- You get to talk to people all day
- Don’t need a ton of formal training or equipment to start
Cons:
- Rejection can be painful when you’ve been awhile without a sale
- Income is directly tied to performance
- Newer companies will put a lot of pressure on you to succeed if they don’t have any other ways of getting new customers
Web Developer
Despite being more popular than ever, finding a good web developer can be a challenge for many business owners.
Building an excellent website or developing a web app that goes above and beyond is something clients are more than willing to pay good money for.
As a web developer you will be tasked with working on existing websites, creating new websites, optimizing the performance of websites, making updates to existing content as needed, and ensuring that the website is functioning and secure.
Skills needed: Mathematical brain, love of problem solving, curiosity, desire to make things work at all costs.
Average yearly pay: $81,242
Pros:
- There’s a ton of tools and resources to learn the skills
- Huge and constant demand
- Use both the creative and logical side of your brain every day
Cons:
- Unclear client expectations
- Competition
- Until you prove yourself, clients will try to undermine your work and underpay
Data Analyst
With the rise of digital marketing and advancements of user behavior tracking over the last decade, data specialists and analysts are more popular than ever.
Business owners and marketing teams are hungry to learn how their efforts are translating to the growth of the company.
As a data analyst you will be asked to ensure that all of your analytics tools are recording and sending the proper data. You will also need to be well versed in analyzing the data to find meaning, finding trends, building reports/dashboards to visualize the data, and presenting your findings to your clients in a way they can understand.
Skills needed: The eye of a hawk, ability to observe without bias, math, using tools to make sense of other tools.
Average yearly pay: $83,724
Pros:
- You make a huge impact on the growth of the company and their decisions when you do your job right
- Get to work with everyone within an organization from marketing to sales to leadership
- Can use skills across every industry and platform
Cons:
- Bias is hard to recognize
- Mistakes can be very costly for the client
Consultant
As a consultant you will be tasked with identifying a core problem that your client has and working with them through a process you design (or borrow) in order to produce a desired outcome.
One example of this is a business consultant. Say that a new company is wanting to understand their competitors before building any new features into their product.
As their consultant, you would go through a competitor gap analysis and present your findings to them with specific recommendations of features they should and shouldn’t build based on your research.
The great part about being a consultant is you don’t need to be a 10 year veteran in the industry, you only need to have more knowledge than your client and a specific system outlined to help them solve their problem.
Skills needed: Empathy, decisiveness, results oriented, confidence.
Average yearly pay: $77,903
Pros:
- You have a high degree of flexibility and choice with how you consult
- Can work with multiple people at once
- Rewarding work when done properly
Cons:
- Gaining credibility takes time for bigger projects
- Work can get repetitive
Software Technical Support Specialist
With the rise of tech companies in the last decade, there has been a huge demand for people to help answer questions from customers who have a problem with the product.
In the technical support specialist role, you will have to learn the ins and outs of a product or technology platform, answer questions from customers or potential customers, and ensure an excellent customer experience until their needs are resolved.
This is great if you need money quickly because you can start earning right away without a large amount of training and because these jobs are in high demand, there’s often a bonus associated with good performance.
Skills needed: Patience, desire to help people, patience (not a typo), learn quickly.
Average yearly pay: $44,234 (plus bonus)
Pros:
- Solve a lot of problems for people everyday
- Learn interesting things about tech
- Quick and simple to get started
Cons:
- Can be overwhelming when customers are upset
- Have to be in front of a screen most of the day
Best Paying Freelance Jobs For Those of You That Already Have A Lot Of Money
If this speaks to you, then you are in the most interesting position out of anyone else on this list. If you’re already well off in life, or have even retired altogether, freelancing is likely a way to stay active, stay connected, and maybe even make a difference in the world.
All of the following jobs are ways to make a good bit of income while also focusing on pursuits that are creatively stimulating and help others in a meaningful way. These freelancing jobs are ones that will make you feel good at the end of the day.
Business Coach
There are many different ways to coach someone. You can become a sports coach, a college exam coach, or even simply a business success coach. It all depends on your interests and life experience.
