Working from home is a common way of making a living for many people all over the globe. This tendency started to gain momentum since COVID-19 when many businesses switched to remote working mode. In 2022, the number of people in the US choosing remote work rose by 24%. At the same time, 61% of people consider working from home a positive experience and 62% of remote employees state that they are more productive when they work remotely.
There are many reasons people choose to work from home today, and the point is that they don’t just choose to work remotely, they strive to work more independently choosing their own pace and managing their schedule with no pressure. We must say that the range of possibilities to earn without leaving your home is truly enormous. Sometimes you don’t even have to possess any prior experience or specific knowledge to do the work, and at the same time, you can use your expertise to unlock your potential and earn more.
What captivates those working from home is flexibility and freedom of choice. Doing your work whenever you want and choosing your own pace is a big benefit. And, of course, it’s up to you to choose among different types of projects or activities and select a job that will truly satisfy you. To help you decide, we will share a bunch of ideas on how to make money from home. So, if you want to work remotely full-time or are looking for some side hustle to expand your income, we welcome you to familiarize yourself with the list of job ideas below and choose the right fit for you.
How to make money at home: 18 options to consider
There are numerous ways you can earn money at home just using your laptop or smartphone. It doesn’t even matter whether you have some working experience or not – there is always a chance for you to begin with simple tasks and increase your level of expertise, sometimes even changing your profession and starting to develop in some new niche. Anyway, you will find something to earn extra money from the ideas we share with you below, so go ahead and browse all of them.
- Freelance platforms
The first thing that comes to mind when you think about working from home is freelancing. You can find lots of projects and jobs, especially if you are an expert in some field, e.g. programming, marketing, design, writing, etc.
The easiest established way to make money from home if you want to be a freelancer is to search for jobs on platforms for freelancers, i.e. Fiverr, Upwork, Freelancer.com, and others. There are tons of projects, both short-term and long-term, and everything depends on the requirements, your qualifications, and preferences. What you need to do from the start, is to create an appealing profile describing your expertise, specifying benefits you may bring to an employer, and sharing your portfolio for the employer to check your skills. Platforms for freelancers offer a huge amount of tasks, so the next step is to find a project that interests you and check whether you fit its requirements.
Pros: there is a lot of work in many different fields and you can always find a way to earn money; after you accomplish tasks, you get good reviews that improve your reputation and give you more chances to be chosen by employers which promises more earnings in the future.
Cons: you need to search for appropriate jobs and compete with other freelancers proving that you are the best candidate.
However, it is not always a must for you to be an expert to start working on freelance platforms. You can specify your skills, make a list of jobs you are good at, and find some simple tasks that don’t require any specific knowledge. This may include data entry, comments posting, reviews writing, etc. In such a way you may obtain certain experience, find your niche, or just earn some money by accomplishing quick and easy assignments.
- Surveys
One of the easiest jobs to do at home for money implies taking surveys. You will hardly earn a lot but it can be a good side hustle, especially if you work on multiple sites aggregating your income. To start earning with surveys, you just need to create profiles on sites that offer money for your opinion. Among the most popular ones are SurveyJunkie, OneOpinion, and Swagbucks, and you can find many other similar sites just by googling them. On average, it’s possible to earn $1-$2 per hour but if you take a lot of surveys and use different sites, you will enjoy your extra income.
Though all you need to do is answer simple questions and fill out forms, remember that survey sites are not harmless at all. Whatever it is, they collect your information and may use it in many ways you might not be even aware of. So, here are some tips for you to stay safe: do not share your bank account information, your driver’s license, or your social security number; make sure you install some anti-fraud software; and create a separate email address you will use for surveys only.
Pros: it’s an easy way of making money on the Web.
Cons: the payments are usually low and the tasks are primitive, so you hardly develop any skills.
- Data entry
This method of earning at home seems to be one of the easiest. You don’t have to be an expert or provide qualifications to start such a job because data entry is about simple manual information entering into a database, spreadsheet, or some other source. All you need is to be accurate while you are entering the necessary data, as well as provide a good typing speed.
