Online jobs – jobs that allow people to work from home are gaining popularity as the Internet is changing the way people work.
Technology has created a variety of legit online jobs that didn’t’ even exist just a decade ago.
When you think of home-based jobs, you probably think of writing positions or phone-based customer support.
But there are other flexible jobs opportunities that may surprise you.
From online English teachers who teach students in China to online doctors who use Internet video calls to provide telemedicine and remote consultation services to patients.
In fact, there are many other surprising work from home jobs that you might not expect to be remote.
Regardless, if you are looking for a flexible and telecommuting job that allows you to work from home, you’re in the right place.
In today’s post, I am going to share legitimate online jobs work from home that not only easy to do but pay well too.
Ready? Let’s dive right in!
This post may contain affiliate links. See our disclosure page for more information.
How Can I Get a Legit Online Job?
Finding work at home employment can be a challenge because there are many scams that disguise themselves as legit job opportunities.
The best online job for you is one that aligns with your existing skills, qualification or talent of which you can provide the services or products other people need.
Don’t think you have any talent or skills? Why not take an online course or class that will teach you new skills? The best thing about some of these courses is that they won’t cost you an arm and a leg.
If this is your first time on the online job hunt or are switching to a new market and you feel intimidated by the job posts requirements, you need a good resume to improve your chances.
A good resume will help you stand out from the crowd and get the job. And this course will help you achieve that. It’s one of the highest-rated Udemy courses on the subject. Check it out.
What Are the Best Online Jobs
I’ve been working full-time online from home since the year 2000, no that’s not a typo!
As a serial online entrepreneur, I have tried a variety of online jobs, gigs and micro-tasks.
I am based in South East Asia but sometimes I travel and live in Europe for months at a time.
I couldn’t be happier with the flexibility I can afford with my online job. In fact, I have never worked a 9-to-5 job before since I graduated from university.
If I can do it, anyone can too!
Below, I’ve compiled a list of legit online jobs that are not only real but can also provide good additional income, or even replace your existing 9-to-5 job!
Whether you are looking for online jobs for college students, stay-at-home moms jobs (and dads) or professionals, all of these jobs require no fees to apply.
The rise of the gig economy jobs open up opportunities for anyone who prefers more flexibility in terms of working hours or temporarily contract agreement.
Examples of gig jobs include virtual assistant services using sites like Fiverr to driving services like Uber. This list includes both regular online jobs and gigs.
A job can be full or part-time work with an hourly pay rate or salary that might include certain benefits, while a gig job doesn’t come with any benefits.
1. Micro Tasks
A macro task is a small job that you can perform online, also known as crowdsourcing, in return for an equally small fee.
Since most gigs can be completed rather quickly, the idea is to do as many of them as possible.
These tasks can be anything from answering surveys, writing articles, data entry online jobs, transcribing audio/video, working with a spreadsheet, data verification and cleanup to doing basic research.
While crowdsourcing is not an actual online job, they are easy to do and can be a good addition to anyone’s side hustle.
Amazon Mechanical Turk or MTurk is a website by Amazon where businesses, researchers, and consumer product groups can post human intelligence tasks (HITs) for remote workers.
HITs are tasks that computers are currently unable to do such as choosing the best among several photos, writing products descriptions or identifying performers on audio files.
Some higher-paying tasks may require you to complete a number of tasks before you apply for them. You can read and ask other people’s experience working with MTurk at this subreddit.
Clickworker is another crowdsourcing company that hires independent contractors for various jobs including writing, data entry, translation and other micro jobs
Another company to consider is ClixSense. They offer quick cash rewards for completing small tasks online such as categorizing images or making google searches.
2. Survey Taker
While I don’t consider this as a real online job, it offers an easy way to make money online or earn a side income in your spare time.
Also, taking online surveys don’t require any experience or skills, so anyone can do this.
A survey can take anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes to complete. The longer the survey the more you can earn. Some pay as high as $100 per surveys.
With Survey Junkie, for example, you earn points by answering surveys where 100 points are worth $1. To earn extra points, you can refer your friends to participate too.
Depending on how long it takes, you can earn between $0.50 to $50 per survey. Most surveys take between 1 to 2 minutes to complete.
They will tell you how many points you’ll earn and how long a particular survey will take so you can decide whether to take it or not.
