12 Best Work From Home Jobs – Online Jobs That Pay in 2020

Working from home has never been as mainstream at it is today. Unfortunately it took a pandemic for us to understand that a “typical 9 to 5” is not the safest way to go and we need to figure out how to work from home. Fortunately many companies and employers were able to adapt.

I’ve been working from home full time since 2008. I started my first online “experiments” in 2007 and within a few months was able to replace my office job salary with online earnings. Over the past 12+ years I’ve ventured into many different revenue sources, some more successful than others.

The main point of this blog post is to help you find the best way of earning money from home.

Disclaimer. Some of the links in this post are affiliate links, This means that at no extra cost to you, I will earn a small commission if you decide to purchase any products or services through those links.

Table of contents:

• Affiliate Marketing
• Amazon Selling
• Handmade and Vintage Selling
• Ad Revenue Income
• Freelancing Jobs
• Teaching Jobs
• User Experience Testing
• Proofreading Jobs
• Transcription Jobs
• Simple Tasks & Micro Work
• Customer Service Jobs
• GPT – Get Paid To Sites

What Are the Best Work From Home Jobs?

There is an incredible amount of possibilities that we can explore when talking about working from home. Are you looking to make a few extra bucks to finance your hobby? Looking for an actual online job and an employer but want to be able to do it from home? Are you thinking of finally giving freelancing a try? Maybe you’re thinking of starting a successful blog or launching that eCommerce business?

I don’t want to speculate on what’s best and more specifically what is best for you. This article is based on my own experience of 12 years of working online, full time. I will share my most profitable and least profitable online experiences. Then you will be able to pick what suits you best.

#1 Best Online Opportunity: Affiliate Marketing

When I Google searched “work at home opportunities” back in 2007 I had one specific goal. To leave my 9 to 5 (actually 8 to 5) office job. I disliked the hours. I hated wasting 2 hours of my precious (and unpaid) time in traffic, getting to and from work. Asking for permission to take a short vacation was not exciting. Picturing that “this is the rest of my life” almost made me cry. There were many other reasons and I am sure some of the readers can relate.

Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against 9-to-5 jobs. I have friends and family who work such jobs and are genuinely happy. It just wasn’t for me. This is when a simple Google Search led me to the discovery of affiliate marketing.

Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing as a concept was first introduced in 1989. Today it’s a multi-billion dollar industry that’s only growing. In short, as an affiliate marketer you promote other people’s products and/or services and earn a commission per sale. You do this work from home, without the need to walk around and knock on people’s doors.

Have you ever Googled something like: “best HD TV under $500” or “safest baby stroller in 2020” ? Google (and other search engines) will serve you with a bunch of results. There are ads on the top of the page but we don’t click those, we dislike ads. Right? Then further down the page, several links to websites, YouTube videos, blogs and reviews of the product we are looking for. If you have ever read any of those reviews, found the product you liked, clicked on that Amazon BUY button and placed an order – an affiliate probably earned a commission.

In this example, Amazon paid a commission to the affiliate for bringing in a paying customer. The customer does not pay any more than they normally would. In fact, some of the affiliate networks/programs even offer exclusive discounts through their affiliates. So you, as a customer, might end up paying less.

Amazon is just an example. Walmart and Apple and Sephora and Delta airlines and banks and insurance companies and everyone in-between run affiliate programs that you can join, free of charge.

 #1 Rated Affiliate Training

Pros and cons

When I decided to start my affiliate marketing career I did not know what I was doing. I did not know how to set-up a blog or how to write content. Marketing and web design were not things that I had any experience with. Everything was new and alien to me. I used this platform to learn everything I needed to know. Starter membership if free and available in most countries.

Affiliate Marketing pros:

• You are working from the comfort of your home. Or your country house. Or Bali, or wherever else really.
• There are almost no start up costs. You will need a blog which consists of a domain name and hosting. That’s under $100 per year.
• You are building your own company, so you set your own hours. Affiliate marketing allows me to take 3-4 months long trips abroad.
• There isn’t a limit to your income. You can promote anything and everything that’s being sold online, products and services.
• Over time many of your income sources become almost passive. Example: a short blog post that I wrote in 2007 (and have not touched since) still brings me $28 per month. That one article has now generated over $4,000 as passive income, if you don’t count the 2 hours that I initially spent writing it.

Affiliate Marketing cons:

• There is a learning curve. You’ll need to learn how to set up a blog, do niche research, write articles, get traffic, etc.
• Earnings are not instant (since you aren’t trading your time for money like with a job). It took me at least 3 months to replace my office job salary. Unfortunately there is no typical timeline for success. Some people start earning within a month, while others struggle to make a dollar after 6 months.
• Just like in any business, there is a lot of competition and you need to work harder and smarter than them if you want to succeed.
• You might get overwhelmed at first. There is a lot of information and it’s hard to know what to do next unless you follow a well-structured course.

