The World was not prepared for the advance of the all-pervading storm, that is Covid-19. A storm that has invaded our lives in every possible way. Scientists, the best analytic minds and forecasters foresaw the potential difficulties the World would face but perhaps not something quite as horrific as what we have experienced in the last four months. The Covid-19 pandemic has increased the pressures to maintain everyday life. Our welfare has taken a severe beating – emotionally, mentally, socially, physically and financially. Being in quarantine for such a long time, 120 days and counting in South Africa has taken a huge toll on sustaining our well-being.
Our government chose a hard lockdown. We started at level five, a strict restriction of movement was enforced. Only essential workers were allowed to work, that is health workers, those providing our food and those who protect us. A strict curfew was in place, we were allowed to only leave the house to buy food and medicine at specific times. We were not allowed ( still not allowed) to see our loved ones, not allowed to travel, exercise, when we do venture outside we have, had to learn to move about extremely cautiously. A ban on alcohol sales and cigarettes is in place. The Government opened many sectors of the economy in level 3 June 2020 , however some restrictions still remain.
When the lockdown was first announced our President Cyril Ramaphosa said he was trying to balance the overriding objective of saving lives and protecting livelihoods. He also said this harsh decision would allow our medical system to prepare for the impending influx of Covid 19 patients, this decision helped slow down the infection rate dramatically. The opening of the economy at beginning of June has resulted in a drastic increase of infections and hospitalisations.
Hospitals are under severe pressure, government is still in the process of building makeshift hospitals and supplying field beds in the hotspot areas like Gauteng Province, the epicentre. Many health workers are testing positive for Covid and in some areas there is a shortage of nursing staff. The figures are terrifying to say the least, 408000+ infections, 6000+ deaths and 236000+ recoveries. The recovery rate in South Africa is greater than the death rate, it’s very encouraging even though one death is a death too many. South Africa is the epicentre on the continent of Africa, infections including South Africa sit at 750000 as of 24th July 2020.
We faced many unknown , unknowns at the beginning of this pandemic. Economically the hard lockdown decision was never going to be sustainable. South Africa was already in a recession before the pandemic hit. 40% of South Africans live below the poverty line and before the lockdown the unemployment rate at the first quarter of the year sat at around 30.1% according to STATS SA. This figure was published end of March 2020 after its Quarterly Labour Force Survey. This has risen, many have lost their jobs and many more will too before the end of the year.
7 July 2020 Media24 Publishing Company announced its considering the closure of five magazines and more than three newspapers. They also plan to take print publications to digital only platforms. This restructuring process could likely result in about 600+ South Africans losing their jobs, adding these job losses to the culling that has already been happening across many sectors of the economy. Many small businesses have succumbed and other’s have suffered devastating financial losses brought about by the pandemic, many of them might not be able to reopen. Media24 has joined a growing list of Publishing Companies who have permanently closed or reduced its publications. Including Associated Media Publishing, owners of Cosmopolitan Magazine and Caxton also recently withdrew from publishing magazines.
Avid readers like myself are at huge disadvantage because of this, there will be fewer choices and less diversity of opinion in print media. Print media operations were already in state of fragility because of the growth of digital media. The onset of the pandemic has greatly reduced the circulation of papers and magazines. Game stores also announced impending retrenchment after 24 Media’s announcement. It is also predicted that 117000+ will lose their jobs in the Western Cape in the hospitality and tourism industry. We hear stories every week about retrenchments and job losses all over the country. This is a very frustrating and terrifying time we are living in. The future may appear bleak, however there are few creative ways to create an income.
1) Create a blog.
This is not a get rich quick scheme. If you do it right you could make enough to support your family. A common way bloggers make money is by placing ads on their sites. —CPC/PPC ads: Cost per click also called pay per click. When a reader clicks on the link, you receive a payment. CPM ads: Cost per 1000 impressions, you receive a fixed payment based on many readers view your ads. The most popular network for placing your ads is Google Adsense, with this program you do not need to be in direct contact with the advertisers. You place a banner on your site, Google then chooses the ads relevant to your content and readers then click on those ads.
• Sell Private Ads- If your blog has a substantial following and enough traffic, advertisers may contact you and ask you place their ads on your site. Or you can also approach advertisers yourself. Private Ads come in the form of banners, links or buttons. You can also write sponsored posts where you review a product or service…
• Affiliate marketing is another option to make money with blogging. An advertiser has a product they want to sell and you agree on a commission for every sale when a buyer purchases said product through your site. The advertiser may also give you a link that tracks your affiliate code. This allows the advertiser to keep track of when buyers use your link to make purchases. And you can also add your affiliate link on your site, when a reader clicks on your unique link and purchases a product you recommended you can receive a percentage of the purchase. Amazon Associates is an affiliate marketing network you can use.
• You can sell digital products…..eBooks, Online courses/workshops, photos, apps and plugins.
• You can also use your blog as a marketing tool for your business, a tool that will drive visitors to your actual physical business.You can also use your blog to build your credibility. If you have a large enough following and become a popular source of information, this may result in you being a recognized figure in your industry and you become the “go to guy”.
Create quality content on your blog, remember to always put your reader first. Readers are the ones who will make money for you by clicking on your ads and buying your recommended products. Also create relationships with other bloggers your sponsors and affiliate marketers. Relationships with other bloggers will direct traffic to your blog. There are several websites that offer Blog creation courses.
www.skillshare.com , these are just a few, you can find many more online and skillshare.com offers some free classes.
2) Get paid to write online.
If you have always loved writing and wanted to write professionally but you were afraid to or life got in the way. What better time to start than now during the lockdown? Many online writing jobs don’t pay, however there are a few websites where you can make money with your high quality creativity.
• Publish a book on Kindle, Amazon paid over $300 million to self published authors on it’s Kindle platform in 2019. It’s very competitive but if you create something worthwhile, it will be very lucrative for you. https://kdp.amazon.com
• Become a Clickworker, Clickworker is a website which offers jobs and tasks that you can do at home. The tasks includes anything from taking pictures if you are a keen photographer to creating audio. You will find something you are comfortable doing. www.clickworker.com
• Sell your story, Magazines and websites will pay for everything especially personal dramatic stories. www.realpeoplemag.co.uk pays £2000 for stories. There are groups you can find on Facebook, like FeatureMe. They offer around $500 for feature stories.
3) Work as a Virtual Assistant
Remote call centre representatives and remote tech support. You need to have a strong WiFi connection in your home. In June Amazon announced 3000 jobs in SA. A few are still available.
https://www.businessinsider.co.za/tech/amazon-is-hiring-for-3000-positions-in-sa-2020-6;
4) Join Upwork.com
Upwork.com connects businesses of all sizes to freelancers, independent professionals and agencies for all their hiring needs.
You “bid” for jobs in your field and get paid in American dollars after set milestones.
www.upwork.com
5) Become a delivery driver, there is huge demand for delivery drivers at the moment. Deliveries for online shopping, food and medicine services. It’s a risky job because of infection and transmission rates, many people are using delivery services.
6) Get paid to transcribe audio. There is an increase in online video content and this has fuelled a demand for transcription services. www.gotranscript.com
7) Join Fiverr, this is a freelancing marketplace. www.fiverr.com
These are just a few ideas and may come with a drastic dip in pay. It’s something to do whilst we wait for this trying episode to pass. Who knows, in the long run the route you choose may prove lucrative for you and open up other avenues of income. We, in South Africa have endured and survived a very painful past. This pandemic won’t break us. The survival/recovery rate for Covid 19 in South Africa , sits at 60%. I am confident we will survive this and come out on the other side much stronger.
Qinisile M.