The Money Mix team personally invested numerous hours researching, interviewing workers, and testing all different kinds of work-from-home jobs, side hustles and home-based business opportunities to compile this list.
This guide will help you find the best work-from-home job, whether you are looking for constant interaction with others, a fixed schedule, an on-demand arrangement, or simply to take your career in a new direction.
They are thrilled to announce that their top pick was Symposium.
Symposium scored well across the majority of their criteria, including the upfront investment, training or certification requirements, flexibility, and earning potential. These are all key factors when considering a remote working opportunity.
Read this full guide in its entirety to see the complete list of the best work-from-home jobs for 2019!
Why Work from Home
If you are reading this guide, there is a good chance you are looking for a work-from-home job or are looking to transition away from a traditional desk job. Whether you are looking for a more laid-back work environment, more control over your time, or increase your earning potential, it’s easy to see why working from home can be an attractive option.
In the past, work-from-home jobs were seen as perks offered only by IT companies or startups competing for the world’s best talent. The fact is that many of the top companies in the world are now constantly seeking to hire remote employees for several reasons.
Working from Home Makes You Happier (& More Efficient!)
According to a Stanford University study, which was published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, employees who work from home report higher job satisfaction, are more engaged in their work and are also more efficient workers.
It’s hard to argue with more job satisfaction and higher efficiency!
The reality is that many people simply need to work from home for health, family or other reasons. Years ago, you had to accept lower quality or a lower paying job in order to work from home, but the tide is turning, and there are tons of awesome opportunities if you know where to look for them.
Who Should Work from Home
If you’ve ever fantasized about quitting your 9-to-5 job to work from home, there are a few things you need to know to set yourself up for success.
Today, most companies have extremely structured work environments to get the most out of their employees. After all, not every worker is a go-getter, and some require a bit of an oversight.
This means that to make sure you have what it takes to succeed in working from home, you need to be self-motivated, organized, and have excellent communication skills. If you aren’t able to do those things, you might be better off keeping that 9-to-5!
But if you’re ready to spread your wings and fly free, keep reading to see top work-from-home jobs!
The Pros and Cons of Work-from-home Jobs
When considering remote job options, it’s wise to keep the positives as well as the negatives in mind. Yes, there are negatives to working from home. It’s not always a good match.
The Benefits of Work-from-home Jobs
By and large, the flexibility offered by work-from-home jobs is what makes them so appealing for so many people. Being able to work whenever you are able to and not needing to stick to a fixed schedule is the biggest asset of working from home.
If you are looking to work from home to avoid the commute but still want a more traditional career, there are many full-time opportunities available as well. It’s true that working from home is no longer only for those who can’t work at least 40 hours per week.
In fact, they found that many of the workers they interviewed liked working from home because they could flex their hours up and earn more money when they needed it.
And, working from home lets the worker design his or her own work environment from the ground up. Using a work environment that’s free from distractions, remote workers can maximize their own living space to get the most out of where they spend their time.
The Downsides of Working from Home
When it comes to working from home, you’ll likely be spending the vast majority of your time on the computer or on the telephone depending on your role. This means that you’ll be spending less time interacting with other people in an office (unless you work from a co-working space).
In fact, the #1 downside that they heard from employees who previously worked from home and went back to working in an office was that they felt isolated working from home.
If you are someone who has limited social interaction outside of work and knows this is a critical aspect of their job satisfaction, you’ll need to specifically look for jobs that require virtual interaction (the #2 job might be the perfect fit).
And, the remote position requires a good amount of discipline and time management. If you aren’t a self-motivated person who can buckle down without a boss in the office, you may struggle.
And now, without further ado, here’s 10 wonderful work-from-home positions for 2019.
Top Work-from-home Jobs
- Symposium
- VIPKid
- Amazon
- Aetna
- Airbnb
- TranscribeMe
- Rover
- Belay
- Magic Ears
- Virtual Assistant (various companies)
1. Symposium
Symposium is one of the fastest growing opportunities in the industry.