Affiliate marketing has been my main source of income through all these years. This is the reason I recommend it so highly. If you are interested in affiliate marketing, check out my FREE 5 Day Course.

Established Affiliate Business

Most beginner affiliate marketers opt for building their own sites. Thousands of people took my free online course and I’m always getting the same questions from them so I know they’re doing the actual work.

However, some folks decide to purchase already established and profitable websites. Human Proof Designs is a great marketplace for that. This is like buying an established business. The groundwork has been done for you, all you need to do is upkeep and growth. If you do purchase an existing affiliate website you might also look into outsourcing your content creation.

#2 Best Work From Home: Amazon

Not Amazon affiliate program as mentioned earlier. I am also not talking about getting an actual job at Amazon (which you can do as well).

Amazon offers various ways of earning money with their platform and I’ll share a few of them here.

Amazon FBM and Amazon FBA

Did you know that most of the products available on Amazon marketplace are not actually sold by Amazon? Lots of these products are sold by third-party sellers. It can be a big retailer but it can also be a single person selling items out of their basement (or closet). You can be one of these sellers. There are two ways of doing this.

Amazon FBM stands for Fulfilled by merchant.

This means that you list the item you’re trying to sell on Amazon. If someone orders it, you need to package it and ship it. You set the price and the shipping cost. If there are any issues, the customer will deal with you directly. Being an FBM seller is free (+ fees when the item is sold). Amazon customers usually go for an item that’s eligible for Prime shipping and getting that eligibility for a FBM seller is very hard, sometimes impossible.

Amazon FBA stands for Fulfilled by Amazon.

This means that you send your item (or items) to an Amazon warehouse. If someone orders your item, Amazon will fulfill the order. They’ll Prime ship it, talk to the customer if there are any issues, take care of returns. Being an FBA member costs about $40 per month. There are also long-time storage fees. However, you do get some perks being a member of FBA.

I have tried both in the past.

FBA or FBM – you’ll have to do your research. JungleScout published a great article that should help you make this decision. Greg Mercer, the founder of JungleScout also appeared as a guest on my podcast. You can listen to the episode and learn how Greg helps Amazon Sellers make more money.

What Do You Sell On Amazon ?

Just like with Affiliate Marketing, selling on Amazon can be done for some extra cash or as a full time business.

A lot of people who sell part time do “arbitrage”. This means that you source items for cheap, buy them and list them on Amazon. Often stores like Walmart will have clearance sections and that could be a good place to find such items. Garage (yard) sales and thrift stores could be good sources as well. There are apps that will help you scan the barcodes on new products and show you how much that product is selling for on Amazon (and eBay).

Another way of selling on Amazon is going the Private Label route. This means that you either create your own products or find wholesalers (often abroad) that will provide a branded product for you. Take a quick look on Alibaba and you’ll find thousands of products that can be personalized. These products are extremely cheap and can sell on Amazon for a huge profit.

It might sounds complicated but it’s actually pretty straightforward and easy. The product I sold through FBA cost me $1/piece. My own branding and shipping to Canada included. I was able to retail that product for $12 or so. Minimal order for such products could be anywhere from 10 to 1,000 pieces.

Amazon FBA/FBS pros:

• Loads of potential customers with intention to buy
• Low barrier to entry
• High income potential

Amazon FBA/FBS cons:

• A lot more competitive in the past few years
• Start-up costs can be high, depending on products
• Hard to get accepted to many restricted categories (personal care, etc)
• Amazon is not very kind to its sellers, especially when sellers need support

Check out: Sell on Amazon

Merch by Amazon

Independently from Amazon FBA and Amazon FBM, you can join Merch by Amazon.

This program allows you to create t-shirt designs and submit them to Amazon. Amazon then lists your t-shirts on their platform and only prints them if a sale occurs. Basically this is an on-demand t-shirt printing service. You earn a royalty per each item sold. For example, if you list a t-shirt for $16, you will earn $2.21, list at $20 and you will earn $5.23 per sale, sell for $26 – earn $9.77.

I like this program quite a bit because your designs are being sold on a platform visited by millions of people per day, ready to make a purchase. You do not need to own printing equipment or print the actual t-shirts. You do not need to ship these shirts or deal with customers. Just create a good design and earn those royalties.

Merch by Amazon is non-exclusive. This means that if some of your designs do very well, you can list the same designs on other on-demand print websites and earn royalties there as well.

Merch by Amazon cons

Getting into Amazon Merch is harder these days because of the huge popularity of the platform.

