Earning money from home is a dream idea for some. With an economic downturn and millions of unemployed, it is a necessity for many in our current situation.
Do you have a job but want to work from home for extra money or to eventually replace your main source of income? Whichever situation you find yourself in, it can be helpful to have a few good ideas for opportunities that offer great earning potential.
The following are a few of the more promising ones.
1. Online Tutor
Source: ShutterstockDo you have a particular skill set or knowledge of a subject or field that others would want to learn? Make money from home teaching it to others! You might speak another language, and that gives you the opportunity to help others learn the language.
Perhaps you are proficient at math? Online tutoring lets you convert any subject you have considerable knowledge about into money in your pocket.
There are several reputable websites where you can sign up and offer your services. These include:
- Tutor.com
- Tutorme.com
- Tutors.com
- Vipkid.com
- Skooli.com
Some of these sites may require some form of certification in the subjects that you are signing up to teach. This may include having a bachelor’s degree, a teaching license, or some other qualification.
Pay will vary depending on the subject matter. But when Googling “starting pay as an online tutor,” $15 an hour seems to be about the minimum starting point. If you don’t have sufficient expertise in a particular field for this option, or just don’t feel tutoring is for you, don’t despair. There are other opportunities for you.
2. Web Designer
Source: ShutterstockAre you proficient in CSS, HTML, JavaScript, and other website design and development technology? Working from home as a web designer might be for you.
As recently as 2018, 46 percent of small businesses still don’t have a website. This creates a tremendous opportunity for anyone well-versed in website design. You will be all the more successful in this field if you know how to create an SEO-friendly website. It will be easier for people looking for that particular business to find the brand with an SEO-friendly website.
Furthermore, knowledge about other complimentary digital marketing services is an added value. You can offer these services to anyone that you already have as a web design client.
3. Sell Handmade Crafts
Source: ShutterstockDo you have an artistic bent? Maybe making little crafts or knick-knacks has been a hobby of yours for years.
Here’s your chance to turn it into an income from home!
There are websites where you can make money selling handmade items. Etsy is probably the best known of these. It is an online marketplace for vintage and handmade items and the craft supplies needed to make such items.
Many eBay and Amazon sellers peddle mass-produced merchandise sourced from overseas. This has given Etsy a niche market for creative people to sell their handmade merchandise.
4. Virtual Assistant
Source: ShutterstockThe world is full of busy entrepreneurs, executives, and other well-to-do people who have many demands on their time. Because of this, they value their time, more than many of us might. Think about it.
If you make $100 an hour from your work, or even $50 an hour, you are losing money devoting time to random daily tasks that you could be paying someone else $15 or $20 an hour to handle. This is what economists refer to as “opportunity cost.” Anything you might do needs to take into consideration what you could be earning or achieving doing something else.
This creates an excellent opportunity for people who are willing to handle the, typically, simple day-to-day tasks that these folks don’t have time to do themselves. It could entail handling their emails, planning trips, scheduling their day, helping with social media messages, doing research or any combination of these and similar things.
You can get started by listing your experience and skills on sites such as Upwork.com, Freelancer.com, Virtualassistantassistant.com, Fancyhands.com, and many others.
5. Customer Support
Source: ShutterstockMany people don’t realize that when they call a company from the comfort of their home to speak to customer support, they might be speaking to someone who is talking to them from the comfort of their home.
At the time of this writing, Indeed.com has nearly 20,000 job listings under the heading of “customer service call center work from home.” If you have a quiet space in your home from which to work (callers can’t be hearing noisy kids in the background) and a good internet connection and communication skills, this work might be for you.
6. Fulfillment by Amazon
There’s no denying what a powerhouse Amazon is in the world of retail. Luckily for you, it’s not hard to cash in on this. Many people don’t realize that around 50 percent of sales on Amazon come from third-party sellers. Some of these sellers are established businesses, but many are people just like you listing and selling products on Amazon through their Fulfillment by Amazon program.
Source: ShutterstockFulfillment by Amazon, or Amazon FBA, is where you have products you sell shipped directly to Amazon. Then, whenever someone sees your listing on Amazon and makes a purchase, Amazon picks, packs and ships the order for you for a fee. There are tons of videos on YouTube where people give recommendations of what types of products you might sell there to make you a good profit.
Admittedly, this money-making plan may take some money upfront. You’ll need some capital to buy products for resale.
If you have a bunch of excess stuff around the house that you don’t need, start weeding out. Put any of it that’s worth something up on eBay, and this might make you some starting capital for your Amazon business. You may even want to keep eBay going as a side business too and sell what you sell on Amazon there as well.
7. Combine Blogging With Affiliate Marketing
Practically all of us have one or more subjects we are passionate about. You may be so passionate that you have some ideas about it that others may be interested in reading. If this is the case, start a blog on the subject!
The possible ideas for a blog are limitless. People have blogs about fashion, sports, politics, pets, cars and literally every other subject. There are simple online website builders that make putting together a basic website for your blog an easy task.
Your main job will be regularly producing content for it. This is why it should be a subject you are truly interested in. Content is the lifeblood of nearly any website but never more so than with a blog. You don’t want to produce this content to feel like a chore.
Once you build up a decent readership, you can utilize affiliate marketing to monetize your blog. This is where you sign up with an affiliate program and then place an ad with a link to their website on your blog. When people click on that link, go to their site, and purchase a product from them, you get a commission.
Of course, it is best to join and place ads for affiliate programs that sell goods or services related to your blog’s subject matter. For instance, if it’s a blog about dogs, you could place affiliate ads for a company that sells dog collars, toys, or other canine products.
Finding Your Niche
Finding the right opportunity to work from home will depend on what you have to bring to the table. If you’re extremely knowledgeable in a certain subject and willing to share, tutoring might be your thing. If you have good communication skills and thick skin, you might try customer service from home. Selling on the internet is another option if you can figure out the best items to sell.
Realize that the above list is just a starting point. There’s a world of opportunity out there. It may not take too much time or research to figure out how you can make extra money you need or to replace the income of a lost job.
