19 Best Independent Contractor Jobs that Pay Well
Independent Contractor Jobs from Home
Are you interested in looking for independent contractor jobs that you can do from home?
If so, you’re in the right place! We’ve compiled some of the best and highest paying independent contractor jobs that you can get started as soon as today.
I am an independent contractor and it’s so liberating working on my own schedule, doing it my way. To understand what an independent contractor is let’s define it.
What Are Independent Contractor Jobs?
In a nutshell, independent contractor jobs are defined as an individual providing service or work to another entity as a non-employee.
There are many pros and cons that are associated with working as an independent contractor, and I’ll start with the pros:
Pros
- You’re your own boss
- Flexible schedule
- Higher Income – Most companies pay more for independent contractors because they don’t offer other benefits
- Time – If you specialize in a certain area you become more efficient. The time it takes to do certain jobs/services is reduced as you gain more experience, giving you time to complete other tasks, essentially allowing you to earn more for less time spent.
- Tax breaks – Most of these jobs are considered a home-based business and when you have a home-based business the government sees that as a small business. I have had to pay WELL over $20,000 in taxes because of pure ignorance. I interviewed a CPA here so you guys would never ever make the same mistakes that I did. If you want to start one of these or you already have a business PLEASE watch this, it will save you so much money
Cons
- No Benefits (Health insurance, life insurance, dental, car mileage, etc.) everything is on your own dime.
- Taxes – You’re on your own. I recommend getting a CPA to help you with your taxes. Don’t use sites like TurboTax when you’re working for yourself, those are great sites but I’ve learned that a CPA can better educate you and point you in the right direction when running your own business
- Job Security – You’re on your own so having a good plan in place and solid savings can help if something goes wrong with your current client(s)
Check out your health insurance options that independent contractors are using today
As you can see the pros outweigh the cons and I may be a little biased but I think independent contractor jobs are the best. I’ve worked for both a company and myself and the only thing I regret about becoming an independent contractor is not doing it sooner.
Independent Contractor Jobs challenge you and make you a better version of yourself because you HAVE very little choice to do anything but win. You have no one else to fall back on but yourself, so you’re always putting your best foot forward.
How to Find Independent Contractor Jobs
Use this list! In this article, I will share what I do along with several other independent contractor jobs that pay well giving you the tools and resources you’ll need to get started and how much you can earn.
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Here are the 20+ best Remote Independent Contractor Jobs
1. Virtual Assistant
Do you like to see other people succeed? Would you want to be a part of their success? Small business owners and entrepreneurs simply cannot do it all on their own and they look to Virtual Assistants to help take some of the load off their hands so they can focus on other areas of the business.
If this is something you’d like to do you should definitely consider becoming a Virtual Assistant.
How much can I earn? $25-$100 per hour is what you’ll typically see. You can sometimes see rates much lower and even higher depending on your specialty.
How to get started:Kayla Sloan went from being flat broke to building her Virtual Assistant business to $10k a month! She now teaches others how to do the same. Check out her free workshop to see the simple step-by-step process for becoming a Virtual Assistant here.
2. Virtual Bookkeeper
Are you good with numbers? Are you the one who organizes your bills and makes sure things get paid on time?
If so, you should consider becoming a Virtual Bookkeeper to help small business owners.
I interviewed two successful stay-at-home moms who do this and started with no previous experience. One of the moms has NINE kids, homeschools six of them and still has enough time to do this on the side earning $2k+ per month.
Check the interview out in my article How to Become a Virtual Bookkeeper.
How much can I earn? Given the right skills and training, you can charge $60 per hour.
How to get started: Take this free class (same class the moms took) to see if this is right for you and step-by-step instructions on how to get started.
3. Independent Contractor Delivery Jobs
If you live in a well-populated area and available to run errands for others you should definitely consider becoming a delivery driver. I did a thorough review of the only delivery driver jobs I recommend here.
How much can I earn? Up to $22 per hour
How to get started: I go in-depth on each company in this article here where you can make an educated decision on which company(s) you should apply to.
4. Teaching and Tutoring Jobs
Do you enjoy helping people learn? There are many ways you can do this and one of the most popular ways is teaching kids in China how to speak English.