When creating designs, you must be very aware of copyrights and prohibited designs/words/messages. Most of this information can be found on Amazon and copyright registry websites.

There is a chance that competitors will rip-off your designs and sell the same t-shirts for a lower price, driving your sales down. You may or may not be able to dispute such issues. Usually it’s easier to simply move on, unfortunately. In my opinion this work from home opportunity has a lot of potential.

Check out: Merch by Amazon

#3 Best Work From Home Opportunity: Handmade and Vintage

When you hear about “handmade crafts” you might think of some low quality drawings or bracelets. However if you take a look at Etsy.com you’ll find lots of amazing items. I’ve got a few friends making a killing on this platform selling incredible pendants, artisanal soaps and high-end leather purses.

A few years ago my girlfriend and I made some beard oil for my beard. Initially we did not think of selling it but decided to try our luck on Etsy. The product started selling and we made some extra money which was cool. Eventually we got contacted by Urban Outfitters who wanted to retail our product,. How cool is that?

Long story short, we made over $10,000 with very low effort on this “side hustle”. We could have made a lot more if we decided to turn it into a real business. However both of us had other projects at the time. You can read the full $10k Case Study here.

My point is, we did not have any experience making our own product, selling it on Etsy or working with a big retailer but still succeeded.

What to Sell on Etsy

There are other platforms for these kinds of product but Etsy is the biggest and most popular to my knowledge. If you like making things – this could be a great way to supplement your income or create a full-time income.

Vintage items are also often sold on this platform (think old wrist watches, 70’s denim, 80’s pop items, etc). You might already own such items or you can source them at thrift stores and yard sales. You would be surprised how much money people will pay for a vintage pair of Levi’s.

Etsy is free to join and they take a very small commission per sale. You are in charge of your products, shipping, returns and customer service.

Check out: Etsy

#4 Best Work From Home Income: Ad Revenue

You’ve probably heard of people getting paid for displaying ads and getting clicks. Just like affiliate marketing this requires creation of content. However, in order to make money with ads you need to generate a lot of traffic. And I mean A LOT!

This strategy has also become more complicated over the years simply because a lot of people are using Adblockers, which hide the ads. Have you noticed how some bigger websites don’t even allow you to view their content unless you disable your Adblocker? That’s because they are dependent on ad-revenue.

Google AdSense is one of the oldest  and most popular platforms. There are many other platforms that pay better than Google but I can’t suggest any since this is not a revenue source I am actively using or exploring anymore. I hate ads, I use adblocker – this is why I refuse to have ads on my own blog.

Remember that setting up a blog is NOT the only way to get the ad-revenue.

YouTube Channels

I run a few small YouTube channels, in niches unrelated to online marketing and some of these channels are monetized. This means that when people watch my videos they might see ads on them. I am sorry for pushing ads but hey, it’s just another income source.

A lot of people turn to YouTube because they think that creating video content is easier than writing content. I’ve already told you that creating a popular blog that gets a lot of visits is hard. Creating a popular channel that gets views and fans is also not an easy task. It often takes years of consistent video creation in order to get anywhere. But even then, success is not guaranteed.

Becoming a YouTuber

Starting a YouTube channel is very easy and of course free. You will need 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of watch time in order to be able to monetize your account.

I just looked up the earnings from my small channel and it seems like YouTube (or actually Google AdSense) is paying me $2-$3 per 1,000 views. If you want to earn $2,000 – $3,000 per month from YouTube, you’ll need to generate at least 1 Million views per month. Of course this is specific to my niche and my country. Some niches pay more, some less. In some countries you get paid more per 1,000 views while less in others.

My channel was not created with the intention of running ads but rather to share content in my niche. I did qualify for monetization but I doubt I would ever be able to make a living off of it, even if I tried really hard.

It’s worth mentioning that most successful YouTubers earn a lot more money through affiliate marketing and sponsorships rather than ad revenue.

#5 Best Work From Home: Freelancing

Freelancing is a great option for those who are seeking to work on their own time. Most of the freelancing jobs are project based. What does a freelancer do? You can design logos or websites, you can code apps, write text, do voice-overs, create animated clips and a lot more. Some of these tasks require you to have skills. Others allow you to learn as you go.

Freelancing can be very profitable, however you would often start with lower paying gigs. When you decide to become a freelancer you’ll need to build your portfolio first. Then you can work on building your reputation.

When most people think of freelancing, they think of trying to find clients locally. This can be very time consuming and sometimes almost impossible in your local market.

However, starting your online freelancing career is much simpler. There are tons of sites that you can use to land your first gig.