The amount you’ll earn depends on the employer, the project you work on, and the complexity of the tasks you get. Where can you find such tasks? There are various websites offering you to earn on data entry, and also we recommend you look for data entry jobs on Upwork, Freelancer, and Fiverr.
Pros: you can work anytime you want managing the amount of tasks you do.
Cons: payment rates are usually low, and you don’t obtain any specific skills while doing it.
- Product reviews
We bet you read reviews before buying some goods, home appliances, gadgets, books, cosmetics, etc. But do you know you can earn money by writing such reviews? Companies are ready to pay money for positive reviews because when their goods are well promoted they bring more revenue. The most effective promotion is a fair review written by a real customer.
How can you earn money with reviews? There are plenty of sites allowing you to leave your reviews and get paid for them. It is important to mention that this is not about surveys. Surveys are a kind of review but they are usually short and quick. Writing reviews means creating a kind of blog post with a detailed description of a product, real photos, and even videos of that product. Capterra is one of the sites that pays for such reviews – up to $10 for each. Or you can even create a list of top products mentioning up to 10 goods, for instance, on ListVerse. Moreover, there is an option not only to write about a product but talk about it as well and earn 10$ for every review on UserTesting.
Pros: you can make extra money at home just by using your favorite products and sharing your opinion about them.
Cons: it takes more time to create a good review that will be accepted and paid.
- Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence knocked into our lives and started changing content creation strategies. It’s not a secret that AI services may replace humans in some cases. For instance, written content is most affected, since AI can write, rewrite, and even translate.
You may ask: why pay money to someone who uses AI to create content if it can be done free of charge? The reason is that business owners don’t have time to create lots of content and they are ready to pay some money to freelancers who can do all the work for them.
For example, if we talk about the translations, AI speeds up the process, so less time is needed to handle large volumes of work. Additionally, AI minimizes errors providing a good quality of the translation, and minimizes the cost compared to human translation services. In such a way, a business can target audiences from different locations effectively saving their budget. The same thing is true with writing, photo editing, marketing, and other fields. To cut a long story short, AI helps with content generation, and you can be the person who organizes all the processes for a certain business. A company gets the result, and you get paid.
Pros: such a job requires a little knowledge and is rather easy to do if you just know how to work with an AI service.
Cons: you don’t develop your creativity and don’t create something unique yourself.
- Amazon Mechanical Turk
What is Amazon Mechanical Turk? This is an online marketplace where almost everyone can accomplish simple tasks from time to time and earn money. This job will hardly become your full-time one but still, you can make money effortlessly.
How does it work? It is all about crowdsourcing which means that business owners just look for remote employees to perform tasks where human intelligence is needed. Assignments may include moderation, duplication of content, surveys, review submissions, transcriptions, and many more. All you need to start earning with Amazon MTurk is to register, verify your identity, and then browse through tons of micro tasks choosing those you are able to accomplish and you qualify for. Once you do all the requested work, a requester validates it. After the verification, you get your payment.
At Amazon MTurk, you get paid based on the hourly rate. It may vary from $1 to $12 which is not that much to make a living, but it is a good way to get some side income or get Amazon gift cards to use on various goods.
Pros: such a job is flexible and you are offered a variety of tasks to choose from; you can work anytime you want from any corner of the world and you are not required to possess any specific experience or knowledge.
Cons: the pay rates are rather low while the competition is pretty high, and the task approval process may take up to 30 days, so you won’t get paid immediately.
- Online tutoring
If you are an expert in some field and you are ready to share your knowledge and expertise with others, you may become an online tutor. This is the kind of job that may replace your full-time employment or become a part-time job with a pretty good income.
How to become an online tutor? You have two ways to go. First, find the appropriate open position offered by a company or educational platform. Secondly, work as a freelancer and create your own program with your own schedule and plan.
The difference is that in the first case, you should meet some requirements and if you are self-employed you are the person that sets the rules. But what is common for both cases, you must have enough knowledge and experience to teach others and really give value.
- If you decide to work on an existing educational platform there are plenty of them to choose from. For instance, TutorMe, Skooli, GeeklyHub, etc.
Pros: you don’t have to struggle looking for students, readymade platforms provide all the tools and possibilities required for work.
Cons: you have to meet the requirements of the job, have a degree, and provide certificates.
