Author Topic: If you had to work from home, how would you make a living?  (Read 6549 times)

independence

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If you had to work from home, how would you make a living?
« on: June 08, 2017, 01:17:03 PM »
I'm in this position myself. I do have work right now but I'm nervous about how much longer my contract will last (we've just been given notice that it's being downsized).

I don't have a degree. I don't have children so no background noise or distractions while I'm working. I'm not shy about working long/inconvenient hours.

How would you make it work?

LifeHappens

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Re: If you had to work from home, how would you make a living?
« Reply #1 on: June 08, 2017, 01:28:42 PM »
We need more information to go on here. What are your skills? What type of work do you do now or have done in the past? What languages do you speak? What do you enjoy doing?

You can work from home doing everything from being a virtual assistant to a Skype dominatrix. It helps to narrow down the possibilities to something within your skill sets and interests.

big_slacker

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Re: If you had to work from home, how would you make a living?
« Reply #2 on: June 08, 2017, 01:34:33 PM »
*I* would do network security consulting and fly out for deployments and a healthy billable rate. I don't know what you'd do because you didn't say what value you have to sell. :D

independence

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Re: If you had to work from home, how would you make a living?
« Reply #3 on: June 08, 2017, 01:46:09 PM »
This is the problem! I don't feel that I have any real marketable skills. Right now, I do web and social media evaluation. That's a fancy way of saying I give my opinion on whether ads and search results are what the person is looking for. It's not skilled but in the past I've only worked minimum wage jobs so this is a huge step up but more unstable as it's contract work.

Mr. Green

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Re: If you had to work from home, how would you make a living?
« Reply #4 on: June 08, 2017, 01:49:41 PM »
Pole dancing. My wife could shower me in dollar bills. :)

LifeHappens

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Re: If you had to work from home, how would you make a living?
« Reply #5 on: June 08, 2017, 01:51:08 PM »
You have marketable skills, you just need to figure out what they are. Your first step might be reading a career book like "What Color is Your Parachute?" and deciding on a career direction.

mozar

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Re: If you had to work from home, how would you make a living?
« Reply #6 on: June 08, 2017, 01:53:59 PM »
Social media expert is something businesses will pay for.

independence

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Re: If you had to work from home, how would you make a living?
« Reply #7 on: June 08, 2017, 01:58:53 PM »
You have marketable skills, you just need to figure out what they are. Your first step might be reading a career book like "What Color is Your Parachute?" and deciding on a career direction.

Thank you! I really appreciate the suggestion. I'll get hold of a copy.

independence

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Re: If you had to work from home, how would you make a living?
« Reply #8 on: June 08, 2017, 02:00:23 PM »
Pole dancing. My wife could shower me in dollar bills. :)

If you're only worth the singles, it's a good job you're FIREd! :P

independence

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Re: If you had to work from home, how would you make a living?
« Reply #9 on: June 08, 2017, 02:03:31 PM »
Social media expert is something businesses will pay for.

I wish I had social media expertise but I definitely don't. Whether I could spin what I've done and make people believe I did is a whole different question. I'll definitely look into social media skills I could learn and market.

marble_faun

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Re: If you had to work from home, how would you make a living?
« Reply #10 on: June 08, 2017, 02:18:19 PM »
Do you like dogs and cats?  You could work through Rover.com, which is a pet-sitting service. Or just set up your own independent business doing the same things.

mozar

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Re: If you had to work from home, how would you make a living?
« Reply #11 on: June 08, 2017, 07:40:25 PM »
Oh, OK, I thought a social media expert and evaluator were the same thing. A quick google search led me to a social media evaluator work from home position. I've never heard of that, cool!

https://join.appen.com/

nara

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Re: If you had to work from home, how would you make a living?
« Reply #12 on: June 08, 2017, 08:34:20 PM »
I would actually do health/weight loss coaching because it's a passion of mine. I know a few people who have been very successful doing this. Use your passions and try to find a way to make money off of it!