You’ll earn $2 worth of points just for signing up and completing your profile.
Swagbucks is another popular online survey that works on a point system called Swagbucks (SBs).
Besides answering surveys questions, you can also earn points for watching videos ($10 bonus), searching the web ($10 bonus), installing a browser and more.
3. Freelance Writer
As a freelance writer, you write blog posts, sales copy, email newsletters and others. You can work as a full-time employer and working online if you choose.
If you write blog posts, the ability to optimize the articles for the search engines is often necessary.
The pay varies widely depending on the word count, whether it involves interviewing an expert or requires more in-depth research.
Depending on your experience, you can expect to earn $10, in some cases, up to $1000 or more per article. Writing can be lucrative but it won’t be making a full-time income right away.
If you want to make good money working from home as a freelance writer but are unsure where to start or wonder if it’s possible to make a living as a writer, check out this course.
If you’re just starting out, check out sites like Fiverr or Textbroker for writing gigs.
The trick to making money on Fiverr is to offer smaller gigs and sell them frequently. To increase your income, offer different packages and add-ons to satisfy buyers’ specific needs.
Textbroker pays you based on your star rating and it ranges between 0.07 cents to 0.5 cents per word.
The next step is to move away from the “content farm”. When you are ready to compete with other freelance writers, try Upwork or the Problogger jobs board.
Once you learn how to market yourself to your target audience, then you should be able to negotiate directly with marketing managers and bloggers and charge more for your work.
4. Proofreader & Editor Online Jobs
If you have excellent grammar and spelling skills, can spot errors that others miss in text documents quickly, then freelance online proofreading and editing job may be for you.
What is the difference between proofreading and editing?
Editing involves removing errors and focuses more on making sure the document makes sense in its entirety.
Proofreading is less extensive than an edit. It’s also about finding errors both minor and major that were either introduced or missed during editing.
The goal is to ensure the final draft is completely free of errors and follows the style guide.
How to start a freelance proofreading and editing business or add one into your existing freelance offerings?
Check out this course that will teach you how to kickstart a freelance editor and proofreader career specifically on the Upwork freelancing platform.
The course is useful for freelancers who have tried Upwork but haven’t had any success yet. It’s also meant for people who have no knowledge of Upwork.
For more online proofreading and editing jobs, you can visit Cactus, Gramlee and Scribendi.
5. Social Media Manager
As a social media manager, you’ll be responsible for account management, building communities, influencer targeting, graphic design, customer outreach, campaign creation among others.
According to PayScale, a social media manager salary is between $31,732 to $74,888.
If you’re are active on social media, have a knack for creating the perfect posts that get attention, you might want to consider turning this into a profession.
The next step is to take action! But how would you know what to do if you want to become a social media manager?
Well, here’s a step-by-step guide that will teach you how to start your own freelance online business as a social media manager.
You’ll discover tools and resources to help you find new clients and manage existing ones and grow your home-based business.
You can see and learn how other social media manager freelancers market themselves. What services are they offering? How much do they charge?
Browse these profiles on Upwork and see how you can also do the same or offer something even better.
CloudPeeps is another online platform where freelancers, including work-from-home social media managers, can offer their service to businesses.
Clients and Peeps can set and negotiate pricing directly – creating flexible relationships no matter what your stage.
To find more work at home social media manager job opportunities, you can participate in relevant Facebook groups where business owners and bloggers hang out and let them know about your services.
Another option is to send a cold pitch via email or social media and offer your services directly to bloggers and business owners.
6. Blogger
If you’re passionate about something or have an expertise in a particular subject, consider starting a blog.
As a blogger, you can make money by displaying ads, accepting sponsored posts, doing affiliate marketing, or selling your own products or services.
Bloggers get to work for themselves from home or any location in the world. As their traffic and audience grow, so does their income from advertising, affiliate programs and product sales.
Truth be told, creating a successful blog requires serious effort, dedication, massive time investment and it won’t happen overnight.
Most bloggers make nothing in their first year, while some are generating $2000 monthly on their sixth-month blogging. Some even manage to generate over $100,000 monthly one year after starting!
It’s all up to you.
To learn more about how to make money blogging, check out my step-by-step tutorial here.