Fiverr

Fiverr.com started as a simple task website where most (if not all) jobs used to cost only $5. I’ve sold a few things on Fiverr in the past but I mostly used the site as a client. On Fiverr I paid people to do an intro for the Extra Paycheck podcast. I paid people to do some Photoshop editing for me, create animated logos record short videos and a lot more.

You can offer your services in graphic design, video editing, translation, mastering, audio editing, SEO, singing and many many many other categories. These days it’s actually hard to find $5 gigs on Fiverr and many freelancers are making $20, $100, $500, $1,000 and more per job.

Becoming a seller on Fiverr (as well as buyer) is completely free. Fiverr does take a 20% commission on every Gig that you sell. If you sell a gig for $50, you’ll actually earn $40. This isn’t too bad of a deal in my opinion because Fiverr is providing you with customers. Since recently, withdrawing your earnings directly to Paypal is also free of charge, which is a bonus.

Building a good reputation and high rating on Fiverr is crucial. The more good feedback you have – the more sales you get. You can start by charging less and slowly increase the prices as your reputation grows.

Upwork.com

Upwork, formerly Elance O-desk, is based in San Francisco. Elance was launched in 1999 and eventually merged with o-Desk in 2015, forming Upwork. Upwork is the world’s largest freelancing platform.

Signing up is free. The freelancers using the platform are charged on a sliding scale.

20% for the first $500 billed with the client. 10% for billings with the same client between $500.01 and $10,000. 5% for lifetime billings with the client that exceed $10,000.

If you’re offering more expensive services, this is much better than Fiverr.

Here is an example of skills that are in demand on Upwork:

Once again, you’ll probably start by offering your services for less money while building up your portfolio. You might be an amazing designer or copywriter but you’ll need to prove your worth.

Other Freelance Platforms

There are loads of websites that offer you freelance jobs. Some pay better than others. Unfortunately some of “freelance” websites are scams. Always do your due diligence. Here are some other legitimate websites that have been around for a while:

Outsourcely

Freelancer.com

Guru.com

99Designs

TopTal

#6 Best Work From Home Online Jobs: Teaching and Tutoring

You don’t need to be a teacher to teach online. Of course having teaching experience will help tremendously but it’s often not required and can be acquired “on the job”.

There are two main ways how you can teach online.

Sell Online Courses

You might have a particular set of skills that you would like to share with others. This might be knitting, music creation, cooking, houseplant care, email list building, After-effects skills and everything in between. Of course you can try to freelance and use your skills on a job. However, you can also help others learn such skills.

Creating courses online is not new. I’ve been taking courses online for the past 10+ years and I enjoy them. I’ve even sold my own course in the past. The hardest part about selling your own course is, you guessed it – marketing. Joining a reputable platform makes this task much easier.

Udemy

I purchase most of my courses from Udemy. In fact, whenever I need to learn a new skill I usually go directly to Udemy because I know that they provide high quality courses. Founded in 2009, this platform now has over 50 Million students. Becoming a Udemy instructor is completely free. The platform charges you based on your sales and they take a hefty 50% commission. However, you can use your own referral link and get paid 97% instead of 50%, when you bring your own students.

Udemy courses are pre-recorded which means that you don’t actually need to be there to teach new students. The course I’m currently taking has 30,000+ students. This means that the seller recorded his course, uploaded it to Udemy and it has now sold over 30,000 times. Even at just $20/pop it’s over $600,000 in sales. It’s also worth noting that this specific instructor has 24 other courses listed on Udemy.

Teachable

Teachable is another well respected platform for online courses. Pat Flynn, a guest on my 100th episode of Extra Paycheck Podcast made $170,000 on Teachable by launching his first two courses. I respect this man a lot and fully trust his recommendation on using this platform.

The platform fees to sellers go from $0 to $249 per month, depending on the plan that you choose.

Selling your courses online is more of a business rather than a job. Just like affiliate marketing, or video blogging or selling on Amazon – it takes time to grow this business and you might not see the income right away. The rewards could be huge but it will take time.

Teach Online

If you aren’t willing to create and sell courses you can simply teach and get paid by the hour. When you were a kid you might have had access to a private tutor that would come over to your house after school. Tutoring is still alive and well in the 2020’s but it’s often done online.

The most popular online teaching jobs are of course teaching English to students in other countries.

There are loads of websites that are willing to hire you as an English teacher. Pay rate is usually around $10 to $25 per hour, depending on your skills and the platform you’re using. Some of these services require a bachelor’s degree (not necessarily in teaching) while others don’t. Most of these platforms require you to have a certificate such as TOEFL, TESOL or other. Training and certificate will normally cost you anywhere from $160 USD to $250 USD for TOEFL and as low as $19 for TESOL, depending on your country of residence.

Most English Teaching platforms prefer native speaking applicants from the USA, UK, Canada and Australia. However teachers from other countries are often accepted as well. Once again, it depends on the platform.

