10 REAL Work From Home Jobs – LIES Debunked
If you’ve ever searched YouTube for work from home jobs, you’ve probably been as frustrated as I am with all the ideas that…are totally not worth it. Most of what you’ll find out there has no sustainable potential, barely pays enough to make it worth pursuing or…once you look into it – can feel more like a scam than a real opportunity to make money working from home. So we’re gonna take a fresh and different approach – and I guarantee what we’ll cover in this video will give you a new perspective and concrete ideas to help you actually make money working from home. So let’s get into it.
This is yet another Brass Tacks video, where we bring you actionable tips to simplify and streamline your finances – with the ultimate goal of helping you make, manage, and invest your money so you can be financially independent. If you’re into that kind of content, consider subscribing and checking out a few other videos. And make sure to check the description box for links and more information on everything we go over in this video.
And so you know – the 10 jobs I’ll talk about in detail here are REAL, practical, doable opportunities. These only made the list because they are jobs that either I have personally made money from, or someone I directly know is currently making money from now. But I want to know from you – what work from home jobs have you had that have turned out to be a success? And which ones have you tried that didn’t work out like you wanted? Let me know in the comments below.
For starters, its important to understand what TYPES of jobs are out there – there are 3 categories of work from home jobs and although there is some room for minimal exceptions – there is almost always a direct relationship with the level of effort it takes to get into – and the amount of money you’ll get from it. So it’s important to know the difference and to not get sucked into something that isn’t right for you. I have a lot of personal experience researching, vetting, and even pursuing ideas in all three categories, so you’ll be getting well filtered info that will save you a tone of time, and trust me – it’s worth fully understanding these different categories before you move forward.
First – short term jobs designed to give you immediate money now. These are usually easier to get started in because…anyone can do them, buuuut might not pay you as much as you would want. If you really need some short term cash, I wouldn’t totally dismiss some of the jobs in this category, but I can tell you right now that for the most part – the vast majority of these ideas – the ideas most are writing about on the internet or making YouTube videos about…are not worth it if you are trying to ACTUALLY improve your work lifestyle and flexibility. At worst, many ARE scams, or feel like scams the more you look into them. At best, you’ll likely find that the level of effort required to make any impactful amount of money isn’t really worth your time. But I do want to briefly mention several of these to make sure you are aware of what’s out there.
Some of the most common types of jobs in this category are things like remote customer support agent, audio transcriber, virtual assistant, content moderator, online english tutor, taking surveys, coupon cutting, or some form of data entry. Almost all of these types of jobs can be researched and applied for through sites like GlassDoor, Flexjobs, and similar sites. Just google “work from home sites” and you’ll find a lot of resources to look into. And if you have experience in any of these areas or would like to explore more, do it. But again – for long term sustainability or real improvement to your overall lifestyle, none of these will be your best bet.
Next we have long term work from home jobs, or what we might consider work at home careers. These might take years of higher education and training to get into, but should definitely allow you to work from home in the long run, and give you that free and flexible lifestyle many of us are going after.
My current career path working at a digital marketing company allows me to work from home. And that was part of a larger, deliberate plan for me – and it’s been great. There are a lot of other great work at home career paths out there, and I’ve looked into almost all of them. Since there is so much to discuss in this category, I’ll talk more about my career, why and how I chose it, and other career paths that allow for work from home flexibility in another video.
Now in the middle, we have this unique sweet spot – what we might categorize as medium term work from home jobs. These might require slightly more effort and initiative to get into when compared to a short term gig, but significantly less effort than a long term career path. The pay lines up well too – way more potential for earning money than almost any of the short term jobs I mentioned, and in some cases – just as much potential for earnings as a long term work at home career.
As we go through these – you’ll likely recognize one of the core concepts I’ve learned about business and making money – if you want to make any sort of meaningful money, you can’t be like everyone else and you must provide real value. All those short term jobs can be done by almost anyone with very little specialized talent or skill – often times in other countries where the work can be done for much less. So if you really want a work from home job that can make a difference in your life – commit to develop a special skill that can truly provide value to someone.
And you should also put things in perspective. It can take a lot of time, effort, and sometimes money to get all setup with a work from home job that…might pay you $8-15 an hour, not including taxes. You are FAR better off investing that time, money, and effort in yourself. The time you will spend researching, finding, applying, and dealing with all the odds and ends involved in one of those short term jobs is much better invested in yourself and in something that can provide you real money and long term opportunity. So let’s get into the list.
Number 1 – Learn to build and manage a website. Don’t be intimidated by this one if you don’t feel like you have either the artistic design skills or the tech skills to make this happen. Learning how to build a website nowadays is way easier than you think. It takes some level of effort, but you can literally build an amazing looking website that has a lot of functional features without even touching a single line of code. Once you get the basics you can build your own site and pursue one of the many ways there are to make money from it…or you can get paid to build sites for your own clients.
At one point in college I put out online ads in my local area and offered to build websites for free…just to build up my own portfolio. After completing a few decent looking sites, I soon started charging to build them. I would also charge a small recurring fee – around 20-50 dollars a month to maintain, support, and upgrade these sites. In a very short amount of time I had referrals for new sites and a nice amount of recurring revenue from sites I was maintaining.
There are a lot of really good site builders and content management systems that allow you build a site for free – I’d recommend starting with WordPress as there is a huge community of people out there building amazing templates and easy to use plugins.
