Genuine work from home jobs

Looking for genuine work from home jobs that will let you make money around your family life?

Work from home jobs are out there across a whole range of industries – it’s often a matter of being creative when it comes to sniffing them out and being sure to put yourself out there.

I’ve been working from home for nearly 10 years.

For the first seven years I was working for a national newspaper as a regional reporter. It was a home-based job as the work involved covering news in my local area for the paper, but I spent a lot of time out and about on the road for stories.

After leaving my job I wanted a little more flexibility so that my work could fit around my two young children.

I already had a blog which I had launched a couple of years before, so this was a good opportunity to try and get it to make me some money.

But in addition to that I started doing some freelance social media management work and PR consultation on the side.

Since I began working for myself I’ve found it’s good to throw the net wide and try and get income in from a range of sources – because you never know when you may lose work in the blink of an eye.

Of course some work from home jobs won’t be freelance. There are increasing numbers of companies that are happy for full-time or part-time employees to be home based.

Whether you want freelance or a more permanent arrangement with one employer really comes down to how much time you have to work each week, the area you want to work in and your general attitude to working for yourself. It can be great because of the freedom, but it can also be a little nerve-wracking building up enough work to bring in plenty of cash to pay those bills.

If you want to make an extra £1,000 a month you will find some great ideas for side hustles on this blog post. But for this blog post I’m focusing on work at home jobs.

Let’s take a look at some legitimate work from home jobs.

You may also like: Best side hustle ideas

Genuine work from home jobs

Freelance writer

Freelance writing is a wonderful way of making money from home.

I make several hundred pounds a month from freelance writing, which is a nice boost on the side of my blogging income.

There is such a huge range of different freelance writing opportunities out there, which means that there is truly something for any niche and background.

You don’t need any specific qualifications to be a freelance writer and you can fit your tasks easily around your home and family life.

To get started in freelance writing you will need some kind of portfolio to show prospective clients your ability.

In order to do this you could start a blog where you can self-publish content in the freelance writing niche that you would like to be involved in.

The other route is to approach websites that accept guest posts and articles without payment and build up a portfolio of work from there.

How to get started

Think about what niche in freelance writing would suit you best. You can base that on your prior knowledge and qualifications.

For example if you have a background in marketing then writing about marketing for business publications would suit your skills very well.

Once you know the kind of freelance writing you would like to do then start brainstorming and researching publications – online and in print – that would fit your niche.

You can then send out pitches to your ideal publications. Expect some rejections, but by honing your pitching skills and being persistent you will win clients.

There’s amazing advice on freelance writing on Elna Cain’s website.

You can also find freelance writing jobs on websites including:

Fiverr
ProBlogger
Upwork
Copify

Typical earnings: Around £10 to £15 an hour.

Blogger

Blogging is how I make my full-time income. This is an amazing way to work for yourself because it is flexible, fun and equips you with great skills for other jobs if you decide to look for other employment in future.

The great thing about blogging is there is an audience for absolutely everything. Whether you want to blog about food, parenting, make-up, fashion or pets, you can build a profitable website writing about what you love.

However there is of course a BUT. Unlike some of the other work from home jobs on this list, it will take time to make money from blogging. And it will take time to make good money from blogging.

It took me three years to get to a stage where I was making what I considered a decent income that I could actually live on.

If you’re prepared to put the work in, build up your website over time, commit to working for free for some time and be prepared to go on a steep learning curve, then you can definitely do this!

I genuinely believe anyone can make money with blogging.

Before getting started I recommend you check out my posts on starting a money-making blog and how to increase blog traffic.

I also really recommend checking out the guys from Income School who explain in their YouTube channel how to build a profitable blog.

There are tons of Facebook groups about blogging that feature lots of free information. I really like Blogging Like We Mean It which is run by Carly from Mommy on Purpose.

How to get started

You need to be a very efficient self-starter to be a blogger. You will need to get your website launched – which requires being a little computer savvy but actually is easier than you may think – and then create content.

You will then need to be patient as it can take one to two years before you start earning proper money. Many bloggers report that they start earning some money after three to six months.

Typical earnings: Varies widely. Top bloggers earn seven-figure salaries. Most will be able to earn a few hundred pounds a month.

Freelance bookkeeper

A bookkeeper keeps a record of transactions and helps keep businesses and individuals financially organised.

