Regardless of your schedule, there are many legit work-from-home jobs you can start doing to make some extra money.
As long as you are self-motivated and willing to put in the work, there are plenty work from home jobs to look into to start making more money working from home.
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Watch out for work-at-home scams
Before I begin, just as a word of caution, the work-from-home industry is rife with scams and ripoffs. Federal officials have warned that such frauds are on the rise as a result of the coronavirus epidemic, as millions of individuals who have lost their jobs look for new opportunities.
So here are a few things to keep in mind before you get started:
Don’t pay to work.
You should NEVER have to pay to do work, even if it’s a non-traditional job working at home.
Would you pay to go work at a call center? Would you pay to be a waiter? No! And you should never pay to work from home.
If it sounds too good to be true…
If it sounds too good to be true, it most likely is.
Can you make a decent income working online or working from home? Absolutely!
Can you get paid “$25-$50 per hour posting ads on Facebook” or “$100 per hour to watch ads and do surveys”? Nope.
With that being said, there are some legitimate work from home jobs that exist. What I’ve done is put together a list of the best no-fee work from home jobs for 2023.
Blogging jobs
The whole “starting a blog” thing gets a bad rap. But that’s because the word “blog” gives the impression it’s a personal journal of sorts.
But when I say blog, I mean a content marketing business. I mean a website that uses blog posts to both get traffic and to promote the business.
According to a yearly study, the great majority of marketers use content marketing. Indeed, it is utilized by many well-known companies throughout the world like P&G, Bloomberg, Cisco Systems, and Microsoft
Here is how to start a blog and start earning money from home:
Step 1. Start a blog
- Choose a sub-topic to blog about from these 3 general categories: health, wealth, or self-improvement.
- Decide on a blog name, register a domain name, and get blog hosting.
- Choose a blog theme (I recommend Astra) to design your blog.
- Write great content (use Grammarly) and build your email list (use ConvertKit).
Step 2. Get people to notice you and your brand
- Install the free Yoast SEO plugin and optimize your content for Google search.
- Build pin images using Canva to share on Pinterest.
- Use a Pinterest scheduler like Tailwind to schedule your pins.
- Spend some money on Facebook ads to increase your reach.
Step 3. Earn money with your online business
- Put ads on your blog using an ad network like Google Adsense to start.
- Use affiliate marketing programs like Amazon Associates, FlexOffers, Shareasale, and Awin.
- Sell services, digital products, or courses. Use SendOwl as your checkout tool.
Online surveys
Requiring zero experience, answering online surveys is one of the easiest work-from-home jobs out there for a little extra cash.
There are many different companies and types of surveys available for you to take right now, ranging from opinion polls to answering questions about your own shopping habits.
Companies are looking for ways to better understand their potential customers to improve their sites to target their audience the best way they can, which is why there are so many online survey companies out there.
Here are my favorite survey companies for making money at home:
Some of these online survey companies pay out in gift cards, while others offer cold hard cash. Well, PayPal, but close enough.
Web designer
You don’t need to have a degree in web design (if those even exist) to earn money as a web designer.
Web designer work-from-home jobs are one of my favorites because it has never been easier to design a website – even if you have zero experience.
The secret is using WordPress as your content management system, a blog theme like Astra, and a page builder like Elementor to build your websites.
Using a page builder to design websites means you can design a page any way you (or your clients) want.
While WordPress is a platform meant for bloggers, you can use it to build any type of website, from a wedding photographer’s site all the way to the local pizza shop.
Below is a video with a quick tutorial on how to get started:
Coaching and consulting
To make money as a coach or consultant, you don’t even need a website!
That’s right, with just a large social media following and an email list, you can build a list of people who appreciate your tips and knowledge.
Here’s how to make this happen:
- Sign up with ConvertKit to start an email list for free.
- Set up a landing page on ConvertKit to collect leads.
- Build your list using social media to promote yourself.
- Send a series of automated emails to your audience.
