By Arina Smith
Joanna Coles, editor-in-chief at Cosmopolitan magazine, might be regarded as a bit of an eccentric. She wears her PJs in the office. She claims it improves her thinking.
Love your PJs and hate leaving the house? Wish you could work from home? We’ve outlined the best work at home jobs that will make you never want to leave the house!
1. Virtual Assistant
The modern workplace is changing. Unconventional businesses call for new and different ways of organizing work. Just as more people are considering working from home as a viable option, so businesses are getting less tied to an office.
VOIP has transformed how business can be done. What is VOIP? It stands for voice over internet protocol.
Cheap and effective communication over the internet means video conferencing, messaging and business calls are viable from home. You can be the representative of multiple businesses from your home without customers ever knowing. Do administration for any business from the comfort of your kitchen.
2. Web Developer
Web designers create the look and feel of web sites for business clients. If your skills extend beyond the level of the average home web site hobbyist, you could earn money building websites from home.
All you need is a good internet connection and some web development software. If you don’t have the skills, you can learn them with lots of training courses available online.
You can earn some serious money. The median annual wage for this job in 2017 was $67,990. The top 10% of earners can expect to earn over $122,320.
3. Freelance Writer
You might think with the print and newspaper industries in terminal decline that jobs for writers are scarce. This isn’t the case. The internet is hungry for content, and somebody has to create it.
Writers, editors, and internet content creators can work from home. There’s a huge range of work reflecting the diversity of the internet.
Some writers specialize in a particular technical field. Others write news content or show business gossip.
4. Tutoring
Schooling and training online are flexible ways to learn. They connect learners with teachers and tutors using internet technology. Learners and teachers can be anywhere in the world.
The market for language teaching is especially interesting. Teaching children or adults in Asia how to speak English is a growth market.
For example, call centers based in India require their workers to learn to speak English well enough to be able to engage their customers. This takes subtler skills and some more cultural knowledge than most English language education provides. Online language coaching and practice can bridge this gap.
5. Customer Service Representative
A call center or technical support facility doesn’t have to be an actual office. It may be provided by sales or technical representatives working remotely. Sometimes these roles are entirely online messaging or email-based communication and sometimes they are delivered by voice communication.
Roles can involve sales, cold calling or answering customer inquiries. Technical support may involve advising customers on how to solve technical problems over voice communication or actually taking control of their computers over the internet.
6. Translator
Do you have language skills? Perhaps you can talk or write two or more languages. If this is the case, there may be opportunities for you in translation or interpretation.
Home-based translators can find work translating corporate or official documents. They can also assist people for whom English is not their first language with legal or technical translation services.
Both the public and private sector can have employees with language difficulties. They may need translations of training materials or safety instructions. Government organizations also need translation and interpretation services.
7. Child Care
If you have children and stay at home to look after them, you could earn money by providing a childcare service for other kids. It can be beneficial for your own children to have the opportunity to play with other children too.
There are strict legal controls on childcare, so check the local regulations. Childcare qualification will prepare you for the responsibility of caring for other people’s children, and you may learn some things that are useful to you in caring for your own children too.
8. Bookkeeper
Every business needs some bookkeeping. It’s a core activity of a business and is especially burdensome for small business owners. They will often seek the services of a freelance bookkeeper.
Working from home, a bookkeeper or accountant can provide management accounts and prepare statutory reports for a small business. The work can be scaled up and down depending on how much time you have.
Take on more clients if you have more time. Reduce the number of clients if you have other demands, such as childcare or elder care responsibilities.
9. Bed and Breakfast
If you hate the idea of going out to work, you could consider making your home your work. You could make your home, a bed and breakfast business.
Perhaps you have an especially characterful home that other people would love to stay in. An old building with period features can make a wonderful quirky bed and breakfast opportunity. At home with unusual views or a wonderful garden can attract paying guests.
Even an unremarkable home in a desirable location can make a successful bed and breakfast business. Business people looking for an alternative to boring corporate hotels often prefer more homely accommodation as long as it’s in a convenient location.
Check out insurance and local laws before you try it. It may also be well worth researching the local competition to check what’s on offer, the market rates and whether there is sufficient demand.
10. Medical Transcription
When doctors meet patients, they often record notes from the consultation. These audio recordings have to be transcribed and kept as a record of the consultation. This is the work of medical transcribers.
It can be interesting and demanding work. Some of the terminology is technical and not all the dictation is easy to understand. Speed and accuracy are both essential.
Work at Home Jobs
If your circumstances mean you cannot go to work or you have to stay at home, work at home jobs may be the solution. For many people who have the choice, working at home is actually desirable.
Here are some more tips for your new business venture.
Read Also:
