9 Best Jobs Where You Work Alone

This article originally appeared on Arrest Your Debt and has been republished here with permission.

The closure of many public establishments, such as restaurants, movie theaters, and clubs, has forced many in the labor force to pursue jobs where you work alone without real human interaction.

Yet, even before the pandemic, workers have increasingly turned to jobs that do not require physical attendance at an office. People who would rather work alone and enjoy working from home seek flexibility, solitude, and the absence of conflicts that inevitably come from public gatherings.

If you seek a job where you work alone, chances are you might have motivations that include the ability to spend more time with family or be your own boss. You may also find yourself among the 25-40% of people identified as introverts.

This personality trait might involve limited public interaction, but it does not necessarily constrain your job or career path. In reality, the opportunities for introverts are diverse in terms of job descriptions and benefits.

The Benefits of Working Alone or at Home

More Productivity

If you are an introvert, you tend to produce more when you have few, if any, co-workers or people in your surroundings. In a generally isolated or contained setting, you concentrate more on the task at hand rather than taking on the identity of a “people person” and socializing in your free time. Absent are distractions such as interoffice politics and co-workers’ complaints about bosses, fellow employees, or matters not related to the particular assignment.

You likely limit your contact with others and rarely request information or clarification to finish the work. You may prefer to write rather than talk which promotes fewer disputes over expectations, agreements, assignments, and the scope of particular tasks.

Working from Home

For introverts, working from home may come as a natural choice. Whether by choice or necessity, workers have gravitated more toward using their homes like offices. Nearly 42% of workers call their place of business or employment their home. In addition, technology helps encourage a workforce that increasingly does not need to report to a physical office.

Certainly, not all economic activities can be conducted at home. For those who like to work alone at home, the ability brings several family, personal, and financial benefits:

Parents with at-home work avoid the need to find childcare. Surveys have placed the weekly price tag for a daycare center at $215. Nannies cost, on average, $565 per week.
Those who work at home save gas and reduce their risks of being involved in a motor vehicle crash because of reduced commutes to and from work.
You are available to quickly respond to emergencies or events requiring urgent action, such as a sick family member or sudden damage in the home.
You have the opportunity and ability to perform tasks at home while you work. These might include preparing meals, paying bills, and housekeeping, such as laundry or cleaning rooms.

Additional Income

You might seek a job where you work alone to give you the ability to add a side hustle. Such jobs provide a source of extra money in addition to your full-time or typical job. You also have a hedge against the uncertainties of your full-time job or the industry in which you work.

Related Read: Job Opportunities During COVID-19

The 9 Best Jobs Where You Work Alone

1. Accountants

Accountancy can take you to jobs with corporations or major firms. If you are an introvert, you can practice accounting from a small or solo office or your home. Your contact with clients involves getting financial records, such as pay stubs, checks, invoices, and sales receipts.

The end product can include cash flow statements, balance sheets, profit, loss statements, and income taxes. Introverts can thrive in accounting because you can work by yourself and produce findings in writing or calculations.

2. Actuaries

As an actuary, you rely on math and statistics to determine the chances of some event occurring and the event’s financial impact. Risk analysis involves the probability of death, workplace accidents, storms, fire, other natural disasters, crime, motor vehicle crash, and other incidents or occurrences that cause loss.

Actuaries are full-time jobs and often work for companies involving life, health, property and casualty, liability insurance, and other insurance products. Nearly seven out of ten actuaries find employment in the insurance and financial services industry. Your services as an actuary also benefit companies seeking to identify and reduce their risks and companies’ associated costs in formulating benefit plans.

3. Affiliate Marketers

In affiliate marketing, companies use you to tout their products, services, and brands to online consumers. As an affiliate marketer, you find a particular item or service and promote it. Your content explains the benefits of and how to use the product.

If you run a successful blog or popular website, affiliate marketing can allow you to expound on a subject that involves the product. For example, if you perform affiliate marketing for a generator company, you might blog about the hurricane season or the impacts of hurricanes such as power outages. In your content, you link readers interested in hurricanes to the company’s particular generator or generators.

If people click on your affiliate link, you can be paid for this referral. More commonly, you earn commissions when a customer buys a product from the link you provided on your blog or product page.

4. Chemists and Materials Scientists

Laboratories offer considerable solitude. Within these environments, scientists conduct experiments and other research and record observations.

Here, we profile chemists and material scientists. Increased awareness of medical and health issues have fueled advances in treatments, including the development of medicines. Pharmaceutical firms and health care providers employ chemists to research, test, and help develop treatments.