- Market your coaching services to this engaged audience.
This type of work-from-home gig is ideal for life coaching, relationship experts, personal trainers, and more.
Here is a video tutorial on how to create and customize landing pages in ConvertKit:
Graphic designer
“But, but, I don’t know how to do that!”
You’re right, but all of us didn’t know how to do anything at some point.
How did we learn? By just doing it.
There isn’t a magical formula. You just start, you’ll suck for a while, then as time goes on, you just keep getting better.
You, yes you, can earn money as a graphic designer working at home.
Here’s what you need to get started:
- Sign up for Canva. It’s free, but I recommend the Pro version if you want to make money.
- Use their free templates to start designing logos, Pinterest pins, social media graphics, brochures, flyers, and more.
- Once you get the hang of it, market your services on Fiverr.
- Start by pricing your work on the low end. Once you build enough 5-star reviews, gradually increase your prices.
Here is a video on how to start making money on Fiverr using Canva:
App & website testing
Similarly to taking surveys, companies and developers are always looking for people to give feedback on websites and apps they are working on and creating. Responses can be about how things look, navigation, website flow, or anything you have an opinion about.
Generally, these kinds of jobs will not make you a full-time income, unless you, of course, become a professional tester. Still, they can provide additional income for simply providing your opinions.
Some of the top companies in this field are UserTesting and TesterWork.
Micro jobs
For people who are short on cash and can work in 1 to 2-hour increments, micro job sites may be something you should look into. They might not bring in the biggest paycheck, but they are great for easy income with immediate payment.
MTurk
The largest micro jobbing platform is Amazon’s Mechanical Turk or MTurk. Here you will be able to work as much or as little as you’d like processing data, locating images or videos online, and performing other small and menial tasks that can add up to be a nice extra chunk of money.
Swagbucks
Sites like Swagbucks will pay you to perform tasks you would already be doing on the internet. More than taking surveys, these kinds of jobs can include watching videos, trying out offers, and even googling and searching online.
TaskRabbit
Along the same lines of micro-jobs is TaskRabbit, which is for people willing to do chores for others.
This service-based app, along with others, connects customers with willing people to assist or complete jobs like mounting a tv, cleaning, and assembling furniture. Jobs will typically pay $50 to $130 per task, and the app makes it easy to submit your invoices for payment.
To get started, head over to their website to submit an online application and find an informational session near you to complete your registration.
From then on, wait for your app to notify you of jobs you can do around you. So while you’re not technically working from home, you can find work from your own home just like a freelancer would.
Childcare & Pet Sitting
Babysitting
Babysitting has historically been a great avenue for additional cash, and now that the market has turned online, it still is.
Websites like Care.com and Sittercity.com are great places to connect with potential families that will need to utilize you as their form of childcare.
Most typical daycares and childcare centers are closed in the evenings and on weekends, so those might be optimal times to be available.
Pet sitting
For some families, their pets are their children and therefore need the same services as previously mentioned. Rover connects you to people who need dog walkers, sitters, and even boarding overnight and on weekends, allowing you to pick what works best for you.
House sitting
Join TrustedHousesitters to get paid just for watching someone’s house. It doesn’t get any easier than that!
Virtual Assistant Jobs
If you are looking to become a remote assistant, many different types of virtual assistant jobs are currently available online.
Most companies will need help with administrative tasks like managing a calendar, emails, technical support, and data entry without hiring a full-time employee upfront. This creates perfect availability for those looking to pick up work during slow times.
Since virtual assistant jobs can range in specialty, most will offer training classes that will ensure you are well versed in the common skills needed for almost all virtual assistant jobs. These courses usually work at your own pace type classes, giving you flexibility on when you are learning and how long it will take.
After some initial training, specific jobs may require you to learn additional skills that will pertain to the listing you applied for.
Once all of that has been accomplished, you can start searching on popular sites to find new job opportunities and new job leads.
