Times are changing, and remote work has become the norm in the past few years.
Finding work-at-home opportunities that offer competitive pay right from the comfort of your home has never been easier.
The benefits that accompany work-at-home jobs are certainly attractive:
- You can work from anywhere as long as you have a decent internet connection.
- You can use your time as you see fit. You don’t have to waste any time commuting or attending general meetings. With video conferencing being 30% more effective than audio setups, you can manage your office meetings through video calling.
- You get to set your own rates and pick your clients.
- You save up on transportation costs and office lunches.
Keeping all this in mind, there are only two questions left to ask:
Can You Permanently Switch to Working From Home?
The short answer is: yes, you can.
Even businesses around the world are promoting more and more remote options because companies that allow employees to work from home have a 25% lower employee turnover. To benefit from the same, small companies are also twice likely to hire full-time remote employees.
However, there are a few things you should keep in mind before you can get started with remote work.
1. Research your niche
Work-at-home jobs can be anything from copywriting to acting as a virtual assistant. Some unconventional roles may require you to fill online forms or contribute to surveys.
Go through samples of work and reviews to verify if the job is legitimate and is something you can do comfortably and regularly. Comfort is really important since even if they are sick, 52% of remote workers are less likely to take a day off.
Research on the internet to find out the average pay scale for similar jobs.
2. Set reasonable expectations
This is true for both time and money.
Don’t underestimate the amount of time and effort you will be required to put in. With 30% of remote workers doing more work in less time and 24% of them doing more work in the same period of time, it all depends on the type of work you are doing. While there are high-paying jobs available, they usually look for freelancers with more experience.
Unless you have a great portfolio, it will be a while before you can qualify for top-tier jobs.
3. Watch out for scams
The job market is filled with scams disguised as high-paying entry-level positions. It is very easy to become a victim of these scams if you aren’t paying attention.
Only use trusted websites for your job search, and even then keep an eye out for suspicious behavior. Learn how to protect yourself from job scams before you start searching for potential jobs.
What Are the Work-At-Home Jobs Out There?
Any job that can be performed from the comfort of your home is a work-at-home job. With 77% of employees saying they are more productive in a remote working setup, there are a lot of job openings for you to choose from.
The most popular positions are data entry, web design, freelance writing, medical transcription, and virtual assistance roles like virtual phone support, virtual live chat support, virtual email support, virtual onboard phone support, etc.
Some of these jobs, such as writing, web design, and data entry, can be carried out on a task/project basis. Other jobs, like virtual support, come with strict office hours. While freelancing offers better flexibility, fixed hours tend to pay more. Weigh the pros and cons of both to find out what works best for you.
How much do these jobs actually pay? Can you really make ends meet with just work-at-home jobs?
Let’s find out.
1. Freelance Creative Positions (Web Design, Writing)
With freelance, the pay depends entirely on how much you charge your clients, how many clients you have, and what kind of work you do for them. On average, a freelance writer makes $50k a year, which means you would stand to make more money than 47% of the country. Web Designers tend to make even more, averaging around $69k a year.
However, there is a required skill set to get good web design gigs. Experience and sample work also play a huge role in the quality of work you find.
2. Transcription
Transcription is the process of typing up some form of media. This can be content delivered via audio lectures, dictation, podcasts, and more. Typical jobs include but are not limited to Data Entry, Legal Transcription, Medical Transcription, and Video Captioning. Legal and medical jobs might require previous experience, but most data entry and transcription jobs are open to all.
Basic data entry jobs pay $36k per year on average. Legal transcription can get you as much as $69k, while the returns from medical transcription, and captioning pay around $37k and $53k respectively. Of all the work-at-home job options, transcription requires the least amount of experience, but it is time-consuming.
3. Virtual Assistance
Support roles have always been outsourced as much as possible. A lot of companies turn to remote workers for Virtual Phone Support, Virtual Live Chat Support, Virtual Email Support, and sometimes even Virtual Onboard Phone Support.
Typical job duties expected of virtual support positions are listed below.
- Email Assistance: Answering, monitoring, and organizing emails.
- Phone Assistance: Answering, directing, and making phone calls.
- Customer Support: Answering questions and processing orders.
Virtual support jobs can pay upwards of $46k a year, with most assistants averaging around $69k. These positions usually provide the required training as well.
Check out the top 5 telecommute remote jobs you should be looking for.
To Sum Up
Work-at-home jobs are in demand, and the number of permanent remote workers is expected to double in 2021, from 16.4% pre-pandemic to 34.4%, according to Reuters. More than 80% of companies are planning to incorporate a more flexible workforce in the future. There has never been a better time to start working from home.
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