The commute. The hours. The work. Everything about your full-time, in-office job is leaving you lifeless and miserable. You’re ready for a change, but unsure of what your next move will be.
Have you considered working from home? The stigma surrounding work from home positions is often drawn from the idea of joining a multi-level marketing regime. However, there are so many more options for work from home positions than your typical pyramid scheme.
In this article, we’ll take a deep dive into real ways to make money from home.
Real Ways to Make Money from Home (Full-Time)
Corporate Remote
You might not be ready to leap to own your own business. If you crave the flexibility of working from home, you should consider a corporate remote position. These positions allow you to work as a full-time employee from the comfort of your couch or dining room table. Recently we teamed with the editors of The Money Mix to review the best work from home jobs; these are our top picks.
Amazon Customer Service
Especially during the holiday season, Amazon offers work from home opportunities. While the pay is low (usually starts around $10.00/hour), the flexibility to work from home, for a large organization is promising.
With Amazon, you’re required to commit to a specific schedule. You have the option to choose from a variety of shifts in both full-time and part-time capacities. After completing the application process, you’ll need to complete a few additional steps to secure your position. First, you’ll need to verify your internet connection is of the minimum caliber required. Second, you’ll need to complete the online customer service training provided by Amazon.
During October and November, Amazon has a big push to hire customer service agents. These positions are usually seasonal. If you prove yourself as a valuable member of their team, there may be an opportunity for you to continue your work with them.
If you’re interested in jumping back into the workforce or you’re trying to transition to remote work, Amazon is a worthwhile first stop on your job search.
Symposium
We have written about Symposium before, it made the list of top ways to make money fast, and it took the top spot in the ten best from work from home jobs. Whether you are just looking to launch a side gig, or want to kick off a full-time career in remote work, the Symposium app is a valuable resource.
Symposium provides users the ability to monetize their experience with thought live pay-per-view presentations; either as a group or one-on-one. What sets the app apart from other opportunities is that its simple to use and everything you will need to get started is integrated. Symposium handles billing, scheduling, and provides a marketplace for users to list their presentations.
VIPKID
VIPKID is an online tutoring organization that connects eager teachers with international students.
If you have experience teaching, you’re knowledgeable in a specific subject area you may want to investigate online tutoring.
VIPKID offers flexible schedules that enable you to work for several hour blocks. VIPKIDs is ideal if you need something to accommodate your schedule, or you’re interested in making a few extra bucks while you stay at home. VIPKIDS provides the opportunity to work in a capacity that accommodates your lifestyle.
Work Remote Within Your Current Position
If you enjoy your current position but hate the “in-office” lifestyle, consider pitching your supervisor on remote work.
Come up with a firm plan for how you will continue in your position while working from home. Before you make your pitch, take time to create a presentation highlighting how working from home will benefit your company.
Be willing to compromise. Often, organizations are not opposed to allowing employees to work remotely. However, they may want to renegotiate your compensation or benefit package. As long as this is not a deal-breaker for you, come up with areas you’re willing to compromise on.
If your employer is not comfortable with the position, offer to ease into the transition by starting out working part-time at home. It will allow both you and your supervisor to test the unchartered waters of remote work, and determine if it is mutually beneficial. If you prove you’re accountable and capable, your company likely be happy to allow you to make the full transition to work-from-home.
Ways to Make Money from Home (Full-Time or Part-Time)
Become an Independent Contractor
If you’re ready to make the leap from employee to an independent contractor, consider some of the opportunities listed below.
Remember, as an independent contractor. You will be responsible for paying your taxes. You may also want to investigate the proper liability insurance that correlates to your career field. Make sure you do your research before you commit to the transition.
Virtual Assistant
A virtual assistant is an individual who provides administrative support to small business owners and entrepreneurs. Below we mention a few areas you can offer your virtual assistant skills to entrepreneurs.
Social Media Marketing
Do you loe social media? Have you worked in marketing in your previous career? Offering your services as a social media marketing guru could be very profitable. Scheduling, content creation, and posting is an area of vast importance in modern marketing practices. Unfortunately, it’s also an area that entrepreneurs fall short on in their business models.
Reach out to businesses and people you can offer your expertise to. Provide them with a pitch that includes the proven success of your previous social media campaigns. Negotiate your rate and start your at-home career. You’ll find that it won’t take long to have lots of entrepreneurs knocking on your door, while sit on your couch offering your services.
Administrative Assistant
General administrative tasks have taken a shift from “in-office” services to functions that involve the use of online and over the phone tactics. Due to this change, there are plenty of employers who would be glad to outsource their administrative assistant duties. This is where independent contractors come into play.
You can market yourself for these opportunities in the same manner in which a social media assistant does. You may want to shift your focus to 1-2 man business operations, that don’t have a standing storefront or office environment.
