Why a Work from Home Job Might be Your Best Option

Many people dream of having a work from home job but few pursue it. Yet, what exactly does work from home mean?

Most people associate the work from home concept with being able to do your job at any time of the day, without leaving your house. Complete flexibility if you may.

This is partially true. As a freelancer, you’re likely to create your own schedule and choose your workspace as long as you deliver work on time. If you’re a team member who’s just taking a couple of days off to work from home, you’re still tied to the usual office rules of showing up on time and being available online. Not to mention the extra distractions like your dog or kids.

But freelancers are the ones who usually encounter the more challenging aspects when deciding to work from home. Because there’s no one to guide you, find you clients, or do the books in your place.

That’s why I’ve put together this guide to help you understand whether a work from home opportunity is right for you in the long run and how to prepare for it.

Working from home is not to be confused with remote work. While they are somewhat similar, the latter refers to working for a company that’s in a different city, country, even continent. Working from home is merely doing your job, as an individual or part of a team, from the comfort of your home.

Types of work from home jobs

Before you start making the switch from your daily office job, consider your opportunities to work from home. I’ve put together a list of jobs you can do from home to consider for your next job, side gig, or even career change.

For this, I used Glassdoor to highlight the pay range for each of these online jobs.

If none of these job opportunities spark your interest, don’t worry. In reality, you can do almost any job from your home part-time or full-time. So here’s a list of the most in-demand work from home positions:

Virtual Assistant

What you’ll do: Arguably one of the most common home jobs among freelancers, being a Virtual Assistant (VA) is a perfect choice for anyone who is looking for a side gig and doesn’t have enough experience yet. Companies and even individuals hire VAs for help with common administrative tasks they don’t have enough time for like:

• Managing emails
• Bookkeeping
• Making phone calls
• Scheduling events
• Updating social media accounts
• Preparing presentations
• Data entering
• Research

What income to expect: $20,000-$49,000/year

How to get started: Most VA opportunities don’t require any experience — as long as you know how to use basic tools like Google Docs and Gmail. To become a top VA, go on and take a few courses on developing skills like social media marketing or graphic design. There are also several different VA blogs you can check out if you want to pick up on other virtual assistants’s brains.

Blogger

What you’ll do: There’s surely something you’re highly interested in and would like to further share with a larger audience. This is exactly what blogging helps you do: take your ideas and make them available on the Internet.

Of course you can’t expect to make money just by publishing content. Most bloggers earn from sponsorships, collaborations, affiliate marketing, or selling their own products. Blog topics like technology or self-improvement are more common than others, but even smaller fields of interest such as agriculture and pottery have a high readership on the web. The only challenge is getting to that audience and nurturing it.

Blogging is really a tougher work from home job than it seems. Since most bloggers don’t earn money right away, be prepared to take on additional small jobs for other companies or well-known individuals like writing blog posts for them.

What income to expect: $9-$49/hour once you get a solid readership

How to get started: Brainstorm all of your ideas to find the right niché for your future blog. Then, you’ll need to get a domain and host and hire a web developer to create your website . You can also opt for a WordPress website and do the design on your own. If you want to test a niché and see if blogging works for you, WordPress.comlets you host and start a blog at zero costs. However, you’ll need to gradually make the switch towards your own domain if you want to start earning serious money.

Customer Service Representative

What you’ll do: A perfect opportunity for those of you who like to talk to people and help them learn or achieve a goal. A customer support at home position is not something you usually do on your own. A company will hire you to be in charge of helping their customers with troubleshooting bugs or onboard new users. Whether you like technology, fashion, e-commerce, there’s an industry for everyone.

What income to expect: $23,000-$39,000/year

How to get started: Besides a good amount of patience, you need a fast Internet connection, a decent laptop, and a pair of headsets. The employer will provide training so you’ll know all of the tiny aspects and details of a product, service, or policy. Just be prepared to handle any conflicts as you‘ll be the one that gets to hear all possible client complaints. If you want to grow a solid career for this job, start researching the topic in more depth by starting with a couple of customer support-related blogs or podcasts.

