There are two different kinds of jobs that you can do from home:

1. Project based tasks that you can do at your leisure
2. Part or Full time jobs that might require you to work at specific times

Let’s talk about each one in detail.

Project Based Work from Home

The easiest and most common work is project based. A lot of small businesses and individuals want something done but don’t know how to do it themselves (or don’t have the time to do it). For example, whenever I’m stuck trying to fix a problem on a website that requires Javascript or PHP (my weaker areas), I post a project on Freelancer.com asking for help. It takes the freelancer anything between 10-30 minutes to get the task done and they get paid $10-20 for their time and expertise. If I was to figure out how to do it myself, I’d literally spend hours trying to solve it. So having a freelancer do it is a win-win.

Long Term Projects

There can also be longer term projects. Back when I was doing work on oDesk, I saw a project asking someone to create an online video tutorial course for Quicken (accounting software). I didn’t really know Quicken that well, but thought the job was a good opportunity for me to make some money and learn Quicken at the same time. All in all, I spent around 20 hours making the course and earned $250. Not too shabby for someone in the Philippines.

Part and Full Time Work from Home

You might also get hired for a part or full-time job - where a specific employer pays you like an employee to do things every day (or week). The most common type of jobs are virtual assistant jobs. Here, the owner of a company would need things done for them that they don’t have the time for. For example, answer emails/voicemails and forward important emails directly to the boss. Common jobs also include website maintenance, media editing, and sales. A lot of the time, your boss wouldn’t require you to work at specific hours of the day as long as you get your tasks done before the deadline. Other jobs may require shifting hours, such as answering emails/phone calls or anything that requires timely communication.

Conclusion

If you’re still currently working full-time, or aren’t 100% sure whether working from home is for you, I suggest you start looking at project based work. This way, your obligation to your clients is only until the end of the project (which may only be 10 minutes in some scenarios!) and you can get a feel of how it feels to work with different clients.