You may have daydreamed of quitting your job, staying home, sleeping in, and making money with just your laptop and your smartphone. Working when you want, doing what you want, and raking in the money in your pajamas. If you can’t stomach the thought of punching a time clock, taking a 10 minute break twice a day, or being a “team player,” you might want to think about working for yourself. According to GlobalWorkplaceAnalytics.com’s 2005-2014 American Community Surveys, the population of those working from home grew faster than the employee population as a whole between 2013 and 2014.

Working from home encompasses telecommuting 100 percent of the time or part of the work week for an employer and working from home in a self-employed or home business capacity. More and more employers are allowing telecommuting to save money and improve productivity and employee engagement. While telecommuting work opportunities have grown almost 100 percent since 2005, the self-employed work at home population has also increased. Consider the following three jobs you can do from home before you make your next career move.

 

Virtual Assistant

Virtual assistants can write their own ticket as far as the work they do and the clients the serve. They can specialize in one part of office administration such as word processing and presentations, or offer a subscription package for general office services such as document creation, appointment setting, and travel arrangements. Many have backgrounds and training in corporate administrative assistance, with varying levels of education.

Virtual assistants can work independently for clients, operate a virtual assistant business hiring out VAs to clients, or work from home for a virtual assistant company. Working as a virtual assistant requires computer literacy, training in administrative assistance, and marketing knowledge and practical application. Industry support includes events like 2016 Live Summit conference for virtual assistants and professionals, which provide networking and education opportunities for VAs. According to work-from-home blogger Amy Lynn Andrews, VAs need an online presence such as a website and social media networks to operate successfully.

 

Child Day Care

For moms who want and need to stay at home to earn money, providing child day care is an attractive option. The mean annual earnings for childcare services averaged $21,701 in 2014 according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Childcare work is expected to grow five percent through 2024. If you love kids and are motivated to provide a qualified loving and caring environment for them and a resource for parents, you may want to consider opening a family day care service.

There is some investment and preparation required to care for other people’s children in your home. Depending on where you live, special licensing, building code requirements, and background checks may be required before you can open for business. Look for a website such as the California Child Care Licensing Program for regulations in your area so you know what is involved and who to work with to become a day care provider.

 

Transcription

A job well-suited to working from home is transcription, including insurance transcription jobs. It involves listening to audio and typing up what is heard into text format. It requires training and experience in transcription techniques and terminology and a computer and transcription equipment.

There are several types of transcription: general, legal, and medical. Medical and legal transcription requires the knowledge of specialized terminology and transcriptionists generally have a two or four year degree in transcription and the type of terminology they’ll need for the type of transcription they’ll be doing. Transcriptionists and those who want to be transcriptionists can learn about the industry and the work and getting certified from the American Association of Electronic Reporters and Transcribers.

Good transcriptionists are in high demand and can make a good living working from home. Allegis Transcription offers work from home opportunities in insurance transcription. Allegis work from home transcription jobs are assignments transcribing recorded audio interviews between clients and insurance adjustors discussing insurance claims. Minimum two year’s transcription experience, 98 percent accuracy, minimum 75 words per minute, and ability to learn Allegis transcript formatting standards is required.

There are a lot of upsides to working from home, including not having to buy and maintain a business wardrobe or brave the cubicle jungle every day. It does depend on your personality and personal preferences though. Some people thrive working remotely, others struggle to be productive. Research your options, talk to other remote workers, and carefully weigh your options.