What Work at Home Jobs Pay More Than $40,000?

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Dear WAHFAQ,

What kinds of jobs can I do from home and make over $40000?

I have to admit, I’m a little concerned that this post is going to be accused of being “click-bait” because I have a feeling that I’m not going to answer in the way that you want me to 🙂

Here’s the deal: it really all comes back to your own skill-set. What you know how to do, and what you’re willing to learn. If you do website design, you could make $40k in your sleep. If you do Internet Marketing and understand all the joys of SEO, SEM, Google Analytics, Adwords and the like, you’ll command an even higher salary. If you speak a foreign language (and get certified as a translator) you’ll be in demand as well. If you want to do bookkeeping or give tax help to small businesses, you’ll have a steady stream of income. Do you get where I’m going with this? It all depends on the skills you have that will warrant a $40k salary.

If you think about it, $40k/year is around $20/hr — I divide by 2080, the number of working hours in a year — So, think about what skills you have that will bring in that kind of income. If you just have basic computer skills and can only do customer service (answering help lines, or processing orders from infomercials, for example) you may not get there. Most at-home customer service jobs start around minimum wage for your state, but may get up to $13-$18 with bonuses.

I always have to roll my eyes at the articles you see online that claim people can make $X working from home, because the jobs they list are those that come with DECADES worth of experience behind them. Here are just a sampling from an article on Glassdoor:

For those who have a nursing degree, background in Molecular Biology, or experience as a Utilization Manager (what is that?!?!) they have options to bring in the cash…but for those who want a job now? We need to focus on our current skills, and then find the companies who will hire us based on those skills in a work-at-home position.

People come to me looking for a one-size-fits-all solution. But every person has different skills, and every company has different needs. Start your work at home job search like you would with a regular job: look for positions based on your own skills. THEN inquire with the company to see if those positions allow for working from home.

If you’re finding that your skills aren’t warranting a $40k/year salary, then it’s time to get some training before going out on the job hunt again! And if you haven’t already checked out my book, (the award-winning) The Work at Home Training Program, it covers various industries based on your skill-set, how to find, apply, and keep work at home jobs, and lists over 700 companies and resources to help you get started!

Good luck!