There is a wide variety of legitimate work-from-home jobs out there, many being online gigs, all with good pay.
None of us enjoy working and not knowing when we’ll be paid. That can be the classic sign of a scam, and sometimes we might take on extra work because we need money immediately.
In this article, I’ve listed the best and easiest online jobs, freelance work, and side hustles that provide you with a reliable way to make money, some of which don’t even require a high school diploma.
With most of these options, you can get paid via direct deposit, PayPal, or even gift cards. It just depends on the platform and your payment preference when multiple payment options are available.
Sometimes, you might even be able to receive an earning bonus by choosing a specific payment method, like a 5% bonus for choosing gift cards.
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Freelance Work
Freelancing is one of the most lucrative methods to work from home. Not only can you skip the commute, but you also have the added flexibility of being able to schedule your work around your other daily activities.
You might pursue these income streams in your free time to earn a second income or to replace the income from your existing full-time job.
1. Work for Yourself
Before jumping headfirst into your job search, consider that one of the easiest ways is to ensure you get paid weekly is to be self-employed and work directly with freelance clients on your own schedule.
Working for yourself eliminates the middleman (i.e., a freelance platform like Fiverr or Upwork). This means you avoid payment delays, site fees, and lack of convenience.
By working directly with a client, you both decide on a payment schedule if the work is recurring.
Since you work at home, the easiest payment method will be PayPal. You send an invoice once a job is completed, and you receive the money as soon as the client approves the invoice.
The options to make money online are endless when you’re your own boss! Some examples of work you can do from the comfort of your own home include:
- Writer
- Graphic designer
- Data entry job
- Website management
- Social media marketing or influencer
- Life coach
- Subscription box creator
For small business owners, the best way to connect with online clients is to create an online website (preferably hosted by BlueHost for $2.95 a month). This site will help show that you are a real person, your quality of work, and the services you offer.
Here’s a bonus tip, create a “Work with Me” page that includes your email address so clients and websites can connect with you in addition to sending pitches to individual business owners.
2. Work for a National Company
One of the leading databases for work-at-home jobs is FlexJobs. You do have to pay to use this database, but they prescreen all the companies to only present legitimate jobs from real employers.
There are over 50 different job categories to search from to find your ideal employer. For example, you can scour the listings for bookkeeping, customer service representative, writing, and educational categories.
Payment intervals can vary, but some of the opportunities will pay weekly.
3. Upwork
Upwork is one of the largest all-in-one freelance platforms. It’s free to join this online job site, and you can bid on up to 30 projects each month, plus receive invitations to interview for other job proposals.
On Upwork, you can connect with clients hiring immediately for many online jobs and tasks, including:
- Freelance writing
- Graphic design
- Data entry
- Customer service
- Computer coding
- Translation
- Social media manager
There is a 10-day holding period from the time the client approves your work (milestone) to when you can collect payment. Once your available balance is at least $100, you can request payment via direct deposit or PayPal.
4. Fiverr
Another popular freelance platform is Fiverr. It’s similar to Upwork as you can get paid to do just about any task where the completed work can be delivered electronically.
Setting up a profile with Fiverr gives you additional exposure to potential freelance clients.
Fiverr gets its name from the fact that freelancers can charge $5 (or more) per gig. For select tasks, some sellers charge up to $10,000 per task. Now that’s a serious payday!
Many Fiverr customers like to hire freelancers like you for designing eBook covers, creating company logos, writing blog posts, creating digital videos and audio recordings, and completing other tasks they don’t have the skills to complete.
My wife and I have personally used Fiverr to hire somebody to create a book cover for a self-published book. Once the gig is complete, you earn money.
5. Design T-shirts at CafePress
Personalized t-shirts, clothing, and houseware items are popular. If you can make snazzy designs, CafePress can be a great creative outlet where you can get paid for your design skills.
All you need to do is upload your designs, and you get paid when a customer buys one of your products. CafePress will print the item and mail it from their distribution center.
6. Become a Virtual Assistant
Websites are constantly looking for quality virtual assistants to carry out their administrative duties and other tasks. You might be able to earn top-dollar at Fancy Hands, where you can get paid for doing 20 minutes of work for a variety of professional tasks.
There are two different types of jobs. Standard jobs give you 24 hours to complete the task at your own convenience.
Live requests need to be completed in real-time with the client, just like when you call a live customer service rep to walk you through booking a customized hotel reservation.
From clerical assistance to website design and programming, there is a task for your skillset.
Related Article: How to Make Money Fast As A Woman
7. Amazon MTurk
Usually, when you think of Amazon, you think of their many different ways to find some of the best online deals to save money shopping. They also have their own “get paid to” site called MTurk (Mechanical Turk).
