Learn how to start making money from home right now
As the normalization of remote work continues, you can take advantage of a range of ways to make money from home. From selling items online to starting a podcast to offering your services as a virtual assistant, there are lots of opportunities to earn an income without leaving the house.
If you’re seeking a more traditional job format but still want to work from home, you’re in luck. Remote job postings—which doubled for some online recruitment sites during the pandemic—continue to rise. Regarding the remote positions available, tech jobs are among the most prevalent, but work-from-home opportunities have also risen in therapy, finance, and law.
Where to begin when searching for remote work? “I’d encourage the job seeker to start by reflecting on their interests and career goals,” Indeed Senior Career Coach Jamie Birt told The Balance in an email.
Next, Birt recommended taking into account the jobs that are commonly performed remotely, such as copywriting, graphic design, and software development. Adding the term “remote” in job search engines can give you an idea of what’s available.
Last, bridge your career goals with the remote jobs that are available, Birt advised. When you find remote positions you like, take note of your current skill set to identify translatable skills, as well as any gaps where you’d need additional training or upskilling.
We’ll discuss eight remote moneymaking opportunities that can help make working from home a reality.
Sell Your Used and Unwanted Items
Clearing out and tidying up your home will likely leave you with piles of things you no longer need or use. You can bring in some extra cash by selling items online that are in good condition.
There are lots of virtual marketplaces where shoppers can go to find a variety of things. Ebay is a popular place to sell just about any used item online. Other sites may be more specialized, such as thredUP, which is clothes-specific, or Decluttr, which focuses on cellphones, tech, CDs, DVDs, games, and books.
If you prefer to keep your sales local, you could check out sites like Craigslist, or keep things offline by having a garage sale or taking your items to a consignment store.
Start a Podcast
“Podcasting is replacing blogging as the moneymaker for a lot of people working from home,” Joseph Hogue, who runs the site My Work From Home Money, told The Balance in an email. He added that advertising dollars are shifting from text-based to podcast sponsorships.
While it can take some time to grow an audience for your podcast, there are several ways to make money podcasting, including selling advertising time, adding affiliate marketing links, offering subscriptions, throwing live events, crowdfunding, selling merchandise, doing speaking gigs, or coaching others on how to host a podcast.
Make Money on YouTube
Momentum has been picking up in video monetization, said Hogue from My Work From Home Money. He suspects that vlogging will take over from podcasting once high-speed internet is universal.
Popular ways to make money on YouTube are monetizing ad views, running paid promotions, and being part of the YouTube Partner Program, among other opportunities.
Affiliate Marketing
If you have an audience through a website, social media, or other platform, you can generate some extra income by including affiliate links. Affiliate marketing is when you earn a commission on the sale of someone else’s products. A common way is to have a link to another company’s website or product in your own content—if a reader clicks on your link and buys the product, you get a cut of the sale.
The Amazon Associates Program is a well-known affiliate network; you can find other affiliate marketing opportunities on platforms like CJ Affiliate, Rakuten LinkShare, ShareASale, and many more.
The 12 Minute Affiliate System
Become a Virtual Assistant
As the workforce transitions to remote work, the demand for virtual assistants is expected to continue to increase. Virtual assistants, or VAs, work remotely to help with administrative tasks—they can work for individuals, teams, or companies. The workload of an administrative assistant usually involves tasks such as answering phone calls and taking messages, running social media accounts, scheduling appointments, and doing research, among other duties.
When starting a VA business, it can be challenging to land your first customer. VAs can find clients through social media channels like LinkedIn or Facebook groups, at virtual or in-person networking events, by word of mouth, or on freelancing platforms like Upwork.
Sell Your Photos Online
Make money online from home by selling your photography, video clips, vectors, and illustrations. Upload your content for individuals and companies to buy for use on their websites, platforms, or other needs. Try listing your work on sites like iStock, Dreamstime, and Adobe Stock.
Offer Your Expertise
If you’re an expert in something, consider creating resources to teach other people. Once you’ve made the initial effort of putting together the content, it can act as a passive income stream.
Online courses, webinars, and ebooks are all common ways to share information. You can build and promote the resources on your own or use educational platforms that already have established communities, such as Udemy or Skillshare.
Pick Up Freelance Work
Platforms such as Fiverr, Freelancer, and Upwork are popular online marketplaces that connect freelancers and clients. You can list your services on these sites and check out the opportunities available. You can do freelance work in a number of different fields—for example, writing and editing, marketing, graphics and design, programming, and translation.
The Bottom Line
Growing your venture takes time, and you’ll likely need to put several different income streams together. Find ways to incorporate different moneymaking aspects into one business model. For example, you may be focused primarily on making money through vlogging, but you also bring in funds with affiliate marketing and an online course you created that teaches others how to build their own YouTube channel.
There are lots of opportunities to make money from home; don’t be afraid to try out different options to determine the best fit for you.