With growing movements in industries for environmental protection, manufacturers need chemists and material scientists to experiment and discover new processes and materials for construction and manufacturing.

Even with the demand for their services, the chemist and material scientists’ field should remain relatively small. From 2019 to 2029, the expected yearly job openings are predicted to increase by 4,300. This low increase is due to the academic rigors that you will encounter.

5. Data Entry

In a data entry job, you type and otherwise place information from hard copies or other sources into a database, spreadsheet, or other organization platforms. What you enter depends upon the particular industry or employer.

For instance, retail companies use data entry clerks to compile into lists: customers, sales prices, or outstanding amounts owed, due dates, and payments made. You might enter the names, phone numbers, and addresses (mailing, physical, or email) of customers, clients, vendors, or others involved with the business.

Data entry makes an ideal job where you work alone because you can perform your work from home or even other remote locales with internet access. If you choose to work from outside the house or the employer’s office, verify the employer or person you contract does not object. Performing data entry over public Wi-Fi networks might expose sensitive data to the risk of exposure. If you work at home, make sure your network is secure.

6. Dog Sitting

Imagine you have planned the perfect get-away. Unfortunately, you cannot take your dog, and you prefer not to leave your furry best friend alone or at a shelter.

The solution? Professional dog sitters. These service providers watch, walk, feed, and care for dogs and other animals for clients who have extended trips or want their animals to receive care while at work or on vacation. The increasing demand for dog sitting can afford you an opportunity to earn extra money as a side gig or as a long-term business.

You can advertise yourself locally through your social media, website, or the Nextdoor app to those in your community who may travel or just need help with dog grooming and other care. Leads to clients also come through the site Rover.

When you open an account through Rover.com, you join a pool through which customers can find a sitter. You have access to veterinarians’ help should the dog you are watching develop illnesses or suspicious symptoms. Flexibility takes the form of schedules and the breeds and sizes of dogs and other pets, which you can either accept or turn down.

7. Economist

An economist at heart is a collector and analyzer of data that explains the health of the economy. In this role, you study and report employment figures, gross national product, inflation, stock market growth, and other economic growth markers or decline. Much of this work involves research, statistics, models, and predictions.

As with many jobs for introverts, economists generally work independently or individually. Unless you are a professor or have a teaching role, you will generally present your findings in a written report for use by fellow economists, media members, or government members.

Some economists consult investment firms, manufacturers, retailers, or industry and trade associations on the effects of economic trends upon the value of assets. They also influence the price companies should charge for goods or services.

8. Family Therapists

Remember that introverts do not necessarily fear human contact. In reality, they thrive in intimate settings. As a family therapist, you counsel clients with marital issues or family discord in private surroundings.

These stressors and challenges to married couples and families may include divorce, substance abuse problems, unemployment, other financial deficits, anger problems, or mourning the loss of a loved one. You may counsel families whose children exhibit behavioral problems in school or at home or persist in using drugs or engaging in unhealthy and risky activity.

Those who come to you for help need comfortable spaces and privacy to fully and frankly discuss their problems, the root causes, and solutions. They also rely upon the thoughtful and empathetic qualities of therapists.

Family services organizations, clinics, and health care companies or agencies employ a fair share of marriage and family therapists. If you want a job where you work alone, you can open a private practice. Almost half of these professionals maintain private practices. You can even counsel out of your home if your local zoning codes or subdivision rules allow it.

9. Graphic Designers

With your computer, imagination, and creativity, you can design layouts for brochures, flyers, advertisements, displays, and reports. You can make book covers and promotional items such as bottles, pens, hats, and clothing as your platforms for designing layouts. While brochures and flyers involve print, users of digital media may engage graphic designers for layouts.

Graphic design includes selecting and placing images, text, fonts, colors, background, and other content. You interact with clients about their objectives and perhaps others, such as landscape architects or artists. The use of technology allows you to work remotely, including from home. To be a graphic designer, you need skills in using computers and design applications. Generally, a bachelor’s degree in graphic design or art can prove helpful in attracting clients.

Choosing the Right Job Where You Work Alone

Whether you’re chasing financial freedom or a high-income job where you don’t need to work with people, working alone can be a great way to stay focused. There is an almost unlimited number of ways to land clients and make an attractive income by working alone on your computer.

Take your passion and find a way to bring value to others with that passion. Use your spare time to build up your ideal career and focus your time and energy on making it the best side hustle turned full-time job in the future!