With today’s options for remote work, stay-at-home parents can now work from home and even earn salaries large enough to be a full-time income. Here are 17 virtual jobs you can do where you don’t need to leave the house to go to work.
Twenty years ago, most people’s dream of working from home was just that: a dream. But today, working from home is the future of work and is already the reality for millions of people.
Whether you’re looking for 1099 or W2 employment or you want to start your own business, you have many options on your remote job search!
Here are 17 popular virtual jobs that don’t require you to leave the house. Each has the potential to become a good source of income, which means you can achieve your dreams of working in your pajamas, banishing your commute, and having a better life.
1. Virtual Assistant (VA)
VA work typically involves administrative duties but can encompass just about any business task that small business owners don’t have the time or resources to do themselves. Some of the most common services include email management, social media management, customer service, project management, and website support.
One of the best things about virtual assistant work is that you don’t need much experience to get started. In many cases, your clients will even pay you to learn new skills as you go! If you’re organized and love helping others succeed, it’s a great business with tons of opportunities for specialization and growth down the road.
Of course, if you don’t want to start your own VA business, you can work for one of the many companies that offer VA services to clients.
Here are a few to get you started:
2. Freelance Writer
Another excellent virtual job you can do without leaving home is freelance writing. It’s a common misconception that you need to have a journalism or English degree to be a freelance writer. As long as you enjoy writing and have a solid grasp of the English language, you can be successful.
With more than 7.5 million new blog posts published every day, there’s a ton of demand for freelance writers. While blog posts are probably the most common writing job, you can specialize in many other niches, like copywriting, newsletter writing, white papers, technical writing, and more.
Even as a beginner, you can find quality writing jobs on sites like ProBlogger, Medium, and nDash, provided you know how to pitch and have a few quality writing samples.
3. Travel Agent
If you love all things travel, becoming a virtual travel agent might be a great fit for you! In this role, you help people book vacations and other trips, such as business events, ocean cruises, and honeymoons. You use your expertise to book the best trips at the most competitive cost for your clients.
As an entry-level agent, you’ll likely need to join a hosting agency. Although agencies usually take a cut of your commission, it’s ideal in the beginning because you get to piggyback on their marketing, training opportunities, and prospective clients.
One thing to consider is that, depending on the travel company you work for, you might only get paid when the trip happens. Since most people book trips months or even a year in advance, this means that earnings might be slow to start.
Check out remote jobs in the hospitality, travel, and tourism Industries to learn even more about the online job possibilities in this field.
4. Graphic Designer
Graphic design is another in-demand skill that never goes out of style, as businesses will always need visual content for their website, logos, products, and marketing materials.
While formal education is beneficial, you can definitely take the DIY approach, using the internet’s many online resources. A few practical courses on Skillshare and Udemy might be all you need to get started.
For example, you could take a class to learn how to use Canva and start a freelance business designing pins and other social media graphics for small businesses.
5. Online Fitness Coach
The fitness industry is booming with online opportunities for those who are passionate about exercise and health.
For example, if you already have some personal training experience under your belt, you can take a program that is designed to help you build a business as an online personal trainer.
In this role, you create fitness plans for your clients and have regular check-ins with them regarding their strength and weight goals through video calls and email.
You can also generate passive income in this industry by creating and selling digital products like meal plans and workout programs.
6. Blogger
Bloggers make money through ads, affiliate marketing, sponsored posts, and their own digital products.
Truthfully, it is not easy to make a full-time income from blogging. There is a seemingly neverending list of skills to learn, including SEO, digital marketing, email marketing, website maintenance, and more. Most bloggers won’t reach the glamorous six and seven-figure income levels that you read about.
But anyone serious about blogging can start (and grow) a blog and reach their income goals with persistence and strategy.
Once you have the content and the audience, you can make money while you sleep—and there are few things as rewarding as that!
To learn more, check out this article on how to start a blog and make money from it.
7. Customer Service Agent
Many companies are hiring remote call center agents, provided you are fluent in English and have a high-speed internet connection.
There are virtual customer service representatives in many different fields, so there is something for everyone.
One popular form of remote customer support is the online chat agent, which is ideal for fast typists and multitaskers. In this role, you answer questions and troubleshoot issues through a chat window with the customer. Often, you’ll need to juggle multiple conversations at the same time.
You can find this kind of work through companies like Apple, American Express, Amazon, Alorica, or U-Haul.
8. Etsy Seller
If you love crafting or making homemade jewelry, opening an Etsy shop could be your ticket to working from home. Etsy is one of the most robust platforms for selling handmade items, with more than 40 million active buyers reported last year.
Making a full-time income on Etsy is not easy, but it is possible. Once you make your first few sales, you may need to invest back into your business to learn how to scale.
With Etsy, you’re not just restricted to physical crafts or products; you can also create PDF products like planners, calendars, or trackers and sell them as digital downloads.
9. ESL Tutor
Thanks to globalization, millions of people speak a foreign language and want to learn English. That means the need for ESL tutors is higher than ever.
People all over the world need someone to help them hone their English reading, speaking, and writing skills. And for most ESL tutoring jobs, you only need to be fluent in English.
You need only a noise-canceling headset, a webcam, and a high-speed internet connection. Many companies, including Cambly, VIPKid, and EF, are hiring for these jobs.
10. Proofreading
With all of the content being churned out online day after day, someone needs to be proofreading!