You can learn more about how to make a living from blogging here: Blog for a Living: Complete Blogging Training Level 1, 2 & 3.
The course teaches every step in detail including:
- How to set up your blog
- Integrate a shop
- Driving traffic
- Making money
7. Affiliate Marketer
Affiliate marketers often use blogs or websites to promote products and services. However, in some cases, you don’t even need a blog to become an affiliate marketer.
Affiliate marketing is a method of earning a commission by promoting other people’s products or services. For example, in this article, I often recommend courses from Udemy which I am affiliated with.
Some affiliate marketers earn a lot – like hundreds of thousands monthly – while most earn very little to nothing at all.
Affiliate marketing is not a get-rich-quick scheme like some of the so-called gurus who make such claim when they’re selling their “affiliate secrets” products.
It’s also not as simple as simply plastering affiliate links in blog posts, sit back and wait for the money to roll in.
This affiliate marketing section is just too short to teach anything substantial about affiliate marketing.
If you want to learn more, I’d recommend you to check out the Affiliate Marketing+ SEO+ Copywriting: For Amazon, ClickBank course.
It’s a 3-in-1 course containing:
- Affiliate marketing tactics that teach you how to make money – even without a website
- Advance SEO to help you rank on the search engines
- Copywriting to help convert readers into buyers
8. Virtual Assistant
A virtual assistant (VA) performs tasks remotely that support business owners in order to help them run and grow their business. It’s one of the fastest growing online jobs.
The tasks can range from handling someone’s schedule, doing online research, managing social media accounts, providing customer support, answering emails etc.
Since this job can cover many areas, you can tailor your services to what you know how to do.
Pay varies widely based on the complexity of the work but you can expect to earn between $10.15 to $29.30 per hour according to PayScale.
If you want to learn more about working online as a virtual assistant but:
- You are unsure if this is for you
- Don’t know how to launch your business
- Wonder how to set your rates etc.
This virtual assistant course from Udemy may be able to help you.
9. Data Entry Online Jobs
If you can type quickly and accurately and don’t mind doing repetitive work, data entry job might be for you. Often, no previous experience is necessary to get hired.
This online job involves entering numbers, text or symbolic data into a computer system or spreadsheet using a keyboard and a computer.
These are easy online jobs but the pay tends to be on the low side and require more time dedication to make a decent income.
To find online data entry jobs, check out these websites:
10. Transcriptionist
A transcription service is a task that converts speech (either live or recorded) into a written text document.
This job may include transcribing dictation from doctors, lawyers, a college lecture, videos and audio podcasts.
Often no prior experience is necessary to work as a transcriptionist. Sometimes all you need is a computer, be a good listener and the ability to type quickly.
If you are a legal or medical student, this online job may be suitable for you. According to Indeed.com, a transcriptionist can earn from $7.25 to $36.25 per hour.
To learn more how to become a general transcriptionist, check out this course from Udemy. By the end of the course, you’ll be ready to apply for any transcription companies with confidence.
Another course you would want to check out is Free 7-Lesson Mini-Course with Janet Shaughnessy. It’s a FREE mini-course that teaches how to become a work-from-home general transcriptionist.
Check out these sites to find online transcription jobs:
- Rev – general transcription service, subtitle and translation for audio and video.
- Babbletype – for transcriptionists, proofreaders and translators who want to work online
- Quicktate – transcribes voicemail messages, memos, letters, legal files, medical files, recordings of phone calls, conference calls and other audio files.
- TranscribeMe – transcriptionists with specialized backgrounds in medical and legal fields are paid a higher rate.
11. Graphic Designer
Graphic designers use computer software like Photoshop to create design layouts for advertisements, logos, book covers, brochures, photo editing and more.
If you’re a creative person who loves working from home, know how to use graphic design software, this is one online job you can consider doing. Having a degree is not always required.
Simple online-based graphic design tools like Canva and PicMonkey make graphic design accessible for anyone who has an eye for design.
If you want to learn more about graphic design, check out Graphic Design Masterclass – the ultimate graphic design course which covers Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, design theory, branding and more.
It’s currently one of the highest-rated and a bestselling courses at Udemy.
The Photoshop CC Essential Training from LinkedIn Learning is another great course to consider. It will help you learn Photoshop and brush your existing skill. I’ve personally taken this course which allows me to charge more for my graphic design side hustle!
