10 Jobs That You Can Do from the Comfort of Your Home, Plus Tips and Ideas for Working from Home in India (2021)

Working remotely may have its advantages, however, it is a boon only when you meet the high standards of productivity, upkeep a healthy work-life balance and consistently work on your business associations. Setting a plan of action and adhering to it is one of the key criteria of a successful work from home venture. With a clear timetable of when to work and when to wind up helps one maintain a healthy work-life balance. This does not miss the ‘odd days’ when you may have to work beyond your scheduled work hours or beginning your day early to meet someone else’s time zone as well. In such a case, working with a time tracking app can help you meet your schedule effectively.

Creating a routine every morning helps you work through your day better. For instance, beginning your day with an early morning jog, a cup of coffee, or dressing proper to work may perk you up and set the tone for the day ahead. Further it is important that your family or house help, kids who share your space are in tandem with some ground rules in regards to what is acceptable during your working hours and what isn’t. Next, schedule proper break time for yourself during the days, which allows you to walk away from your work for some time, and this should include your lunch hour and two 15-minute breaks.

In a perfect office environment, remote workers would not only have a dedicated office space but also resources which are separate for work and personal use. However, this may not be a practical option for most remote workers. Hence, it is best to have a dedicated work space and resources that is used only for work. For instance, you can have your laptop hooked to a monitor and external keyboard during work hours and when its off the hook, then it is time to go personal with your resource. You could also have an external hard drive and a separate user account set up specifically for your work. Next, have a dedicated phone number for official calls, be it a landline, a mobile number or a free VoIP services. It is best to use a VPN if and when you’re connected to a network that’s shared by others as well, which is mostly at places like co-working spaces, libraries, cafes or airports.

Isolation, disconnection and loneliness are some common challenges of having a remote work life, especially in the case of people who love to socialize. Organisations that have a remote work culture usually have multiple ways to socialize as part of their employee offerings. For instance, there may be exclusive chat channels where remote employees can chat with others on common interests, meet people in their region or indulge in personal retreats. Alternatively, you need to be proactive in having a nurturing relationship with your co-workers to enjoy working remotely. Even though, remote work may require regular participation in video conferences or voice calls, it is good to attend a few optional meetings as well and be sure to be vocal during these sessions so that everyone’s aware you’re online. Take an active interest in signing up for an annual or semi-annual company trip in your contract if you’re working on a permanent remote work profile, which includes an annual team building or training, a conference, or office holiday parties. Be on the lookout for online training courses and skills development courses that you can attend or participate in proactively.

However if you’re a freelance remote worker, for continuous development and skills enhancement, you’d need to devote a large volume of time to learning. This requires identifying skills you need to develop or acquire, taking on relevant programs, self-researching, watching online videos, taking short courses, etc.

Virtual Assistance has become quite a popular remote working profile in the recent times. It is essentially an independent contractual role which entails providing assistance to clients remotely with necessary access to client documents, share calendar, provide administrative assistance, and other business support services. Then, there are specialized virtual assistance roles as well which demand public relations assistance or social media management, pertaining to a specific business vertical. While most Virtual Assistants perform solo which allows them to earn more depending on their area of work, there are a number of small businesses that hire VAs contractually, while there are freelance sites as well, where the VAs can register themselves and bid for projects.

To be a virtual assistant, you need to have good communication and writing skills, word processing knowledge, be adept at computer programs, especially Office Suite Programs, Internet Research and Email Management, be self-motivated and disciplined, in addition to being a quick thinker with effective decision making skills, and the willingness to learn. The payout rates for a Virtual Assistant vary according to his/her skill set and the country they reside in. For instance, a basic administrative assistance that involves managing phone calls pay about $15/25 an hour in the US, while a customer service profile pays roughly $25/30 per hour, a digital marketing role attracts a pay rate of $50 an hour. In India, a VA can earn INR 2,000 for 2 hours to 10,500 for 20 hours. To look for virtual assistance roles in India, you can explore online portals like talent.hubstaff.com, getfriday.com, brickworkindia.com/, acelerartech.com.

Translation assignments usually offer flexibility in terms of location, schedules and hours of work and can be easily worked on from home. Spanning multiple industries and constituting a wide range of roles that include client services, marketing, medical science and more, globally there’s a huge market for language skills that involve translating, interpreting or proofreading documents to and from English. One of the best ways to seek translator assignments is to work through an agency which can be instrumental in getting you a variety of options across verticals and industries. Chinese, Portuguese, Spanish, German and Russian languages are typically in-demand and don’t necessarily require a formal education, however a Bachelor’s Degree is much preferred for Sign Language and Interpretation. Most language translations require fluency in both English and a second language. Typically most translation assignments begin at an hourly rate, that varies on specialization, language skills and availability criteria.

The going rate for translation per word in India is dependent on the volume of data to be translated, data complexity, expected turnaround time and language pair. For instance Spanish to English, French to English is rated at Rs.1.6 per word, while Japanese to English and Chinese to English is rated at Rs.2.40 per word and German to English at Rs.1.70 per word, while Hindi to English is Rs.1 per word. You can explored websites like upwork, worknhire, monsterindia, naukri or linkedin for freelance translation assignments.

