Nearly 43% of working Americans spend some amount of time working from home according to a recent New York Times report. In today’s technological world, the demand for brand ambassadors, customer service representatives and bloggers is booming, and the popularity of 9 to 5 work days is falling. From small side gigs to full-time jobs, making passive income from home is easier than ever!
You might be a student looking for the perfect side hustle or a stay-at-home mom trying to make ends meet. No matter what your story is, you can successfully earn money from home.
Is Working From Home Legit?
Almost everyone wants to work from home. Who wouldn’t be interested in having a flexible schedule, good pay, and the freedom to live wherever they want? Work from home opportunities are the online world’s best-kept secret. If you look for the right jobs in the right places, finding high paying, home-based employment is easy.
Not only is it easier than ever to work from home, you might even be able to make more money working an at-home job than working a traditional job. If you are in the market for the perfect work-at-home gig, you’d be surprised to know that lots of well-established companies offer the kind of home-based employment in which you can make some decent money.
Before you start scrolling through the job boards, you can browse this list of legitimate work from home opportunities for ideas.
Avoid Working From Home Scams!
While there are several legitimate home-based jobs that pay well, have flexible schedules, and don’t require years of experience, work from home scams are common. As a general rule, any job that requires you to pay for software or training to complete the hiring process is a red flag. Look for jobs that have traditional application and interview processes rather than a simple online registration.
Check out Monster’s guide to avoiding work from home scams for more ways to spot fake jobs.
How To Make Money From Home?
Whether you’re looking to supplement your full-time job or replace it completely, you can make the money you want working at home. If you envision yourself sipping a cold drink in the tropics while you work on your laptop someday or just want to make extra money every month, but aren’t sure where to start, here are four easy ways start working from home.
- Host a Party – You can make a little extra cash hosting product parties in your home or online. This is a great way to introduce your friends to products you love and get discounts for yourself.
- Rent Storage Space – Become a host with Neighbor and start making money off the extra space in your house.
- Start a Home Business – Use your talents to start your own business out of your home. You could do photography, sell crafts on Etsy, give music lessons, or become a tutor.
- Convert your Current Job to an At-Home Job – If you have a job that can be done suitably from home, start a conversation with your manager. You may be able to get the freedom to work from home at least some of the time.
Types Of Jobs You Can Do From Home
The most valuable people in the workforce are individuals who can use technology to communicate and create ideas. If you can work a computer, you can find a suitable job that can be done completely from home. Here are some types of jobs you can do from home with your computer and some basic skills.
- Customer Care
- Medical Billing
- Transcription
- Surveys
- Data Entry
- Education
- Sales
- App and Website Testing
- Virtual Assisting
- Blogging
Remote Work
The holy grail of achieving work life balance. Remote work is a phrase you’ve probably seen on job postings before. Working remotely means you are working for a company from anywhere except the office Several companies are turning to remote work, as it creates happier and more productive employees. Unlike freelancing and other ways to earn money from home, remote work, or telecommuting, is similar to traditional employment. These types of jobs usually have a set salary and hours, and sometimes offer benefits.
Customer Service Jobs
While there are a lot of of work-from-home options available, customer service positions make up a good portion of legitimate home-based employment. Customer service is one of the most suitable jobs to do entirely from home, which is why the industry dominates the remote workforce. These kinds of jobs are great options because they are plentiful, easy to get, and don’t require any special training or skills.
If you are interested in a home-based customer service job, but don’t have the right environment or personality for taking phone calls, you can look into online customer support gigs. Online chat is becoming more popular, and companies need service reps to take on customer chats and emails.
Online Surveys
There are a host of online survey sites claiming to reward you with mounds of cash in exchange for a few minutes of your time. Most of these offers are as fake as they sound, but it is possible to get a few perks from taking surveys.
Rather than paying directly, survey sites deal mostly in points, which you can redeem for gift cards, cash, or other things. Some sites have videos to watch, search engines to use, apps to install, and a bunch of other things you can do on top of surveys to earn points. Other sites email you a daily list of surveys you can take, ranging in point value. It usually takes quite a few points to earn anything worthwhile, so don’t expect to earn any significant amounts of money by taking surveys.