Not to be confused with editing, which involves making changes to the document, a proofreader’s job is only to find and notate grammar and spelling errors. It’s an ideal job if you have strong English skills and enjoy reading.
Proofreading professionally can take some training. However, once you have those skills, you can find enough clients to make a full-time income. If you want to work from home as a proofreader, explore this free 76-minute webinar from Proofread Anywhere.
11. Online Tutor
A tutor is an informal professional who provides individual instruction in a wide range of subjects.
You’ll need ample knowledge of a subject (algebra, Spanish, guitar, biology, English, physics, standardized test prep, etc.), but you don’t necessarily need specialized training to be a tutor. For example, a school music teacher, someone who is fluent in more than one language, and a college student majoring in calculus can all be tutors.
As a tutor, you can easily earn a part-time income or scale your work to earn a full-time income. Virtual tutoring jobs are plentiful, and you can find work as an online tutor with companies like Edmentum, VarsityTutors, Studypool, and Kaplan.
12. Transcriptionist
Transcribing is the process of transforming audio into written words. The audio could be a lecture, sermon, podcast, interview, video, or any other form of recorded speech. Transcriptionists are helpful for busy professionals who don’t have the time to type out their notes.
You’ll need a good internet connection, excellent typing skills, keen listening skills, and good research skills. You may also need to take a course on professional terminology to learn medical or legal terms. The schedule is very flexible, and according to Rev, top transcribers on their site can earn $1,495 a month.
There are three main types of transcription: medical, legal, and general. If you want to earn money at home as a transcriber, check out companies such as eScribers, Crowdsurf, and TranscribeMe.
13. Data Entry Clerk
If you’re a fast and accurate typist and want to earn money from home completing simple typing tasks, you may want to pursue data entry jobs. These virtual jobs take hard copies or recorded information and input it into computer databases.
You don’t need any particular degree or training to be a data entry clerk, but you should have good computer and typing skills. Having good organizational and communication skills, as well as experience and comfort with spreadsheets and word-processing software, is essential.
Several different companies hire data entry positions on a regular basis, including Axion Data Services and Conduent.
14. Search Engine Evaluation
Search engine evaluators use search engines (Google, etc.) to do web searches and evaluate websites and webpages to ensure they deliver information on any given topic that users find helpful.
Although you don’t need any degree or experience to get started, there are lots of guidelines to follow and quite a bit of testing to get through. However, once you get your foot in the door and learn the procedures, you have a flexible job that’s never boring.
Search engine evaluators are comfortable using web browsers and social media, speak the native language fluently, and are aware of history, sports, people, culture, places, and the current events happening in the country in which they live.
If you think this is a good fit for you, check out job availability at Datavio.ai and TELUS International.
15. Bookkeeper
Do you have an eye for and enjoy working with numbers and spreadsheets? If so, bookkeeping may be a terrific virtual job for you where you don’t need to leave the house.
Bookkeepers handle the day-to-day task of balancing the books (tracking income and expenses), which differs from CPAs, who handle tax information and make business strategy recommendations based on data.
Also, unlike CPAs, bookkeeping doesn’t require a special degree and is in high demand in nearly every industry. It’s a great work-at-home option that offers lots of options.
If you want to pursue bookkeeping, you can get your own clients or apply to companies such as BELAY, Good Cents Management, and Backyard Bookkeeper for at-home bookkeeping jobs.
If being your own boss sounds appealing, you can also start your own bookkeeping business from home. To see if this is the right option for you, check out this free online learning series from the Bookkeepers.
17. Social Media Manager
According to eMarketer, social media continues to be a growing field, and as this continues, the need for knowledgeable social media managers will continue to grow. If you enjoy content creation, moderation, and measuring results for social media platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, there are plenty of virtual jobs for the taking. Depending on the company and the role, you may need a bachelor’s degree in marketing; however, in many cases, a company may accept hands-on experience in place of a formal education.
To find these work from home jobs, try exploring:
18. Data Analyst
If you want to break into the tech industry, becoming a data analyst is an excellent way to work from home. As a data analyst, you’ll research and organize data using SQL and Tableau to make informed decisions for a company. Best of all, you don’t need a college degree or experience to get started. Charlotte Chaze is a self-taught data analyst who was able to earn $158K annually in less than four years and now teaches others how to do the same. She even has a free data analytics course if you think you’re interested in this field.
Companies, both large and small, hire data analysts to explore data and come up with solutions. To find these remote positions, look at FlexJobs and Glassdoor; you can even set up job alerts using these sites to save time on your virtual job search!
Virtual Jobs Without Leaving Home
If your dream is to find a virtual job where you don’t need to leave the house, there are a ton of great opportunities you can pursue this year and beyond!
Even if you don’t feel like you don’t have the skills to be successful yet, you can always invest in an online training program to upgrade your skills, whether that’s with specialized online training courses or through more affordable options like Udemy or Skillshare.
Provided you have a willingness to learn and a drive to succeed, you can make a decent income from any one of these 15 virtual jobs.
Remember, when you’re applying for new jobs, tailor your resume for each individual job title, adding keywords from the job posting so your resume makes it past ATS.
If you’re looking for more virtual jobs that offer flexibility, sign up here for email updates and find the right job for your skillset and personality.
Originally published March 23, 2020. Content updated April 2024.
