9 Smart Ways To Make Money From Home
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Interesting Ways To Make Money From Home – Do you dream of working from home and avoiding that two-hour daily commute and not having to wake up to your alarm clock every day?
Well, the days of working from home are no longer for CEO holding meetings on their webcams or software developers sitting in dark rooms drinking a gallon a coffee a day.
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The age of the remote worker is now a reality! More and more companies are following the trend of creating at-home and telecommuting or remote positions for employees.
But not only that, because of the power of the Internet, you don’t actually need to work for someone else’s company at all. You can make money from home as your own boss in so many ways!
In this post, I’ll share ways you can make money from home both as your own boss running your own company and also as a remote employee or freelancer for someone else’s company.
9 Interesting Ways To Make Money From Home Today
When I first heard of the concept of people working at home years ago, it seemed very far-fetched to me.
I assumed you had to have some kind of crazy qualification for web development or be a super high-level manager that could take business meeting calls while on the golf course.
However, now that is simply not the case.
More and more people are choosing to work from home for a variety of reasons. And the awesome thing is, there are companies that fully support them!
You may want to work from home because:
- You have a family with a pretty demanding schedule.
- You don’t want to have to shell out hundreds of dollars a month for daycare.
- Maybe you want to travel and a traditional 9-5 would not allow the kind of experience you are looking for.
- Or maybe the idea of going into an office and talking to people, and being trapped listening to them chew food bedside your desk gives you overwhelming anxiety.
Whatever your reason, you have options!
Since I have started working from home I get asked all the time how people can find work from home positions. So I have compiled a list of jobs that you can do from the comfort of your home office, or while traveling the world.
So check it out.
1. Transcription
With the increase in podcasting and other online activities, this field is in high demand.
The pay for this can range anywhere between $10-$60 per audio hour. The more experience you have under your belt, the better you will get paid. Cha-ching!
You have to have some decent typing skills and the patience to sit and listen to audio files, but it is a fairly simple job and can often be done without having to be online at certain times, which can be very convenient for parents of little ones.
You also have to be comfortable with uploading and downloading files.
It can also be difficult sometimes to understand the audio files, however, if you are transcribing for the same person often, you can get used to it.
But on the plus side, most companies will hire people without transcription experience. However, I’d recommend you at least get some training before you attempt at job hunting. TranscribeAnywhere is a good place to get training for this.
Tools Needed
- A reliable computer
- An up to date copy of Microsoft Office
- A good headset and foot pedal
- Training. TranscribeAnywhere offers courses in both general and legal transcription
2. Customer Service
Oh good old customer service! Pretty much every company in the world needs it, and many are opting for at-home remote customer service reps.
I have seen online customer service positions range in pay from $10-$25 an hour.
A lot of customer service online positions can be location specific, but I have found ones that are available anywhere in the US.
There is a variety of different online customer service positions available, but the basic requirements are typically:
- A bit of experience in customer service
- Good phone etiquette (as most of these positions require talking to customers on the phone. Only some are online-chat only)
Tools Needed
- A landline phone
- A reliable computer
- An up to date copy of Microsoft Office
- A good headset
I’ll admit, customer service was not my favorite job of all time, but it taught me a lot. I only wish I had known about at-home customer service positions rather than sitting in a cubicle in a call center all day!
Pay can vary drastically from company to company and often require you to be online during specific times.
3. Search Engine Evaluator
When I first heard of this I thought it sounded a bit scammy, get paid to look at websites? Really?
But of course, I had to do a little more research on the subject. After looking into it more I found that this is a pretty easy job that you can do from home.
A search engine evaluator’s job is to research search engine results pages (SERPs) to make sure that queries people are typing in are actually giving accurate results.
Basically, the job entails you to do web researching or rating websites for a specific set of guidelines.
Don’t worry, it’s not as techy as it sounds. You have to be familiar with web research and the various browsers. Like Firefox, Chrome, and Internet Explorer.
If you plan on creating your own website in the future, working as a search engine evaluator can be a super educational experience.
There are lots of different companies that offer these types of positions and some even for those located internationally.
The average pay for this in the US is about $15 per hour.
Tools Needed
- A reliable computer
- An up-to-date copy of Microsoft Office
- You should also familiarize yourself with SEO. We teach a free SEO course on that!
4. Web Developer
Having an online presence for any business is critical nowadays. I would even say, essential to a business’s success. If a company doesn’t have a website then they are often viewed as untrustworthy.
In order for businesses that aren’t already online to have a web presence, they turn to web developers to create their beautiful and user-friendly websites.
If you are a techie person and know HTML, CSS, PHP and how to code, then you can easily make some great money building other companies websites.
You could either freelance or work for a specific company.
It is, however, a very technical position and requires a lot of knowledge.
I went to University for digital media marketing, and a large part of that focused on building websites.
It’s something that has been very helpful in my career as a work-from-anywhere professional.
There is a huge demand for web developers, whether you want to work for a company or offer website building services to clients yourself.
Pay for this really depends on experience, the depth of the project and the client’s budget.
According to Glassdoor, the national average for a web developer salary in the US is about $66,000 (if you work for someone else) or much higher if you work for yourself.
Don’t know how to build websites from scratch?
That’s ok! There is another option here worth mentioning. If you are familiar with WordPress, or other website builders (Wix, SquareSpace, etc), you can also sell these.
There are many businesses, budding entrepreneurs, non-profits, or individuals in direct sales that would love to put their information online, but just don’t feel they have the skills or the patience to do so.