Let’s look at some of the most reputable websites in this industry.

Teaching Websites

Palfish Teacher (iOS/Android app) – You can earn up to $22 USD/hour. Must be a native English speaker from US, Canada, UK, Ireland, or Australia. Must have a TESOL/ TEFL/ Teacher’s certificate.

Cambly – Earn $10.20 USD per hour. You do not need any experience or certificates. Jobs consist of chatting with people around the world so they could practice their English.

QKids Teacher – Earn $16 USD – $20 USD per hour. Must be a native English speaker from the US or Canada. Bachelor’s degree or above, TESOL/TEFL highly recommended.

VIPkids – Earn $15-22 USD per hour. A Bachelor’s degree (or higher) in any field is required.  Must be eligible to work in the US or Canada. Need to have 1 year of experience in teaching.

Chegg Tutors – Earn $20+ USD per hour. Tutor in, Calculus, Biology, Computer Science and a lot more. Tutoring or teaching experience required. Bachelor’s degree (or higher) is required.

There are many other websites available. Please do your due diligence and research the website’s history and authenticity before signing up.

Pro tip!

Most of these platforms have an interview process. Before applying you can go to YouTube (or Google) and search for terms such as “Cambly interview”, “Cambly Application Process”, etc. There are many existing members who happily explain the interviewing process and give you tips on how to get accepted into these platforms.

 #1 Rated Affiliate Training

#7 Best Jobs to Do From Home: User Experience Testing

We are slowly moving away from Building an online business and into Paid Per Hour work-at-home opportunities.

When companies create new websites, apps, software  – they need feedback from real users. A developer who created an app and knows it inside-out might think it’s super user-friendly and easy to use. However, a regular user might see it very differently.

Capgemini, a multinational corporation that provides consulting, technology, professional, and outsourcing services claims that:

We found that while three-quarters (75%) of organizations believe themselves to be customer-centric, only 30% of consumers believe this to be the case. Utilities are particularly out of sync. We found that 79% of utilities believe they are customer-centric, but only 7% of consumers agree.

This is why many companies opt to hire testers. Regular people like you and I who get to experience a new function or a new website and share their feedback on the experience. There are several marketplaces that connect such businesses with unbiased and neutral users. While some of these platforms pay by the hour, most pay per task or per project.

UserTesting

UserTesting – one of the most reputable platforms. UT is based in San Francisco. Just a few months ago they raised $100 Million so the company is still growing. This company is proud to offer work from home opportunities since 2007

How does it work

Registering as a test user is completely free. You’ll need to answer some questions and you will be accepted or rejected within 48 hours. Once you’re accepted, you’ll be offered to do some tasks. These tasks will pay anywhere from $3 to $60.

You screen will be video recorded as you complete the task. As you’re going through that task you will need to explain what you’re doing and what you’re thinking, The audio is also recorded. Example task: find a blue shirt on an e-commerce website and put it into your cart.

When working with such platforms you need to understand that you will make some extra cash but most likely will not be able to make a living out of it.

There are many tasks but there are also many testers willing to complete these tasks. User Testing often screens each applicant before they’re awarded a task. You will be asked a series of questions by the screener who will then decide if you are the right applicant. There are no right or wrong answers. Tasks are usually targeted to a very specific user base and it’s only normal that you will not qualify for all of the tasks. Example: you’re a 25 year old man based in Canada who enjoys motorcycles but a task is targeting 35-45 y.o. women who reside in New York and use mascara – you won’t qualify.

Making Money with UserTesting

The platform does not send you notifications when new tasks are available. Unfortunately you’ll need to keep your dashboard open and be ready to apply for tasks whenever they appear. The tasks are usually gone within a few minutes so you have to be quick. Applicants must be very fluent in English because you’ll need to explain your experience very clearly and in detail.

A microphone (or a headset) is a must in order to use the platform. You’ll also need to use the Chrome browser (and the UserTesting plugin so it could capture your screen during the task). Some tasks are mobile only so having a smartphone and/or a tablet is also needed. In that case you would need to install their app.

A typical task will take 20 minutes and will pay $10 USD. The earnings are sent to you by PayPal one week after the completion of the task. This is the only way to get paid so make sure you have a PayPal account.

My Experience with UserTesting

I’ve tried the platform and was only able to complete one (1) $10 task. Besides the initial set-up time it took me about 18 minutes. I’ve tried to complete more tasks but usually I was too late for them. Most of the time tasks disappear within a few minutes so you need to be quick. A few other times I was simply not qualified for the task.

Users also build ratings on this platform. I imagine the more tasks you do and the higher rating you have – the more tasks you’ll be awarded in the future. Some users report doing much quicker tasks for $3 and some claim they’ve been invited to complete tasks that pay a lot more than $10.

