Five Best Work From Home Jobs

Most people who make their own crafts get a lot of encouragement from their family and friends. What they don’t realize is that they could turn those crafts into cold hard cash. If you can make jewelry, pottery, clothing, paintings, bath products, edibles and much more, you should be selling your creations on Etsy.

According to Etsy, they sold as many as 487,000 items in July alone, which amounts to a whopping $7 million. To reach Etsy’s international audience the company charges just 20 cents a listing and takes only 3.5 percent commission off of each sale.

Another popular work-at-home opportunity is answering calls as a virtual customer service operator. Answering in-bound customer calls for large companies while sitting in the comfort of your own home can earn you on average 8-15 dollars an hour with the possibility of incentives and commission.

The field is growing as indicated by four of the biggest companies—Arise, Alpine Access, Working Solutions and LiveOps—which have reported the need for more than 7,000 new agents to work for them by the end of this year.

More than 90,000 applicants will try to fill these positions, ensuring that the market is incredibly competitive. However, if you think you’ve got the right stuff, information is available to help you with the interview and application process.

Home-based freelance work is becoming increasingly sought after by large companies looking to connect with the global marketplace. Positions are available in a variety of fields from software development to writing press materials.

The internet sites Elance and oDesk, for example, can be used to link job seekers to businesses looking for talent. From the processes of hiring to completing payment, these sites handle nearly everything. At any given time, over 20,000 projects are available for hire with salaries ranging from $20 to $80,000. Once you post your profile and take an optional assessment test to measure your skill level, you can search the open jobs and projects and bid for the positions. Often at the beginning you have to accept payment that is much lower than what you expect, but once you build your profile ratings you will be able to ask for the rates you deserve.

Another option is to be a web guide who answers questions on the internet on sites like About.com. These sites hire proven experts to give their opinions and advice on specific topics. To find available positions search through the recruitment categories and online applications on the site.

Once a guide, you will be compensated based on page views and the growth of the section you are working with. Generally, rates are about $1,500 a month for about 15 hours of work a week, which adds up to $18,000 a year. There are reports of guides making more than $100,000 annually for simply sharing information about something you know about.

There are literally hundreds of businesses that are looking for home-based or freelance workers on contract or as fulltime employees. The best way to find what it is you need is to be able to clearly articulate what skills you have to offer and how you want to work with them.