If you have a high speed internet connection and a flair for writing, if you’d like to transform your passion for the pen into a career, then Blogging is your work from home opportunity to explore! With blogging you can expect to bring home a fair bit of income in a month for which you need to begin by creating your own blog and pen down content for other blogs, websites or publications without getting paid initially.

Once you have enough blogging experience, you can then network with other bloggers/writers and apply for promising positions. From a freelance career perspective, you need to carve a niche for your blogs, choose a blogging platform, pick a domain name and then get a web host. The next step would be to begin a blog on WordPress, design a theme for the blog, write your content and then promote it.

Blogging is essentially about creating useful content that attracts readers and make them come back for more reads. Once you gain ample blogging experience, you’ll be recognised as an expert blogger and have a significant line of followers/subscribers. This is when you can consider adding content that will generate money on your blogs. You can monetise your blogs by running ads by opting for adverts that are specific to your content or just those that serve your advertiser’s objective. You can explore Google Adsense for running ads on your blog. In addition, you can enroll with affiliate programs, sell your products/services online, sponsor posts or write/sell an e-book.

In terms of income generation, most blogs pay per post of about 300-500 words, while some generate money with a regular posting schedule. The average rate varies from $5-$50 per post. In India, celebrity bloggers earn between INR 15,00,000-22,00,000 a month, while an average blogger can expect INR 37,000- 75,000 a month. Blogging has gained popularity in terms of a steady income and is most popular amongst the youth these days.

A part time blogging assignment can earn you INR 10,000-15,000 a month while a full time blogging opportunity attracts roughly 40,000-50,000 monthly. Some of the websites you can explore for blogging opportunities include – problogger.net, Elance, performancing, poe war. While, some of the best apps for blogging are blogger, wordpress, evernote, tumblr, buffer and pocket.

The basic explanation of Transcription refers to typing up spoken audio, whether live or recorded into a printed format and this may vary with different levels of skills set and different equipment used. For instance, a general transcription involves typing out dictates, lectures, speeches, conference calls, minutes of meetings, workshops, interviews, podcasts, webinars and more; while, a data entry transcription involves typing short bits of audio at a set fee.

A legal transcription involves specialised experience and familiarity with legal terms and processes, while a financial transcription requires a certain level of knowledge about the industry’s terminology and typing out interim results, analyst reports, press comms, earning reports and annual meetings.

Then, there’s medical transcription which requires training and certification and involves transcribing a physician or medical practitioner’s dictates that need to be added onto a patient’s medical records. A real time transcription involves typing to a real time audio and requires a high level of accuracy, typing speed and specialised stenography equipment.

If you are a beginning in the field of Transcribing you can explore sites like: Scribie, TranscribeMe, GoTranscript, Accutran Global, Casting Words, etc for freelance projects. The going rate for transcribers in India ranges from INR 3,000 for audio transcription (per audio hour) to INR 3,700 for video transcription (per video hour).

YouTube helps one connect with a community and offers an opportunity to make money doing what one loves, by sharing their voice with others across the world. Most successful YouTube Video Creators have tapped into multiple revenue streams to maintain their online presence on the platform by strategically planning their channel to support their individual objectives.

If you are new to the concept, to begin with consider how to create promising content that can be popular among viewers continuously and use different tactics to grow your community and maximise your earning potential. In time with a dedicated subscriber/follower base, you can explore a variety of ways to generate income and make the most of your YouTube Channel. For instance, the YPP or YouTube Partner Program allows you to earn money off eligible content on their platform which requires a minimum of 4,000 watch hours in a year and over a thousand subscribers.

Once you’ve enabled monetisation for your channel, you can continue earning more with your future uploads and turn on all ad formats as a default option that include channel memberships, where your viewers pay a monthly fee on recurring basis and earn unique badges, new emoji, a member-only post feature and access to some unique perks.

Some other monetary options include selling merchandise that complement your channel, interact live with fans and other creators with Super Chat. Once you’ve enabled Super Chat, you’d receive money off it similar to ads running on AdSense. Collaborating with brands is yet another revenue stream. In India, YouTube pays about Rs.6,500 for every 1,000 views on an average and with a recent change, the platform has come out with new regulations that require 10,000 views to enable monetisation for the channel.

If you love reading, wordplay or researching and have an opinion that you’d like to share with others, if you have always been good to string words together with perfect use of vocab, grammar and expressions, then content writing is one domain you can try your skills on. Content Writing dominates a large part of social media and any business vertical, be it visually or textually. In other words, if you can put together content in a reader friendly, informative and engaging format, you can be excellent at Content Writing. This essentially entails being assigned concepts or topics on which you’d have to create content, whether digitally or offline for projects, technical papers, presentations, research papers, etc.