If you haven’t heard of Symposium before, that’s going to change. The company built a platform which gives users the ability to host or attend live pay-per-view broadcasts.
Symposium scored nearly perfect marks across the board. What sets Symposium apart from the competition? Symposium was the only company they found that didn’t require or “strongly recommend” the need for a computer. As long as you have an iPhone running iOS or Android, you’ll be able to get started on their platform.
How does Symposium work? Symposium allows you to host ‘one-to-many’ live broadcasts on a pay-per-view model. This means that you can potentially have thousands of people tuning in and paying to see your live session, which means the sky’s the limit when it comes to your earning potential on the platform.
And, it’s up to you what you talk about. Design each presentation around your own level of expertise. Hold broadcasts in the middle of the night if that’s when your audience is watching. In other words, the flexibility is nearly unmatched.
The platform is catered to working professionals seeking coaching, advice, tutorials, or any other type of session you can imagine. Not sure what you have to teach others? Most people have a hobby, skill, or experience which is unique and highly valuable. Think outside of the box.
For example, if you know the holidays are approaching and you’re an expert at making a Thanksgiving meal with all the fixings, you can easily schedule a session to cover how to prepare those meals from scratch.
Symposium is the perfect platform for those who demand flexibility in their schedules, are self-motivated and have solid communication skills.
2. VIPKid
VIPKid is a leading online education company headquartered in China and San Francisco. The company has been valued at over 3 billion dollars and has quickly established itself as a leader in the field. The company matches American and Canadian teachers with Chinese children for virtual English language lessons.
All courses are conducted entirely in English, so absolutely no knowledge of Chinese is required. The company does have educational requirements for tutors, so you must have a bachelor’s degree (in any field of study) to join the platform.
If you want to take full advantage of the platform, you should plan to work in the early morning hours due to the time difference with China. Class payouts usually start at a base rate of $8, and each class is 25 minutes. You receive a $1 bonus for completing the class, and another $1 bonuses is added once you’ve taught 45 classes in a month (less than two classes a day), which means you’re making a total of $20 per hour.
Some teachers they spoke with began earning between $7.50 – $8.50 on the platform per class, but rates tend to increase as you build your reputation as a steller teacher.
Finally, VIPKid was the one job where the word “fun” was used the most often to describe their work, which they thought was pretty awesome.
3. Amazon
Everyone is familiar with the global retail giant, but few are familiar with the fact that they are leaders in the virtual working space.
In fact, Amazon always has numerous job postings for virtual working locations on their virtual job board. These opportunities are perfect for individuals looking for a more standard work arrangement from the comfort of their home, since most of the jobs are full-time.
Jobs start at minimum wage, but go up from there, with one current employee telling us they started at an annual salary of $62,000. Not bad considering they spend most days in their pajamas in their home office.
4. Aetna
You probably know Aetna as the large managed health care company, with millions of members participating in their health insurance plans. Like Amazon, they’ve established themselves as a leader in the work-from-home space.
Founded in the 1800s, this is a stable employer for anyone who needs a strong benefits plan, as well as a more structured work environment. Unsurprisingly for an insurance giant, many of their jobs are for data entry, data analysis, reporting, and reviewing information. This means they often require a degree or prior related experience.
The benefit of working for a company with a strong work-from-home network is that they have the support, training, and other programs to help you succeed in your remote position.
5. Airbnb
At this point, the chances are that you have either stayed at or know someone who has stayed at an Airbnb. The company started as a more affordable alternative to hotels for those on the go and is now hosting more bookings on a daily basis than Hilton hotels globally.
This means that as a host, you’ll spend less time trying to convince people to book a room in your home, and more time deciding what to do with the money that rolls in.
They spoke to several individuals who are hosts on Airbnb, and they ranged from new users hosting a single room in their home, up to power hosts with multiple properties being rented simultaneously.