VolcanicArts

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Re: If you had to work from home, how would you make a living?
« Reply #13 on: June 08, 2017, 11:13:36 PM »
I have a good job and a lot of passive income, but lately I've been planning on working a side gig from home just for extra investment money to reach FI faster. I won't go into all the details but we have bought a bunch of high end machines for carpentry and woodwork, and have already sold a lot of our first prototype for 100percent profit. We are working on creating niche products with high marginal utility in our garage and selling them at a local traders market. I estimate on the low end when our surplus is high enough and our models perfected as well as the assembly process we can clear 600 in profit per month working a few days a month. This is a conservative estimate, as this is a side project that I don't want to spend more than 10 hrs a week on.

Freedomin5

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Re: If you had to work from home, how would you make a living?
« Reply #14 on: June 09, 2017, 03:02:05 AM »
I would tutor online. If I didn't have a degree, I might consider getting any one-year degree/diploma - whatever is cheapest and quickest. Many of the online tutoring sites pay $15-$20 per hour to native English speakers to teach Asian kids, though you may need to work odd hours as you need to work when they're awake.

K-12FI

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Re: If you had to work from home, how would you make a living?
« Reply #15 on: June 09, 2017, 03:28:41 AM »
I would tutor online. If I didn't have a degree, I might consider getting any one-year degree/diploma - whatever is cheapest and quickest. Many of the online tutoring sites pay $15-$20 per hour to native English speakers to teach Asian kids, though you may need to work odd hours as you need to work when they're awake.

This is my side gig; I typically make $20-23 per hour.

asauer

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Re: If you had to work from home, how would you make a living?
« Reply #16 on: June 09, 2017, 05:46:48 AM »
Either I'd step up my coaching biz to be full-time or I'd take a job as a recruiter- easy to do from home and I've done recruiting before.

I'm a red panda

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Re: If you had to work from home, how would you make a living?
« Reply #17 on: June 09, 2017, 07:07:26 AM »
Hmm...the question in the subject is not the same as the one in the first post.  If -I- had to work from home, I'd up my business as an educational freelance writer and editor. I've done it before and made excellent money, but it was too ebb and flow, and no benefits, so I prefer a full time position. However, most companies wanted to see a Master's degree, which I have.


For you- I'm not real clear on why you have to work from home. If you have a job, why can't you go get another job? Even something like working at Target or McDonalds isn't generally minimum wage. 

What about medical transcription?  That does require an associates degree (or at least a certification.)

wenchsenior

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Re: If you had to work from home, how would you make a living?
« Reply #18 on: June 09, 2017, 07:18:33 AM »
Do you have any technical writing skills?  I work as a copy editor/scientific editor from home. Ironically, I'm trying to get out of it now because 20 years of computer/sitting is screwing my body of horribly.

joestash

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Re: If you had to work from home, how would you make a living?
« Reply #19 on: June 09, 2017, 10:54:04 AM »
I'm also interested in work from home opportunities...

I would tutor online. If I didn't have a degree, I might consider getting any one-year degree/diploma - whatever is cheapest and quickest. Many of the online tutoring sites pay $15-$20 per hour to native English speakers to teach Asian kids, though you may need to work odd hours as you need to work when they're awake.

This is my side gig; I typically make $20-23 per hour.

Do you have any particular websites/companies you recommend for this?

Do you have any technical writing skills?  I work as a copy editor/scientific editor from home. Ironically, I'm trying to get out of it now because 20 years of computer/sitting is screwing my body of horribly.

How do you get a job like this?

pbkmaine

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Re: If you had to work from home, how would you make a living?
« Reply #20 on: June 09, 2017, 11:01:30 AM »
I have a CFP, so I would probably do back office financial plan preparation for a CFP firm.

wenchsenior

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Re: If you had to work from home, how would you make a living?
« Reply #21 on: June 09, 2017, 11:31:35 AM »
I'm also interested in work from home opportunities...

I would tutor online. If I didn't have a degree, I might consider getting any one-year degree/diploma - whatever is cheapest and quickest. Many of the online tutoring sites pay $15-$20 per hour to native English speakers to teach Asian kids, though you may need to work odd hours as you need to work when they're awake.

This is my side gig; I typically make $20-23 per hour.

Do you have any particular websites/companies you recommend for this?

Do you have any technical writing skills?  I work as a copy editor/scientific editor from home. Ironically, I'm trying to get out of it now because 20 years of computer/sitting is screwing my body of horribly.

How do you get a job like this?

