There are many reasons people choose to work from home. It could be that they want to be a stay-at-home mom or dad, because they want to care for their children. Perhaps they are retired, and looking for a way to pass some time. Some people enjoy making extra money because they want to make sure that they are putting money in their savings or retirement account. They may be saving up for something specific, such as a special vacation or a new car purchase. Others just like working from home, because they don’t like the commute and they really prefer to set their own hours. This is especially true for people with chronic health conditions who may need to stay in special environments in order to stay healthy.
Whatever the reasons you may have for working at home, there are certain steps you need to take to make sure that you are making legitimate money. Many purported online businesses claim to be legal, when in fact they are anything but. They take your money, and they give you nothing in return. For every job offer online, there is a scam to go with it. However, there are some legitimate jobs you can get to work from home. While some of the jobs from home allow you to earn a good salary, others allow you to pocket some extra cash. Not sure where to start? Have a look at some of our suggestions on how to make money working from home.
You Have An Opinion? People Would Love to Talk to You
If you have definite opinions about how things should be done, there are companies who would love to talk to you. For example, there are online polling companies that will pay you to take surveys. While some survey companies allow you to earn points to get gift cards, others will pay you in cash. Be sure that if you do try one of the survey companies to earn money, you check them out first. Many consumer protection sites offer a list of reputable survey companies.
Website Opinions
If survey work is not quite up your alley, there are other ways to give your opinion. There are website evaluation companies that will pay you to evaluate business websites. Companies will send you work if your profile matches the demographic they are looking for to look at a website. Usually, the company will ask you to record your verbal comments about the look of the site. In addition, you may be asked to put in software that can allow the company to see how you navigated the site as well. Your input allows a company to make decisions regarding their website and how to improve it.
Juror
Believe it or not, you can make money off the legal system, even if you are not a lawyer. Several companies are looking for jurors to help them prepare lawyers for trial acting as mock jurors. You sign up with companies as a potential juror, and they notify you by email when there is a case in your area you can work on. You are more likely to find cases to work on if you live in a metropolitan area, where cases are tried very often, rather than in a rural area, where cases are not tried as often. Most cases take between 30 minutes and an hour to review. While this may sound like small change, cases range from $20 to $60 to review. Over time, the cases (and the money) can really add up.
Helping Others As Well As Yourself
Many businesses allow you to run errands for other people, either from your own home, or outside your home. First, you could become a virtual assistant, which means that you can make calls for others to set up appointments for them. You could also make calls to people who provide services to the home to set up maintenance visits. People hire virtual assistants to call around to get prices on products and services as well. Other types of virtual assistants run errands for the individual—including post office or package store runs, personal shopping, and grocery pickup and delivery. Payment rates vary by task. Some tasks are only worth a few dollars, while other tasks are worth far more, between $20 and $50 per task.
Tutoring
If you like to teach others a skill or a subject, you may want to think about tutoring students online. You could tutor students in academic subjects that you have a specialty in. Many online tutoring companies will allow you to sign up for free and have your students pay you directly (they will take a small amount off for commission). Unless you have an academic degree, don’t bother applying. Tutoring requires that you have at least a bachelor’s degree, and the higher a degree you have, the better you look to potential students. You can also choose to specialize in test-taking skills instead of an academic subject, as many high school students take either the ACT or SAT.
Suppose you have a specialty in something else that someone would like to learn? Great! You may be able to use those skills to teach others. If you know how to do a craft, such as knitting or crocheting, you could teach people how to do those things online. You could also teach people how to cook, change a tire, install an alarm system—anything you can think of to teach may be a potential market for customers.
Blogging
You could also use your expertise to run a blog. Thousands of people have made an amazing income blogging. While there are a lot of parent bloggers, and that may not be what you are interested in, you can start a blog that is about what you are interested in or passionate about. For example, a woman, Julie Powell, had a depressing job as a phone counselor for people to get benefits after 9/11. She isn’t happy with her life or her progress. To inspire herself, she decides to cook every recipe from Julia Child’s award-winning cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and blog about it over the course of a year. Her blog eventually led to a magazine article and a book, Julie and Julia, which was made into a movie. If you have something you are passionate about, this may be the way for you to earn the big bucks. This is especially true if you monetize your blog, and allow ads on it.
Writing and Editing
If you are good with words, you may want to consider work as a freelance writer or editor. There are many companies that need content writing and editing for their websites. Other businesses also need content for client websites that they host. Good writers and editors are always in demand, as society increasingly becomes internet-based and content savvy. There are all different kinds of freelance writing and editing jobs out there—everything from editing short copy to business reports that are hundreds of pages long.
So if you want to make money working from home, what are you waiting for? Dive right into the pool of freelancing, and good luck!
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