You can earn a great side income working up to 3 hours per day! If you have a bachelor’s degree, resident of the U.S. or Canada and at least 1 year of teaching experience (tutoring or mentoring all acceptable) then you can apply to companies like VIPKID.
How much can I earn? For English Speaking jobs you can earn up to $22 per hour and for tutoring jobs, you can earn up to $60 per hour.
How to get started: Check out the best online tutoring jobs hiring now
5. Property Preservation Contractor
You can get into Real Estate and earn a lot of money WITHOUT buying or selling anything. It’s quite clever and something I’m sure you’ve never considered. Here is how it works,
If you look around just about any neighborhood, you’ll notice abandoned houses that are in need of upkeep and maintenance in order to sell. Many of the houses are foreclosed or somewhere in the foreclosure process.
Banks don’t like to manage real estate so they outsource these services to preservation contractors. As a preservation vendor, you’re responsible for the repair and maintenance of any property included in your service area.
Danielle Pierce does this and earns over $400,00 per year while homeschooling her 3 children. She outsources 100% of the work and only does the admin work at home.
How much can I earn? Danielle says that it’s very feasible to gross over $100k+ in revenue within 18 months
How to get started: Check out my interview with Danielle to see how it all works and how to get started
6. Transcription Jobs
Do you have patience, an eye for detail, the ability to sit for long periods of time, and decent typing skills?
If so, you should consider transcribing. Transcription jobs require you to listen to audio files and record (type) what you hear.
How much can I earn? $7-$21 per hour or much more if you start your own business
How to get started: You can take this Free-mini course to see if this is right for you and definitely check out my interview with Kim who does this from home and 6 companies you can apply to.
7. Online Writer
Do you like to write? You can make a lucrative career as a freelance writer. I know, because I interviewed Holly Johnson and she earns over $200,000 per year! I didn’t know that was even possible.
How much can I earn? Holly said that she finds it hard for you NOT to earn AT LEAST $40,000 to $50,000 a year working full-time as a writer.
How to get started: Holly created a free introductory training on how to build a six-figure writing career.
I highly recommend taking the course she created if you want to work from home writing and follow her path to success. I also have a number of ways to get writing gigs in my How to Become a Freelance Writer article.
8. Proofreader
Do you often find yourself catching spelling errors and grammar mistakes when reading? If so, you can earn a nice income catching other people’s mistakes as a Proofreader.
I interviewed Caitlin Pile who does this and she earned $43,000 working part-time as a proofreader while studying abroad. You can see the full details on how she did it in my How to Become a Proofreader article.
How much can I earn? $1,000-$4,000 per month
How to get started: Check out this free introductory workshop to learn the skills needed to start your own freelance proofreading hustle and to see if this is the right for you.
Make money flipping products from flea markets or thrift stores. This really is a thing and you can make a lot of money from it.
Rob earned over $130,000 doing this PART-TIME mostly reselling on eBay.
You don’t even need a lot of money to get started either. You can start with a budget of $20-$50 to find items. Based on that, you can make $100-$300 (mostly reselling on eBay) and then take some of the profit and do it again.
How to get started: Rob created a free workshop to help you create a profitable reselling business in as little as 14 days.
10. Create and Sell Printables on Etsy
If you are more on the creative side and want to make money making things you should definitely consider doing it on Etsy. I have two really cool interviews from Etsy sellers that do really well.
If you ever thought about creating printables, making them ONCE, and then making money from it over and over again then you’ll definitely want to check my article out on how to make printables on Etsy.
If you want to make products and sell them you’ll want to check out my article from Nicole who made $350,000 on Etsy in a year. Pretty cool.
11. Life Coach
Do you want to help people reach their greatest potential? Have you ever considered becoming a Life Coach?
I interviewed Life Coach Natalie Bacon and she earns six-figures on her way to seven-figures!
How much can I earn? It depends. If you are targeting lower-income, you can charge $47 per hour, if you’re targeting higher-income you could charge $297 per hour or much more. It also depends on your model, are you doing 1-to-1 coaching or group coaching?
