When your main gig isn’t bringing home the metaphorical bacon, what can you do? In today’s economy, lots of people take on second or third jobs to earn extra money or make their rent payments. Some people even switch up their whole careers in favor of professions that generate higher incomes.  

Since lockdown, the job industry has noticed an undeniable interest in remote work. Office jobs shifted from a designated desk to the comfort of the living room, and doctors moved away from physical visits to telehealth appointments. We’ve explored lucrative gigs from online tutoring to app development, jobs that might outearn your current salary, all from the cozy space of your home. 

1. Online Tutor

Have you ever hoped to make money by teaching your native language or favorite school subject? Thanks to the internet, online tutors can teach students in different places and in a variety of subjects to enhance their academics. Many online tutors focus on teaching others their first language for an average of $12 to $22. As always though, specialized or private tutors can earn upwards of $50 an hour. 

2. Virtual Assistant

Take all of the tasks assigned to a personal assistant or an office assistant, but shift their office to a virtual home base. A day-to-day schedule for a virtual assistant might consist of scheduling appointments for an office, booking tickets, or answering emails or phone calls. Many remote workers establish freelance companies offering services to third-party clients. This way, virtual assistants set their own rates and control their workload. A virtual assistant earns between $16 and $43 per hour, according to Indeed. A part-time virtual assistant could earn an extra $40,000 a year. 

3. Freelance Writer

Freelance writing, much like other freelance gigs, operates under the control of the writer. This means writers can set their rates, pitch ideas to different publications, and sell their pre-written work for a fixed price. Each writer’s preferences depend on the avenue of work they specialize in. For example, a freelance tech writer can make upwards of $100,000 a year, while a medical freelance writer can make over $110,000 a year. Additionally, certain freelance writers offer seminars and discussions with information devoted to helping customers earn six figures each year. 

4. App Developer

Do you know the basics of coding? I have a few friends who stuck to their coding interests instead of going to college and earned six figures right out of high school. App developers focus on curating content related to an app. As our world leans into its technological obsession, the need for app developers grows daily. The average hourly salary for an app developer starts at $53. Seasoned app developers earn higher amounts, stretching into $80+ per hour. 

5. Web Developer

An app developer works on package-sized apps, contributing their knowledge to single user-friendly mobile applications, while a web developer scales out, focusing on the development of websites. Sometimes, the two professions intertwine. A web developer’s main tasks include ensuring the website is secured and safe for users to run, enhancing the interface, advancing the functionality of the website, and making the whole process friendly for the user. Web developers take home between $40,000 and $115,000 a year, based on their experience and specialization. 

6. Voiceover 

Envision this. You’re sitting on the couch after a grueling day at work, flipping through channels for a show to distract you from the harsh day’s reality. As you sift through the channels, you stop on a cartoon with a familiar voice. You can’t pinpoint the voice, but you recognize the vocals from another television program. The actor participates in live-action acting and voiceover acting. Voiceovers are isolated vocals used in entertainment. Popular professions for voiceovers range from podcast work, theater work, puppetry, comedy shows, and audiobook narration. A successful voiceover artist may pocket around $160,000, vs. a voiceover artist starting out who might see around $11,000 a year for their work. 

7. Accountant

Numbers. Finances. A blend of both. Risk analysis when compared to money-saving tactics in the grand scheme of either personal finance or business brackets. All of those sectors apply to accounting. An accountant works to find, sort, and track financial information for clients. For example, an accountant for a baseball stadium would find how much money comes in from ticket sales, and how much money goes back into the stadium for future events. This profession also helps businesses understand how much disposable income they have set aside to pay their workers or invest in future plans. The lower side for an average accountant's salary starts at $44,000, reaching close to six figures.   

8. Website Tester

During your school years, did you experience an intense need to make sure objects or inventions worked? Did you go out of your way to ensure a schoolmate’s class project operated at optimal speed? Were you born with an innate understanding of how objects operated, though you never knew where it came from? A career as a website tester could add between $20,000 and $120,000 to your bank account each year. A website tester’s main focus lies in the functionality of the website: does it work? How user-friendly is it? What can be updated? A tester pours through all of these criteria and relays feedback about the website to their supervisor. Testers for websites earn around $55,000 to $98,000 a year. 