MTurk will pay you anywhere from a few pennies to several dollars per task. The quicker you work, the more HITs (tasks) you can complete each hour.
You can get paid to complete a variety of tasks like entering the purchase amounts for scanned grocery receipts, taking surveys (mostly academic research), transcribing audio, and performing data research.
There are over 421,000 different tasks to choose from, so there is never a shortage of earning opportunities.
The site gives you the option to be paid by direct deposit or Amazon gift cards. You can also request payment weekly, as the minimum payment amount is $1. You can easily hit this threshold by completing one task.
8. Clickworker
Clickworker is similar to Amazon MTurk in that you can get paid to take surveys, perform web research, write text for advertising campaigns, translate content into a different language, and more.
Some of these tasks will be more technical, meaning a higher average pay rate than MTurk. You can receive payment by PayPal seven days after a task has been completed.
9. Appen
For those of you that are computer gurus in AI, Appen can be an excellent option. The company is located in Kirkland, WA, but offers work-from-home jobs.
The company offers large jobs to micro-tasking roles. They provide you with flexible opportunities to work from home and cater to your schedule.
Their part time jobs consist of simple tasks that, added up, make a big difference. All you need is a computer and an internet connection.
Appen was ranked #1 by FlexJobs as a Top 100 Company with Remote Jobs. They are proud to offer jobs in line with their values of fair pay, inclusion, and well-being.
10. Web Searcher
Swagbucks is one of the few all-inclusive platforms that lets you get paid for completing a variety of tasks.
If one of your freelance gigs is writing or web research, you can “double dip” by performing your web searches through the Swagbucks search engine. This will provide the same keyword results as going through Google or Bing.
Like some of the other recommendations on this list, you can get paid to watch videos, take surveys, or play games for rewards points as well.
Every point you earn can be redeemed for gift cards or PayPal cash.
11. Micro-Tasks
Another “get paid to site” like Swagbucks is InboxDollars. You can get paid for completing a variety of micro-tasks like online surveys, watching videos, playing games, surfing the web, and opening emails.
For example, you might be able to make $25 for a survey if you qualify. Most of the tasks only take a few minutes to complete.
This can be a great side income stream if you are a stay-at-home parent or want to earn a few extra dollars in your free time or on the daily bus ride.
12. Taking Surveys
If you primarily want to focus on making money through paid online surveys, Survey Junkie can pay you weekly. Most surveys only take 15 minutes to complete and pay up to $3 per survey.
By taking several surveys a week, you can reach the $10 payment threshold and receive instant payment via PayPal or gift card.
Your opinions will tell businesses what products will help improve the quality of your life.
13. Maru Springboard America
Maru Springboard America, also known as simply, Springboard, is a fun and simple way to experience surveys.
Springboard was created by first asking their users surveys about what they wanted out of a survey company. They then took this information and created a platform to have your voice heard by government bodies, media, and non-profit and private companies.
As you complete surveys, you will be rewarded with points. Redeem points for prizes and entries in monthly sweepstakes.
An added bonus to completing surveys is being one of the first people to know about products and services.
- Earn .50 to $10 per survey
- Payout is through PayPal or Venmo
- Ge entered in $1000 Sweepstakes just for joining
14. SigTrack
If you are civic-minded, SigTrack can be an interesting proposition as you can get paid to process voter registration applications and signed petitions.
Hiring is on an on-demand basis, so you might have to check back periodically if they are not currently accepting applications.
Once you begin working for SigTrack, they will pay you via PayPal.
15. Test Websites and Apps
With UserTesting, companies will pay you to record yourself to test websites and apps. The client will give you a list of tasks that need to be performed.
As you interact with their product, you tell them what you like and dislike. This will give them the opportunity to make any changes or roll out an app update.
16. Mindswarms
Mindswarms is an interactive video survey company where you will be instantly paid in PayPal cash for recording a 10-minute video.
All you have to do is answer seven questions within those ten minutes, and you earn $50 each time. All you need is a smartphone, tablet, or webcam with video and audio recording capability.
Writing Jobs
While video-based jobs are gaining a larger foothold in the online world as internet bandwidth speeds increase and our gadgets become more high-tech, writing is still one of the most common work-at-home jobs.
While there are deadlines to be met, writing is popular because you can do it from anywhere with an internet connection.
This means you can get paid from home, the coffee shop, or after the children go to bed.
17. Proofread Anywhere
If you don’t want to spend your entire day writing new content, proofreading is also financially lucrative.
Proofread Anywhere can be one of the best places to get started as you get paid to proofread basic documents like eBooks and white papers to more complex legal and medical transcripts.
You can get paid after completing each micro-task.
18. Transcription
Being a Transcriptionist is a little different than the other recommendations in this section. You must be able to transcribe audio recordings into a written copy.