In my experience UserTesting hourly wage is at least $30 USD which is really good. Unfortunately there simply aren’t enough tasks to make a decent income from this platform. As I mentioned earlier and as UT mentions on their own website, this is a great way to make some extra cash. I’ll probably have UserTesting dashboard open whenever I’m just listening to music or watching YouTube but I will not explicitly sit in front of the screen hoping that a new task pops up.

Other Testing Platforms

Validately – very similar to UT. Most tasks pay $10 USD for 15 to 20 minutes of your time. Tasks that pay 70$ USD for 60 minutes of your time also exist. Payouts are also by PayPal only, one week after the task. Must be at least 18 years old to apply. You do not need to be based in the United States or Canada to apply but you need to be able to communicate in English.

UserLytics

Userlytics – $5 – $10 – $15 – $20 tasks. They claim that some tasks pay up to $90. Most tasks are targeted to testers in Europe and North America, but recently tasks for users in  South Africa, Southeast Asia, Japan and China started becoming available. Must be at least 16 years old to apply.

Utest

Utest – concentrates on finding bugs in software and apps rather than giving experience feedback like with other platforms. In most tasks you’ll actually earn money for bugs that you discover. The more important the bug – the more it’s worth. I’ve heard of bugs not getting accepted, hence testers not being paid for their effort. Must be 18+ to apply. Open to many countries. Paid twice a month by PayPal and/or Payoneer,

TryMyUi

TryMyUi – earn $10 USD per task. Each task takes about 20 minutes to complete. TryMyUi is available in most countries. You need to be at least 18 years old to apply. Of course just like on the other platforms, tasks disappear quickly so be ready to apply as soon as they’re available. Note: I’ve heard a few testers complain that the client refused their completed tasks because the tester failed to say a very specific phrase at the beginning of the test. I have not been able to verify these claims but it’s something to keep in mind. Read the small print, people.

I think that if you sign up to all of these platforms and sit in front of your computer always ready to apply for a task you might actually earn a living wage. Remember that building a good reputation on these platforms will most likely lead to more exclusive and higher paying tasks.

In the past I also came across Testing sites that asked users to pay a fee to become a tester. Those are scams and you must stay away from them. It is normal to pay for educational material or for services that you receive. If they ask you to PAY in order to get a JOB – it’s most likely a scam.

#8 Best Work From Home Jobs: Proofreading

With so much content generated online, it is no surprise that many content creators need help with proofreading. If you have a talent at quickly spotting spelling and grammatical errors, this job might be a great fit for you. You can work as a proofreader in many different languages, of course English being one of the most dominant ones. This is definitely not a job for me, I know my weaknesses.

Most proofreading jobs will pay you per project, however some pay per word. This means that you must be quick yet very detail-oriented and patient. Most clients and/or platforms will ask you to pass a few tests to see if you’re a good fit for them. Some companies are looking for general proofreaders while others want you to already have experience in certain fields (technical, medical, law, etc).

Many proofreading jobs also require their applicants to have an in-depth knowledge of The Chicago Manual of Style or The Associated Press Stylebook.

How much can you make as a proofreader?

It depends on how good you are, how fast you are, what kind of experience you have and who you work for. Bloggers might pay less, since the content is usually simple and straightforward. Academic researchers will usually pay more because the work is simply harder and requires experience.

To start your career in proofreading you can use one of the freelancing resources I mentioned earlier. Fiverr, Upwork, etc. However, you can also join one of the reputable platforms that concentrate in this field.

Online Proofreading Jobs

Scribendi – Founded in Canada in 1997 but headquartered in New York, NY, Scribendi is one of the most known companies in the field. They do not mention how much they pay their proofreaders. I’ve managed to find some feedback from their partners and while some claim to make $20+ USD per hour, others say they’re earning closer to 15$.

Here are some important requirements from their website:

Bachelor’s degree; master’s degree and/or professional experience preferred. An average editing/proofreading speed of 1,000–1,500 words per hour. In-depth knowledge of one or more style guides (e.g., APA, the Chicago Manual of Style) is an asset.

ProofReading

ProofreadingServices.com – part-time and full-time jobs, they accept applicants from most countries. You can earn $19 USD  to $46 USD per hour, depending on how fast you do the work.

Scribbr

Scribbr – this company has been around since 2012. On average their editors earn from $22 USD to $28 USD per hour. You’ll mostly be working with academic content  since Scribbr helps students earn their degrees. Applicants can work from anywhere in the world BUT you need to be a native English speaker with at least a bachelor’s degree. They claim that you can work full time during busy periods however your work hours are very flexible.