Online Teaching

What you’ll do: One teaching aspect that will prevail even in the future is the human touch. Having a real person guide you through the learning experience and share their own to the trade.

Teaching online is very similar to real-life teaching except you need to be prepared to keep students engaged in a different manner than before. Licensed teachers are already holding courses over Skype or other similar tools either with one student or an entire group, depending on the requirements of each lesson. The good news is that people who are taking online courses are more likely to be interested in what you’re teaching than an in-school student who’s just “forced” to sit through the lecture.

What income to expect: $33,000-$57,000/year (varies depending on the subject you’re teaching)

How to get started: As with any teaching job, even when working online you’ll need to get your teaching license. Topics like English and Maths are more in demand so keep this in mind if you consider switching to a full-time online teaching job. The next step would be to mentally prepare for this change. Consider what you’ll do in situations like bad Internet connection or students not being able to hear you properly. See also if you have enough patience to handle all issues. Moving on, you have to get your resources: a good webcam, the best microphone you can get your hands-on, and a drawing board.

The last piece of the puzzle is finding your students. Websites like Teach Away let you find online teaching jobs you can do from home. You can also post your own ads offering tutoring opportunities on websites like this one for language teaching. The possibilities of teaching online are endless and you can even create your own courses. Teachable is a great starting point in this case for hosting your courses and managing your students.

Website or App Tester

What you’ll do: More and more companies are looking for potential users to offer feedback on the website or app they’re going to launch. If you’re a detail-oriented person who’s patient enough to sit through a full session of testing, this might be a good opportunity for you to earn extra cash from home. To put it simply, testing is the more modern version of your classic online surveys. In fact, if you regularly do surveys, you’ll probably get one related to an app’s usability from time to time. The difference is that you now have to record your computer screen and talk about your experience with the website throughout the entire session.

What income to expect: This is not a full-time job so pay will depend on the number of tests you qualify for and finish. Most companies pay around $8-$10/test.

How to get started: There aren’t many prerequisites to start this side job from home. Just make sure you have modern hardware tools and an up-to-date system. Then, you can look for testing opportunities on websites like Userfeel or UserTesting which are actively looking for new panelists.

Graphic Designer

What you’ll do: Always in demand, there are so many specific areas you can focus on: logo design, illustration, web design, product design, even fashion design. You might already have design experience to some extent if you’ve made a couple of social media posts or logos, but check the market’s demands before going for one field of design over the other. Usually, clients who are looking for freelance designers need help with editing photos, creating logos and illustrations, editing videos, creating promotional materials like flyers or banners, etc.

What income to expect: $34,000-$69,000/year

How to get started: Watch a couple of YouTube design tutorials or courses and try the tools yourself. You’ve got the popular Adobe Creative Cloud , cheaper alternatives like Affinity, and even free ones such as GIMP or Krita. Next, master your trade and start looking for clients on freelancing websites or by showcasing your work on Behance or Dribbble, where people are searching for new talent to do their design work.

Anything else

Like freelancing, there are so many work at home jobs you can pursue. Just be open and think about what you really want to be doing, either full-time or part-time. Here are more jobs to do from home:

• Travel agent
• Digital marketing manager
• Content writer
• Editor
• Airbnb host
• E-commerce website owner
• Pet sitter
• Sales consultant
• Vlogger
• Search engine evaluator

AVOIDING SCAMS

Make sure to do a thorough check-up of client or company you intend to work for. Ask a couple of people who’re already doing the job you want to see if it’s a legit work from home opportunity and avoid scams. As a general rule of thumb, avoid anyone who is asking for a starting fee and make sure you talk to a real person. Research the company’s information in close detail too, using Crunchbase or typing in news: “company name” in your web browser.

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