Pay can range from $15 to $25 per hour for general transcription, and you can earn more for medical and legal transcription as they usually require prior transcription or professional experience.
Check out Transcribe Anywhere, which has a Free Mini-Course on how to get started doing transcriptions.
19. Verblio
Verblio takes the “stakeholder” approach to freelance writing.
While you are an independent contractor, you can eventually earn a small share of the company. As a Verblio freelance writer, you write articles for businesses, and you get paid once a business buys your post.
Currently, there is a 90% acceptance rate.
As your experience level increases, Verblio will let you write longer and higher-paying posts. Eventually, you can become a co-owner of the company.
According to Verblio, they are the only freelance writing platform to offer this incentive. You will get paid every Monday through PayPal after sending an invoice to Verblio with your accepted articles.
20. Boost Media
Are you a marketing guru who can work magic with very few words? If so, Boost Media will pay you to write ads that will be displayed in search engines and social media pages.
Pay can start at $4 per accepted ad, and Boost pays you weekly.
21. Problogger
Problogger is a great site for writers and other independent contractors who love writing blog articles. Along with finding jobs for blog content writers, you can also find positions for:
- Ghostwriters
- Editors
- Copywriters
- Social media management
And more. It’s free for writers to create a profile on Problogger. Once you create a profile, you can apply for available positions.
You can also get job alerts, manage applications, and more.
22. Online Writing Jobs
Make up to $50 per article at Online Writing Jobs. Pay will vary based on your writing skills and the article length. You will receive payment weekly by PayPal for all completed work.
Most articles will be for websites that want SEO (search engine optimization of content) and will be on a variety of topics.
You can view recently completed jobs to get an idea of the clientele that hires freelance writers through Online Writing Jobs.
Phone-Based Jobs
You can also get paid to be a phone-based customer service rep. While each company might have different requirements for their customer service reps, they generally let you work from home, provided you have quick, reliable internet access, a distraction-free workroom, and can reliably receive inbound calls and make outbound calls.
23. Liveops
Job opportunities are consistently changing at Liveops. They hire for a wide variety of customer support positions.
As an independent contractor with Liveops, you choose the days and hours you work. You get paid by submitting your invoice to the agent you work for.
24. Blue Zebra Appointment Setting
Blue Zebra Appointment Setting hires callers to cold call potential clients to create appointments with a company.
An even more lucrative position is serving as an administrative assistant, where you have more responsibility but might not be doing as money cold calls.
Pay is weekly for both positions, and you can earn up to $25 per hour for your efforts.
25. Live Chat Support with Needle
If you would rather be a live chat representative, Needle is hiring people just like you to be a chat professional.
You will help customers in the buying process for some of your favorite brands so they can find the best deals. And you can help answer any questions they might have as well. Pay is every Monday through PayPal.
26. On Point at Home
For a fresh approach on the phone-based jobs, you might decide to become an advocacy counselor with On Point at Home. You will make phone calls and written campaigns on business-based political issues, not social issues.
Don’t worry. You will not be responsible for soliciting funds from donors and supporters.
When you are working on a project, you will need to be available for at least 25 hours per week for two to twelve weeks at a time until the campaign is completed.
Each counselor is paid hourly and receives a direct deposit paycheck weekly. At the end of a campaign, you can apply for another campaign. There are also leadership positions available to earn higher wages.
Related Article: 30 Best Jobs For Older People: How To Make Money As A Senior
Tutoring
The internet has made tutoring easier than ever. While you can still go to the library to tutor local students, you can also get paid to connect with people from the other side of the globe. Seriously!
27. BookNook
If you’re interested in tutoring reading or math to kids in grades K-8, you might want to work with BookNook.
BookNook provides all lesson plans for you, and you choose the hours you want to work.
With BookNook, you’ll get paid an average of $15-$22 per hour. You must meet the following criteria to be eligible to tutor with BookNook:
- Bachelor’s Degree + 1 year of teaching experience or 2 years of teaching experience
- You are a U.S. citizen
- You have access to a computer or laptop with A Chrome or Safari browser
See the BookNook website for more details.
28. Tutor.com
Tutor.com accepts tutors from a variety of academic backgrounds and accomplishments whether you are a college student, industry expert, or somewhere in between.
You are allowed to tutor anywhere from five hours a week to twenty-nine hours; it depends on your flexibility. And you can adjust your hours of availability on a weekly basis.
The application process can take between 1-3 weeks. After you are approved, you can choose who you tutor (i.e., high school students, college students, and adult learners). Every session can be video based.
29. Chegg
Chegg is another large online tutoring service. Pay starts at $20 an hour, and you can earn more for tutoring in-demand subjects. The top tutors earn at least $1,000 a month!