There is a lot of money to be made on the Airbnb platform, but you should realize that in order to make enough money to live off of, you’ll likely need to be renting several rooms or properties. For example, renting a single room for $50 a night will net you $1,500 per month (before Airbnb takes their cut), which is a nice extra check to get, but you’d be kidding yourself if you think that’s enough to live off of.
However, for those that are more entrepreneurially minded, there is ample opportunity to make serious cash on this platform.
6. TranscribeMe
If you came here to see a more ‘traditional’ work-from-home job on this list, you’ll be happy to see TranscribeMe on this list. The company offers speech-to-text transcription services and translation services around the world. You work as much or as little as you want, and you do it on your schedule. What’s not to love about that?
If you love to write, want a job that requires little training, and love to learn about many different topics, then this might be the perfect match.
Their pay starts at 33 cents per audio minute, which comes out to $20 per hour!
7. Rover
In the world of stay-at-home jobs, you can find nearly anything you can dream up. And yes, that includes playing with puppies and getting paid for it.
Rover is a dog sitting or overnight dog boarding platform, which matches dog owners who need a dog sitter for an upcoming trip, parties, meetings, vacation, etc.with dog lovers looking take great care of pets. The company also offers dog walking services.
Become a sitter on Rover doesn’t have a lot of formal requirements, but the company does everything they can to ensure that they find qualified dog sitters.
They met with a dog sitter who has relied on Rover for over two years for a full-time income, and she makes roughly $3,000 per month taking care of three dogs at a time. Those who do this part time can earn approximately $1,000 per month, which isn’t bad for an activity
It goes without saying, but this is only a good opportunity for those of you who are true animal lovers and would take incredible care of these awesome pets.
8. Belay
Belay is a virtual personal assistant company which matches people looking for extra help so that they can be more productive, with awesome people working from home.
The services they offer include virtual assistants, virtual bookkeepers, and website specialists. They do require that all applicants go through an assessment process to make sure that you are a good fit for the company. Once approved, they will match you with a client who is a good fit for your skill-sets, abilities, and interests.
According to one insider who they spoke with on the condition of anonymity, you can expect to earn roughly $16 per hour as a virtual assistant. Virtual bookkeepers with solid accounting experience can expect to receive more on the platform.
One person also mentioned the fact that there’s no shortage of work on the platform, but that finding the right client is key for long-term success.
9. Magic Ears
Magic Ears is an English learning platform for students ages 4-12. The company provides a 1-on-4 teacher to student ratio, which creates a fun learning environment.
Due to the larger class size, they are able to pay between $22-$26 per hour, which is solid. The company, which is based in Beijing, requires that all instructors be from the US or Canada and be native English speakers. Unlike VIPKid, the company does require a six-month commitment, which they assume is there in order to justify the training they provide teachers.
A high-speed internet connection is also desired, so that the connection with students is of high quality.
This is an awesome option for educators or individuals who seek to interact with others throughout the day.
10. Fiverr
Unlike the others on this list, Fiverr is a platform in which you can find work-from-home opportunities and gigs. It made the list because it was often cited as a reliable place to find great opportunities managing social media accounts and profiles.
To become a social media manager, you should be able to regularly create new social media content for your client, as well as manage their social media presence. One work-from-home social media manager that they spoke with focused exclusively on Pinterest, and earned $2,500 per month, working only 20 hours per week since she had several clients who needed similar work.
Fiverr gigs typically start at just a few dollars for basic projects, but the beauty of the platform is that it’s super easy to join and start earning money. If you have a great talking voice, you can even focus exclusively on voice-overs!
You’ll have to do several gigs in order to make enough money to replace a full-time income, but it’s possible if you establish yourself and build a strong Fiverr reputation!
Summary
If you are ready to start working from home, these ten jobs are the best of the best. While this list only includes the top 10 work-from-home jobs, there are many more that they evaluated. This means that you should also do your own research when deciding where to apply for a job.
This post originally appeared on The Money Mix