CactusGlobal

CactusGlobal – CG is based in India and they specialize in English editing services. They are proud to be open to applicants from all over the world. Although they do not reveal how much money you can make, some sources point out that CG pays anywhere from $7 to $15 per hour. Their pay is calculated per word and not per hour which explains why some will earn a lot more than the others.

Reedsy

Reedsy – you can join Reedsy and offer your proofreading/editorial services to their clients. The website takes 10% of whatever a client pays you per job. You set your own pay rates.

#9 Best Work at Home Jobs: Transcriptions

Online transcription is the process of converting audio to text. This service is often used to create closed captions for videos and transcriptions for podcasts. Since we are in 2020, there are multiple software solutions to this problem, however a software can only do this much. Background noises, music and accents all confuse the software. YouTube even offers free, automated closed-captioning services but the results are very mediocre and creators then need to spend hours editing those texts.

To be a successful transcriber you need to be a good and attentive listener and have fast typing skills. Just like with proofreading you can offer this service as a freelancer or you can join one of the industry-specific platforms.

Online Transcribing Jobs

Note that transcribing a minute of audio into text usually takes 3 minutes on average. This means that a pay of $30 per audio/video hour actually translates into $10/hour pay rate. Of course you’ll earn more if you’re fast.

TranscribeMe – one of the most reputable platforms, founded in 2011.You will earn $15 to $22 USD per audio hour. You will earn more if you have a background in Medical or Legal fields. Most of their jobs are part-time and you will be able to work 10-15 hours per month. They claim that their top earners make up to $2,200 per month. You need an active PayPal account in order to get paid.

REV

Rev – as a transcriber you will earn $0.30 – $1.10 USD per audio/video minute. This translates to $18 – $66 USD per audio hour. A captioner will earn $0.54-$1.10 per audio/video minute (or $33 – $66 USD per audio hour). If you speak a foreign language you can also translate subtitles at a rate of $1.50 – $3.00 USD per audio/video minute ($90 – $180 USD per audio hour). Of course most projects pay on the lower end of these numbers.

GoTranscript

GoTranscript – pays up to $0.60 USD per audio minute, so about $36 per audio hour. The company claims that their freelancers earn an average of $150 USD per month. This means that they have a lot of freelancers and not enough projects to work on. They pay by PayPal.

Scribie

Scribie – these folks have been around since 2008 and they pay $5 to $25 USD per audio hour, depending on the kind of work you do. You also get a bonus $5 for every 3 hours that you complete. You need an active PayPal account to withdraw the funds.

SpeechPad

SpeechPad – this company offers $0.25 – $2.50 per audio minute. Their starting rate is incredibly low and will only bring you $5 per hour of your time.

#10 Best Work From Home Online Jobs: Simple Tasks and Micro Work

Besides proofreading, transcribing, writing and designing – there is a lot of demand for simpler tasks to complete online. It can be as simple as doing a very specific online search, taking a photo with your smartphone or interacting with an AI (artificial intelligence) software.

And you guessed it, companies pay for such jobs.

Simple Tasks and Micro Work Sites

LionBridge – Lionbridge Smart Crowd is the division of Lionbridge that hires freelancers to complete simple tasks. Although based in the United States, Lionbridge hires work-at-home freelancers from all over the world. Jobs (tasks) often consist of digitizing data, typing, testing products through desktop and mobile, translations and so on. Just like user testing platforms, Lionbridge will first learn what your skills are and then award you with tasks that they think fit your profile. This company is extremely proud of providing a real work at home opportunity to its members.

You can earn $10 – $20 USD per hour, depending on tasks, skills and how fast you are. Unfortunately you will not be able to get more than 20 hours of work per week on this platform.

ClickWorker

ClickWorker – you can earn using your computer, android device or iPhone. Writing, translating, researching, and data processing are some of the tasks that you will need to complete. ClickWorker is open to freelancers from all over the world, not only US. Some tasks pay a few pennies while others can pay $10+. On average you should expect to earn $9 -$11 USD per hour. However, just like with LionBridge – you won’t find a full time income as the number of tasks is limited.

Appen

Appen – web search evaluation, social media evaluation, translation, survey and data collection and other tasks are available at Appen. The platform is open internationally. While some people can earn $20+ USD per hour, others will earn $6. The pay depends on tasks, your skills and the country of residence. If you’re good at what you do, you might be able to work 20+ hours per week with this platform.