9. Video Editor

For those who adore working with uncut footage, seeing the final transformation before diving into the workload, a video editing job could work. Video editors take filmed footage, clipping together segments to form a fully fledged video project. These kinds of jobs work with filmmakers and marketing companies to make creative, informative material. Editors fancy learning methods like Photoshop, audio mixing, sound editing, and animation, along with possessing skills like organization and timeliness to snag the highest-paying jobs. Beginner video editors take in around $23,000, but the in-demand, pricier ones bring home over $100,000. 

10. Data Entry Specialist

Have an eye for the nitty gritty of inputting information from one system to the next? Can you notice errors or slight miscounts on the first read-through? Data entry specialists do just that. They specialize in entering data into different databases or networks to assist their clientele. Other tasks data entry specialists perform on a daily basis consist of editing data, answering phone calls, and sorting through documents or mail. Attention to detail and organization are the two most necessary attributes needed for this job. Data entry specialists may earn between $35,000 and $60,000+ depending on proficiency and experience. 

11. Proofreader

Similar to a data entry specialist, proofreaders need to catch mistakes or glaring issues in copy after the editor sends it over. A proofreader undergoes immense pressure, as they are the last person to read copy before delivering material to the publisher for printing. Editors oversee the craft of writing (narrative, sensibility, and style of writing), whereas proofreaders look out for grammar, formatting errors, or logical issues. Both are crucial to the publishing process, though proofreaders make less money than editors, on average. Proofreaders should expect an average salary of $47,000.  

12. Editor

Editors comb through manuscripts, checking if the story makes sense to publish in mass amounts for the company’s readership. Editors can revise small grammatical issues, though big grammatical rewrites are a proofreader’s job. What an editor misses, a proofreader catches. Editors become familiar with writers and their work since they communicate by sending numerous drafts back and forth. A writer pitches an idea to an editor, since editors control what goes in and out of the publication. The editor understands their readership, making them experts on the theme and subject. Editors can make anywhere from $44,000 to $130,000, contingent on scope and experience.  

13. Transcriber

Transcribers excel in converting audio or video files into written media to assist the client or keep records. Transcribers work in various settings, from court to healthcare offices, working to transfer conversations into transcripts. This profession requires people who can type faster than they speak and have a great eye for detail. Like the majority of jobs, the amount of money you make working as a transcriber hinges on your skill and efficacy. The longer you work in the field, the higher the rates become. The range starts at around $27,000 and climbs to $78,000 for advanced transcribers. 

14. Sales Representative

Bring the yappers to the front. A sales representative job encompasses selling a product for a certain company to a demographic of people. A sales representative job is the remote version of going door to door, developing a customer base through visual marketing. Instead of the door-to-door in-person method, a sales representative picks up a phone, dials numbers, prepares a sales pitch, presenting the product being sold. Sales representatives bank on a scale from $$47,000 to $93,000 each year. 

15. Customer Service Agent

Bless the individuals who take on this job. Say you ordered a specific kind of blender from a machinery company, yet the blender has a blatant issue: the lid is missing. Once you’ve removed every piece of the item from the box, searching for the absent lid, you have a choice: return the item to the sender or call a customer service agent about the issue. Choosing the second option treats you with a cheery representative who is eager to help you solve the issue on behalf of the blender. The agent works daily to ensure customers receive the utmost satisfaction with the company’s products. Dealing with angry customers and tiring complaints comprise the job duties. Introverted folks may shy away from this remote, on-the-phone career. For yappers, though, this is a fruitful career path. A good margin for a customer service agent welcomes $41,000 to $63,000 a year. 

16. Remote Office Manager

A remote office manager performs tasks assigned to a regular in-person manager, except their meetings occur on Zoom or Google Hangout, and they coach employees through phone calls or messaging interfaces. Remote managers work with employees staffed around the world. Take a nurse recruiting company, for instance. The company staffs hospitals all over the world with travel nurses. So of course, the potential and current employees live in various zip codes. The manager supervises the staff through different screens, still delivering managerial orders and responsibilities to the employees. Remote office managers average $52,000 to $82,000 each year.