Bookkeeper
If you’re sick of 9-5 office job, but want to remain in the field, you can offer your services as an experienced bookkeeper.
Plenty of small businesses fold because they fail to keep an accurate record of their finances. Most of the time, it’s not because they want to be negligent of the cash flow. Instead, they don’t have the funds available to pay the expenses associated with a payroll company or accountant.
Discount your services and take on several clients. Limit your offerings so that you’re able to work with several business owners, providing a much-needed service.
Graphic Designer
Corporate graphic design positions often end in employee burnout. They lack the variety and creativity that designers crave. Employees end up exiting the field because they have focused on a specific product or area, and they can’t stand the idea of continuing.
Instead of limiting your design skills to a corporate position, consider branching out to start as an independent contractor to offer your services to a variety of clients. Seek out the type of work you’re most interested in. Whether it’s working within the field of non-profits or for your favorite bakery, there is a need for graphic designers.
Creative Entrepreneur
Do you have a hidden artistic flair that you’ve kept under wraps? If you’ve spent your life as a closet creator and you’re ready to unveil your talents, consider jumping into a creative entrepreneur as your next career. You can offer your skills to your local community, or market your creations on a national or international level. Indulging your inner creativity may be the perfect opportunity for you to explore a career you both enjoy and can accomplish from home. Check out some of the ways you can become a creative entrepreneur and turn a profit.
Etsy Shop Owner
Are you an expert in bow making? What about t-shirt design or crocheting? If you are, you have an audience who has an interest in the products you create.
Instead of hiding your talent from the world, create an Etsy shop to market your items online. You can offer as few or as many products as you like. You can take custom orders or restrict your shop to the specific items you prefer making.
To make an Etsy shop a profitable career, you may want to start by offering a wide variety of items. Once you’ve built a following, you’ll be able to scale down to the creations you prefer investing your time in. If you’re feeling especially savvy, you can create branding and a website to further promote your products.
Etsy does have associated fees. Every time you upload a new item to your shop, it costs you $0.20. Additionally, when someone makes a purchase, there is a 5% transaction fee. Assure you’re accounting for these costs when you’re developing your Etsy shop business plan.
Furniture Rehabilitation
There is a new popular interior design trend called “Farmhouse” style. This style emphasizes the rehabilitation of older furniture. Individuals transform their older wood furniture into a shabby chic design aesthetic.
If you have a passion for remaking furniture, love to paint and don’t mind sanding, then furniture rehabilitation could be an ideal work-from-home career for you to take on.
Assure you’re exercising caution in your new career field. Inhaling too many toxic products or overworking your hands can result in early retirement or costly medical treatment. Make sure you provide yourself a well-ventilated area to do your work and take regular breaks. The longevity of your career depends on it. The ease of working from home in this manner is hard to find if you have to go back to a full-time office career.
Landscape Designer
When you think of landscaping, the idea of mowing, edging, and weeding immediately comes to mind. However, the world of landscape design incorporates so much more than that. Think of your neighborhood. If you live in an HOA community than your entrance and common areas, use a maintenance team of skilled individuals. These landscape designers have carefully calculated where each plant, shrub, or tree goes. They have to evaluate what type of light or shade each piece requires, and what kind of aesthetic design they can create within your budget.
If this is something that intrigues you and your green thumb, then taking on a career as a landscape designer may be the perfect next step for you. Contract designers have opportunities for work throughout your local community. New build homes, hotels, shopping areas, and parks are only a few of the many places that use landscape designers.
Start small. Ask your friends and family if you can assist them with a simple yard redesign. When you’ve finished the project, take pictures to build your design portfolio. From there, you’ll have reference photos for any potential clients you want to seek out. By mid-summer, you could find yourself booked, working in a career that you operate out of the convenience of your back patio.
Photographer
Professional photography is a popular field that many creative entrepreneurs embark upon. Invest in the right equipment, the proper training, and a share your passion for the art of photography.
While photography equipment is expensive, the return on investment is often worth the initial start-up cost. Weddings, birthdays, pregnancy announcements, and holiday photos are only a few examples of times that people want to capture the moment through pictures.
The only downside to the profession is the need to be available during times when others are off work. This includes nights and weekends. However, if you can make in one day what most people make in a full week’s worth of work, the trade-off may be worth it.
The Bottom Line
There you have it. An ultimate guide to a wide variety of work from home careers you can find, create, or start. If you’re passionate about hanging out in your pajamas all day or you’re interested in taking off with your hobby, there are a plethora of options to allow you to work from home.
With any work from home opportunity, make sure that you understand the investment and tax requirements. Assuring you know the financial obligations you will have in your work from home environment will allow you to embrace the opportunity with the reassurance that you’re making the right decision for both your career and your wallet.
Written by Michael Dinich for Your Money Geek and legally licensed through the Matcha publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to legal@getmatcha.com.