- If you decide to work as an independent tutor, you need to create your own online presence and spread the word about your services. This might not be an easy task to do but you can organize everything in the way you want.
Pros: there are fewer formal requirements, flexibility, and creativity because you decide how everything is set.
Cons: you need to manage a lot of processes, from administrative work to the promotion of your services to attract students.
- Guest blogging
In case you have enough knowledge and some cool insights to share and are good at writing, you may try guest blogging to earn money at home. There are many sites that offer money for content, and the range of topics you can contribute articles on is very diverse. You only need to find sites that offer money for blog posts, learn the requirements, and create corresponding content to offer.
How much can you earn doing guest post writing? Most of the sites pay $50-100 per article, so if you write several blog posts per month, you will earn some good money. Just find your niche and create valuable content that will captivate readers. In such a way, you will get your personal portfolio of published articles under your name which is good for your reputation as a writer.
Cons: you are the author, and you share your unique experience getting a publication under your name.
Pros: you need to pick up a topic that will fit this or that blog, and successfully pass the moderation process after which you’ll be paid for your article.
- Transcriptions
Another way to make money from home is transcription services. It means you need to convert audio or video files into text. Thus, to complete such tasks you need to have good listening, grammar, and language skills. The process is rather simple – you listen to an audio or video recording and type what you hear.
This is a good opportunity to expand your income without leaving your home but you need to take into account that such work requires time, attention, and patience. But it may be worth it because transcriptionists can earn up to $20 an hour which is a pretty good rate for a job you do at home at any convenient time. If you need some training before doing transcriptions, find some courses on the web. For instance, Transcribe Anywhere offers courses for beginners and some of them are even available for free. Once you feel you are ready to start working as a transcriptionist, search for relevant jobs at UpWork or use specific sites like TranscribeMe, Rev, Daily Transcription, and others.
If you want to succeed being a transcriptionist, you need to make sure the transcriptions you make are clean and contain every word said by the narrator. Very often accuracy is even more important than speed. However, meeting deadlines is also crucial. Every task has its deadline, so mind it when you decide to start accomplishing a new assignment. But when you get some experience, it will be easier for you to do more complex and long transcriptions. Thus, you will be able to promote yourself as a skilled transcriber and you’ll be able to lift rates.
Pros: you can choose between different tasks and work at any convenient time.
Cons: one hour of transcription may take up to 5 hours of your time, so you need to be truly diligent.
- Website testing
This is another great opportunity to earn some extra cash right from your couch. If you are Internet-savvy, like to pay attention to details, and want to help businesses improve their services, try testing websites for money. Depending on the company, you will use your laptop, tablet, or even smartphone to do the work. Additionally, some companies may require you to record your tests using a microphone, web camera, or by making a screen recording. For one test lasting up to 25 minutes, companies usually pay $10.
There are many testing sites where you may register if you want to become a tester. Among them are Checkealos, TestIO, Validately, and others. After the registration you either fill out an application form or take a sample test to qualify for the job. When everything is set, you’ll receive new tasks via email or choose the task you’d like to accomplish from the list of available assignments.
Pros: it is possible to become a tester with no prior experience by registering on many sites to have enough tasks and make extra income.
Cons: you will need to record your voice or screen, and you won’t be able to be distracted during the test.
- Virtual assistant
If you are looking for a way to earn some extra money at home, you should consider becoming a virtual assistant. Many companies are looking for freelancers to outsource various tasks, and you have a chance to become such an employee working from home either full-time or part-time.
What do virtual assistants do? The tasks may vary depending on the company and projects you may work on. Common tasks may include email management and marketing, arranging travels, customer support, data entry and subscription, document organization, editing, research, social media accounts management, and more.
To start working as a virtual assistant you should define your strong points. It will help you find relevant projects to apply your skills and define the niche in which you may offer your services. It will also be great if you have a portfolio with your clients’ feedback or your work examples to showcase your skills to potential employers.
A virtual assistant can make $7-37 per hour. The rate depends on your level of expertise, on the amount of your working hours, and on the particular project you work on. It is easy to find a virtual assistant job by just browsing open positions on the web or by promoting your services through different networks.