LinkedIn Learning offers 1-month free trial giving you unlimited access to over 13,000 expert-lead courses in addition to the Photoshop course above.
You can view the courses offline to learn on the go even download the videos into your computer with a plugin.
Sign up with LinkedIn Learning free trial here.
Below are a few places to find legit online jobs for graphic designers. It’s possible to make more money if you offer your services on several of these sites at once.
- 99designs – you can either work with clients directly or participate in a design contest.
- Upwork – a freelancing marketplace where you need to actively pitch for work to compete with other graphic designers.
- Dribbble – This is a site meant for designers to showcase their work. You can’t make money directly via Dribbble though. Instead, when someone sees your work and like it, they can contact and hire you.
- Fiverr – The place to offer micrographic design. One of the best ways to make money on Fiverr is to automate your workflow.
12. YouTuber
If you love making videos, have an expertise or a talent, you can join the vlogging bandwagon and use Youtube to showcase your creativity, teach, inform and entertain others.
You can make money from ads when you have at least 1,000 subscribers or 4,000 hours of watched content monthly. Displaying ads is a great way to generate a passive income stream.
Now, instead of relying on ads income alone, you could:
- Sell your own products with Shopify or via your blog.
- Use affiliate marketing and direct viewers to your affiliate links.
- Attract sponsorships and keep all the money earned to yourself
- Ask your followers to support you via Patreon each time your release a video.
The more views you have on your videos the more money you’ll make.
According to Forbes, the highest-earning YouTuber in 2018 was a 7-year-old Ryan from his toys review channel. With the help of his mom and dad, his channel became popular and watched by kids from all over the world.
To learn more about starting your own YouTube channel, check out the YouTube Masterclass course.
The course will teach you how to get started, how to create high-quality videos on a budget, get more views and subscribers to making money from your channel.
13. Bookkeeper
Many people think bookkeeping is the same as accounting. But there are some obvious differences.
While bookkeeping is part of the accounting process, it focuses more on accurate record-keeping rather than the analyzing and reporting of financial data.
In most cases, an accounting job requires more qualifications like a bachelor’s degree, while you can be a bookkeeper even with only a high school diploma.
As a bookkeeper, you will be responsible for managing business finances and often work from home. Having previous experience can be helpful.
To learn more about how you can start your own bookkeeping business and be successful, check out this: Start Your Own Bookkeeping Business.
It is for all the would-be bookkeepers out there who dream of working for themselves one day and for all the aspiring accounting students who would like to have their own practice one day.
If you’re new to bookkeeping and want to learn the terms and concepts and be more confident and successful, check out this course.
14. Photographer
If you have a good camera and a decent photography skill, you can sell your photos on dozens of stock photography websites and turn your passion into profit.
Whatever your niche – taking landscapes, portraits of people, everyday tools, food photography, animals or travel shots, this is another flexible online job to consider.
But what they don’t tell you is that selling photos online is a number game. You need to have a sizeable portfolio of images before you can start generating good money.
Once you get past the initial hurdle, you should be able to make more money from your photos with little to no maintenance on your part.
The amount paid for each photo varies depending on the platform, the type of license and several other factors.
On average, you could get anywhere from $0.25 to $100 for a single photo.
Here are sites where you can make money selling your photos:
Photography can start as a mere hobby or side hustle and you can turn it into a full-time online job if you’re determined enough.
You can learn more about how to start earning a passive income with your photography from this course: Earn extra income by selling your photos online.
By taking the course, you’ll learn what:
- It means to be a microstock photographer.
- Types of photographs sell online.
- You can expect to earn as a stock photographer.
- And more.
In addition, you might want to check out the Running a Photography Business: The Basic from Linkedin Learning.
They offer a 30 days free trial where you can access the full course (plus 13,000 other courses) for free.
15. Amazon Ebook Publisher
If you are a good writer, a good storyteller or have a specialized knowledge that could benefit others, you can write a book, or even easier an ebook to help generate passive income.
You can sell the ebook on your own blog and keep 100% of the profit.
Alternatively, you can leverage Amazon’s massive audience and use Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing and get 70% royalty on sales.
