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Ever since I started working from home in 2017 and found out how amazing it is, I’ve wanted to help other people do the same. There are so many opportunities out there for people to work from home; either through starting their own company or working remotely for another company.
If you want to start your own home-based business, I would highly recommend taking a course so that you’re sure you can do a high-quality job for your clients. You don’t want to put time and money into creating a business, only for it to fall at the first hurdle with an unhappy customer. Besides that, clients will be more willing to part with their hard-earned money if they feel like you’re a professional who knows what they’re doing.
Here are some online courses that teach you how to earn money from home, depending on which business you want to set up.
Table of Contents
1. General Proofreading: Theory and Practice by Proofread Anywhere
I’m one of those people who like to have training and qualifications behind them before claiming they can do something well. So although I had several years’ experience proofreading as part of my former day job, I chose to complete a proofreading course before I set up my freelance proofreading business to make sure my skills were up to scratch.
I’ve taken several proofreading and editing courses, but the one I got the most value out of is General Proofreading: Theory and Practice from Proofread Anywhere. This is an online, self-paced course that you can easily fit around your other commitments. It gives you the opportunity to get lots of proofreading practice and even shows you how to get clients.
With the course, you’ll
- work through 10 grammar worksheets and 40 practice essays
- learn how to set up your own website
- learn how to market your business to find proofreading clients
- get access to a really interactive student Facebook group
If you sign up for the Ignite Plus version, you get to list on Self-Publishing School’s Preferred Outsourcer Rolodex, you get membership of a graduate marketing mastermind Facebook group, and you can take a graded exam. Passing this gave me the confidence to continue on and set up my business.
I wrote a more detailed review of the course if you want to check it out.
I also interviewed the course creator, Caitlin Pyle, to see what skills she thinks a great proofreader needs.
Check out General Proofreading: Theory and Practice here.
Free Resource: Intro to Proofreading Workshop — a 76-minute video workshop where you can learn how to start a profitable freelance proofreading business from home.
2. Blog by Number by Suzi Whitford
Blogging is a great work-at-home option for people who love to write and are active on social media. Bloggers make money through affiliate marketing, writing sponsored posts, ad revenue, and selling products. Successful bloggers understand their readers’ pain points and write content that presents a solution to these pain points.
The Blog by Number course is for you if you haven’t yet started a blog. Suzi is the most down-to-earth person and is so easy to learn from. She takes you through each step you need to take to set up a beautiful blog without the overwhelm!
The course will help you
- decide on a blog name
- decide on the right niche for you
- start your blog and set up your theme
- write your first blog post
- create Pinterest images
- get blog traffic
That’s really everything you need to know to get started! If you take this course, I know you’ll love Suzi as much as I do! 😊
Check out Blog by Number here.
Free Resource: The Blog Plan — How to grow your blog to a full-time income in one year!
3. Write Your Way to Your First 1K by Elna Cain
Love to write? As well as starting your own blog, you can get paid to write for other people. A freelance writer writes blog posts, articles, web content, SEO content, e-books, etc. for other businesses to publish on their websites. Your name may be attached to the work you do, or you may write on behalf of someone else. In that case, you would be called a ghostwriter.
Elna Cain started her freelance writing business so she could stay home with her twins. At first, she was only making peanuts, but then she figured out how to find high-paying clients and now makes up to $1,200 per blog post!
With her course Write Your Way to Your First 1K, you’ll learn the exact blueprint for setting up your freelance business and the tools and strategies you need to land and retain clients.
The course includes
- 7 self-paced modules (encompassing 50+ lessons)
- Video tech training on popular tools and best practices
- Specific exercises within each lesson to help stay on the right track to making your first $1k
- Ready-to-use templates, email swipe copy
- EVERYTHING you need to know to build a writer platform that makes clients come to you (including Elna’s Kickstart Copywriting guide and Landing Clients on Social Media resource)
- The exact method she used to make her first $1K
Check out Write Your Way to Your First $1K here.
Free Resource: Get Paid to Write Online — a 6-day free mini course to kick-start your freelance writing career!
4. Fully Booked VA by Gina Horkey
What if you like doing admin tasks, but you don’t like working in an office? A virtual assistant (VA) works remotely to help other business owners run their businesses by assisting them with routine or more specialized tasks that the business owner doesn’t have the time or skills to do. The list of tasks VAs can do is almost endless. They can help out with email management, writing, blog management, social media management, project management, etc.
Gina Horkey was desperate to leave the corporate world and work from home. She started her business in May 2014 and six months later was earning $4,000 a month!
