Yahoo Finance 6 Legitimate Work-From-Home Jobs
Work-from-home jobs may sound like a dream as you hit snooze on your alarm for the third time. They might even be your financial life raft if you're not bringing in enough at your day job or wish you could accelerate the process of debt repayment or saving for that trip you've been salivating over.
The problem is, so many advertised work-from-home jobs are scams. How can you be confident you're not going falling prey to a pyramid scheme or identity theft when you sign up? At the very least, you should research the outfit online by typing the company name + scam into your search engine. Better yet, focus on finding employment with vetted work-from-home options like the ones below.
[See: A Guide to Launching Your Side Business.]
Gigs You Can Do From Your Couch
Many of the legitimate online jobs that can be done from the comfort of your couch don't pay big at first, but some may have the potential to replace or heavily subsidize regular income.
Amazon Mechanical Turk
Amazon Mechanical Turk is a job marketplace looking for humans to do work that computers either can't do or perhaps just aren't as efficient doing. The work is referred to as a Human Intelligence Task or a "HIT." HITs can range from identifying objects in pictures and videos to transcribing recordings or doing some spreadsheet work in Excel. Price points vary and you aren't likely to make much money at first, but users claim that better-paying opportunities open up the more HITs you've completed.
Turkers, as they can be known, are paid in cash and can work a few minutes a day or spend hours completing HITs. It may not be a way to replace your day job income, depending on your current salary, but the supplemental income can help meet financial goals like paying down debt or boosting a nest egg.
[See: 10 Easy Ways to Pay Off Debt.]
Apple At Home Advisor
If you feel confident in your technology and customer service skills, then you may be able to work for Apple from the comfort of your desk as an At Home Advisor. Apple provides training as well as paid time away and product discounts for At Home Advisors. You may even move up to become an At Home Team Manager or At Home Area Manager. You will have less autonomy with this job than with other work-from-home job options, but the competitive pay and discount Apple products may be worth it to you.
Virtual Assistant
Technology has made it easier for entrepreneurs and small business owners to outsource jobs to assistants they may never meet. Zirtual helps connect virtual assistants with business owners who need help in their business or personal lives. You'll need to have experience and pass some testing before Zirtual is willing to work with you. You may be helping with managing schedules, conducting research, booking travel, handling social media, planning meals, buying gifts or a variety of other tasks.
Gigs You Can Do Near Home
TaskRabbit
This isn't exactly from the comfort of your own home, but it's a simple way to earn extra cash on the side. TaskRabbit connects those in seeking help with Taskers who are willing to do all sorts of odd jobs. You might be cleaning, helping someone move, standing in line to buy the latest tech gadget or shopping and delivering groceries. TaskRabbit will notify you of jobs nearby and you have control over the jobs you want to complete.
Gigs for the Crafty
Etsy
Those creative skills you employ to relax when you get home? You could turn those into your next big moneymaking opportunity. Sites like Etsy enable you to sell your wares without having to man your own website.
Lacey Quale, 30, creator and founder of LaceyPlacey, turned her frustration into a business.
"In 2011, I couldn't find cute pillows anywhere! Hard to imagine now but back then, there was a huge void in the market," Quale says. "So I decided to make my own using bright, colorful fabrics I found online and sell a few on Etsy."
Quale's first pillows sold within hours of her launching her Etsy storefront in 2010 and six months later, she'd generated $10,000 in sales. Today, the storefront now takes up about 20 to 25 hours of time a week and she's even hired some employees to help free up her own time.
Etsy does take a cut with fees like a 3.5 percent transaction fee and a 0.20 percent listing fee. You'll also need to handle shipping, but Etsy does offer discounted pricing on United States Postal Service postage and you can print shipping labels from the site.
Bonus: Turn Your Day Job Into a Work-From-Home Job
The holy grail of legitimate work-from-home jobs? Turning your office job into a stay-at-home gig. Plenty of companies, both big and small, are offering the ability for employees to work remotely.
[Read: How to Ask Your Boss If You Can Telecommute.]
"I've been recruiting for Wells Fargo from home since June 2015. It's been an awesome fit," says Margaret Moler, 28, who lives in Columbia, South Carolina, but works primarily with business in Charlotte, North Carolina. "Because Wells Fargo utilizes as much technology as possible, I can recruit and cater to managers' needs just as easily as if I was onsite."
You may also be able to search specifically for companies looking to hire remote employees or offer it as a recruiting benefit.
Erin Lowry writes about personal finance and serves as the content director for MagnifyMoney.com, a site dedicated to helping consumers save money by finding simple and transparent financial products. She is also the founder of the personal finance blog Broke Millennial.
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