Freelance business coaching is all about going on the journey with your client and helping them make the right decisions along the way in order to become the best versions of themselves.
It’s less about telling them what to do, and more about working with them to discover and arrive at the correct answers on their own, but from a place of increased confidence and clarity.
Skills needed: Empathy, love for humanity, a teacher’s heart, sturdy morals.
Average yearly pay: $73,584
Pros:
- Real relationships with your clients
- Learn the ins and outs of business by interacting with so many people
- All you need to get started is a way to communicate and your brain
Cons:
- Expectations can be misaligned with the value you provide clients
- Establishing credibility early will be a challenge
Videographer
When you’re a freelance videographer you won’t be filming elaborate scenes in person as much as a traditional videographer would (unless you stick to your local geography), and you can look forward to a lot of video editing and helping with the creative direction of the videos that your clients need produced.
As a freelance videographer you should be well versed in the latest video editing tools, best practices around video marketing, and comfortable helping your clients to refine their vision.
Some video professionals also make money by filming stock video to be used on websites that provide libraries of media to be purchased by users. This is less likely to result in a big payout in the short term, but can be a solid source of passive income.
Skills needed: Vision, detail oriented, ability to sit through monotonous edits, desire to take risks
Average yearly pay: $51,789
Pros:
- Your work is public and you can show it off
- Heavily creatively focused and you’ll be asked to help refine creative vision for clients
- Work independently for most of the job
Cons:
- Can feel isolating without a team
- Revisions can be daunting and time consuming
- Scope creep is real when it comes to aligning on client expectations
Voice Actor
Your job as a voice over actor is crucial to the PR, marketing, and promotional campaigns for companies looking to grow through new forms of media.
It will be your job to make their product demo come to life, or talk through the value of their service to potential customers as they watch an animated explainer video.
This job will be a ton of fun and allow you to dive in head first into your creative side.
Skills needed: confidence, understanding of yourself, self promotion, great vocal cords, high energy.
Average yearly pay: $74,264
Pros:
- Don’t need to be face to face with the client
- Can appear in commercials or other high visibility campaigns
- Can do it from just about anywhere
Cons:
- Usually needs equipment to be purchased
- First handful of jobs might not be high paying while you find your niche
- Clients unsure of what they want
Travel Planner
With travel planning, there is some competition from the trip planning websites like Kayak or Travelocity. However, what those sites can’t do is get to know their clients and provide personalized feedback based on their desires or your own experiences with the destinations.
The role of a travel planner is less about handling the logistics of the trip (although that can be a part of your offer), and more so about helping your client map out and bring to life the overall experience of their dreams.
It’s a good idea for you to enjoy traveling by yourself and have a passion for helping others to experience the world and other cultures as well.
Skills needed: Fun, passionate about travel, tenacious, not afraid to take charge, excellent communication skills.
Average yearly pay: $53,705
Pros:
- You are helping people make lifetime memories
- Can use your research in your own life
- Always interesting
Cons:
- Can feel a lot of pressure to get it right
- Have to be incredibly precise with some recommendations involving travel requirements or the health of your clients
- Can be feast or famine depending on “travel seasons”
Summary Of The Top 18 Freelance Jobs That Pay Well
- Online Advertising Copywriter
- Executive Virtual Assistant
- Social Media Manager
- Online English Tutor
- App Developer/Programmer
- Bookkeeper/Accountant
- Technical Writer
- Technical Editor
- Graphic Designer
- Business Development Rep
- Web Developer
- Data Analyst
- Consultant
- Technical Support Specialist
- Coach
- Videographer
- Voice Actor
- Travel Planner
And that’s it! Happy freelancing!
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Sources
- https://www.ziprecruiter.com/Salaries
- https://careersidekick.com/top-freelance-careers/
- https://www.upwork.com/resources/highest-paying-freelance-jobs
- https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/pay-salary/highest-paying-freelance-jobs
- https://www.i-to-i.com/tefl-blog/teaching-english-online/pros-and-cons/
