Before I begin, I must say that I’m aware of the hardships and pain that the Covid-19 pandemic has brought many people, and I don’t want to suggest that a pandemic of this scale is a good thing in any way.

Having said that, I do also want to provide encouragement at a time when so many are facing financial struggles or who may have lost their jobs. There is a bright side!

The ongoing pandemic can in fact present a range of opportunities that we would otherwise be unable to attempt, or unwilling to explore.

The truth of the matter is, being out of a job does not have to be as threatening as we may think. In our modern digitalized world, there are more and more people who work as freelancers, work from home, or make a living by finding various gigs that fit their skill-set. For such type of work, I see three challenges.

The first challenge  – naturally the most obvious – is not having a stable source of income.  Ideally you would have saved some money to rely on during this time, but that’s not most people’s reality.  Carefully evaluate any expenses you can cut now to reduce your financial struggle.

The second challenge has to do with the added workload. Contrary to popular belief, working from home as freelancers, doesn’t mean that you can work a couple days a week and party for the rest/ In fact, there is sometimes more work required.  In addition to actually doing the task at hand, be it writing, designing, consulting, etc., you actually have to spend a lot of time finding the gig first. This requires hours of searching, and back-and-forth communication.

The last challenge, is something that is not often discussed, but is real nonetheless and what I really want to talk to you about, and show you why it should no longer be a struggle in this crazy world we are in.

I call this issue the “losing-the-race” factor.

When you are out of a job, you can’t help but look at all the people around you who are going to their stable jobs every day, and have a sure paycheck waiting at the end of the month. You always feel behind everybody around you.

This constant stress in the back of our minds, would normally leave unemployed individuals and aspiring freelancers with a great deal of stress. It may not sound like as big a deal as the previous two, but let me explain more.

When we are fully employed, and have a certain sense of security, we would rarely think to risk it by leaving the 9-5 job to go attempt something else, something new.

Whether it is a new career path, a passion project, a new business idea, or even something simple such as learning a skill or practicing a hobby – these things are always put off.  Why?

Because we are all afraid of missing out, of losing in the race to get ahead.  Because we don’t have enough time.  We worry about wasting weeks or months on something that may fail, while everyone else (seem to) progress.

Normally, very few people would risk attempting to go start something new as long as they have that sense of security. Take a moment to think about your own life. How many things have you been putting off or dismissing simply due to not having enough time, or because of the fear of falling behind?

Try to understand how big of a barrier that sense of security actually can be. Security is a great thing, but sadly, it can many times come at the price of freedom.

This is where the ongoing pandemic comes into play. The playing-field has now been levelled. All across the globe, millions of people are out of a job, and while that is a terrible thing, it means that the last factor is no longer as big of an issue.

There is a famous quote from the movie Fight Club, where Brad Pitt’s character, Tyler Durden, says: “It’s only after we’ve lost everything, that we are free to do anything.”

In the age of this global pandemic, whether you are out of a job, or are stuck at home in isolation, there is little excuse not to dive into all the things that you have been putting off for years. This is the ideal time to start something new, develop yourself, explore new areas, and take a leap-of-faith.

So where to start?

If you are recently unemployed and considering to try out the freelance lifestyle, or want to take measures that can help your future career prospects, there are a few simple things you can do now to get started, and it is the perfect time to do them!

First, you need to build an online presence. This doesn’t have to be fancy or complicated, but this is a sure way to get your future potential clients or employers interested in you. The key to becoming successful in any business, is to have clients chasing you, not the other way around. The only way to make this possible, is to put yourself out there, and create an image around yourself.

Whether you are looking for clients as a freelancer, or are trying to land a new job, you have to keep something very important in mind. When your potential client or employer looks you up (and make no mistake, they will!), what are they going to see? Just a Facebook page? Maybe a Twitter handle with some useless tweets? An out of date and unmaintained LinkedIn profile? What impression would that give? How would that make you stand out?

You have to make sure that whatever results pop up when your name is searched, paint a picture of the ideal candidate, the perfect choice for whatever an employer or client may be on the search for.

Lastly, you should explore different income streams that you can implement. For freelancers or for the unemployed, it is absolutely essential to have as many streams of income going for you simultaneously, that generate even a few bucks, on autopilot. There are literally thousands of ways in which you can do that! A lot of these take time to set up, so you do need to invest time upfront. But guess what? This is exactly what we have now. Time!

There are many things you can do to build a little lifeboat of supplementary income that will later be generated automatically.  You can earn some income now and if you later return to a ‘regular job’, this could be your backup fund for a rainy day.

There are websites (Zazzle, CafePress, etc) that allow you to upload anything from funny t-shirt designs, to old high-school essays, or beautiful photos you have taken on a trip somewhere. The task of uploading such things online can be tedious, and may not seem worth it, but trust me; if you invest some time into doing it right, it can build up in the long-run.

I’ll share one personal example. Shortly after high-school, I did a few months of part-time tutoring for ESL students, for which I had to make a few hundred short lesson-plans. After I stopped teaching, I took all those lesson plans, and uploaded them on TeachersPayTeachers.com where other teachers can buy them. It didn’t seem like much at the time, as one lesson-plan could only generate a few dollars. But I just uploaded them anyway, and left them there. To my pleasant surprise, I have been generating between $100-$200 every month from this website for the last three years! The best part, I didn’t have to do anything else since the initial upload. I just have to open an email once a month from PayPal announcing the payment receipt.  Again, there is more than one website that pays freelancers to provide lessons or mini-courses, such as Udemy.

This is just one simple idea of a source of supplementary income where you just have to invest some time in once, and then let it work for you forever! If you implement this idea across multiple platforms, you can have a monthly source of backup income, so that you don’t have to be as worried during the more difficult months.

The truth of the matter is, none of what I described above is easy work, nor is it going to be your immediate get-rich or land-a-client/job method. But these are things that we would normally never take the time and effort to do, just because our regular job or activities are in the way.

If you are sitting at home, and are already suffering from the economic effects of the pandemic, or are worried that you soon will be; now is the time! Don’t worry about the race anymore. Explore, develop, and create. Your future self will thank you for it, and you might just get a head start when the race does resume.

About the Author: Itamar is a freelance writer, journalist, and content creator. He currently lives abroad, in search of compelling stories and life-lessons to share with his readers.