Writing an ebook is a great passive income idea because you will only have to write once, and then continue to sell the ebook indefinitely.
The royalty you get from an ebook is usually higher than that of a paperback and getting it to market is also faster.
To learn more about self-publishing on Amazon Kindle, check out Book Marketing: Become An Amazon Kindle Bestselling Author.
This course will teach you:
- How to write a good book even if you are not a good writer
- How to position your book to more easily attain bestseller status.
The author will show you exactly what he did to become a 3-time bestselling author on Amazon so that you can do the same thing too.
16. Online Jobs: Tutor & English Teacher
As an online tutor or English teacher, you’ll be video-chatting via Skype with someone or with a group of students.
You can teach English as a second language or tutor in your favorite subjects like math, science, music etc.
Whether you’re a teacher, have a Bachelor’s degree, stay-at-home parents or just someone who has a good command of English, an online teaching job could be for you.
If you want to earn an income teaching English online or have done some online teaching but want to improve, check out the Teach English Online: find students and start teaching now.
If you’re new to teaching, you can learn the essential tools and gain knowledge to teach like a pro. This course is also suitable for experienced English teachers who want to know how to adapt their skills to the online world.
Here are a few websites that offer online teaching jobs:
- Cambly – an online English tutoring service that connects native English-speaking tutors to students from all over the world through their video chat platform.
- Chegg Tutors – an online tutoring platform that helps students get homework help or set up affordable online tutoring with a tutor on various subjects.
- NiceTalk Tutor – a mobile app developed by a Chinese company that provides students with instant access to fluent English speakers through one on one video chat.
- QKids – Accepts applicants from the US and Canada. Qkids connects 300,000+ Chinese young learners between 4-12 years old with you. Requires a bachelor’s degree or above and must be able to teach 6 or more hours weekly.
- VIPKid – Hires home-based ESL or English as Secondary Language teachers for Chinese children.
- SayABC – Accepts teachers from US, Canada and Australia. Must be a native English speaker with a bachelor’s degree or above.
17. App and Website Tester
This is another easy online job that involves reviewing websites or mobile apps. Most sites pay $10 for running a 15-20 minutes test.
Usually, there’ll be instructions you need to follow to evaluate whether a website is intuitive to use and easy to navigate. Then you share your opinion in a video.
Since there are many registered testers eager to take any test, you probably would not get as many tests as you would like.
The number of tests you’ll be offered also depends on whether your profile matches with the company-specific requirements.
So approach this as a side-gig rather than as an actual online job.
You can find these online jobs on the following websites:
18. Selling Online Courses
Online learning or e-learning is expected to reach $325 billion by 2025 says a market research firm Global Industry Analysts. And this is your chance to grab a piece of the pie!
If you don’t like teaching in front of other people, but still want to share your knowledge, creating an online course is a great option.
With online courses, you’re not limited to the common school subjects. Any topics that you are well-versed on can be a subject of your online courses.
Online courses also provide a great residual income for you. Once it’s completed, you can continue to sell access to it as long as there are demands.
The amount you’ll earn vary widely but who knows, you can be like this guy who made more than $60,000 in 30 days.
Various online course platforms make creating and selling your course easier than ever. One of such platforms is Udemy.
If you want to know how to make money by selling online courses on Udemy – no matter what level of technical skills you have check out Udemy Masters: Learn Online Course Creation.
Yes, it’s an online course that teaches you how to create an online course! You’ll learn how to:
- Design high-quality online courses that actually sell
- Come up with a profitable course idea
- Launch successfully even without an audience
- Choose the right platform(s) to put your courses on
- Promote your courses
- And more…
Legitimate Online Jobs at Home
Some online jobs require no experience or a college degree as long as you’re willing to work hard and learn.
But before you begin applying, make sure that you have a great resume or CV.
Keep in mind that when it comes to looking for work at home jobs, you shouldn’t pay a fee to get hired.
If you’re just getting started, apply to as many different online jobs and freelance gigs as you can to improve your chance of getting a job.
But don’t worry if you don’t get your dream job right away.
Instead, you’ll gain experience and chance to build your resume that will help you land a more lucrative job of freelance work in the future.
Now it’s your turn.
Which online job are you most looking forward to applying? Do you have a favorite online job that’s not included in the list? Tell us in the comments below!
