As you may or may not know I have been working from home for
just about 3 years now. Needless to say I get a lot of questions about how I
got started, made it work, and keep it going. Dealing with a chronic illness, I
really needed to figure out a way to make a decent income and be able to lay in
bed with a heating pad at the same time. While that is a huge perk getting to
this place has been a lot of hard work. Since I tried just about every trick in
the book to get to the point of working from home I figured I would share with
you some ways I made money working from home work. No scams, no survey sites,
legit businesses and real money.
1. Upwork:
This is where I started when I was looking to begin working from home. No matter what skill set you have you can find yourself work on Upwork.com. I know there are a lot of freelancing sites out there but this is the one I personally have the most experience with.
While there is a large amount of competition, you can set yourself apart by creating a detailed profile, include a portfolio if you can. Craft personal proposals, as tempting as it can be don’t copy and paste, tailor each proposal to the job you’re applying for. Finally, start out at a lower hourly wage to build ratings and reviews. Remember that the goal is to build stable income streams, that is going to come from being able to have the ratings to continue getting new jobs and eventually start receiving invites. 3 years in, we don’t typically apply for Upwork jobs anymore, we get enough invites to sustain this income stream.
1. Upwork:
This is where I started when I was looking to begin working from home. No matter what skill set you have you can find yourself work on Upwork.com. I know there are a lot of freelancing sites out there but this is the one I personally have the most experience with.
While there is a large amount of competition, you can set yourself apart by creating a detailed profile, include a portfolio if you can. Craft personal proposals, as tempting as it can be don’t copy and paste, tailor each proposal to the job you’re applying for. Finally, start out at a lower hourly wage to build ratings and reviews. Remember that the goal is to build stable income streams, that is going to come from being able to have the ratings to continue getting new jobs and eventually start receiving invites. 3 years in, we don’t typically apply for Upwork jobs anymore, we get enough invites to sustain this income stream.
2.Blogging:
Yes, you can make money blogging. However, it does take time and it is not just as simple as posting things and having some ads on your blog. You also really cannot go into blogging focused on just trying to make money. Start by creating valuable content to build an audience. Write about things your passionate about. It doesn’t even all have to jive together, as long as you can tie it all back to your personality. This also set you up to the real ways bloggers make money, sponsorships and affiliate programs. Once you have an audience, you can leverage those programs to sell things you and your audience love.
Yes, you can make money blogging. However, it does take time and it is not just as simple as posting things and having some ads on your blog. You also really cannot go into blogging focused on just trying to make money. Start by creating valuable content to build an audience. Write about things your passionate about. It doesn’t even all have to jive together, as long as you can tie it all back to your personality. This also set you up to the real ways bloggers make money, sponsorships and affiliate programs. Once you have an audience, you can leverage those programs to sell things you and your audience love.
3. Spreadshirt, Redbubble,
etc:
Do you like to draw, design things, or take photographs, turn that into your at
home income stream with a site like the above. We have shops set up with both
Rebubble and Spreadshirt and I like them both equally. Although I have heard
that the quality of redbubble’s finished products are better, I do like the
capabilities of Spreadshirt better. There are more ways to promote your store,
work with SEO and google analytics, and make it more marketable in general.
Do you like to draw, design things, or take photographs, turn that into your at
home income stream with a site like the above. We have shops set up with both
Rebubble and Spreadshirt and I like them both equally. Although I have heard
that the quality of redbubble’s finished products are better, I do like the
capabilities of Spreadshirt better. There are more ways to promote your store,
work with SEO and google analytics, and make it more marketable in general.
4. Re-selling on
Amazon and Ebay:
This can be a really great way to earn money from home and you can get up and running pretty quickly. We specifically drop shipped but there are plenty of options out there from that to flipping craigslist and garage sales finds. The biggest thing is that you need to ensure you are following eBay’s rules an regulations to the letter, I have seen 100,000 a year businesses get shut down over something really simple. This is why my suggestion is to use Amazon or set up your own website. Amazon has fees and there are restrictions if you're looking to dropship but, it takes less marketing efforts on your part. You can go the route of starting your own site (personally I like Shopify.com for e-commerce sites). You have the freedom to sell whatever you would like but, have to spend more up front getting the store set up and with marketing.
5. Do A Combination Of All Of The Above:
While the advertising business we’ve created has been our biggest source of income, we don’t rely on just that. Combining all resources for making money online has been the biggest reason our income maintains stability. Even if we only sell 1 shirt on RedBubble or Spreadshirt than we have blogs or Amazon to make up for it. My biggest advice is to concentrate on solidifying 1 stream of income and then expand.
This can be a really great way to earn money from home and you can get up and running pretty quickly. We specifically drop shipped but there are plenty of options out there from that to flipping craigslist and garage sales finds. The biggest thing is that you need to ensure you are following eBay’s rules an regulations to the letter, I have seen 100,000 a year businesses get shut down over something really simple. This is why my suggestion is to use Amazon or set up your own website. Amazon has fees and there are restrictions if you're looking to dropship but, it takes less marketing efforts on your part. You can go the route of starting your own site (personally I like Shopify.com for e-commerce sites). You have the freedom to sell whatever you would like but, have to spend more up front getting the store set up and with marketing.
5. Do A Combination Of All Of The Above:
While the advertising business we’ve created has been our biggest source of income, we don’t rely on just that. Combining all resources for making money online has been the biggest reason our income maintains stability. Even if we only sell 1 shirt on RedBubble or Spreadshirt than we have blogs or Amazon to make up for it. My biggest advice is to concentrate on solidifying 1 stream of income and then expand.
This is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to making
money online, there are a lot of ways you can build yourself an income at home.
The biggest thing you need to remember is that you should treat each one of
these as its own business. All of these things take time and effort and will
not happen overnight. Yes, Andy and I make decent incomes working from home
but, we also work about 10 hours a day on average with an ever growing to-do
list. We’ve found a groove because we love everything we do. We have utilized
online tools to do the things we are passionate about. That is the ultimate way
to make money online.
Love you all!
Love you all!