Make sure when applying, there is a place on your resume or profile that lists all your pertinent skills. This will make it easier for employers to locate qualified remote workers and contact you about potential jobs.
Upwork and FlexJobs are two starting points for finding virtual assistant jobs. You can even check somewhere like Indeed if you know how to properly weed through the trash.
Legit work from home jobs
So far, everything we’ve mentioned has sort of been a “go at your own pace” or “seek out your own work” type of deal.
Many companies out there will hire you as an actual employee, pay you either a salary or wages as if you punched a time clock at the office, and send you a taxed paycheck or direct deposit, often with benefits.
Yes, an actual real-life job, except you get to stay home to do it.
Apple
Everybody knows Apple’s products, and most people have been to an Apple store and have seen their employees or have been to the genius bar.
But what happens whenever you need to call them for help? Are the employees at a call center?
Most of them, but not all of them. Some of them are work-from-home agents.
Oh, and guess who you’re talking to whenever you do the live chat option for help? Probably somebody who is earning a nice salary with benefits from the comfort of their own home.
Xerox
Yes, the guys who make the big fancy copy machines. But did you know that those copiers make up only a fraction of their income?
Xerox is a HUGE international company that provides a myriad of business and corporate services to other companies worldwide.
They may have designed the computer systems that your local law firm is using. Or maybe they handle the behind-the-scenes invoicing system that your local CPAs use.
Xerox has at-home call agents AND at-home positions that don’t even require any phone time to do tasks like image tagging and data entry.
Support.com
Can you guess what these guys do base on their company name? Right, they offer.. well, support. More specifically, they offer support for any device, for any issue, at any time, on any day.
So if you’re someone who’s tech-literate, or at least willing to learn, then working a tech support job from home with Support.com might be right up your alley.
American Express
Working a virtual (at home) position with American Express is one of the most sought-after work-from-home jobs.
The pay is extremely competitive, they offer amazing benefits, and they even offer maternity leave.
Yes, maternity leave for mothers who were already getting paid from their own homes.
I’m sure you’ve guessed already, but the job itself revolves around helping customers with their credit card, card statements, or using the American Express website.
Convergys/Concentrix
Although they’ve been in existence for over 40 years, decades before household computers were common, Convergys is now a leader in work-from-home employment.
Back in their early days, they had call centers in just about every state.
They bill themselves as a “customer management” and “data management” solution.
With thousands of corporate clients who help with dozens of solutions, you might find yourself doing customer service for a cable tv provider, or you might be taking orders for some new cooking gadget from an infomercial.
Work at home freelance writing jobs
There are millions upon millions of websites and blogs out there. Do you honestly think that every single website owner or blogger writes their own content?
What about the actual text on web pages? Email newsletter content? Product descriptions?
Freelance writing is a rapidly-growing industry that certainly has no shortage of jobs. In fact, it’s growing so rapidly that other freelance writers won’t even get mad at me for spilling the secrets here.
And, to make it even easier, there are so many content procurement, content provider, and “content mill” services out there that anybody who is a halfway decent writer can log in, check out a list of jobs, and pick which ones they want.
Or, you can write content, upload it to the mill, and keep the profits when a website owner decides to buy it.?
You can literally write about whatever you want. How to take care of a new kitten. What kind of CBD oil to buy. The best wedding venues in Dubai. The range of topics is absurd. Here are our favorite (legit!) places to write for:
Verblio
Verblio – Formerly known as Blogmutt, Verblio caters to bloggers and websites that need engaging and informational articles.
You might write for banks.com, you might write for Showbiz Cheatsheet, or you might write for your local plumber who’s working on his new website.
As far as payouts go, you might get paid $10-$20 for a 350-600 word article, or you might work your way through the system to where you can make $200-$400 for one article.
Many writers consider Verblio as the holy grail of content mills. They’re kind of picky with their writers, but the payoff is well worth it for those who work hard to get their foot in the door.
Textbroker
For those who don’t consider themselves writers but want to give it a shot, Textbroker is very kind to beginners and newbies.
