There was a time when finding home-based jobs was frowned on. However, things have really changed and you are now living in an age where you can find not only jobs but also careers in which you can work from home.
The exposure to home-based jobs has quadrupled in a few years and this way of working is now becoming the preferred choice for people who want to spend more time with their families or want to enjoy the liberty of working from any place and at any time.
While there will always be scammers online, promising jobs that seem too good to be true (yes, we all have received those “work for 2 hours daily and earn $5,000 in a month” emails), there are many opportunities now available for honest, well-paying online jobs. Some of the best places for freelancers include Upwork, Freelancer, Toptal, 99Designs Crossover and Fiverr.
You might be wondering: “Cool; now I know where to go to get online work. But what kind of careers can I pursue from the comfort of my home?” That is where I come to help you out! Let us look at some of the best careers that you can have from home (I am sure there is something for everyone):
- Virtual Assistants. This job has a lot of potential of growing because the scope of work can vary a lot and covers many things. Depending on your expertise, you can offer your service and provide assistance in those areas. As a virtual assistant, you can do anything from managing your client’s email marketing campaigns to creating ebooks to scheduling meetings and online webinars. Virtual Assistant jobs usually include you being part of a virtual team, with you being the virtual project manager, coordinating with all team members and executing tasks in your client’s absence. For small businesses, hiring a virtual assistant is cheaper and allows them to keep their permanent employees to a minimum. This industry is growing so fast that there are organizations dedicated to the education and development of Virtual Assistants, including the International Virtual Assistants Association (IVAA).
- You think it was cool in school to impress your friends with your skills of speaking more than one language. It is much cooler in professional life as you can work from home as a much sought after translator. People who are fluent in more than one language can find jobs where they have to translate documents or audio files. The best translators are able to translate not just word by word, but rather with any cultural differences in mind. Companies these days are looking for home-based translators who might be sitting thousands of miles away. People who can speak languages like French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Arabic, Chinese (Cantonese or Mandarin) and Hindi can end up getting great translation jobs.
- Medical Transcriptionists. Being a Medical Transcriptionist requires you to have formal education and some level of experience. This job involves you listening to and typing up dictations given by doctors. These doctors might have thick accents or slur words and might even be eating or chewing something while dictating. However, if you have the knack for medical matters, you can very well enjoy this job. In fact, since good Medical Transcriptionists are in high demand due to shortage, you can dictate the hourly rate for this job.
- Online Teachers. According to this great article on Woman’s Day, online teachers can earn more than $30,000 in the very first year and the earnings can be higher for some subjects. There are opportunities for students to learn from teachers of all subjects and grades. While there are institutes that offer online distance learning programs, we are now seeing websites like Udemy providing an opportunity to anyone with teaching skills to create courses on academic topics as well as life skills and make a decent earning.
- Web Developers and Designers. Out of all the home-based jobs, a significant majority is in the information technology sector. Web developers and designers can find a variety of jobs, including developing websites, custom designing the websites, modifications to the template and backend, support with web hosting and usability tests. In fact, some of the leading technology brands and ecommerce websites regularly hire freelancers to work on projects, paying great hourly wages. Designers can help clients with creating brochures, annual reports as well as wireframes for mobile apps.
- Call Center Agents. The next time you give a call to your mobile operator’s customer support; do not visualize the person on the other side of the call sitting in a cubicle. It is possible that the customer agent is at home and had just gotten done with changing his/her baby’s diaper. If you search for jobs at the top freelancing websites, you will see a lot of them to be of call center agents. To excel in this job, you will just need to have a neutral accent, a phone friendly voice and a temperament (try to recall the last time you complained about your internet not working to a customer care agent). Do check Home With the Kids website to get a list of companies that directly hire call center agents to work from home. These call centers hire customer support agents, sales agents as well as technical support specialists. However, be vary of the fact that most of these call centers pay you by the minute.
- Writers and Bloggers. While the print publishing industry is suffering, the online content industry is on an insane rise. You can find great opportunities for web content writing, blogging, proofreading and editing. Copywriters are also in great demand who can structure buzzwords to help businesses generate better leads. The best thing is that this is a great time for anyone who likes to write. With blogging on the rise, writers can enjoy reading and writing about a variety of topics that also build their own knowledge and understanding while at the same time, allows them to have a good, steady earning.
- Travel Agents. I know people who have successfully created travel agencies from their bedrooms. The great thing is that you just need to do your thorough research on holiday plans and schedules of when airlines offer discounts. Pack this up with a nice website or blog that talks to travelers, and you have a well-oiled business. This is a great career option for those who themselves travel frequently, understand the concerns of the modern travelers and can speak their language. It is also a great opportunity to connect with a variety of people and be a part of their happiness.
- Social Media Managers. With the rise in social media presence by businesses, there is a massive increase in the demand for social media managers. If you have had some experience of working at a digital media agency or an advertising agency as a social media manager and are looking for some time to relax at home, you might find yourself better off working at home. One of the most sought after skills these days is the ability to run digital media campaigns and managing social media presence for businesses. You can also create your own mini-agencies, where you and your friends can work from your homes, and each one of you taking care of some aspects of social media manager. The opportunities really are limitless here.
So there you have it – the 9 career paths that I believe you can take while giving complete time to your friends and family. There are definitely some challenges with working from home. Some people tend to slack a little and not get the feeling of doing a proper, 9 to 5 jobs.
However, if managed well, the benefits outweigh the disadvantages, especially when you realize all that you can do with the spare time you save which would have otherwise been spent commuting to and from your workplace. Working from home can also be great for those who want a second income. This extra income can actually save you at times when you laid off by your employers and are not finding a suitable job. Working from home can be great for moms who want to earn while giving time to their newborns.
It is a great opportunity for retired individuals who want to keep living a life of purpose, not relying on social security. And it is the preferred choice for people like me, who cannot settle for the annoying conventional jobs and who likes traveling and exploring the world. Do let me know in the comments section if you work from home and what challenges you have to face with it.
I encourage all you freelancers and those who want to start a career from home to read The 4 Worst Things a Freelancer Can Do To Their Career and How to Turn Online Freelancing from Woe to Wow. Here is another blog post on 5 Ways Writing Well Benefits Every Career (and a lot of online careers for sure!).