Number 2 – Become a creative professional – so this one might come in the form of 3 possible routes – graphic designer, audio editor, or a video editor. My last roommate was an audio editor for local musicians and stayed super busy and made a lot of money from home. If you have an artistic talent in graphic design, the demand is out there. Sites like Fivver are full of people offering this kind of work, but don’t let that discourage you – there is a big gap in the quality of work out there, which creates a demand for high-end quality work you can still take advantage of. And if putting yourself out there online isn’t your thing – find some local clients.
Video editing is one of the most annoying parts of the production process for a lot of creators and professionals – so if you have the passion or skills for editing – I promise you there are a lot of people out there looking for reliable, professional editors.
Number 3 – Search Engine Optimization – this is another field that you can easily get started in with no experience. I actually used to work at an SEO firm – there are a lot of different jobs in this area and most don’t require you to work in an office. I worked remotely as a college student and had absolutely no experience starting out. There are always a variety of positions at these firms ranging from writers to account managers to link builders and most of these companies have a ton of remote employees across the board.
Another side benefit to getting into the SEO field is that you know it’s only going to continue to grow, and you will gain a lot of special insight and skills that you can leverage for your own purposes – maybe you want to promote yourself online in some special niche, maybe you build your own website and want it to rank and attract visitors, or maybe you can brand yourself as an SEO consultant and find private work that way.
Number 4 – Teach a specialized skill you have. YOU have a passion others want to learn, and you can make money teaching it. Of course you could teach voice lessons, piano lessons, or any other instrument. I know a lot of people who make good money doing this kind of thing. But think out of the box on this one. I speak a foreign language and for a short time in college was a private tutor and made a decent amount of money doing this. If you speak a forigeign language, there’s a huge marketplace out there for people trying to learn….who would pay a private tutor to level up their skills. I also know someone who teaches private martial arts lessons from their home. And just the other day, I met someone who basically teaches one-on-one auto mechanics from his home. Any special skill you have gives you an opportunity to make money sharing and teaching it.
Number 5 – Rentals – of all kinds. Of course, renting out a property or a spare room can be a great way to supplement your income from home. Even if you don’t have something available now, you might be able to make some minimal tweaks to get something set up. You could go the traditional route and rent a space or property month to month or you could go the AirBnB route where you control things on a daily basis. A lot of people make money with minimal time investment just renting a space at their home.
But you might also consider renting out some other form of specialized equipment you have. I know someone who is super into 3D printing. He does it for fun and just designs his own stuff and prints it as a hobby. I talked to him about taking on clients so he could design and print stuff for them – and he said he probably could do that but in his case – he didn’t want to deal with the stress that might involve, but he DID say he rents out his machine. So if someone has a one time project they need printed he just charges them by the hour of printing time. This same concept could apply to renting out any specialized equipment you have like woodworking tools, welding equipment, an RV, a trailer and plenty more.
Number 6 – Writing. If you’re a good writer, you can work from home. There are so many great opportunities to leverage this skill and to have the flexibility doing it without being confined by a specific schedule or physical location. You could start your own blog in a special niche you are passionate about, and with some basic understanding of search engine optimization, you’ll start seeing traffic. You can also write your own book – I know someone who creates childrens books and sells them on Amazon and does really well. You could become an editor or even become a content writer that works remotely for any number of companies who constantly need fresh content.
Number 7 – Programming. Learning to code will open up so many work from home opportunities. You might think you need a 4 year degree in computer science to take advantage of the huge amount of software engineering jobs out there, but you don’t. One of my best friends learned on his own and just landed a gig where he will work from home as an independently contracted programmer for 2 years for a company based out of Dubai – where he’ll get to travel to for free once or twice a year to check in with the people he works for.
Programming isn’t for everyone, but it’s one of the most flexible industries to consider if working from home is a priority for you.
Number 8 – Bookkeeping. One of my close friends does bookkeeping from home and she does very well. This does take some specialized training, but nothing even close to that of going to school for 4 or more years to be an accountant. So if you are detail oriented, good with numbers, and very organized – this kind of job would be great for you. This friend of mine does bookkeeping for a few clients through an actual bookkeeping company and described to me that she definitely has to get things done in a timely manner, but it’s really just about getting it done correctly and efficiently – so as long as she does that, she basically has full freedom to do her work when, how, and where she wants.
Number 9 – Medical coding. Again – this is a very specific and specialized skill, but it’s out there and it’s a flexible way to work from home. This involves taking information from medical record documentation and assigning specific standardized codes to a diagnosis or procedure. On the surface it may sound a bit tedious and maybe even boring, but with the right personality and set of organizational skills, this might be a great option. There are many people doing this as a full time career, and others that just do it part time. I have a close relative who does this part time and she loves the flexibility it provides.
Number 10 – I’ll call this one At Home eCommerce. This whole arena of shopify/drop shipping/fulfilment by Amazon has unfortunately been sensationalized to the point of discouraging a lot of people to even look into it…but if you ignore the flashy ads and crazy clickbait youtube videos about this and consider this in a more methodical, controlled way – you’ll find there are still really good opportunities out there. Take your time researching different options – be careful about paying for one of the thousands of courses out there, and find your nitch – you can still make good money selling things online.
In summary guys – the best way to work from home is not to…take something that anyone can do for very little money and no long term potential. It’s to develop a specific talent or skill that opens up doors to real opportunity and real money.
Thanks for watching, if you got something out of this video, like and subscribe…and let me know your thoughts in the comments below. We’ll see ya next time.