Thanks to modern technology you won’t need to be in the office to do the job, as most bookkeeping software is accessible online from remote locations.

As with other jobs in this list, you may be a bookkeeper for a specific type of industry. You will also need to think about the type of services you will offer your clients. These may include:

Entering data into accounting software.
Paying suppliers
Filing invoices.
Chasing late payments
Preparing books for end of year accounts.

How to get started

There’s a great interview with someone who makes a full-time living as a freelance bookkeeper here to give you inspiration.

You don’t have to have a qualification to get started with bookkeeping but it can help to get one of the industry recognised qualifications. This will show you exactly how to do the job and make you more attractive to potential clients.

You can find out more about qualifications through the International Association of Bookkeepers.

You will need bookkeeping insurance just to ensure you are covered for any problems that may occur while doing important work for your clients.

You can find clients on jobs websites such as Indeed and Upwork.

Typical earnings: £8 to £15 an hour.

Online tutor

There’s a growing demand for online tutors in every subject and at all levels of education. It’s a great flexible job to do from home because you can pick and choose how many students you take on and schedule them around your family life.

Many online tutors find clients through companies that link students with teachers. Most will need you to be qualified to degree level in the subject that you want to teach.

But it’s not just students in school or college that you can provide online tuition to.

There are many online platforms that enable you to put together your own course on absolutely any topic you can think of. That may include knitting, creative writing or balancing a household budget.

One of the biggest platforms for this is Teachable. The great thing about this is that once your course is set up, you then have done the hard work. You will need to stick around to provide support to students who purchase the course, but this is a great way to make income.

How to get started

If you’re already a qualified teacher or have a degree in the subject you want to teach then the easiest way to start working is to sign up with an online tutor site such as Tutorful.

If you want to create online courses then you will need to first build up an audience to sell your course to. Starting a blog can help with this, as can using the social media sites and YouTube to find people interested in the topic of your course.

You will need to pay Teachable a fee – similar sites also charge to host your course – but if you can get decent sales going this can be a great way to earn money.

Typical earnings: £15 to £20 an hour.

Ironing and seamstress services

If you love ironing and/or are skilled at mending clothes then ironing laundry from your home could be a great way to earn cash from home.

You will of course need a decent iron, and be living in a smoke-free home where you have space to keep the clothes you are ironing neatly.

How to get started

You can get into ironing laundry from home in two ways:

Sign up with a large laundry service that offers ironing to its clients.
Set up your own ironing business.

The first option is easier to get started with as they will provide clients for you and deal with invoicing and accounts.

The second is good as you will keep all of the profit from your work. However it may take you a little longer to build up enough clients to make a decent amount from it.

Typical earnings: £8 to £10 an hour.

Audio transcriber

Transcription jobs are great if you want flexibility. The job involves listening to voice recordings and transcribing the content into a text document.

There are all sorts of industries and types of transcription work, from personal voice notes and lectures to conference calls and podcasts.

To be a audio transcriber you will need excellent grammar skills, the ability to type with speed and accuracy and for some areas of transcription you may need some knowledge of the type of content you’re dealing with.

With areas such as medical transcription you may need a qualification, which you can get from organisations such as Canscribe.

I have a whole post about finding transcription jobs at home here.

How to get started

You can find jobs on sites that specifically link up clients with transcribers. Job websites such as LinkedIn also have adverts from companies looking for transcription services.

Typical earnings: £10 an hour.

Virtual assistant

A virtual assistant provides remote assistance to individuals and companies with a range of online tasks.

Some virtual assistants may specialise in a particular area, while others may offer a range of services to help clients.

The type of work a virtual assistant does includes:

Social media support such as making pins for Pinterest and managing Pinterest.
Reply to emails.
Reply to comments on social media posts.
Provide practical support with websites doing tasks such as uploading new posts or making edits to existing pages.
Scheduling appointments.

How to get started

You don’t need any specific qualifications to get started with being a virtual assistant but you will need a solid understanding of all the tasks clients may need to ask you.

Many full-time bloggers will outsource work to a virtual assistant so it’s a good idea to network in blogger groups on Facebook to sniff out opportunities.

But it’s not just bloggers who use virtual assistants. There’s a huge range of industries that use them – basically anyone who needs a little extra virtual support.

