Top 7 home-based jobs without investment in 2020
In 2020 many of us faced the necessity to start all over new. Millions of people lost their jobs due to the pandemic crises and had to make a dramatic career shift. For some, it’s been incredibly challenging as they didn’t have extra time and spare money to spend on their education and software.
If you want to learn what one can do for the living in case of a career emergency, dive into our guide where we have collected home-based jobs without investment.
Below we’ll cover on the online professions for which you will need nothing but a computer and a stable internet connection.
English language teacher
For those who have excellent English and enough patience to deal with students, the online job of an English language teacher can be a great fit. One of its main advantages is that it is in high demand, English is learned as a foreign language by 750 million people. And if you are a native speaker you do not need any special education or a degree to start teaching online.
Besides, it is one of not many online jobs that involves personal communication and thus perfect for extraverts. For more job options that suite extrovert personalities refer to our post.
The Pros
- Saving time on commuting. Think of how much time you spend to get to and from the office. Usually, it’s about 40 minutes per day. You can now use this time to have a substantial breakfast, sleep a bit longer, and interact more with your family.
- Combining teaching and traveling. This job gives you much flexibility, you can choose not only hours when you prefer to have classes, but also days of the week. Thus, moving from one place to another won’t be a problem if you plan it beforehand. It is also a great way to visit your friends and relatives who live far away from you. You can go and stay at their place as long as you both enjoy it and your work won’t be interrupted, it will only change the location.
- Choosing workload. Compared to other online jobs this one gives maximum flexibility. You can choose when you would like to work and pick days and hours when you’ll have your time off. This all depends on how much you would like to make and how much time you actually have. Besides your workload can vary from week to week and you do not have to ask for permission to change your schedule.
- Manuals, plans, and guidelines are provided. Online teaching companies have their own programs and provide all necessary materials for teachers. It saves plenty of time on lesson preparation and makes it an easy start even if you have never taught English before.
- Possibility to meet people from around the world. You’ll have students from various countries who will bring their ways of life and traditions into the classroom. This is a great opportunity to widen your horizons, get to know other cultures and make new friends.
- Teaching English as a foreign language is a well-paid job. You can get up to $20-25 per hour, which means you can work less and earn as much as doing a traditional office job.
The Cons
- Being dependant on the internet connection. The fact that you can only arrange a lesson if you have a stable internet connection can be really stressful. And one needs to be prepared to fix connectivity issues and be ready to change the time of the lesson if the internet is down. Using mobile internet can be a great and easy fix for these cases.
- Benefit package for online teachers is less impressive, compared to offline teachers. Most likely you won’t be offered healthcare insurance or a retirement contribution plan. Bear in mind that in this case, you’ll need to pay for your insurance from your own pocket.
- Penalties for lesson cancellation. If the lesson was booked it will take place. The rules are pretty strict in this business. Even if you are ill or have an emergency it may be difficult to cancel the class. Besides, in case of cancellation, you will have to pay a fine to the company and your rating will become lower making it more difficult to get other bookings.
- Too much sitting and screen time. Your eyes and back are the first to feel the pressure. Try to take regular breaks and do physical exercises during them to get some relief. A good chair supporting your back and shoulders as well as protective glasses are essential for maintaining good health.
Freelance writer
Content writer job is one of the most obvious options as you won’t need anything apart from what you already have. basic requirements are to have good grammar, spelling, and experience in researching things online.
From the very beginning, it might not pay very well, but on the other hand, it may be very flexible. In the majority of freelance projects, there is not much of scheduling work. As long as you meet deadlines you are good to go. That means you can work anywhere you want at whatever time you want. It’s a great opportunity for caretakers and for people who have children at home. You can find fresh copywriting job vacancies from the startups and enterprises at FarFarJob.
The Pros
- Flexible schedule. As we have already mentioned above, there is no boss to check up on you. So you can plan your day and week in accordance with your own tempo and needs as long as you meet set deadlines.
- You’ll always have a choice whom to work with. Being a freelance writer will give you the freedom to choose projects and people that are interesting to be involved in. Besides, if you feel uncomfortable already negotiating over a project, it is totally ok to refuse to work with the person or organization. This will save you time and in some cases negative emotions.
- Unlimited income. Writing is only limited by your capacity, you can take editing projects, create online writing masterclasses. The options are unlimited especially compared to the office work where you always get the same amount of money. Turn on your inner entrepreneur spirit and brainstorm how you can increase your income.
- You are the one in charge. Your success, as well as failures and learned lessons, depend 100% on you. As people say with great power comes great responsibility. But you shouldn’t be afraid, you’ll get used to taking your life into your own hands. Opportunities ahead you will show in which direction you would like to grow and develop and you won’t have to ask anyone if you can do it, as long as you feel it is the right thing for you.