With her course Fully Booked VA (formerly 30 Days or Less to Virtual Assistant Success), you’ll learn how to
- choose which services you can offer including email management, social media management, and content management
- how to pitch clients (includes templates)
- how to manage your VA business including learning about contracts, onboarding new clients, and parting ways with those that are no longer a fit
- launch your VA business including choosing your target market
- make money as a VA including setting your rates, transitioning to a retainer model, and offering packages
- where to source VA clients including social media and networking best practices
- build effective relationships with your clients
Check out Fully Booked VA here.
Affordable Resource: Jumpstart Your Virtual Assistant Business — Get an understanding of what it takes to get a virtual assistant business up and running.
Want to know what’s it’s like to be a virtual assistant? Check out my interview with Paula Hickey, who makes money from home as a virtual assistant!
5. Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing by Michelle Schroeder-Gardner
One of the main ways that bloggers earn an income online is through affiliate marketing. This is where you earn money for promoting other people’s products on your blog. When someone buys a product through your referral link, you earn a commission ranging anywhere from 1–50% of the product price.
It works best when you talk about products you genuinely enjoy and would happily recommend to friends and family. Don’t promote products you don’t like because it’ll break the trust you’ve built up with your readers.
Michelle is the master of affiliate marketing, earning over $50,000 a MONTH. If you’re going to learn about affiliate marketing through anyone, make it the best in the biz. Her course, Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing, is really detailed and teaches you
- where to find affiliate marketing opportunities
- how to promote products/services
- what kind of disclaimers you need to be aware of
- and so much more
I took this course before I’d even published my first post, so it’s taken me a while to see a return from it. But my affiliate income has started to take off over the last few months, and that’s because the foundations were laid right from the beginning.
Check out Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing here.
6. Paid by Pinterest by House of Brazen
You don’t even need a blog to get involved with affiliate marketing. Some companies will allow you to promote their product just on social media. Pinterest is the perfect place to promote affiliate products and services. You need to create visually appealing graphics, link straight to the product, and let the company themselves sell it.
I bought House of Brazen’s course earlier this year, implemented the tips I learned, and I’ve been having quite a bit of success with it lately! This course takes you through exactly how to earn money through affiliate marketing on Pinterest and how to do it on autopilot. Passive income, here we come!
Check out Paid by Pinterest here.
7. Transcription – Janet Shaughnessy
Before you tell me that transcription is a dying field, I want you to know that the demand for transcriptionists is actually increasing! The explosion of video content on the internet means that more people are trying to get their content found on Google. Google and other search engines can’t understand what a video is about unless there’s a written transcript to go with it. As well as that, legal transcription is a little know niche that can be lucrative.
But please don’t just jump right in and start transcribing. You really do need training for this job. There’s a lot more too it than being able to type fast! You also need to have an above-average grasp of English spelling and grammar, be familiar with certain software, be willing to research terms you’re not familiar with, and be super self-motivated.
Transcribe Anywhere offer two courses: General Transcription and Legal Transcription.
They include
- how to use text expanders and shortcut keys (includes printable cheat sheets)
- transcription style guide plus downloadable templates
- screencast tutorial videos on software, time coding, and more
- how to find higher-paying work
- practice dictations (and answer keys for each)
- an interactive student Facebook group
I interviewed Katherine Ferranti, a graduate of the Legal Transcription course, to hear how she makes money transcribing from home.
Check out the General Transcription course here.
Check out the Legal Transcription course here.
Free Resources:
General Transcription mini course
8. Work Your Way 2020 Summit by Work-At-Home School
If you’re convinced that working from home is for you, but you’re still undecided about what kind of home-based job you want to do, check out Work Your Way 2020 Summit. This is an online conference where you’ll learn from 35+ work-at-home experts about how to become a virtual assistant, or an affiliate marketer, or a writer, or even a flea market flipper! It’ll give you a little taste of everything so you can decide what the right path for you is.
You’ll learn how to
- make money writing for blogs and businesses – Ashley Gainer
- become a virtual assistant – Gina Horkey
- make money flipping flea market finds — Rob and Melissa Stephenson
- advertise your business on Facebook– Monica Louie
- double your income – Abbi Perets
- streamline your accounting system – Lisa London
- manage your time effectively – Carey & Demir Bentley
As you can see, the Summit isn’t just about what you can do, but also how you can make the work-at-home lifestyle work for you.
And the best part? It’s free!
Check out the Work Your Way 2020 Summit here.
I tried to include something for everyone in this list. I hope it helps you find the right training course for you so you can start your work-at-home business the right way!
If you’re looking for more small business ideas, check out this list.