To these people, you can offer your services as a freelance web designer and or social media manager.
Just make sure you know what you are doing before you tell someone what you can do for them. Create a website for yourself. Or a portfolio of different things you have done on social media (images, copywriting, articles, etc) to show to potential clients.
If you need to learn how to create a WordPress website, enroll in my step-by-step course.
5. Social Media Management
Social media is red hot right now and shows no sign of cooling down.
If you know how to run social media platforms, this can be a lucrative side hustle or even a full-time gig.
Many businesses don’t have an on-staff social media manager, either don’t have the time, or the knowledge on how to manage their social media platforms.
You can offer your services as a freelancer to local businesses, a busy blogger or anyone who doesn’t have the time to run and grow their social accounts.
To make things even easier, there are a ton of software programs out there that you can use to automate social media campaigns. You can create or curate the content and plug it into the automation software –Vwala!
I recommend Tailwind for Pinterest automation, and SmarterQueue for Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
Pay for this type service can vary drastically. Obviously, you don’t want to take on more than you can handle, but you can charge per profile, say $50-$150 per month.
So if you handled a company’s Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest account for $50 each per month, that’s $150 which you would automate and spend around an hour a week on setting those all up.
$150 for 4 hours of work per month is pretty good, especially if most of your work is automated. But of course, no one can live on $150 per month so you would need many clients at once to make it feasible.
However, if your services entail more personalized social media management like engaging with the company’s followers and creating content on a day-to-day basis, you would charge more.
It’s not uncommon to earn $14-$16 per hour this way.
Tools Needed
- A reliable computer
- Social media automation tools ( Tailwindand SmarterQueue)
- Consider taking a VA training course like 30 Days or Less to Virtual Assistant Success
- You should also familiarize yourself with Pinterest Marketing.
Learn more about becoming a Virtual Assistant and how to earn $100,000.
6. Tutoring
Tutoring can be not only a great paying but also a super rewarding work from home job.
In most cases you have to have some kind of specialization in certain subjects, you know like physics, chemistry, math, etc.
However, there is a high demand for teaching English to students in Asian countries, specifically China is one that I have seen a lot of positions for.
To teach English you need to be a native English speaker with strong grammar and fluency. If, however, you are qualified to teach specialized subjects you can be paid more.
These positions do generally require you to be online at certain times, but just remember the time zone differences (like 13-15 hour time differences) when applying for these positions.
The pay can range anywhere from $10-$100 an hour, depending on what you are teaching.
7. Proofreading
You might have some preconceived notions about proofreaders, like librarians sitting around with red pens in hand marking up papers.
This is not the case! You do not need to be a professional of any kind to be a proofreader, but you do need to have a keen eye for detail. You have to be able to spot any errors in documents and strong grammar skills.
So what are proofreaders reading? Generally, they are looking for mistakes in transcripts or records. They need to have great attention to detail and be able to easily detect errors in documents.
Depending on how fast you can read, proofreading can pay pretty well. It averages about $0.35 per page, which may not look like a lot, but with a little experience, the average pay comes to about $18 per hour.
Tools Needed
- A reliable computer
- Grammarly to check for spelling and grammar mistakes
- Consider taking a Proofreading business course like Proofread Anywhere.
8. Writing
I have always loved writing! Short stories, poetry, copywriting, academic articles, research papers, you name it, I’ve probably written it.
And you don’t need to be a “professional” writer in order to find writing gigs.
You can start by writing reviews for products, small articles for other bloggers, or companies. The opportunities are truly endless when it comes to writing.
There is no need to be a professional copywriter when you first start, just like with anything else, you will get better as you gain more experience.
If you look at most professional bloggers, they were not professional copywriters or expert by any means when they first started.
However, their posts and articles that have been viewed and read thousands if not millions of times. The topics you can write about are things you are passionate about, like personal finance, fashion, DIY projects, etc.
Tools Needed
- A reliable computer
- Grammarly to check for spelling and grammar mistakes
- Consider taking a Freelance writing course. I recommend Horkey Handbook’s 30 Days To Freelance Writing Success
Paid writing gigs can pay fairly decent, anywhere from $50-$400 per post or article, depending on what and who you are writing for.
Here’s a list of companies that are looking to pay for writers.
9. Blogging
I saved this way to make money from home for last because I’m a little biased when it comes to blogging.
Before I started my blog I had no idea that I’d be making over $150k in less than a year from it. The power of blogging is amazing.
Blogging is one of those things that you get out of it what you put into it. If you have the dedication to work at it every day, it will pay off. But if you only spend an hour a week on it, and rarely promote your content you won’t make a dime.
If you treat it like a hobby, it will pay you like a hobby. If you treat it like a business, then it will pay you like a business.
First, you’ll need to start a blog. That guide gives you the play-by-play.
The key when it comes to blogging is writing about things you are passionate and knowledgeable about, that you can be consistent with, and there is an audience/market for.
You need to provide value to your audience. If you are doing nothing but writing post on products and shoving affiliate links down people’s throats, they are probably gonna get sick of it and stop visiting your blog.
Tools Needed
- A reliable computer
- You will need a website. Enroll in my free course for new bloggers to learn how to start a blog.
- You will need to learn how to monetize and run your blog as a business. Enroll in my professional blog monetization course, for that.
- Grammarly to check for spelling and grammar mistakes
Remember, when it comes to blogging there are two very important points:
- Write about something you know and love
- Serve your audience before you serve yourself
What kinds of work from home or freelance positions have you tried?
What were your experiences with them?
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