Pros: you can make good money by accomplishing even entry-level tasks, develop your skills, and level up in the long run.
Cons: it takes time to proceed to higher-paying tasks.
- Etsy store
If you have some creative idea in mind about producing something unique, or you already craft something that can be potentially sold, think of launching your online store on Etsy. This is a popular marketplace where different creatives are sold. Thus, you can apply your talent and turn your passion into a small business that may bring you extra income with no surplus efforts.
What can you sell on Etsy? Something creative and unique. Among the top sellers are: crafts, handmade elements for parties, clothing items, accessories, and different supplies. The good thing is that launching your online store is pretty easy, and can be done without all the effort needed to open an offline store. You just need to create an account on Etsy, upload your products, customize your store page, set up billing, and choose a payment method. But then you’ll have to take care of marketing and think over your pricing policy thoroughly to compete with other manufacturers. Still, Etsy is a good place to generate extra income with art.
Pros: you can sell almost anything in compliance with Etsy policies, and earn money from home.
Cons: high competition; there are some fees you need to pay, however, they are lower compared to running an offline store.
- Social media consulting
It’s not a secret social media plays an important part in the life of every Internet geek. First, it gives us information and lets us share our stories. Secondly, it has become an effective way to promote anything and make a living. We won’t talk about earning with your own social media because not everyone is willing to share something personal or has enough time to launch commercial accounts from the ground up and boost them. But what you really can do is earn money managing others’ social media pages. Of course, if you possess certain skills, particularly knowing how to create captivating content and build a content and marketing strategy.
Suppose you want to earn working as a social media consultant. In that case, you have to be ready to communicate with the audience, post various types of content, stick to brand messages, research competitors, and generate ideas for new content to boost subscribers’ engagement. Among the skills you need to possess to become a social media consultant are creativity, communication, management and optimization, and even data analysis.
Being a consultant you can work with several companies with no obligation to stay dedicated to one employer only. There is a possibility to discuss the scope of your responsibilities and schedule your work effectively.
Pros: you can boost your skills, help businesses grow their presence on social media, and have a pretty good income.
Cons: you need to have a specific education, experience, and a portfolio to showcase your skills to have a high-paying job.
- Selling your photos
Are you passionate about making picturesque photos? Do you have a talent for capturing precious moments? Then you should know that you have an opportunity to earn money by selling your best photos online. There are many ways to go in such a case. Start by creating your own website showcasing your artwork and selling it there. Platforms like Wix allow you to create your online presence with ready-made templates, so you don’t have to code or design anything, but still, you’ll have to take care of your site promotion. Or you can use one of the stock photography platforms allowing you to upload your pics and make them available to people who are ready to pay for nice shots. You just register as a contributor, add all the necessary information about yourself, upload your photos in compliance with the submission guidelines, and add metadata, all the relevant keywords, and descriptions for your pics to be found by them. Then wait till the site reviews your photos. In case of success, they will become available for purchase. If someone buys your pic, you’ll get credited.
You never know which photo will become really in demand and generate a good income for you. It all depends on the purposes of people who are searching for photos on stock photography sites. Apart from that, there are specific websites that pay even for photos of your feet, so you don’t have to create a masterpiece to earn extra money. It’s up to you what art you want to share and what pics you want to monetize.
Pros: you can make captivating photos even with your smartphone and sell them effortlessly.
Cons: It’s a matter of chance – it’s hard to predict your earnings and be sure your photos will bring you enough money.
- Selling things you don’t need
We all have some stuff we don’t use anymore. This might be clothing, shoes, accessories, gadgets, books, and many other things. Don’t throw it away, it’s better to make some extra cash by selling it on the Web. The easiest and most common way to do it is to use online marketplaces, like eBay or Facebook Marketplace, allowing you to sell things that were in use. However, you need to comply with their rules, and it can happen that not all of the items can be accepted. But you can use your social media pages as well to sell something you don’t need and generate some revenue.
Apart from the stuff mentioned above, you may sell some discount or gift cards if you no longer use them. Someone may get interested in such things, and you will be able to earn, which is much better than just throwing your stuff away.
