It has become very lucrative to have an at-home job or even an online job. It provides flexibility, diversity and you can make some pretty large amounts of cash if you have hustle. If you’re a teenager you’re probably already balancing a lot on your plate. You may not always be able to find an online job as a teenager but there are options. An online job will give you some wiggle room in your hectic schedule to make some cash while going to school. Keep in mind an online job isn’t for everyone and there are several high-paying jobs for teens available even in your local area!
Many of the jobs you’ll find online require a lot of time or patience and often come with minimal requirements. A lot of the jobs outlined below don’t require any formal education or work experience. Keep in mind these aren’t all of the jobs that you can do online, it will take some creative thinking to really diversify yourself from the competition.
What is an Online Job?
An online job is any job where you can work from a remote location or at-home rather than going to the office, or a set location, daily. As technology advances the ability to work remotely has increased tremendously. It is estimated that employers save anywhere from $5,000 to $11,000 per year for each employee that works remotely. Many people work remotely in several fields like customer service, writing, billing, programming and education.
Note: Many often start an online job as a side hustle while they work full-time, are pursuing a college degree or are pursuing a career. In many situations, these side hustles turn into legitimate careers.
Featured/Common Online Jobs
Customer Service Representative (CSR)
A customer service representative basically takes phone calls and handles customer communication on behalf of corporations or companies. You’re usually the first point of contact for many customer issues and it’s your job to handle them accordingly. You will most likely be working on multiple customers at once handling live chat systems or directly on the phone.
The average starting pay is around $8 per hour and it can go up to $12 per hour depending on your experience. You typically do not need a degree to get a position as a CSR but one can help, especially if it’s in a communications related area. There is no “best time to apply” as these positions are posted all over job sites and company websites routinely. In many of these positions, there isn’t a ton of room for growth. This is a great job for students or someone who is looking to work 20-30 hours a week while being at home.
Product Tester
A product tester allows you to make money while working with products you already use or need. As a paid product tester you’ll be reviewing products and sharing your experiences with the company that’s paying you. This shouldn’t get confused with being an “influencer” as you’re not sharing your experience with peers or your followers.
The average starting pay is around $5 per hour and can go up to $15 per hour. You’ll most likely be paid in cash but some companies offer larger amounts in the form of gift cards or other products of theirs. In many situations, this isn’t meant to be a full-time job but more of a side hustle where you can make $100 here and there.
Online Reseller
You’d be surprised at how much stuff people just leave laying around their house or let go for pennies on the dollar at a garage sale instead of selling it online. The fact is, you can sell almost anything online and someone will buy it. You can sell furniture, makeup, kids toys and more! Many resellers will frequent garage sales and find older items they can repurpose and then sell.
For example, let’s say you bought 100 records at an estate sale for $.25 a piece giving you a total cost of $25. You then take them to your Ebay, Etsy, or other marketplace and sell them for $1 a piece, you just made $75 on your initial $25 purchase.
There is no average starting pay for this as your profits depend entirely on your ability to locate items and sell them. However, most who do this actively as a side hustle still bring in a few hundred bucks per month.
Blogger
It seems like everyone is trying their hand at blogging nowadays and the sheer number of sites out there continues to grow each day. This isn’t meant to deter you from blogging, it just means you’ll have to be a bit more creative with your blog. The best blog to start is something you’re passionate about. It’s very easy to lose your drive when starting a blog and focusing on something you’re passionate about can help keep your spirits up during the grind. A blog typically makes money by advertising or having affiliates. The more traffic you can drive, the better your chances of making money are.
Note: It usually takes at least 6 to 18 months before a blog will “take off”.
There is no average starting pay as this is entirely based on your ability to grow a successful blog. The most successful blogs can bring in thousands or millions per month whereas many smaller blogs bring in a few hundred and they are satisfied with that.
Social Media Manager
You’re already spending several hours per day on Facebook and Instagram, why not learn how to master it? If you know the ins and outs of these social media platforms then you may be able to use that skill set to make some serious cash. There are many local businesses that fail at social media and social media advertising and they need help.
The average starting pay will change depending on how much you charge. A majority of the social media managers out there handle more than one business account but you can expect to bring in at least $15 to $20 per hour when you average out how much your making versus the time spent.
Transcriber
Transcription services are in high demand and always will be. These jobs have a low barrier for entry and usually require no experience and no degree. There are many large companies that hire transcribers but the pay is generally low. You should look at companies like Scribie, TranscribeMe, Go Transcript, Rev and Speechpad.
You can expect anywhere from $5 to $50 per hour depending on which transcribing company you work with. If you’re just starting out you should expect to be closer to the $5 per hour range and as you gain experience or work with a company that rate will rise.
Dropshipper
This one is in the same realm as being an online reseller. It’s all about your drive and hustle. As a dropshipper you set up a store on a platform, like Shopify, and you sell products. A customer places an order and then you facilitate that order with the manufacturer. The best way to think of a dropshipper is that they are the “middle man” between the customer and manufacturers. If you find a winning product then you can make thousands but you will most likely run into some duds until you do.