I sort of fell into it by accident.  Have advanced degree in biology and happened to know an independent team publishing a particular scientific journal, got hired, and learned on the job.  Eventually I got head hunted by some of the main journal publishing companies to work as an independent contractor.  Currently, I work on two individual journals as their technical editor, and contract with one of the big journal publishers, for whom I work intermittently as a copy editor on 2-5 journals (2 main ones).

If you want to start out with a more structured, low key workload, I recommend contacting Allen Press and Wiley and asking about openings on their copy editing teams.

They are always on the hunt for people who are comfortable editing statistical and math oriented journals, but they publish lots of different types of scientific journals, soft to hard science.

westtoeast

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Re: If you had to work from home, how would you make a living?
« Reply #22 on: June 09, 2017, 03:32:20 PM »
Hmm...the question in the subject is not the same as the one in the first post.  If -I- had to work from home, I'd up my business as an educational freelance writer and editor. I've done it before and made excellent money, but it was too ebb and flow, and no benefits, so I prefer a full time position. However, most companies wanted to see a Master's degree, which I have.


I'm just starting out doing some education writing-- do you have any tips on gaining positions? Thank you!

Freedomin5

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Re: If you had to work from home, how would you make a living?
« Reply #23 on: June 10, 2017, 09:21:58 AM »
I'm also interested in work from home opportunities...

I would tutor online. If I didn't have a degree, I might consider getting any one-year degree/diploma - whatever is cheapest and quickest. Many of the online tutoring sites pay $15-$20 per hour to native English speakers to teach Asian kids, though you may need to work odd hours as you need to work when they're awake.

This is my side gig; I typically make $20-23 per hour.

Do you have any particular websites/companies you recommend for this?

VIPKID - https://t.vipkid.com.cn
Upwork - https://www.upwork.com/mobile/jobs/skill/teaching-english
Lingoda - https://www.lingoda.com/english/teacher

There are probably several more - just search "teach English online"

TartanTallulah

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Re: If you had to work from home, how would you make a living?
« Reply #24 on: June 10, 2017, 09:24:57 AM »
If I was obliged to work from home, my most realistic earning option would be to continue to jump through the hoops required of my profession and offer private consultations in my house or remotely via Skype. If you're in the position of needing to make money, I think doing what you already know you're good at and capitalising on your track record is worth considering unless you're staying at home because you hate your line of work.

Otherwise, I would write. Fiction, trade journal articles, copy editing, advertising material, anything. I used to have a nice side gig writing a variety of professional material that I fell into by sheer good luck back in the days before everything was online (and, thank goodness, I had the sense to tuck some of the income into retirement savings), but I imagine it's much harder to make a living that way now.

And I wouldn't mind doing dog-walking and pet-sitting/short term dog-fostering, or taking in ironing and mending, if I was just looking for something to keep me off the internet and engaged with my community and to earn me some pocket money.



Rosy

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Re: If you had to work from home, how would you make a living?
« Reply #25 on: June 10, 2017, 12:16:12 PM »
Check out this article https://www.thepennyhoarder.com/jobs-making-money/side-gigs/how-to-get-paid-12hour-cleaning-up-googles-mess/

Directly in your current line of work - three companies that hire independent contractors. No reason why you couldn't work for all three.

Here are a few companies that hire search engine evaluators. Some of them also have other job offerings that allow you to work at home.

Leapforce   https://www.leapforceathome.com/qrp/public/jobs/list?uref=c2920371a4c8a8fa002e8cac85190f94
Lionbridge  http://www.thesmartcrowd.com/about/workers/
Appen  https://join.appen.com/         


You'll probably ace their tests:) since you already have plenty of experience, so there is that!:) You could sign-up now and test the waters while you are still employed.

Good luck!

Jtrey17

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Re: If you had to work from home, how would you make a living?
« Reply #26 on: June 11, 2017, 08:52:57 AM »
I'm also an at home technical writer. I love it and want to work on a contractor basis, rather than for a huge company. I'm sorry to hear of your health issues, a good office chair works wonders. I also move around my house throughout the day as to not get sore. Best wishes to you!
Do you have any technical writing skills?  I work as a copy editor/scientific editor from home. Ironically, I'm trying to get out of it now because 20 years of computer/sitting is screwing my body of horribly.