While anybody can apply to be a tutor, Chegg is very college-student friendly, making this a great opportunity to make money as a college student.
As you tutor more students, your reputation ranking will increase, and Chegg will send more students your way. As always, you will be paid every single week.
30. StudyPool
Another lucrative tutoring option is StudyPool which states you can make more here than on other tutoring sites because of lower commissions and fees.
What’s different with Studypool is that you can bid on tutoring gigs to help students with their homework. The top Studypool tutors in 2016, for example, earned over $269,000 in a single year.
Over 10,000 questions are posted daily, so you should have no problem bidding on a question to get paid.
31. Tutor ESL with Cambly
If you want to become an ESL tutor, Cambly can be a good option to teach English online. You can connect with clients from all over the world that want to hone their English language skills to improve their employment chances.
It’s possible to tutor 1-on-1 and in group sessions. Cambly pays by the minute, and earnings are deposited each Monday by PayPal.
32. NiceTalk
NiceTalk is another ESL tutoring site where you partner with Chinese speakers and have conversations with them so they can practice and improve their English skills.
Pay is $10 per hour, and you can request payment on PayPal once your balance reaches $20.
So, all you have to do is tutor for two hours a week, and you get paid. Plus there’s the opportunity to receive bonuses if you are an excellent tutor.
Sell Something Online
You might also decide to sell online, as you can get paid for each sale, and it can be easy to get paid on a weekly basis.
33. Sell Used Textbooks and Books
Make some extra cash by selling your used books and textbooks on Bookscouter. All you have to do is enter the ISBNs for each book, and Bookscouter will compare the buying prices from 35 different vendors.
You choose which vendor(s) you want, ship your books off in a prepaid package, and get paid by check or PayPal cash when the items are received.
34. Sell You Unused Electronics
If you have a drawer full of old cell phones and other unused electronics that are just collecting dust, you might be able to sell them instantly on Decluttr.
The Decluttr app lets you scan the barcode of unwanted DVDs and video games, or you can enter the serial number of your old phones and tablets.
Once your items arrive at the Decluttr warehouse, PayPal payment is sent within 24 hours.
35. Start Your Own Dropshipping Business
Have you ever ordered from a third-party seller on Amazon or eBay? If the answer is yes, chances are the seller never touched the product.
Instead, they partnered with a manufacturer who ships the product directly from their warehouse when a purchase is made. The drop shipper earns a small profit from each sale through this form of retail arbitrage.
It’s possible to get paid weekly.
While there is some initial work involved in forming a partnership with a manufacturer and building a website, this can be a unique way to earn passive income.
To make the process easy, build an online store through Shopify. This site will post your listings all over the internet (i.e., eBay, Amazon, Etsy, etc.), handle payments, and calculate the postage. All you do is box up your item and ship it.
Non-Online Work at Home Options
These income streams can still be very lucrative, but an internet connection is not required. Even though many tasks have gone digital, some things still need to be completed in person.
36. Babysit
Babysitting is a great option to earn extra money; you can do it part-time for a few hours per day or as your full time gig. This income stream is something you can do from the comfort of your home without a computer.
Although, listing your services on Care.com can help connect you with other parents looking for a responsible sitter.
While you can go to the child’s home, you can also watch them at your house as well. You can increase your earnings by operating a home-based daycare where parents can pay by the week with cash, check, or credit card.
37. Walk Dogs
Another option is to offer home-based pet care services. Whether you want to walk dogs or operate a pet daycare, this is another potential income stream that can let you work as often as you want.
Once again, you can offer your services on Rover to connect with local pet owners that will give their furry friends the love they need while they are away at work or traveling out of town.
38. Teach Music Lessons
If you are musically-inclined, you can offer music lessons. By meeting at a local community center or having students drive to your house, you can teach weekly lessons to students of every age.
You might decide to have students pay at the end of each lesson or prepay for the entire month (which can be better than getting paid weekly). Who knows, you just might train the next Mozart or Louis Armstrong.
39. Personal Trainer
If you’re looking for a home job that steers clear of the computer, it’s personal training.
While you can do sessions online with a class for more money, nothing can replace face-to-face interaction when working with clients and helping them reach their health goals.
Whether it’s a side hustle on a part time schedule, or your full-time gig, personal training can bring in extra income from the comfort of your own home (indoors or out!). You have the ability to set your own hours and your own rates!
Summary
While working from home isn’t for everyone, it offers the benefits and freedoms that many are looking for.
There are a variety of ways to find jobs to work from home and get paid at regular weekly intervals. Job seekers need only visit job sites, company websites, social media, and other online platforms for the best work-from-home jobs.
Regardless of how much time you have, there’s at least one new income stream you can begin doing today to make money. Now, let’s get started!