The Cons
- Hard to keep life-work balance. With no boss or fixed working hours, there is always a threat that you’ll get distracted by home-related things, doing the dishes after breakfast, walking the dog, watching YouTube, or browsing social media. In these cases, the deadlines will be shifting and you will occasionally find yourself working late at night and during the weekends. The best way to avoid it is to create a working schedule limiting yourself with 8 working hours per day and a maximum of 40 hours per week.
- Working for not really big money. This may never happen to you, but before you find clients offering reasonable money you’ll have to create your portfolio and write ads, blog posts, or articles for free or very little money. Always keep in mind that it’s up to you to choose whether you are ready to work for this amount of money or not. Take only those orders that are profitable for you, even if you have to spend some time looking for them.
- The necessity to deal with rudeness and inadequacy. When it comes to online communication some people do not see the borders and make their work-related comments too personal. You will have to learn and filter this type of discourse as it has nothing to do with you and only shows the person’s lack of good manners. Besides, you need to be ready that due to poor communication, you’ll have to redo your work and rewrite texts several times.
- You are the one to take responsibility. There is no company, team, or manager to help you out when things go wrong. You will have to handle and correct all the mistakes you make yourself.
Graphic designer
If you have a good eye and some drawing skills, it is worth trying the job of a graphic designer. As a beginner, you won’t make a fortune on your first orders, but you will get valuable experience which you convert into good money further on.
99designs is a very simple and straightforward way to get your first orders. It is an online service for designers with a friendly environment. 99designs will help you to develop your skills and creativity in case you would like to participate in the designer contest organized by the community.
For more tips on how to get an online job if you are a beginner with no experience refer to our previous blog post.
The Pros
- Expressing your creativity. If you like expressing your ideas and helping clients to express theirs in a visual way, this job is a perfect fit for you. You’ll enjoy a huge variety of tasks from different clients and will never get bored.
- Making things happen. When you got your job done it is a very special feeling to see a company or an entrepreneur using it. You can see the logo you created on the company’s website or even printed on a real product package. This is both inspiring and motivating.
- The job is constantly in demand. Companies and agencies are always in need of designers either full-time or part-time. You have chances to get an order or even a full-time job as soon as you have launched a graphic design career. Though the field is competitive to enter, it gives high chances of success.
- It is easy to get trained. It is a perfect job for people who do not want to invest much time into training. There are online programs that can take from 3 to 6 months and which you can do parallel to the actual work. Besides, many companies looking for a graphic designer do not require a university degree, your portfolio is already enough for them.
- Various career paths. As a graphic designer, you can work for many industries, such as marketing, advertising, publishing companies, governmental institutions, production enterprises, television, and whatnot. The projects and your daily tasks will vary depending on the sphere. So you can choose something that really makes your heart sing.
The Cons
- Demanding clients. Your views and vision may differ from what your client requires. It is important to remember that your task is to fulfill the order and it is important to work within a client’s guidelines. A job well done always meets the expectations of the client. If not, you need to be ready to renegotiate it and remake it, otherwise, you may ruin your reputation and lose the order.
- It is a seemingly easy job. As the audience and clients only see the final results, it may seem to them that the job was effortless for you. Not many people think of the approaches you tried and of the number of edits you made in the design process. You will have to educate others on the technical and creative aspects the work involves so that your efforts are not underestimated.
- Meeting tight deadlines. There will be cases when tasks will come with a very tight deadline. To keep your reputation and help get things done you’ll have to work in the evenings and during the weekends. This is especially hard as a designer is a creative profession and does not go hand in hand with being in a rush.
Customer support specialist
You do not necessarily need to have an education in the IT field to start a career as a customer support specialist. Often companies require only fluent English (any other language you speak will be an advantage) and computer literacy. Apart from it, you will only need to learn how the product you support works.
The Pros
- It is easy to get into the profession. Even if you have never had a similar experience you can get this job. Just show to the employee that you are empathic and a capable learner. As said above no degree is required. However, having an experience with a particular product can make you a preferred candidate.
- Growth and development opportunities. This career has many paths you can evolve into a front-end engineer, or a support team manager. Besides, you will master your communication and technical skills.
- It is a rewarding job. Helping people on a daily basis pays off in terms of money, but also in terms of emotions. Clients will come to you with problems and you will fix troubles feeling people’s gratitude.
The Cons
- It is a very stressful job that will require patience and customer-first approach.
