I’m asked daily what is the best way to work at home. I interpret “best” to mean the fastest, easiest, most lucrative way to make money from home. Unfortunately, there is no sign-up-get-rich-fast-doing-little-to-nothing. And while there are hundreds of legitimate work-at-home options, they aren’t all suited to everyone.
I could tell you that direct sales is the “best option” after all there are many people making a living even a fortune in direct sales. But if you don’t like the products or services, and aren’t willing to market them, then direct sales is not the best option for you.
I could tell you eBay is the “best option” for working at home. It’s free to join and easy to do. But if you’re like me and don’t like the hassle of packing and shipping stuff several times a day, it may not be the best option for you.
There is no one best option for everyone. Instead, there is the best option for you.
If you spend time reading articles online or listening to podcasts regarding working at home, you’ll soon discover that nearly everyone who is successfully working at home is doing something they already know or love. They may have taken their job skills and found a work-at-home job or used them to freelance. Maybe they’ve taken a hobby and turned into a business. To find the best work-at-home option for you, you need to tap into what you know or love as well. Start by answering the following questions:
1) What are your skills? Are you a fast typist? A stellar researcher? Good with numbers? Creative?
2) What do you know? How to use 95% of all the features in Microsoft Office products? Cook a feast for $5? Buy a car for thousands of dollars below cost? Foreign languages?
3) What do you enjoy? Gardening? Watching TV? Writing? Rebuilding old cars? Sports?
4) What are you passionate about? Ending poverty? Politics? Health and wellness? The environment?
The best work-at-home option lies in one of your answers to these questions. The trick is to identify which answers can lead to money. Money is made doing one or more of the following three things:
- Selling a skill.
- Selling knowledge.
- Selling stuff.
The idea is to take your answers and match them with work-at-home income options. For example, someone who loves gardening can start a landscaping business (selling a skill), create gardening classes or how-to resources, such as books or videos (sell knowledge) or sell gardening tools online (sell stuff). A fast typist can work as a transcriptionist (sell skill), teach others how to develop fast typing skills (sell knowledge), or sell transcription equipment (sell stuff). As you can see in two different interests (gardening and typing) we’ve developed six income options. Odds are you came up with more than two areas of interests. For each of your answers, you should have three different ways you can turn the idea into income.
Scammers and schemers give the impression that it’s faster and easier to search for work-at-home options that will make money doing nothing as long as you send money. But people who continue on that route never successfully work at home. And more often than not, they lose money every time.
Instead, look to the skills, knowledge and interests you currently have. Not only will you find or create a work-at-home situation that is fitted to your unique abilities, but you can create work that you love.
Hi,
I am interested in data entry, proof reading and typing.
All I would like you to do is get me this type of work to do. Please do not hesitate. Do all you can to get me to do this for some cash.
Also I am only interested in getting paid through Western Union. I have thre other friends who are very good typists like I am and very good at english and reading.
I am eager to hear from you.
Peter
Hi Peter, I rarely find legitimate typing or data entry jobs. The best resource for that type of work are places like Elance, Odesk, and Mechanical Turk. Proofreading work can be found through writer’s sites like Media Bistro, Writers Weekly and Absolute Write. It’s important that you understand you’ll need to apply for these jobs in the same you’d apply to a traditional job. You won’t be able to simply sign up. Instead you’ll need to submit a resume or application that shows all your skills and experience to do the job. Good luck!