There is no average starting pay as this entirely depends on a stroke of luck and marketing know-how. If you know how to optimize advertising campaigns and how to leverage social media you can make thousands and in some cases millions. If you’re just starting out, you should expect to run at a loss for quite some time and it is best to build up savings ahead of time to save up some money you’re willing to spend on learning.
Online Jobs for Students
If you’re trying to keep college costs low and work to pay for college then you’re in the right place. The best thing you can do is leave college with little to not student debt and hopefully no private student loans. Not all students are able to work through a college work-study program or find a full-time career while in school.
If you’re like the rest of us that weren’t able to find a job while in college, these online gigs may help you bring in some extra cash to pay for college or even just help you with your beer run.
Textbook Flipper
You’re probably thinking “are they out of their mind” . The truth is, we are. Textbooks are expensive and their cost isn’t going down any time soon. A single textbook can cost you hundreds of dollars. The worst mistake a student can make is selling the book back to the school for a fraction of the price they bought it for. The school will just put a used label on it and take 10-20% of the sticker value and make even more money on the book.
This is where you come in. If you’re a savvy shopper you can potentially find books from other students, or even at your bookstore, for a nice discount. If you’re able to get a deal on a book you can use sites like Bookscouter to see what the price is and if there are any vendors willing to buy the book. You will almost always get a better price off a site like Bookscouter than you will from your school.
If you’re still not sold on it, take this as an example. The school offers you $20 for your $150 book but on Bookscouter you find a vendor who will pay you $75 and cover shipping. If you find some friends selling the same book and you can just buy it off of them versus having them sell it back to the school, you can make money. Let’s say you bought 4 total books and sold them for $50. You would have spent $150 on yours and then $80 buying the others for a total cost of $230. You sell those on a site like Bookscouter for $75 a piece and now you’ve made $375 leaving you a profit of over $100!
Freelance Writer
As a freelance writer you have quite a bit of options with where you want to take your career. You don’t always need to have lavish credentials or years of experience to pick up some writing gigs. If you have good grammatical skills and can show your ability to write then you’ll be able to pick up some starter writing contracts fairly easily. The key here is that websites need content and they need lots of it.
If you’re just starting out you may have to bite the bullet and charge a little cheaper to win out against the competition to build up your portfolio. However, most freelance writers make anywhere from $50 to even $500 per page written. This is a very flexible online job that you can pretty much pick up and work as much as you want and then walk away. Once you’ve built up a small portfolio and you’ve been published you can start to advertise your services on sites like Problogger, Freelance Writing Jobs, and Upwork.
Virtual Assistant
A virtual assistant is hired by a business that prefers to outsource tasks that don’t need to be done in-house. Typically these tasks are bookkeeping, data entry or other customer service related tasks. The more experience you have in handling tasks like this the more you can charge. If you have specialized skills, like managing social media accounts, you can charge more for those tasks.
If you’re looking to be a virtual assistant and handle tasks others refuse to do you’ll want to look at sites like Zirtual or the Virtual Assistant Network. At the beginning you may make minimum wage or closer to $20 per hour but the most experienced VAs can make over $200 per hour.
Graphic Designer
You don’t need an art degree to be a graphic designer. You can make money online now if you have the eye for detail and can use the tools required. Businesses from small to large need graphics for business cards, logos, social media, blog posts and more! If you don’t have the necessary skills you can sign up for the many bootcamps out there or spin up YouTube and watch tutorials.
Most graphic designers charge per job and do not charge an hourly rate. However, it usually shakes out to being around $25 to $50 per hour by the time they are done with the design request. If you’re ready to be a graphic designer you should start to reach out to your local businesses and see if they need any help. For this profession, social media can be your guiding light and you can showcase your work and have others network for you. There are other sites like Upwork, Fiverr and the likes that you can sign up for as well.
Proofreader
If you’re an editor at heart but you don’t have the four-year degree most required then you’re in luck! If you have an eye for spotting grammar and punctuation mistakes, you should consider trying to be a proofreader. Proofreading is often done before the final editing stage and most companies do not want to pay for an in-house member of their team to handle it when they can get it done outside of the organization for much cheaper.
Typically a proofreader can make $10 to $50 per hour depending on how quick they are and experience. You can look at sites like Proofread Anywhere, Fiverr, Upwork and Freelancer to get your service started.
Tutoring
Teaching or tutoring others online is the perfect job for college students and it looks great on your resume! The best part about tutoring is that you’re reinforcing what you’re already learning. It’s best if you stick to your major as much as possible but there are times where you can shift into other areas and fill in.
Most tutors stand to make around $15 per hour and depending on how much you tutor you can easily make $25 per hour or more. If you want to start offering your services you should look up online tutoring sites like VIPKid, Chegg or Wyzant. You’ll want to advertise your services on social media, at your college, at local community colleges and even high-schools!