- Irregular shifts. Though you will know your schedule well in advance, you need to be ready to work when your friends and family will be celebrating Christmas or going somewhere for the weekend. In some cases, this job requires working late or night hours.
Learn more about jobs in IT sphere from our recent blog post.
According to Glassdoor average pay of a customer support specialist is $33,359 per year.Online forum moderator
There are thousands of community forums over the internet and some of them need moderators. These are people who can monitor posts and comments, answer messages that users post, and delete sensitive or offensive content.
The Pros
- Flexible working schedule. You can take as many hours and days per week as you want and work from wherever you want.
- Cool atmosphere to work with. Meeting new people united by a common topic or interest can be really rewarding.
- No special skills or knowledge required. In the majority of cases you are good to go just the way you are.
The Cons
- The salary is not really high. It can hardly be your main job, so you will most likely need one more job to make your living.
- No benefits provided. Usually, companies do not offer any perks, so you’ll have to take care of your insurance yourself.
- No development or growth perspectives.
SEO optimization specialist
Even if this is the first time you hear about it, you still have the chance to get a job of an SEO optimization specialist. At the very beginning, you’ll need to spend some time researching the way search engines work, and maybe taking a couple of free projects to build your portfolio. But all in all, you can fit it into a couple of months.
SEO optimization specialists improve the content of the landing pages and make them easily found by Google, Yahoo, Safari, etc.
The Pros
- Flexibility again. Your workload totally depends on your free time and money needs.
- Cool atmosphere to work with. Meeting new people united by a common topic or interest can be really rewarding.
- You can see immediate results of your work. When the sites’ SEO performance improves after your actions it is an extremely rewarding feeling.
The Cons
- People do not like SEO texts. Many users consider SEO content as spam and you will have to face the music.
- It is a demanding job, to perform and show results you need to be a real diver, ready to experiment and go deep into the SEO-optimization techniques.
Social media manager
Internet users spend about 2 hours and 22 minutes a day on social media. So why not convert this time into money and get a remote job in SMM.
The Pros
- Spending as much time on social media as you wish. No need to feel guilty about the time wasted, Instagram, Tiktok, Pinterest, choose your favorite media and help people develop their accounts bringing more subscribers and engaging customers.
- Letting your creativity flow. There are hardly any limits in the way you can express your personality in social media. The formats you can work with are varied and numerous.
- Possibility to communicate with interesting people. You are sure to get much of real-time communication and feedback.
The Cons
- Social media negatively influences our self-esteem. Besides, studies show that browsing social media can become a reason for isolation, sleep deprivation, lack of concentration and in the long run can cause depression.
- Necessity to be very careful about what you post. One careless sentence can ruin your account and the brand reputation. So check, double-check, and check again if the post you created contains insensitive information.
Does this sound interesting? Here is a detailed guide on other social media-related jobs.
According to Glassdoor average pay of a social media manager is $50,473 per year.Frequently Asked Questions
How can I make money from home without a computer?
There are plenty of ways of making quick money without a computer and even an internet connection. You can help people to babysit their toddlers, walk their dogs, or help them declutter their house. Another option is selling things you no longer need at a flea market or in a local consignment shop. Many of them focus on a certain type of product. There are consignment shops for electronics, books, clothes, collectibles, antiques, etc. Consignment shops usually offer better prices compared to pawn shops.
Is there any work from home without investment?
There are options that require no special skills or extra investments and can help support your living. You can write reviews on ReviewStream, transcribe texts on TranscribeMe, or even test apps and software. Learn more about how you can make fast and easy money from our blog post.
Are there any real online jobs?
Yes, there are sites that really offer online jobs without skills or investments. However, there are scammers too. To make sure you are not wasting your time and money, check reviews about the site you plan to work with, evaluate if they pay they offer realistic, and commit for a short-term assignment to start with.
Which online job is the best?
Whether online or offline the best job is the one that suits your personality. Before you choose the job, try to read as much as possible about skills and personal traits that are essential for it. Ask yourself what are you genuinely interested in. If you are not tolerant of people’s mistakes, then the job of a customer support specialist is probably not for you. If you love computer games and can spend hours playing, try to look in that direction.
Which online job is the best?
Whether online or offline the best job is the one that suits your personality. Before you choose the job, try to read as much as possible about skills and personal traits that are essential for it. Ask yourself what are you genuinely interested in. If you are not tolerant of people’s mistakes, then the job of a customer support specialist is probably not for you. If you love computer games and can spend hours playing, try to look in that direction.
How can I earn money sitting at home?
The options are numerous and some of them require no or little professional skills: creating resumes, teaching, and coaching, virtual tutoring or assisting, selling things online, etc. Our full guide to making money online is at your disposal.