Some decades ago, the machines that could perform tasks that are minutely similar to the ones our smartphones perform today were about the size of an entire room; in fact, they used to have a house of their own. It is difficult to believe what you just read in this age and time, but it is the truth. Can you now properly perceive the power of the device we call a “smartphone”? It is time to exploit it properly, especially if you do not yet have access to a laptop. Who knows? Your mobile phone may end up buying you a laptop.

In today’s world, where tech has created innumerable job opportunities for anyone with some skills and just a little bit of creativity and hard work, no one has an excuse for failure. You do not have an excuse for being unproductive, as long as you can access a smartphone, which you probably can since you are reading this article right now.

Below are some tech jobs that you can begin doing right now with just a little bit of knowledge. You are right, your smartphone. It’s almost as smart as you are, if not smarter!

1. App development:

It will surprise you to know that some of the applications that you download and use every day are products of someone’s time on his smartphone and without the slightest knowledge of programming. There are several platforms on which people create apps by clicking and dragging. All you need to do is uncover a problem that people face in their lives and provide an easy solution to it while ensuring that you have a competitive advantage over other people who have come up with solutions to the same problem.
Get familiar with whatever platform you are using to create your app, and with just a little investment of time, money, and energy, you will have created an app that solves people’s problems, makes you proud, and will buy you a laptop!

However, you should know that when you know better, you naturally do better as you apply what you know. To take your applications up a notch and make them as unique as they can be in a market swarming with competitors, it will do you good to take a course on product design, product management, and product marketing. These courses will equip you with the frameworks you need to create outstanding applications and make sure you position them properly for your target audience to find you.

2. Mobile photography and videography:

The smartphone has indeed become a powerful device. I once read a book in which, many decades ago, a photographer had to visit a church in a certain village once every year, and on that day every family in the congregation would take pictures for the year and wait for the next year for the next pictures to be taken. Little wonder the older generation treasures pictures and photo albums; that’s because that’s all they ever had for a long time, and it was so difficult to get.

Do you now understand the power of what you hold in your hands? Some content creators that are doing really well have never handled a real camera in their lives; all they know is their smartphones and the applications that enable them to edit their videos.

A little effort put into surfing YouTube for lessons on videography and photography will set you up to be successful in this. You may create a career for yourself as a content creator and become an influencer. Opportunities abound because you may even become a brand yourself.

3. Social media management:

Social media management involves the process of creating, scheduling, analyzing and engaging with content posted on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn etc. The activities involved include creating content, monitoring conversations, responding to comments and direct messages, tracking metrics, and adjusting strategies as needed.

With the growth of communities online, this particular job title has become very popular. If you are reading this article, you probably have social media accounts, and if you do, surely you know how they work.
All you need now is just a little extra knowledge about branding, SEO, and more in-depth knowledge of how popular social media platforms work. Then, after you have done more than just a little work on your social media accounts and pages and have something to show for them, you can begin to position yourself as a social media manager. Courses and studies on branding will help a great deal, and then you are good to go.

4. E-commerce:

You probably know what this means, or maybe you just don’t know that you were engaging in e-commerce when you purchased that dress you love from that online store. Well, that is e-commerce. Commerce is simply the activity of buying and selling (especially on a large scale). When you begin to engage aggressively in selling online, then you will fit the “large scale” part of the definition perfectly.

Platforms like the billion-dollar Amazon and eBay are e-commerce platforms. They have applications and a website where people buy and sell. You can begin to sell your physical products in this way. Your business does not have to be limited to your little community or to just your friends and family; after all, “the problem with playing small is that when the big players arrive, you will go extinct,” so the way around that is to begin to play big right now with just your mobile phone.

5. Graphic design:

When you see the kind of designs being created with just mobile phones, you will be amazed. Complex and simple designs are coming to life on people’s smartphones. You could become a graphic designer. Applications like Canva, Desygner, etc. have made design easy. A cheap and simple course on graphic design will get you started; you could even go ahead and get the premium version of your design app to get the most out of your experience.
It has become even easier because these design applications have already created templates that you just have to edit to come up with something unique. Every new brand means thousands of potential clients, and they never run out of something that needs to be designed.

Learn, apply, and position yourself properly as a graphic designer, and soon you will be making more money than you imagined.