I’ve been making money from home since 2017. 2004 if you want to count my numerous make money from home adventures beginning in junior high too.
In this time, I’ve discovered that it’s completely doable to earn six figures from home and even scale beyond that in no time. Take blogging for instance which is my favorite way to make money from home. You can make $2,000 monthly, $10,000 monthly, $50,000… you’ve probably seen tons of income reports floating around to prove that the sky is your limit really.
But, I’ve also experienced firsthand, the frustration of aspiring “work from homers” who have a hard time figuring out which business or job is legit, after all no one wants to get scammed of their hard work and/or money.
So with this post, I’ve gathered the best ways to make money from home all of which are legit so that you don’t fall prey to the many scams out there, and you can make a real career out of most of them too!
*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. This post may contain affiliate links from Amazon or other publishers I trust (at no extra cost to you). See disclosure for details.
You’ll also find resources and tips to get started with each work from home job or business on the list.
Good Ways to Make Money from Home For Free No Scams
1. Blogging
It’s flexible and the scalability is just crazy!
In as little as a year, blogging can become a source of fulltime income and most of that income will be passive too!
You can make money from ads when people read your posts, from sponsorships, and one of my favorite methods is making money as an affiliate. You simply recommend products you normally would and you get paid a commission for it!
There are many other ways to make money blogging and I’ve created an infographic about those blog income models and how long it will take you to reach full-time income using each. You can find it here.
How much do bloggers make? Most professional bloggers like myself start making $1,000 to $10,000 monthly as early as the 1st year.
How to start making money from home as a blogger.
I’ve written a detailed guide with videos and screenshots to help you learn how to start a mom blog and make money, you’ll also find the blog plan I use to create successful blogs in there.
2. Freelance Writer
One of the other ways I’ve made money online in the past is through freelance writing. In fact, I still write freelance for high profile B2B (Business to Business) eCommerce sites like OptinMonster and I can tell you that this is a very lucrative business.
There are many other freelance writers like Holly Johnson and Elise Dopson who constantly clear multiple six figures yearly.
Basically, you write for other successful bloggers or businesses to post on their own blogs, you could also write sales pages, marketing emails… If you have a background in tech or marketing or just about any specialty, you’ll make it big in freelance writing.
How much do freelance writers make? I won’t BS you, there are freelance writers scraping peanuts monthly but it’s not because they aren’t skilled, it’s because they don’t market themselves. Holly I mentioned above makes around $200,000 per year and she’s not the exception. Elise charges around $0.75 per word, that’s about $1500 for a 2,000-word post!
How to start freelance writing
The summary would be, brush up on your skills and market the hell out of yourself.
3. Proofreader
If you’ve been wasting time correcting grammar on your friends’ Facebook posts and getting backlash for it -instead of humble thanks, here’s good news. You can be paid to be a so-called “grammar nazi”!
Bloggers, editors, writers, all the people in the writing business, we need proofreaders to put that final shine on our writing drafts so that we can come off as smart and professional all the time ;).
How much do proofreaders make? Proofreaders get paid around $45 per hour depending on how fast they work.
How to become a proofreader
Get started using this guide.
4. Teach or Tutor
Just like many other jobs, the education industry is growing rapidly online. If you are a teacher or you simply love to teach, this is a great way to make money at home.
People who do well in this field typically have a specialty they focus on but you can teach anything at all. In fact, the most common teaching job available is teaching English through companies like VIPKid to foreign kids who don’t know English that well.
How much can you make teaching online? Between $10.50 – $60 per hour is the norm when you work for a company, but if you decide to sell your own courses, the margin widens a lot on both ends.
How to start teaching online.
Check out companies like VIPKid to teach English, and Udemy to sell your own courses.
5. Social Media Manager
If you’re that social butterfly that has perfected the art and strategy needed to get hundreds of likes and comments on your social media posts, I’ve got the perfect work from home gig for you!
Did you know that you could post on behalf of small businesses and celebrities? You would maintain their social media accounts, bolster their brand image and help them win leads.
You could specialize in Pinterest Management, facebook management, twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram or bundle them all! There are no rules.
How much do social media managers make? These people are some of the big hitters in the remote business. Typically, you should be making between $1,000 – $10,000 monthly depending on your clientele and if you work alone or outsource.
6. Virtual Assistant
Chances are you’ve worked as an assistant at one time or the other. It’s time to put your high school part-time job experience to use.
As a virtual assistant, you’ll be doing the exact same things you did as an assistant; managing schedules, checking emails, messages except for this time you’ll be working from home and doing the majority of your tasks online.
Sometimes, you’ll need to do social media, graphics, editing, researching, just about anything agreed in the scope of your contract.
How much do virtual assistants make? Virtual assistants typically earn anywhere from $10 to $100 per hour depending on skill, the scope of duties, and the clientele. You can charge big-time celebs and executives much more money.
How to become a virtual assistant
One of the most famous virtual assistants is Gina Horkey aka Six-figure Virtual Assistant. She’s created a course to help you get started.
7. Graphic Designer
This is a dream make money from home opportunity for most creatives. If you have an eye for design, love playing with fonts and colors and know any design software (even Canva qualifies), you in for a profitable surprise!
