The elusive “work from home” industry is filled with empty promises and outright scams. However, there are indeed ways to legitimately make money working from home. The key to success is leveraging your strengths and being certain that companies you’re working with have a good reputation from their workers.
Avoid doing any work until you’re paid for the first time if possible. By then you should have an idea of whether the offer you’re reviewing is legitimate or not.
Here’s how to pay your bills from the comfort of home:
1. Consulting
Many small businesses can’t afford full time positions for every task, but they need to get the work done. Someone with your skill set and knowledge could be a perfect fit for part-time or short term work.
2. Transcriptionist
If you can type quickly, transcription work can be well worth your time. Software is available that can help you transcribe quickly and with reasonable accuracy. This might be a good way to earn a decent hourly rate for not much work.
3. Freelancing
Write articles, create videos, do search engine optimization, or create graphics as freelance work for small business, big companies, or solo entrepreneurs.
4. Call center
Many businesses need a customer-facing service department, but are too small to have a number of positions dedicated to answering the phone calls 24/7. You can receive these important calls at home and function as a one-man call center.
5. Teach a language
In Asian countries, English is in high demand. Italki.com is one website that will allow you to use your English proficiency to make $20+/hour.
6. Virtual assistant
The creativity of your employer will determine which of a wide range of tasks your client will ask of you. You could make travel plans, balance the books, or research cookie recipes.
7. Rent out a room in your home
There are a number of websites that will facilitate a connection between you and both short or long term renters. If you have square footage in your home that you’re not using, consider earning income with it.
8. Be a juror
Lawyers pay people to review case material and give an opinion as though you were a juror. It’s like a practice trial before going to the courtroom. Ejury is one such company.
9. Test websites
User Testing is a popular company for this task. You can get paid $10 for a 20-minute task which adds up to $30 per hour if you keep yourself busy.
10. Take surveys
This area is full of scams, so be sure to triple-check on the company before wasting your time. Never pay to join a survey company. Some companies with good reputations are Swag Bucks, Harris Poll Online, and Pine Cone Research.
11. Sell vegetables from your garden
When your garden is providing more surplus than you can consume, visit a local farmer’s market and sell the rest.
12. Mechanical Turk
This service is provided by Amazon.com. You perform small Human Intelligence Tasks, or HITs, for money. Most of the jobs are very simple and fast. The pay per task is often extremely low, but you can complete some tasks in less than a minute so they can add up quickly.
13. Tutor at home
$25/hour is a realistic target. There are also online tutoring centers. Check into Chegg Tutors.
14. Affiliate marketing
You can advertise or sell someone else’s product and get paid a commission for each sale. For example, Amazon.com has an affiliate program where you earn a % of what people buy who click through your personal link.
15. Pet sitting
It’s possible to earn a high hourly rate for watching someone else’s pet. Unlike red tape governing daycare, most locales don’t limit how many dogs you can have at your home. Rover.com is a popular option to connect sitters with pet owners.
If you need to make some extra money, working from home can be convenient and lucrative. Some work at home offers aren’t worth your time, but others can provide a full-time income if you work hard.
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