An Important Guest Post: Working with Chronic Illness

Working with Chronic Illness

Written by James Simpson

One of the toughest things about having a chronic illness is the inability to support yourself. Some sick people have families or a spouses to support them, but not everyone has that advantage. If you have an illness which keeps you housebound, free time can be more of a burden that a luxury. Working can help bring back a sense of purpose and accomplishment. It can also provide income and fill your time with something positive. Here are some ways you can generate money even if you are stuck at home.

Writing Articles

People that run websites are always looking for good writers. If english is your first language, you already have an advantage. Writing content can sometimes be a low paying job, because you are competing with workers from economically disadvantaged countries like India or The Philippines. But, the quality of these foreign writers can often be very poor. Website owners will many times pay a premium to writers that speak english as a first language and work hard to provide good service. If you are interested in writing articles for extra money, visit the website freelancer.com. You can setup an account for free and start offering bids on projects. You may have to write articles to provide examples of your work, before any of your bids get accepted. With some persistence you can bring in $50 or more per day. It is not a fortune, but it can help pay any bills and extra expenses.

Also, avoid websites where you contribute articles on a revenue sharing basis. This is a poor way to make money off of your hard work. Your best bet would be to establish an ongoing relationship with a site owner and work on providing them with the best articles that you can. Many times you can get your price per article up if you consistently provide good work.

Starting a Blog

The internet has come to be a dominant force in our society today. It's growth will continue and affect how everyone in the world does business. As more businesses come online, knowledge of the internet will become more and more important. One of the best ways to start learning and make a little money while your at it is to start a blog. Blogs are very easy to set up and are free on many services like blogger.com and wordpress.com. Focusing on a subject that you know very well can help you write great articles. Good content will help you connect with other bloggers and will give you more exposure.

If you really want to make money with your site, you might want to focus on a subject that pays well, especially financial topics. An example of this would be to start a blog about car loans. This might not be the most fun subject to write about, but if you worked on it for a solid year or two, you might have a money making site on your hands. You can monetize the site with programs like Google Adsense or sell the "loan leads" that you generate, to lead brokers.

Learn Web Design

The great thing about learning web design is that you don't need to go to school to do it. All the information that you need is already out there online. One of the first things you can do to get started is to get a copy of the software Dreamweaver. This can help you turn the complicated code that websites are built around, into a visual format. Working with this over time will improve your skills up to the point where you might want to do some freelance jobs. A good place to find these jobs would be at freelancer.com. You will have to make a portfolio and gain some experience before taking on one of these jobs, but this is a great skill to have in the Internet Age.

Part Time Jobs

One of the toughest things about working with an invisible illness is that it can be very difficult to make people understand your situation. If you decide to work a part time job, you might have to explain your situation to your boss. This can help you get some leeway, when it comes to things like hours and sick days. An office environment can be tough if you feel very ill, but getting out of the house is essential. Not everyone with a severe illness can work in an office setting. In this instance, a freelance internet job might be your best bet.

About the author


James focuses on the site Chronic Fatigue Treatments, which serves as an informational center for people with fatiguing diseases like Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, Adrenal insufficiency, and Hypothyroidism. He also plans to improve the site by building a treatment rating system and expanding to include other illnesses.