JoshAs the internet and online economy matures, the prospect of working at home (or working from anywhere) jobs and earning a decent wage has become more of a reality. It used to be that one had to wade through dozens of scams to find legitimate work from home jobs. The odds have improved now with companies realizing that it’s cheaper to maintain a telecommuting workforce than pay for office space and all the accompanying expenses that entails. We haven’t reached the stage where every job can be done from home but there are a growing number of industries that offer jobs to work from home or even work while travelling in a remote country.
1. House Sitter
In the past several years, house sitting has become one of the most popular ways for travellers to make some money while travelling. You get a free place to live by watching someone’s house (and pets.) This means that you will save a lot of money on accommodation. There are many online trustworthy sources of jobs for house sitting that will help you looking for house sitting jobs most suitable for your location, dates and duration.
2. Online Editing and Proofreading
If your college degree was in the English or writing field you’re in luck. Online editing and proofreading jobs are a credible way to earn money from the comfort of your home. One area to pay attention to is the rise of self-publishing. Smart book writers know they need a set of professional eyes to massage the manuscript before it goes out to the world. Most editors set a page, word, or project rate. Your best bet is to find a prolific writer, do good work, and profit from repeat business.
3. Virtual Assistant
This is one of the best work from home jobs going today thanks to the low barrier for entry. If you have any sort of office skills – answering phones, word processing, research, responding to email, etc – there are millions of online entrepreneurs who need your help. Build up your client base until you’re as busy as you want to be. With so many of today’s businesses operating completely online, it makes sense that the administrative assistant should be able to operate virtually as well.
4. Web Developer
Got the eye (and skill) for website development? This is a great work at home job for techies. The great thing is that it shouldn’t take long to develop the skills needed to be able to help people build their online presence. There are a plethora of free resources available online. While coding skills are still in demand, the rise of What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) design software like Weebly and Wix, and the ubiquitous presence of the Wordpress blogging platform allows you to offer value even if you’re not a coder, especially with Wordpress. Even people that could figure out how to build a website may not have time to do it. That’s where you come in.
5. Freelance Writer
Thanks to the internet as an insatiable content beast that must be fed continually, perhaps the ultimate work from home online opportunity is as a freelance writer. The opportunities are seemingly endless: blogger, ad copywriter, emails, ebooks, articles, press releases. Keep an eye tuned to your pay rate, though. Earning a penny a word is not normally worth the effort. If you have writing skills, don’t settle for that. There are companies out there who realize the value of quality writing. Keep looking. You’ll find them eventually. Craigslist, in particular, can be a source of sketchy jobs that look to get something for nothing.
6. Social Media Manager
Social media. It’s everywhere and not going away anytime soon. If you salivate at the thought of spending your days crafting and curating a company’s social media presence, you might be in luck. Though managing social media for an organization is a relatively new field without much of a track record as far as the number of jobs and pay rate, one has only to browse online job listings for a few minutes to realize this is now most definitely a thing. While it seems the only prerequisite is that you maintain thriving social media accounts of your own, a background in advertising or marketing couldn’t hurt.
The Bottom Line
The good news for those who want to work from home is that it appears we’ve moved past the scam era (though they are most certainly still out there) into a maturing employment scene that offers real pay for real work. The opportunities we’ve mentioned here are just the tip of the spear. Get out there, don’t undervalue yourself, and – most of all – remember to have fun basking in the knowledge that you just earned a day’s wage lounging on your couch in a spaghetti sauce-stained t-shirt.