MTURK

mTurk – Amazon Mechanical Turk mostly specializes in micro jobs. They call these jobs HITs (Human Intelligence Tasks). Most hits are very simple and take very little time. For example it could be just doing a simple search on Google. It takes 15 seconds of your time but you only earn $0.05 for it. You can earn anywhere from $1 USD to $15 USD per hour. mTurk is available internationally but pay rate varies tremendously depending on your location. Amazon Mechanical Turk might offer a lower pay however they’re very popular because they have loads of tasks available at all times.

mTurk also has a very active Reddit community with over 65,000 members. If you are considering joining Amazon Mechanical Turk I highly suggest checking out the subreddit for tips, tricks, updates and the community aspect.

#11 Best Online Work: Customer Service Jobs

More and more companies are hiring remote customer service representatives. If you ever chatted or called customer support of your internet provider – chances are you spoke to someone who was working in their pajamas, from home. In March of 2020 Amazon announced that they’re hiring 1,000+ remote workers for their virtual contact centers.

If you like communicating with people and you can do this work from home, this could be a great opportunity for you.

LiveWorld – do you spend a lot of time on social media platforms such as Facebook? How would you like to earn money for doing that? LiveWorld is hiring social media moderators for their clients. This means that you will be interacting with people through chat, answering comments on posts and maybe even moderating Facebook groups. This is how LiveWorld describes this job:

Our social media customer care agents provide social customer service, engagement for marketing purposes, and protection of brand image by providing a great experience for a brand’s customers in their online venues.

Pay rates start at $11 USD per hour and vary depending on your experience and performance. Non-US residents can also apply here.

ModSquad

Modsquad hires chat agents and online community moderators. You get to chat with clients, answer tech and non-tech questions, participate in online communities and so on. US based workers might qualify for 401k, medical and other benefits. According to my research the pay is on the lower end, starting at $9 per hour but it is steady. If you already spend several hours per day watching streams on Twitch – this might be a great gig for you.

Here is how ModSquad describes the job:

Our 10,000+ multilingual Mods from 70 countries chat with customers, moderate web content, manage communities, and buzz in social media for many of the world’s coolest brands

TTEC

Ttecjobs – US based company has about 50,000 employees, operating in 24 countries – so yes, it is open to international workers. Most of the jobs are in customer support and technical support but a few others are available as well. Pay rate varies from $9 to $22 USD per hour, depending on the position, experience and location.

#12 Best Earn Online Opportunities: GPT

If you don’t want to commit to completing tasks, you can try some GPT websites. GPT stands for Get Paid To – and you get paid to do very simple and easy tasks. It can be doing a quick web search, watching a 1 minute video or clicking on some links/ads. Unlike user testing and simple task platforms – GPT platforms are not looking for your feedback, this explains the simplicity of tasks but also low payout.

Most GPT websites are available internationally.

GPT Sites

SwagBucks – SwagBucks is one of the most popular GPT sites in the world. They launched in 2008 and have been growing since. You earn SBs (SwagBucks) for searching the web, answering surveys, watching videos, playing games. You also earn cash-back for online shopping. Installing the Swag Button gives you 100SB. You also earn bonuses for several things. New users will get a 300 SB bonus if they earn 300SB in the first 30 days. SwagBucks also posts free SB codes on their Facebook page and their website and you can redeem those codes for more points. Each SwagBuck = $0.01. You can redeem your earnings through PayPal or various gift cards. Minimum payout is $3.

I’ve tested this platform and wrote up a full SwagBucks review.

GG2U

GG2U – Get $1 bonus for signing up. This is an international GPT website that focuses on gamers but they have many other micro tasks available. You’ve got surveys, offer walls, videos to watch and more. Minimum payout is $7 and you can withdraw your earnings by PayPal, Bitcoin (through CoinBase) or gift cards.

GAIN

Gain – earn 100 bonus coins just for signing up. This is another GPT site that offers rewards for surveys, micro tasks, watching videos and so on. They are international but only available in US, CA, AU, GB, DE, SE, IE, NL, NO, BE, ES, FR, DK, IT, MY, SG and RU. All members can claim free daily bonuses of 10-100. 1,000 points = $1. Payout is in BTC, ETH, LTC, BCH (through CoinBase).

YSense

YSense – Ysense was formerly known as ClixSense. They used to be specialized in pay-per-click rewards but now concentrate on online surveys and micro tasks. You must be at least 13 y.o. to sign up in the US and at least 16 years old in other countries.

GPT sites are the last item on this list because you can’t really earn much with them. However, I understand that not everyone wants to do more complicated tasks. GPT sites are great if you’re after some mindless clicking while listening to music or watching Netflix.

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You’ve read it this far, congratulations! I hope you found a few opportunities that will help you find a work from home online job or maybe even start your own business. Please, always do your due diligence, there are plenty of scams online.

If you have any experiences with companies mentioned in this article (or other work at home opportunities), I’d love to hear from you. Do you have any questions? Comments? Please share them in the comment form below.

Best of success,

– Alex