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Earning money from home.

I

iEdd

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Aug 8, 2005
1,956
4
No, this isn't one of those 'you could earn millions, send this email to 10 people' scams. I just want to know reasonable suggestions from working for people online and earning money. For example, website development. How did you learn? How did you get started? How long did it take to make any pocket money (or real amounts of money) off it?
Just asking because I'd love a casual job with computers. Thanks.
 
I was sort of forced to work at home - my wife took a job that required us to move and the location wasn't the best for me in terms of employment. So I do freelance out of the house for my old company and a few new clients.

As for getting started - unless you have a number of clients ready to give you work, don't quit your day job. You might find it easier to start working at home at night and weekends to build up a business.

Good luck,

D
 
Not necessarily with computers but one good way to earn money from home is to do freelance proof-reading. They send you a document (online or by post), you check it and send it back to them with corrections. Of course, that option does depend on your level of proficiency in spelling and grammar!
 
Applespider said:
Not necessarily with computers but one good way to earn money from home is to do freelance proof-reading. They send you a document (online or by post), you check it and send it back to them with corrections. Of course, that option does depend on your level of proficiency in spelling and grammar!
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Ooh! I'm a fast reader and spot errors and spell fairly well, I think. (I've been using Camino without spellcheck for the last 6 months :D) I rather like the sound of this, and could certainly do with some extra cash. How do you go about finding somewhere reputable to start this? Have you done this yourself?
 
Applespider said:
No but one of my friends was about to start doing it late last year. I'll ask her for some details and pass them along.
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Thanks, I'd really appreciate that. :)
 
the next big wave of jobs being sent home and offshore are law related jobs as i heard from an informative talk show lawyer on abc radio...he mentioned the first big wave to leave the usa was textiles which were primarily to offshore companies, followed by high tech jobs which were both offshore and sent home (web design, remote network administration (a section of this new concept was taught to me at a microsoft tech school), software development)

i know someone whose company sent their entire division of interpreters out of a massive office building (where the rent became too high) and sent them all home to work remotely...and i am sure more and more white collar jobs have gone the same way (accounting, finance, consulting, tax preparers, etc)

i also know a project manager who works remotely

i can't see a surgeon, talk show host, sex worker, cattle rancher, and many other occupations going mostly or totally online...and all phone tech support workers should be required, by threat of caning, from the country where the computer user resides ;)
 
my mother loves working from home, as she is assistant vice president and just takes trips to banks on the east of the mississippi. She absolutely loves it.

And i just do some freelance website design on occasion, but normally not work out of the house
 
iGary said:
Working at home sucks, by the way.

Just so you know™.
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So does commuting, waking up to an alarm, worrying about being late, traffic, office politics, buying clothes just for work, not being able to take personal phone calls, being harrased about visiting websites during business hours......
 
Applespider said:
No but one of my friends was about to start doing it late last year. I'll ask her for some details and pass them along.
Click to expand...
Oo. It sounds interesting. Thanks in advance for any details :)
 
im not sure your level of education, but you could try tutoring kids in math or science in your area, good tutors can make 25 bucks an hour easy
 
I learned how to do website devel by just doing it.

Age 14-16 I did my own website, some stuff for friends, etc. and also worked for a nonprofit who was just getting off the ground. That was enough to get my feet wet and build a pitiful little resume (which I was quite proud of).

When I got to college that pitiful little resume scored me a position on the school's webteam. That's where I really learned my stuff. It was an ideal setting. As a student developer I was very much in an apprenticeship-style setting. At first I was given small tasks and gradually, task by task, the senior developers taught me new concepts and programming techniques. The school's parameters for the visual design of the website were just loose enough that I had room to grow and experiment, yet they provided the guidance I needed as a novice. After a year of working there I had gone from just basic HTML knowledge & limited experience with graphics to being able to write in ColdFusion and manipulate Oracle databases and wield Photoshop like a pro.

Recently my boss there decided he didn't want to do any side work anymore and gave me all of his freelance clients. In addition to those, I had made contacts with many of the faculty and staff at school and scored some contracts from them. The money I made with freelance fast eclipsed my pithy student wage, so I was able to quit my job.

I've got 12 clients right now, their websites in various stages of design, redesign, and completion. I make between $200-500 a month from it--not huge money by any stretch of the imagination. However, as a student my needs at this point are fairly minimal, so it works. It's somewhat unreliable, as well--i can go almost a month without hearing from anyone, then the next month it seems that everyone wants something at the same time.
 
iGary said:
Working at home sucks, by the way.

Just so you know™.
Click to expand...

I agree! Used to do ad work from home for my employer. Never worked so many hours each week in my life! Even worried when I was on vacations!

Yes, much was my own doing. Being bored with what was on TV, I did ad layouts for the next couple of weeks. Then add the pressures of tending to the needs of the home and family.

Then you have issues of your boss not looking at emails that you sent a 1AM with work that needed to be done, to only have them complain when you weren't available for a 9AM phone call.

njmac said:
So does commuting, waking up to an alarm, worrying about being late, traffic, office politics, buying clothes just for work, not being able to take personal phone calls, being harrased about visiting websites during business hours......
Click to expand...

A year ago my in house ad position was eliminated. I was offered a chance to go back to the retail floor. Despite what you posted, I am happier. I put in my 40 to 45 hours a week, and that is it.

Office politics is something that you can choose to be a part of IMO. Some of us chose to try and abide by workplace "rules" and limited ourselves to personal phone calls and the such.

Add to that many "home jobs" are such that the work has to be completed under a deadline. And there are many deadlines being demanded, that vacations are hard to take. And even if you do take a vacation, either the work or work ethic makes it impossible to not do work while on vacation.

When I go on vacation now, I have little worry about my job not being done....
 
I know someone called Michelle, she works from home...Likes having her photos taken she does! ;)
 
Depending on your morals, starting and running a porn site is a very good way to make money from home. A classmate of mine does that and he is always cakey.
 
Applespider said:
No but one of my friends was about to start doing it late last year. I'll ask her for some details and pass them along.
Click to expand...

I would appreciate some info on that too - thanks. :)
 
njmac said:
So does commuting, waking up to an alarm, worrying about being late, traffic, office politics, buying clothes just for work, not being able to take personal phone calls, being harrased about visiting websites during business hours......
Click to expand...
Working at home for yourself sucks. Working anywhere for someone else sucks. Working away from home for yourself = priceless :D My dream is to have my own office away from where I call "home" and not have the 2 mixed together. You have 0 motivation when you wake up when you want and no one is there to tell you what to do. Hmm go watch TV and eat ice cream or do some work... :D
 
Well, I never worked from home before, so I guess my opinion is an uninformed one. Right about now, I wouldn't mind working from home. I am currently unemployed and already know how boring at-home life can be. (Keep in mind, I have no children, I don't go to school- so, no real responsibilties other than tending to our apartment.) When I worked at my last job, I wished for an at-home job. Just because you are working from home doesn't mean you have to watch tv all day or do the stereo-typical at-home workers' routine. Any legit work-from-home job would be cool for me, any info regarding such would be immensely appreciated.
 
iGary said:
Working at home sucks, by the way.

Just so you know™.
Click to expand...

I concur. I used to work from home but found that I was working when I should have been relaxing so I bought a studio apartment and made that my office. I have never been happier with my work.
 
Im a newly unemployed student who wouldn't mind some information about the proof reading job. I was an editor for my high school's school and district newspaper, it's right up my alley.
 
I want to work from home, but of course the work I want to do is sit around in my pajamas, watch TV and read forums. :D
 
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