Top Ways to Make Money from Home in 2021

Working from home is a sweet gig to have. After all, commuting is much easier when you don’t have to deal with a bike ride, a long drive, or the perils of public transportation. It’s also a time-saver because you don’t need to spend time getting dressed and presentable when you are making money at home. And there’s no doubt that there are less distractions without Karen from accounting popping into your office every five minutes, or the background noise of your cubicle neighbor’s client calls.

Making money from home isn’t only great for you—it pays off for companies to let their employees work from home, too. Multiple surveys have shown that employees who have the flexibility to work from their home office (or, let’s be honest, the comfort of their own couch) are much happier and even more productive. All-virtual companies get an even better deal, as a remote workforce means they don’t need to pay for overhead costs such as offices, parking, and utilities.

But not all jobs are designed to let you work from home—and you might not even be interested in making a switch to working remotely full-time. Maybe you just want to explore a better way to make some extra cash, instead of picking up another serving job or working behind a counter.

Here’s the good news: the digital world is increasingly impacting the way that we work and make money. There are plenty of ways to make money from the comfort of your own home, both part-time and full-time. Making money from home is totally possible, especially in 2020.

If you’re interested in learning more about how you can start making money from home, you’re in the right place! Make this your year to start changing your income, and check out the sections below for the best ways to make money from home in 2020.

1. Apply to companies that hire remotely

Working from home is becoming increasingly popular among employees and employers alike. Last year, a whopping 70 percent of people across the globe worked from home at least one day a week. To meet that growing demand, there are tons of companies that are hiring for virtual work—all you need to do is know where to find them! Once you do, send them a special package to stand out. Some even get a cash money payday loan to pay for this type of package.

After all, working from home can allow you to live below your means, which naturally increases your savings. So in that sense, it is worth it to go that extra mile to seal a good work from home gig, One thing to keep in mind though, you don't want to make borrowing money a habit. It's just not the best thing to do.

Anyways, traditional job-hunting sites like Indeed are good starting points. Use search terms like “virtual,” “telecommute” and “work from home” to narrow down your search. You can also check out this list of digital and brick-and-mortar Canadian companies that offer work from home roles like:

• Writers
• Transcriptionists
• Coders
• Software developers
• Online tutors
• Small Loans Customer Service Reps.
• Technical support

Even if you don’t want to make the shift to working from home entirely, there are plenty of part-time opportunities available. In fact, working part-time is a great way to get used to the flexibility and varied working requirements that come with working from home (here’s looking at you, emails, instant messaging, project management software, and video conferencing).

2. Become a freelancer on Upwork

No doubt you’ve heard the phrase “the gig economy.” (It’s such a popular phrase that you can even find it in Webster’s Dictionary.) Platforms like Upwork are a great example of how the gig economy is continuing to flourish. A lot of female entrepreneurs use it and love it.

Simply put, Upwork is like an online network built to connect clients and freelancers for one-off and long-term projects. All you need to do is create a profile, list your skills, and start applying to hourly or fixed-cost jobs.

What’s nice about Upwork is that it includes a ton of extras, like a time tracker for hourly gigs, a messaging system, and payment processing—so it’s a low-maintenance way to connect and communicate with clients. Not surprisingly, these extras don’t come for free. You’ll get dinged with a small fee for each job, but as you keep working with the same people over time, that fee will decrease.

You might be thinking that you don’t have the right skills to get a gig through Upwork, but you might be surprised at what’s available! Some examples of jobs that you can find on Upwork include:

• Writing
• Video editing
• Transcription
• Translation
• Editing and proofreading
• Word and PDF formatting
• Website development
• Teaching English (or another language)
• Public relations
• Sales and marketing
• Network and system administration
• Engineering and architecture

If you don't have the proper equipment for these jobs, don't worry. Try visiting a few actual payday loan lenders and see which one works for you.

3. Become a personal/virtual assistant

Executives, CEOs, and company owners lead super hectic lives—which is where a virtual assistant comes in. What exactly does a virtual assistant do? Well, that depends on the job and your skill set, but there are a ton of administrative tasks that a virtual assistant might take on.

For example, a virtual assistant might be doing data entry, organizing documents, creating and sending emails, managing customer service requests, and more. Worried that you don’t have enough experience? Don’t be: working as a virtual assistant likely means using skills that you employ every day at your regular 9 to 5.

Check out this list of 103 tasks that could be handled by a virtual assistant, including:

• Submitting and organize expenses
• Managing an appointment calendar
• Answering live chat requests
• Creating and scheduling social media posts
• Researching competitors
• Sending “thank you” notes or flowers
• Managing business contacts
• Helping home buyers find a mortgage broker.

4. Get extra cash with Swagbucks

Signing up for Swagbucks is like playing the long game: it isn’t going to get you a ton of cash right away, but if you’re patient, it will help you build up extra cash over time. And of course, it’s something that you can do right from home, whether you’re laying on your couch or killing some time before bed.

You can put Swagbucks to use in a few different ways. Make the Swagbucks bar your default browser when you’re searching online, and you can earn points as you do the browsing that you normally would anyway. Or, if you’re shopping online and you happen to purchase something from a participating retailer, Swagbucks will automatically award you with points.

If you have a little bit of extra time to spend, you can get even more points out of Swagbucks by playing games, watching videos, and filling out surveys. Once you’ve gotten enough points, you can get paid with PayPal or gift cards from Visa, Walmart, Amazon, and more.

5. Test websites and apps for cash

New websites and apps always need to go through a quality assurance process—someone has to make sure that everything is working as it should, be able to identify any issues, and alert the developers to any bugs that might cause problems on the user side of things.

Even though it sounds super technical, the good news is that you don’t need to have a ton of website or app experience (although you might get paid a little more if you happen to know your way around them). For the most part, as long as you have a reliable computer, you could become a website or app tester. You may need to create a video and talk about your experience navigating the site or app, so be prepared to give feedback.

Dedicate a couple hours a day to testing, and you could be seeing a nice little influx of cash in your bank account over time. UberTesting pays $10 for each 20-minute video, while UserFeel pays $10 for each 10-20 minute test. And Ubertesters pays hourly rates based on experience, performance, reviews, and specific test requirements.

Overall, the push towards flexible work environments and digital collaboration is creating more and more opportunities to work remotely and earn money in new and creative ways. That’s good news for anyone looking to make a little extra money from home!

Of course, just like with any other type of income, the key is knowing your skill set and how to apply it to a digital environment. All it takes is a little bit of patience and determination to find the right virtual job for you. After all, earning extra money is always great—but being able to boost your income while relaxing on the couch in your sweatpants is living the dream.