Make money from home: 6 legitimate work-from-home job opportunities

In today’s wired and networked society, the face of employment is fast changing. Gone are the days when the word ‘job’ brings to mind a 9-5 shift in an office cubicle. With the immense range of connectivity offered by the internet, many people are turning to online jobs that they can do from home. The attractions are flexibility in terms of time, the ability to work from home or anywhere in the world, and freedom to work at multiple jobs at the same time. To make the experience feel even more legit and corporate-like, you can get commercial office furniture El Monte CA for your home office. The prospect of making money from home is very attractive.

What are the opportunities available for a fresher looking for work online? Below given are 6 legitimate ways to earn money from home:

1. Freelance writing

If you have a bachelor or higher degree in English language, journalism or mass communication, or are a technology wizard, and have a flair for writing in English, freelance writing could be your forte. You can write for magazines, either print or online. You can also set up your own blog and website and maintain it by publishing articles every day, or you can write for someone else’s website/blog. In addition, there is demand for sales letters, resume writers, and e-books. In short, there is plenty of work, but there is also plenty of competition for the lucrative freelance writing jobs. You have to be persistent, and stick it out.

Once you decide to be a freelance writer, there are a few things you have to get ready:

Samples of your writing:

You will have to display your writing ability to your prospective employer, so write some sample articles on various topics. Make sure your samples are error free and of the highest standards in writing.

Tools:

You will also need tools such as a good computer with a built in camera and microphone, Microsoft office, a Skype membership, Linked-in membership, one or two email ids, and a PayPal account for receiving payment.

Skills and attitudes

Your language and writing skills should be impeccable. Other than that, you should know Microsoft word quite well, and be familiar with handling pdf files. It also helps to be very persistent, punctual, and committed.

Once you are ready with all these, have a look at the top freelance writing job boards. Some of the most popular are Freelancer, Upwork, Guru, People per Hour, and Fiverr. These sites let you access jobs for which you submit a proposal and place an attractive bid. It will take some trial and error to find the right gig, but as you gain experience, it will be easy. There are also agencies such as Glassdoor that will bring you job advertisements to which you can apply.

A type of freelance writing jobs is guest writing of articles. DesignM, Six Revisions, WorkAwesome, and CatsWhoCode are the major websites that accept guest articles.

A useful source of freelance writing jobs is FreelanceWriting that advertise freelance positions very often.

You might also join agencies such as Glassdoor, to land freelance writing jobs.

2. Academic editing

For those who are more academically oriented, have impeccable grammar, and are familiar with major citation styles such as APA, MLA, and the Chicago style, academic editing and proofreading of essays, dissertations and assignments could be a source of income. There are many openings for academic editors in various subject areas at cactus communications, proficient writers, and academic minds, to name a few.

3. Online tutoring

Another way is to sell your skills or knowledge is by teaching classes. For instance, if you’re an English teacher, you could start classes online on your own, or by joining an agency such as the tutorvista. You will need a high quality internet connection, skype and an inbuilt camera. You could even teach Playing a musical instrument,   yoga, dancing, and even foreign languages. Make sure how many hours a week you can give classes, and stick to the time.

4. Crafts and Art

If you have a flair for craft and art, you can sell your products at outlets on the internet. The demand is always there. Etsy, is a fast growing site that lets artists sell items at a fair price. You could choose from about 40 categories from clothes to gifts to edibles. Make sure you take very good quality photographs that are visually appealing, of your products, and post them.

5. Call Centers

If you have an ability to organize information quickly, a great telephone voice, and a quiet place in your home to work, you could make money working for a call center.

Call centers cater to businesses that do not have personnel to answer their calls 24 hours. These calls will be routed to a call center and then sent out to people who work from their homes. Individuals who work at home will have computers and software, and be able to answer the questions of the customers. The average pay for this kind of a job is about $9 per hour, and some companies offer health and dental benefits for employees.

6. Medical Transcription

Doctors make audio notes on their patients, and the treatment regime, and need people to transcribe their notes to put them in patient files. Most doctors do not employ a full-time transcriptionist. What they do is outsource the work, so it is a good job for people who are very good at typing, and have a working knowledge of medical jargon and health topics. It’s important to have professional work backpacks to carry your laptop to whatever remote location you work from. To land a medical transcription job, you will have to take special course in medical transcription training, and such courses are usually about 9-18 months duration and costs about $3000. It is a good idea to find mentors to guide you. It will be wise to contact the local chapter of the Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity (AHDI) in your area and join.

A final word

Beware of cheats and scams! If any agency is asking you to pay money to provide you with a freelance job, your warning bells should ring. Choose wisely.

Freelancing is not without its challenges. The idea is to create the right work-life balance so that you can have a peaceful family life and earn a decent living at the same time. Looking for a job from home? Try here. There are plenty of professional resume writing guidelines and templates are available online.

Do you work from home? What other ideas can you contribute to these, to help those out there looking for a work-from-home job?