The bottom line is that you probably won’t get very much money for the amount time you spend taking online surveys. If you have lots of time to kill and no other hobbies, online surveys might be a good way to get something in return for your time. After all, nobody is going to pay you to scroll through your Instagram feed. Just don’t expect to make a living off of online surveys because you will be sorely disappointed.
How To Be Successful When Working From Home
Working from home can be liberating, but you might miss out on things like networking and face-to-face communication with management if you don’t put forth the extra effort. It’s all too easy to fall through the cracks and lose your work-at-home job without some key practices. Here are some work from home tips to help you stay on top of the game:
Create a Productive Workspace
The most important thing your workspace needs to do is motivate you to work. Sitting on your couch with your favorite netflix show playing in the background might not be the ideal environment for you to produce professional-quality work.
Start by finding a space in your home that is quiet and free from distraction with lots of natural light. After you’ve found your ideal spot, set up everything you need to do your job. Your setup could be a work desk in your home office or a bag of essentials you can take with you on the go.
Make sure the area you plan to work in is somewhere you enjoy being and gives you a sense of peace. You can use decorations and personal items just like you would in a cubicle at the office to give your space more character.
Having the freedom to determine your own workspace is a big motivator for people wanting to work from home. Having the right workspace can give you a big boost in productivity, but overlooking it entirely could lead to failure.
Get Organized
While working from home, it’s important to meet every deadline and produce high-quality work. It’s impossible to accomplish both of those things if you don’t organize your time effectively. To make the most of your time, you need to have a schedule and personal workflow planned out.
To help you plan, invest in a planner or calendar. Set work times and break times every day being sure to give yourself enough time to get your work done and enough breaks to keep your head clear. Your schedule doesn’t need to be overly detailed, as long as it’s definite enough to keep you on track every day.
Once you have a good schedule, it’s time to come up with a personal workflow–the process you use to complete tasks. For example, a writer might start their writing workflow by researching and making outlines. No matter what your job is, you will need to have a method of completing tasks, so find a workflow that makes the best use of your time.
Stay Connected
When it comes to landing big jobs and major paydays, it’s not what you know but who you know. Networking is crucial to being successful in any industry, so you’re going to have to push yourself to find networking opportunities if you work at home. Make the effort to connect with other people from your company or industry over social media and in-person. You can meet people by going to trainings, conferences, and company parties, so make time to attend these events.
Building strong relationships is one of the biggest challenges at-home workers face, but if you make time to purposefully connect with others, you will find more success and opportunities in your work.
Keep In Touch With Your Manager
One of the most important things you need in order to be successful at home is to be visible. Most of the communication for home-based employment is done via email or text, but this type of flat communication is not enough to make you appear as more than a name on a screen.
Make yourself visible and valuable by setting up times to call and video conference with your manager, teammates, or clients. You will be able to pick up on social cues, share ideas, and collaborate more effectively if you spend face-to-face time with these people.
While you aren’t conferencing, be sure to make yourself available by responding to messages quickly and checking in frequently. Your manager and teammates won’t know that you’re working unless you show them you are.
Never Stop Learning
Learning and evolving is critical to finding lasting success in your at-home ventures. Most on-site jobs have trainings and other learning opportunities you can count on to keep your skills current. Some remote jobs have trainings as well, but what can you do as a freelancer or business owner to stay on top of the market?
The good news is that the internet is full of classes, trainings, and guides you can use to further your skills. Schedule time every week to read online guides, blogs, and how-to books in your industry. You can also sign up for affordable online classes from places like Udemy. Staying relevant in your industry will keep your paychecks flowing and prepare you for bigger and better-paying gigs.
With close to half of the U.S. workforce spending some amount of time working from home, it’s no wonder the demand for at-home workers is shooting up. You can cash in on the demand and find legitimate work from home opportunities that fit your needs. There are no limits to the ways you can earn money from home as long as you have the right attitude. Set yourself up for success by staying organized and keeping in touch with important people, and enjoy the newfound freedom and flexibility of your work from home job!
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