You may find it easier to find clients if you set up your own website advertising your services. If you have a particular niche industry you want to target for virtual assistance then research some companies in that area and pitch your services to them.

Typical earnings: £8 to £15 an hour.

A social media manager looks after an individual or brand’s social media channels.

The main ones most company’s look for help with are Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, but many will also want help with Pinterest, Tik Tok and other growing social media outlets.

The work involves creating content including images and captions then posting them to the platform on behalf of the company you are working for.

As part of this you would need to know the best type of content to post to fit in with the brand’s image and the best ways to get good engagement on social media posts (ie best time of day to post, good hashtags and witty captions).

Most social media managers would then also be present to interact with comments on the posts and reply to messages on behalf of the brand.

Due to the nature of the work being entirely online this is a great work from home job. The only area that may need some face-to-face work is capturing actual images, but many companies will provide the social media manager with all the images they need and expect the social media manager to upload them and write the captions.

How to get started

Social media managers come from all sorts of backgrounds. Many may have some expertise in marketing but this is definitely not essential for all social media manager roles.

An understanding of the social media platforms is essential. You can find social media manager roles in a variety of places, including jobs websites such as Indeed as well as on social media platforms themselves.

Typical earnings: Payscale says the average salary for a social media manager is £25,480 a year. Freelance workers may earn £10 to £20 an hour, depending on the size of the company you’re working for and your experience.

Hairdresser or beauty technician

Freelance hairdressers may visit other people’s homes to provide services or set up their own space at home.

You will need to invest in all the kit and of course be trained in providing these services for people.

The tools you will need to be a mobile hairdresser include scissors, combs, brushes, hairdryer, curling irons and all the chemicals needed to dye hair.

Many hairdressers learn the profession in training at a salon but you can also study hairdressing at college.

A mobile beauty technician is another option and like hairdressing is great if you like working with people and have a creative flair.

How to get started

You may want to check out the Freelance Hairdressers Association for tips on getting set up and advice.

If you don’t have qualifications then look into getting your National Vocal Qualification (NVQ) in hairdressing before getting started so that you have the right skills for the job.

If you want to specialise in other areas of beauty such as being a nail technician then there are also NVQs that will equip you with skills to do that.

Although this work at home job requires you to have qualifications, if you have the money to invest in your education to get started then you can go on to have a very rewarding and flexible career.

Typical earnings: £15 an hour, according to the Freelancer Club.

Customer service

Thanks to modern technology customer service representatives do not need to work in an office with the rest of the team.

Customer service team members will respond to questions and messages from customers on the phone and/or via email.

How to get started

You will need a good WiFi connection, laptop and phone line to do the job from home.

Because you may be answering the phones this is a difficult job to do with kids running around in the background so you may want to take that into consideration if you want to work while caring for your kids.

Typical earnings: £15,000 to £20,000 per year.

Data entry

There’s a variety of companies that require some help with data entry and thanks to computer databases much of this work can be done remotely.

Some areas of data entry may require you to have some prior skills or training, but many don’t require any specific skills. Most companies should provide on the job training.

How to get started

You can find home based data entry jobs on websites such as Indeed and Reed.

Typical earnings: £10 an hour.

Search engine evaluators

Woman doing a work at home job on her laptop

A search engine evaluator analyses search results to ensure they are accurate and provide a full answer to search terms.

The job involves conducting research and providing feedback to measure the accuracy of web search results.

It’s a good flexible option for parents who want to work from home around the kids as it doesn’t involve using a phone.

How to get started

You can find search engine evaluator jobs on sites such as Glassdoor.

Requirements include fluency in English and passing an online evaluation to show you have the skills needed to do the job. Many jobs may also need you to have your own computer.

Typical earnings: £8 to £10 an hour.

Working for Amazon

Amazon has a huge range of work at home jobs based in the UK.

You can work as a delivery driver under the Amazon Flex system, where you pick up shifts as and when you are free, or there are actual work from home jobs with Amazon.

The types of jobs include customer service, where you may be answering calls or replying to emails, web experts who can fix technical issues, marketing experts, and finance.

How to get started

Check out the Amazon work from home jobs board and see what’s available.

Typical earnings: Varies hugely depending on type of role.

Where to find work from home jobs?

