Have you tried some of the common online jobs but ended giving up because you found them to be overwhelming? Today I bring good news! There are other online ventures that don’t require much to get started and you can find them to be quite simple. Some will even align with your hobbies.

1. Recording Voice-Overs

A voice-over is the recorded speech that guides an audience while watching documentaries and tutorials. Radio advertisements consist of voice-overs accompanied by jingles. Successful businesses usually incorporate voice-overs in their online-based video advertisements due to one reason. It creates a strong professional image and this resonates well with consumers.

Fiverr, a popular freelancing website has voice-over gigs that connect businesses with voice-over artists. Just like a typical radio or television advertisement, the client provides you with a script. If you’re good at delivering speech in either American or British accents, that’s a huge advantage.

If you’re interested in becoming an online-based freelance voice-over artist, you’ll need the following resources.

A USB Home Studio Microphone available on Jumia or Kilimall.
A pair of headphones.
Sound editing software. WavePad is pretty decent.
A quiet environment to record your speech.

2. Creating original jingles

In advertising, a jingle is a song or melody that’s present in radio or TV promotions. Advertising agencies prefer working with freelance music composers because they are affordable compared to mainstream music producers.

The best-paying jingles are those that require the freelancer to compose an original song. Why? It’s simply because the client pays you for composing lyrics and an original melody. However, once the client approves the project, he or she owns all the intellectual rights. This means you cannot claim any royalty payments from YouTube.

Are you a good piano player who’s ready to make money through composing jingles? You’ll need to sign up on Fiverr or UpWork to connect with clients. The next step is downloading a music digital audio work software such as FruityLoops. You’ll need it to enable you to use various musical instruments and special effects in your projects. The most important equipment is a music keyboard.

If you have one already, you’ll probably need a USB MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) converter cable. It enables you to plug in your musical keyboard to the computer and compose jingles using Fruity Loops.

3. Producing beats for upcoming musicians

Did you know that it costs Ksh10,000-Ksh 15,000 to record a decent song in Kenya?

This high cost is the main reason why many upcoming artists struggle to establish themselves. In America, talented music producers create original compositions then sell them on Airbit, SoundCloud, and SendBeatsTo. The wide diversity in music means you can specialize in more than one genre. Rock, Hip Hop and EDM are the highest selling genres according to Billboard Top 100 charts.

Fortunately, Fiverr also has a gig that enables budding music producers to sell their compositions to artists from all over the world. If you’re the best keyboard player in your church, you can sell piano instrumentals to either locally-based or international gospel worship artists. The best part about being a freelance music producer is complete control over pricing. Some successful freelance producers even fetch $500 dollars for just a single beat.

YouTube has hundreds of tutorials on how to produce different genres using FruityLoops and Logic Pro. The latter is Apple’s digital audio workstation for Macintosh computers. You’ll also need social media pages where you can post the respective links to your music portfolio.

4. Creating ebook covers

The first thing that usually comes to mind whenever you hear about graphic design is logos. However, most tech-savvy companies opt to purchase a copy of Photoshop and have interns design logos for products.

Have you ever thought about how authors create books? It’s obvious that no book can sell without having an attractive cover. An author needs a good artist to design enticing images that vividly capture the book’s main theme. Nowadays, authors also use book covers to promote upcoming projects on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Upcoming authors prefer publishing ebooks due to affordability and ease of distribution. This is a large market niche’ that always has a high demand for good graphic designers because reading never has off-peak seasons. Fiverr is the preferred source for most aspiring authors because one can get an original ebook cover for as little as $5 dollars.

5. Designing music-related artwork

Let’s tread back to working with upcoming musicians.

Virtually all aspiring musicians dream of signing with a prominent record label. These companies have adequate resources and important networks to propel a musician into stardom. Whenever a signed-musician plans to release an album, the record label provides a seasoned artist to design the artwork. This is where a graphic artist designs images for the front and back CD covers. It’s usually an expensive project.

Budding musicians who lack mammoth-sized album budgets still need impressive album covers to promote their content. This high demand for artwork benefits graphic designers since it opens up an extra revenue stream. Pricing depends on the complexity of the cover. You’ll charge higher if the musician wants you to draw original images as compared to using photographs.

After creating a gig on Fiverr, you can market yourself on SoundCloud Community. This is a large interactive forum where upcoming musicians representing different genres meet to bond and discuss important issues affecting the music industry.

Summing it up

YouTube contains tutorials that will help you get started on becoming either a music producer or ebook cover designer. You need an insatiable thirst for knowledge in order to continuously improve your output. Quality matters more than price because clients are quick to judge freelancers based on results.

A good freelancer usually invests in knowledge. In addition to watching YouTube tutorials, enroll in various online courses on Udemy. You’ll become better in your field when you have an experienced tutor that’s ready to answer all your questions.

Online opportunities

5 Other Online Opportunities that Kenyans Can Take Advantage of

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