It’s a great company to get your feet wet with as you learn the ropes of earning a living (or making some extra cash) writing engaging articles and blog posts.
Beware if you try and look up Textbroker reviews, as more experienced writers love talking smack about them. But, again, they’re great for first-time writers.
Constant Content
This content mill stands out because they have a feature that lets you write about whatever you want, upload it to their directory, and let bloggers preview and purchase it.
It’s great for writers who have some unused content lying around. They do have the typical pick-and-choose job postings as well.
Content Gather
For those writers who uploaded some work to Constant Content, you may want to consider putting some of your articles on Content Gather as well.
They have a much smaller client base, so their turnaround time can be a bit slow. This is another great choice for budding writers trying to get their foot in the door.
Words of Worth
One of the lesser-known content mills out in the writing world. They’ve got a nice selection of jobs to write for, they’ve got a great tool to upload your non-purchased content to, and they pay on time.
I’m not sure where their buyers come from or who they sell their content to, but I guess that’s irrelevant when you’re getting paid to write from home.
Work from home transcription services
Have you ever wondered where movies and tv shows (that aren’t live) get their closed captioning? Did you know that most legal proceedings are recorded but then need the audio transcribed (typed out)?
What about when a piece of controversial audio gets released, and within hours journalists have got a complete and searchable transcription typed out. How do they make that happen?
All of these scenarios are just a tiny fraction of what kinds of audio you will be typing up by working for a transcription service.
None of the services listed below have a shortage of work. Some of their clients are corporate-level clients that send in thousands of audio clips a day, and some of their clients are just freelancers who send in a few files a month.
How it works
You take these audio files and simply type out what you hear being said and get paid per minute. You are given a set of guidelines to follow.
For example, you’ll be shown how to show that two different people are talking or what to type if what they’re saying is gibberish or in a foreign language.
Some of these places pay $1.25-$1.60+ per minute of audio transcribed.
How to get started
Upon signup to basically any of the services below, you will be given their transcription guidelines to review.
After reviewing the guidelines, you take a quick test to make sure you actually read their guidelines.
Most of these companies use the same set of transcribing rules. Once you’ve passed the test, you’re in.
These signup tests take less time than it would to drive out to some local business and sit down for an interview with some hiring manager.
And without further adieu, we’re going to wrap up our list here today with our favorite well-vetter transcription services for those that want to work from home at their own pace:
TranscribeMe
Unlike other transcription services that pay per minute of audio transcribed, TranscribeMe pays $15-$22 per hour of audio that’s been transcribed.
They pay via PayPal, and you can cash out your earnings whenever you want.
GoTranscript
These guys are a little easy on their “hiring” requirements and are a bit forgiving to newbies.
The actual work itself isn’t that hard as their audio clips are usually of high quality. You will earn about $0.60 per minute of audio transcribed.
They pay weekly via PayPal and Payoneer.
Daily Transcription
At DT, transcribers will earn about $0.75-$0.85 per minute of audio transcribed.
They’re not an especially unique company, but I want to mention them here because not everyone has PayPal and Daily Transcription pays weekly via check.
Rev
With over 100,000 clients, including Google, Amazon, and Facebook, Rev is, without a doubt, the largest and best transcription company to work for.
You don’t need any experience to get started, and they’ve got a very smooth hiring and testing process.
Beginners can expect to earn $0.30-$0.60 per minute of audio transcribed, while more advanced users can earn up to $1.10 per minute of audio transcribed.
The difference between the two pay rates exists because the quality of the audio files can get kind of funky as you get into the $x.xx range.
They pay weekly via PayPal.
Legitimate work-from-home jobs are no longer a non-existent dream.
With the technology provided to us in 2023, anybody in any country can find some legitimate way to make money working at home.
I hope this exhaustive guide here serves as a starting point for both those who need a side hustle or some extra cash and those who need a legitimate full-time income while working from home.