To be a content writer, there aren’t any specific qualifications required. However to improve your writing skills, it is best to start freelancing and explore projects at sites like freelancer, worknhire, upwork, fiverr, etc. Once you gain some experience and have a portfolio spanning different projects, you can set your own pace for work. From a knowledge standpoint, you can apply for a graduate/PG degree or certification in writing, digital or content marketing, try courses in SEO, copywriting, WordPress, Keyword Research, etc. Content Writers can work both full/part time with multinationals, start ups, or even individuals. A successful freelance writer in the country can earn up to INR 20,000-25,000 monthly while a beginner can easily earn INR 8,000-10,000.

Financial freedom, the freedom to work anywhere you want and creative freedom are the three main reasons why most freelancers prefer working remotely. To become a Freelance Web Developer you ought to have some basic and essential skills like proficiency in HTML, CSS, Programing in PHP/Python, etc. Once you have the requisite skills set, then you’ve got to build a portfolio with your projects and works, most of which should be online.

Some of the most popular online portals for looking up Freelance Web Developer assignments include Upwork, Guru, Freelancer, PeoplePerHour.com, etc. Remember, as a beginner it may be slightly challenging to get your first project, but with a passion to excel and patience, you can be on your way to success sooner than you’d expect!

Given the fierce competition in any business these days, it is best to qualify the skills test available on most online jobs/projects website and score a meaningful grade; work on your online presence, make the most of the social media platform by joining FB groups and send your portfolio with an effective and noticeable proposal to your potential clients.

In terms of earnings potential in this field, the national average for a Freelance Web Developer in the United States is $75,000 annually, whilst in India, one can earn INR 25,000-2,50,000 a month.

Freelance Data Entry constitutes the skill of entering information in spreadsheets or a program in the requisite fields and is essentially a clerical profile. Whilst the availability of data entry work in the market is huge, most companies advertising for such work end up being total scams. A legitimate organization offering online work assignments does not solicit any investment or fees to award jobs to qualifying candidates by way of software, training or volume of work.

Data Entry Work is either online or offline with a basic difference being the requirement of an internet connection for data processing. You don’t need the internet when data entry is offline. You can look up data entry work on sites like odesk.com, elance.com or freelance.com. The different categories of data entry involves work pertaining to basic typing, filling surveys, captcha entry, copy & paste, micro jobs, filling forms, image to text, medical transcription, etc. You can expect to earn INR 300-1,500 per hour from Data Entry Assignments.

In today’s stiff competitive market, it is important to have a website that advertises your skill set and offerings to your clients and put the social media platform to optimum use for marketing purposes. If photography is your passion, you can now cultivate it into a source of income as well from the comfort of your home. You can explore selling digital images and prints directly from your website, either of your own clicks or by selling licenses for commercial images such as stock photography.

What this means is that if someone is going through your picture gallery and likes a photo, they can purchase the image from your website. With an increase in the popularity of self-publishing of e-books or blogs, demand for stock photography has also grown and a number of new microstock sites have come about that offer pocket-friendly images to businesses, bloggers, authors or designers for different uses and with different licenses. And because the demand for premium quality and affordable stock images is relatively high, this can help generate a lucrative income stream for any photographer with a generous portfolio of stock images for sale.

One of the best ways to make your picture available as stock images for sale is by using 3rd party microstock websites like Dreamstime, Shutterstock, iStockPhoto, Getty Images or 123RF, which makes it easier to sell your photos, benefit from their marketing plans and allow scores of people to sieve through images on these sites regularly.

The rate for such images varies between sites, for instance, some sell the pictures for a dollar per images in low resolution, while others charge more but sell at low volume. To begin with, it would be a good idea to price your pictures low as the chances of getting 100% returns on each sale are higher in comparison to the big stock photography websites. You can also explore bundle sales or sales based on different themes/collections. Some of the best sites that help you make money off your photos include SmugMug Pro, 500px Prime, iStockphoto, Etsy, etc.

Most small and large businesses require social media management these days and prefer outsourcing it than managing it in-house. Social Media Management is typically managing the social media platform for small businesses and work on enhancing business objectives.

A Social Media Manager is generally tasked with management of a brand’s social marketing and advertising by way of planning, strategising, managing the brand’s online repute, increasing awareness, developing content, search engine optimisation and cultivating leads and following sales. As an expert of social media the role entails being aware of the latest social media trends, changes and the assortment of platforms available. The amount of money you can earn in this field varies widely mostly on the basis of your role as an intern to an agent to a freelancer.

In India, a social media manager earns roughly INR 3,30,000 annually while a senior manager can expect approx. 7 lacs p.a. An entry level social media manager with little or no experience can earn about 3 lacs p.a. A freelance expert can hope to charge a minimum of 5,000 rupees a month with varying rates for the work involved.

The latest COVID-19 outbreak across the world has led to many organizations deploying the ‘work from home’ method for employees, which most welcome owing to the convenience of working from their personal space, whilst many others abhor it for the kind of challenges it poses. Here are some tips that can make WFH less stressful and more manageable for you in the wake of this pandemic.