Before you start selling, make sure all the things are in good condition, your gadgets work, and your items are repaired. Make catchy photos of good quality, add a description that will grab attention eliminating the amount of questions potential buyers might want to ask, and you’re good to go!
Pros: you can earn money with almost no effort.
Cons: you have to wait until someone buys your items, so your income might not be regular.
- Video streaming
YouTube channels are quite a mainstream way of getting revenue nowadays. Though it sounds simple, it doesn’t mean you’ll start earning at once, because first, you must comply with all the rules of YouTube monetization. But once you do, there are many ways of getting revenue. If your channel is popular and has at least 1000 subscribers and 4000 watch hours for the last year, you are allowed to join the Partner Program and start monetizing your channel. You will earn money from ads that are shown from time to time while viewers watch your videos. Additionally, you can use various methods to monetize your channel – involve sponsorship and promote different products, be an ambassador of some brand, sell merchandise, leverage affiliate marketing, and crowdfunding, and also engage your subscribers to become your channel sponsors and support you with donations.
Apart from YouTube, there are other platforms to launch live streams and earn money. For instance, you can go live on TikTok and get gifts and tips from viewers. If you are fond of playing games, then go live on Twitch and earn while enjoying gameplay. Moreover, try launching your own CTV channel and offer catchy video content based on subscriptions or payments per view. It’s up to you what kind of content you want to monetize and what model to use for that. The main point is that being a content creator you can really make a living.
Pros: video content creators can earn a lot of money by producing unique content or commercial videos.
Cons: you have to create new content regularly and make an effort to promote your channels to keep the audience engaged as well as make possible monetization methods work.
- Renting out something
If you have a spare room in your apartment that you do not use at the moment, you may rent it and get money doing practically nothing. But if you decide to earn money this way, be careful with the people you let into your house. Check all the possible information about them and make sure it is safe to live under one roof with your potential housemate.
In case you don’t want to live with strangers in your house even for money, you can rent out your car. Before doing that, make sure your car insurance allows you to rent your vehicle. Also, familiarize yourself with the rules and protection possibilities provided by a rental platform in case a renter receives a ticket or gets in a crash while driving your car.
Pros: it’s an easy way to earn money on a regular basis doing almost nothing.
Cons: there are certain risks because you entrust your house or car to strangers and can’t predict their behavior.
- Writing and publishing an ebook
You may have something interesting and valuable to tell the world. In that case, writing an e-book will be a good option for you to generate extra income. To share your knowledge with audiences around the globe, write a book and offer it for sale on Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing. Then it will become available on the Kindle store and everyone who is interested can download it for a price you set. You will get royalties from every purchase, and you get up to 70% from every sale.
When your book is finished, just set up an account on Kindle Direct Publishing, make sure your book format fits the requirements, add a compelling description, and let your creation see the world.
Pros: such work can become your passive source of income in the long run.
Cons: it takes pretty much time to write a book, and it’s impossible to predict the number of sales you can get; there are millions of books for sale, so the competition is high.
Final thoughts: which of the ideas to make money fits you?
As now you’ve got a plethora of ideas on how to earn money at home, you can choose any appropriate job for yourself. Just think of the skills you have, do a little research, and define the niche where you’ll be able to reveal your potential.
If you are a skilled IT professional, the best choice for you is freelance platforms where you will find a job that fits your level and preferences. If you are looking for some entry-level positions, there are also plenty of simple tasks for you to do on the Internet. Such jobs may not bring you much income but still can help you earn some extra money and may appear to be a good small start for your further career in a new niche.
What is best about the work you can do at home, it gives you much flexibility. To determine what type of job is the most suitable, you have to decide how much time you are ready to dedicate to it. It may be a full-time job with flexible working hours or a side hustle you choose to do whenever you want. Anyway, working from home gives you the possibility to choose how many tasks to do, when, and how fast. And, of course, your income will depend on that.
Also, remember that earning from home doesn’t always mean accomplishing tasks. If you have something you can rent out or sell, it can become a good source of income. But in that case, you need to take care of all the safety issues so as not to lose your money or your property.
One way or another, a new source of income may be right there in front of you, and all you need is to look through the ideas we’ve described above and pick the option that fits you best.
Nov 24, 2023