There are lots of jobs websites that advertise work from home jobs.

Make sure you set up alerts on the big websites so that you don’t miss any opportunities that will suit you.

These are some great websites where you can find home-based jobs:

Other places to find work from home jobs

There are thousands of people searching for individuals, like you, to do work for them in roles that are home based. You need to find the places they hang out and target them.

Many brands and individuals may look for freelance or full-time staff on social media. Be sure you are following companies and people in your niche you would like to pursue – you never know when they may share opportunities that would be a great fit for you.

Think about Facebook groups where people in the industry you want to work in are present.

If you want to work as a social media manager for businesses in your area, find some local business Facebook groups, sign up and start a conversation with people.

You may have to lurk on particular hashtags or groups for a while before a good lead pops up, but be patient and network. You never know when a great opportunity will appear.

Tips for finding work from home jobs

Finding work from home jobs in the UK may involve turning to jobs websites to seek out companies that are offering home-based opportunities.

But it can also involve being a little more creative and making your own opportunities to work at home.

Here are some tips for making money from home:

Examine your existing skills

The easiest place to start is with your existing skills.

Of course you shouldn’t limit yourself to this, because you can always take courses and develop your skillset if there’s an industry that you’re really passionate about getting started in.

Launch a website

Some work from home jobs will involve using an existing website as a platform, for example eBay or Etsy.

But with other work from home jobs you may want to consider creating your own website to advertise the skills or products you are offering.

Having your own website helps you build your digital presence, so that when potential customers are looking for someone like you they can find you easily.

Setting up a website is actually pretty straightforward. Here are the steps you will need to take:

Purchase a domain.
Purchase hosting. I use Lyrical Host but Siteground is a really good company to get started with.
Set up your site on WordPress. Your host company should be able to help with this.
Use a free theme or purchase a theme for your site. A theme is what makes your website look the way it does. You can get free themes or purchase some that have more impressive features. Most themes cost from £40 to £100.
Customise your site. Now you can customise your site with content, pages and set up blog content if you wish.
Learn about SEO. To get your website on the map you will need to understand SEO (Search Engine Optimisation). I have a whole post on SEO. The key is to be make sure the text on your website is very clear about who you are and what you do for people. You want to hit keywords so that when people search for someone in your industry, they find your website.

Work from home jobs to avoid at all costs

There are a few jobs ads or approaches that should send up a red flag.

Be wary of companies that don’t have a presence online or that you cannot find registered as an official business.

A claim that seems too good to be true often is – for example promises of a full-time income in exchange for doing hardly any work is rarely going to be based on reality.

MLM

Also known as Multi-Level Marketing, I urge you avoid anything like an MLM at all costs.

These schemes do make some people money, but for the vast majority of people it ends up costing them more money to work in an MLM scheme than they actually make.

This is because most of these MLM companies will ask you to purchase a bunch of products for you to sell on before you can start making money.

It’s now down to you to sell those and if you don’t sell them, you may struggle to get your money back.

But one of the worst factors about MLM schemes, also known as pyramid schemes, is that they encourage you to recruit your friends so that you can make money from their role in the pyramid.

I cannot emphasise enough how strongly I feel about you avoiding this type of business. Do think very carefully before you get involved, and check out this video from US presenter John Oliver which explains pyramid schemes and their downsides really well.

Anything that asks you to pay money upfront

Any company that asks you to pay them to work for them needs to be avoided.

A genuine working opportunity should not involved you having to invest any cash upfront in order to start work.

Be very cautious if anyone asks you for money or mentions the possibility of you needing to spend some money in order to get started with the job.

Of course some new ventures will require you to invest in new equipment such as a better computer and specific items such as hairdressing scissors. But a potential employer should be very clear about why you need to make an investment and should be open to you asking about the costs involved.

Most employers should provide you with all of the equipment you need to do your job for them, so do be sure to act with caution if anyone asks you for money to start a job.

Final thoughts on work from home jobs

I hope this has given you some great ideas for real jobs you can do from home.

When it comes to finding work you can do from home, start with what you know. Focus on the industry where you already have experience and see what opportunities there are.

If you’re getting started in a whole new industry, then put yourself out there. Find out if there are any new skills you will need to pick up in order to do this, and make sure you’re networking on social media with people in that industry.

Best of luck!