As always, you’ll need to learn, not just how to create the best designs but also market yourself in this field because gone are the days when just a portfolio was enough to sell. But, on the good side, fewer people invest in marketing which means that with the right training there are more clients up for grabs for you!
How much do graphic designers make? Depending on the kind of project (logo, brochure…), the clientele you choose and your experience, your hourly rate can range anywhere between $25-$150 per hour and above.
How to become a graphic designer
Set up a portfolio or blog (even better) and start promoting your services
8. Become a Travel Agent
If you love to travel and even better, if you know how to fish out the best deals on vacations and trips, you’ll do great as a Travel Agent.
Your job will mostly involve booking business trips for executives, retreats, family vacations, newlywed honeymoons and special trips like that.
How much do travel agents make? Travel agents take home around $28,000 to $56,000 yearly but like with everything else, your income will depend on your experience and your efforts.
How to become a travel agent? You may choose to start your own business or work for a company.
9. Search Engine/Social Media Evaluator
As complicated as this sounds, this is a way to make money from home without any training.
Search Engine/Social Media Evaluators rate search engine results like Google and social media ads like Facebook ads for accuracy and relevancy.
The aim is to make the platforms even better. I bet you didn’t know that Google and FB still need human opinions!
You get paid for exposure to a lot of awesome knowledge, plus you make your own schedule and never get on the phone.
How much do Social Media Evaluators make? Around $12.50 – $14 per hour.
How to become a social media evaluators? Specific companies like Appen outsource these jobs to individuals on behalf of the big dogs.
10. Customer Service Rep
If you get to spend a few hours alone daily then customer service could work really well for you.
A customer service representative supports customers by providing helpful information, answering questions, and responding to complaints. What customer service reps do in a nutshell is to make sure that customers are satisfied with a company and that the company receives and handles complaints in a timely fashion.
How much do customer service reps make? Customer Service Reps typically earn between $10 – $20 per hour.
How to get started. Check out Rat Race Rebellion or jobs on indeed to get started.
11. Virtual Bookkeeper
Are you a CPA looking for a way to make money from home? Or you just have a natural love for numbers, this one is for you.
A lot of people confuse accounting which requires certification with bookkeeping which doesn’t.
Basically, a bookkeeper keeps track of the expenses and income of a small business or individuals.
How much do bookkeepers make?
Bookkeeping has been named as one of the most profitable online jobs by Entrepreneur, earning remote workers as much as $112,000 per year.
How to become a bookkeeper
To get started, I recommend taking the famous (and free) Learn to Be a Bookkeeper Course.
12. Transcribe
A transcriptionist takes recorded audio from meetings, interviews, or simple dictations and turns them into readable text.
This is a work from home typing job and so it works best if you are a fast typist. But don’t worry, it doesn’t mean that you have to keep pausing, playing and rewinding, there’s special equipment (affordable too) professional transcriptionists use to make pausing recordings super easy.
How much do transcriptionists make?
Around $15 – $30 per hour but this is what it comes out to using the average human typing speed. If you type faster, your hourly rate can be much higher.
How to get started as a transcriptionist.
Learn to type faster, of course, you can use tools like ratatype, mavis beacon and the like. Transcription companies like Transcribe me.com always have remote jobs available for transcriptionists.
13. Virtual Receptionist
If you want to make money from home and still get to meet people every day, you are going to love (and excel) being a virtual receptionist.
Even though you won’t really “meet” people as a work from home receptionist, your primary responsibilities will involve a lot of socializing.
You will act as the face/voice of a company, answer calls, respond to emails, and provide customer service to clients. Some less exciting aspects of the job include organizing files and scheduling appointments.
How much do virtual receptionists make? Between $26 – 72k per year according to Glassdoor.
How to get started as a virtual receptionist
There are many agencies looking to hire people, you can get started with Vicky Virtual.
14. Consulting and Coaching
When most people think of consulting, they think it’s something only incredibly successful with MBAs do. It’s not!
Consultation means giving professional advice to an individual, business or organization in order for them to achieve a certain result. So if you are a professional or achiever in any area, business, health, social media, finance, beauty, fitness, parenting anything at all, you can become a consultant or coach.
How Much Can You Make From Consulting?
How much you make varies based on the niche you choose, the quality of the service you offer, the kind of clients you target, and how much experience you have.
To give you an idea, Consultants average around $76,000 per year. And it’s one of the most flexible jobs you can do from home that pay well.
Here’s a good article to help you get started.
15. Selling on Amazon (FBA program)
For moms who love to shop for great deals, Amazon’s FBA program is a good way to make money at home.
What you would do is shop as usual in physical stores for the best deals you can find, then list and resell them on Amazon for a profit.
16. Create your own “eCommerce” Store (without any products)
Did you know that you can create a successful eCommerce store without ever seeing or shipping the items? This method of selling online is called “Dropshipping”
You list and sell third-party products at a price you set from a Drop Shipping Company whose prices are lower than yours. When you successfully make a sale, you keep your profit and the company ships to the customer.
How much can I make with dropshipping? The two main factors that will determine your income in dropshipping would be how much traffic you get to your store and your choice of products. With ads and other promotions, you could easily do $5,000+ for starters.
And those are the 15 best ways to make money from home this year.
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