According to Wikipedia the self-employment is working for one’s self. That mean you work independently without any employer.
There are different works that can be done by the people who has some computer skills. For example here are some works that can be done:-
- Article writing
- Game development
- Software development like making ordering, inventory, billing, payroll record keeping software
- Debugging
- Testing video games before launching to public
- Install, configure and implement software for organizations
- Making business applications, middleware and network control systems
- Making algorithms
- Giving online training
- Making training videos
- Making videos to promote products
- Get projects of web designing, graphic designing, database applications, web applications from freelancer sites or from your contacts
- Give online help on hourly basis
I think if you have computer at your home then you can start working easily. It is better than you work 9:00 to 6:00 office job. Suppose you want to give time to your social activities then if you are doing job then it is hard to manage time. But if you are working at your home then you can give time to social activities easily as you wish. You can get time to dating whenever you want. There is no rule to work. You make your own rules. If you start your work by your own and it succeeds then you can start and manage some other business as well. So you can run multiple businesses at the same time and mange time to them easily. You can work on hourly basis also. Also if you wish that in some days you have no mood to work then you can break and rest. If you are working on any project and you tired then you can take rest for some time but if you are in office then it is hard to get rest as you wish.
There is also reducing in expenses like your travel, computer equipment, cell phones and uniforms. You have to not prepare for your office and get dressed and shoes polish. But if you are working on your own then you can dress as you like. No one can fire you. If your customer is not good with you and hurt you then you can easily reject it. Also if you are fired then you lost your income instantly but if you are working on your own then there are no way of losing your monthly income.
If you want to give time to facebook and twitter then it is easily manageable and also you can chat with your friends as you like and whenever you like and no time limit.
It is little hard to learn at first stage about the technologies and skills but once you have hand on it then you can enjoy your work.
Now let me discuss which of the tasks you can do to earn your income.
Article writing
Article writing is one of the best methods to earn income. There are different ways you can earn by writing articles. If you want to write for some other website then it requires a sample article from you. The sample article should be in good quality and without grammatical mistakes. Some websites pay you depending upon the number of words and your expertise. If you wish that you write and publish your article for your own site, for this you have to buy a domain. A single article can give you 20-100 dollars in long term. At the beginning if you start build your own blog and write article its probability that you not earn any income. It takes some months to be getting some income. The website profitability depends upon how many visitors you are getting on your site. If you have more visitors then it means more income. At start don’t put google ads on your site. In starting few months you may get only cents in a day. But at later days you will be getting dollars in a day and the increase in income continues. I have seen people who are earning $10,000 to $30,000 per month by only writing articles on their site.
If your blog become popular then you can hire editors and writer for your site. The editors manage the authors and authors write articles for your site. So you take rest at your bed and your income getting in hand monthly. If you are getting lot of visitors on your site then most companies contact you and request you to put reviews of their products on your website. So those companies give you money also if you discuss something about their products.
Work as software engineer
You can work as software engineer at your home also. To work as a software engineer you need a computer degree but it is not essential. Different certification is also good for your skills. Good communication skills are better. You have to keep up to date with latest technologies. If you have good grip on programming languages like php, java, .net or oracle then you can make different desktop and web applications. Some companies also give you task to install software and configure application on different systems. There are many websites on net where you can help other people and get paid on hourly or minute basis. You can also advertise on your own site that you can give services in web and software application development. If you develop some software for a company or customer then it is probably long term contact because at later stage they want to upgrade their software. Some companies also contact you for testing and debugging in software. Like a company make a game and they want to test it before launching to public. You have to be sharp enough to test the game and also the defects and speed problem the game having. You will be paid on hourly basis.
I advise you to not work continuously because it causes eyestrain, hand and wrist problems and back problem. And also give close attention to detail of the project.
Give online training and making videos
If you have good skills on graphic designing, web development, php, .net, java, oracle, adobe software then you can give online training. Online training is becoming popular these days. You can put ads on your site that you give online training. People who are willing to get training will contact you. You can also make demo videos for the users who are interesting in getting online training from you.
There is also another task that is making videos to promote products of different companies. Companies will pay you for each video.
You can also make your training cd and sell them online. Most of students don’t have time to go to academies or maybe there is no institute near them so online training is best option for them to learn.
Some of people argue that it is difficult to get students online but believe me if you make sample videos and insert them on your site or upload to youtube then you should get students. Some people are also hesitating to give you money online but if you have good ranking of your site and customers believe on you then they give you money on behave of your trust.
You can also become good freelancer and earn money. Also check how to become freelancer for tips and list of popular freelancer sites available.