How to get started: Check out my article on How to Become a Life Coach and consider taking this very affordable Life Coach Certificate Course.
12. Selling low content books on Amazon
This is one of the best independent contractor jobs from home because it doesn’t require any money, you can do this anywhere in the world and make a great passive income each month.
You create a cover of a book and one interior page (no graphic design experience needed). Post it to Amazon KDP and let your work sell.
This may not make a lot of sense but we break it down in our article How to make 1000s selling low content books, or you can just watch as we show you how to do this in minutes.
13. Search Engine Evaluation Jobs
We love sites like Google but they don’t always get it right, that’s why they are looking for people to help. In this job you’ll rate social media ads and search results for relevancy.
Positions like these are known as Search Engine Evaluators or Web Evaluators. These are great jobs to do on the side because it’s 20 hours per week and you work when you want as long as you make up the 20 hours.
How much can I earn? $12-$14 per hour
How to get started: Check out the only two companies I recommend applying to.
14. Parking Lot Cleaner
Earn $30-$50 per hour picking up trash! Not the most glamorous way to make money but this is a great job that you can do on the side and make it a full-time income working part-time hours.
I was privileged to interview Brian who does this and he now earns six-figures doing this!
How to get started: Check out my article How to Start a Parking Lot Litter Removal Business to see how it works, how to get started, and how he’ll help you grow your business.
15. House Cleaner
Do you like to clean? You can make a decent amount of money from people like me who don’t :-).
I have a great article on how to start a cleaning business from someone who does this today and has made a very profitable business cleaning.
How much can I earn? Ken earns up to $1,000 per week and shows you how to do the same part-time!
How to get started: Check out my article on all the information you need to get started.
16. Start a Baby Equipment Rental Service
Do you live in a popular tourist area? You can make a lucrative side hustle renting baby equipment to traveling families. I didn’t know this was a thing until I interviewed Ashley Anderson who made me a believer.
How much can I earn? It depends but Ashley earns over $3,000 per month.
How to get started: Check out my article on How to start a baby equipment rental business
17. YouTuber
This is my next venture and I can’t wait to start doing this because the earning potential is so great. People go to YouTube for just about everything. Do you have something you’d like to share with others? Have you ever considered doing this?
How much can I earn? I interviewed Nate who earns five-figures per month in ad revenue from his channel (this is why this is my next venture).
How to get started: Nate shares with us How to Start a YouTube Channel along with some great tips
18. In-home Daycare
If you like children and don’t mind taking care of them you should consider starting an in-home daycare. So many moms would rather have their kids in a safe home rather than a daycare typesetting.
You can earn a lot of money doing this and make an impact on a young child’s life
How much can I earn: $30+ per day which turns out to $600+ per month (assuming its for 8 hours a day), while some daycares will charge $900 or more per month for one kid. Check the daycare costs in your area to stay competitive.
How to get started: I found this neat and affordable course on How to Start a Home Daycare Business. Ladonna operated her own profitable home daycare and shows you how you can do the same along with all the information you’ll need to get started.
Care.com and your local FB mom groups for opportunities to grow your business.
19. Photography
If you enjoy taking pictures definitely consider getting into photography. No matter how good these smartphone cameras are getting it still won’t beat getting pictures professionally done.
The camera and lens you choose are a big part of the quality of photos. I recommend the Canon EOS Rebel T6i Body, and Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM Lens to get started.
How much can I earn?
- Wedding Photography -$700 – $3,500+
- Senior Portrait Photography – $100-$300 a session
- Small local businesses – $25 – $200 per image
How to get started: Start taking pictures of any and everything, take classes and learn photoshop to polish off your photos and add quality finishes.
Post your best work on your social media networks and start your online portfolio on 500px (it’s Free!).
You can also:
- Contact your local real estate agents and offer your services to take professional pictures of their new listings
- Offer your services for free to friends and family who want to take holiday, newborn, senior, weddings pictures, etc. If you do a good job, those same people could turn into paying customers
Bonus Jobs
Dog Walker
If you’re a dog lover and have some extra time consider getting paid to walk man’s best friend.
I see a lot of people charge $20-$30 per 30-minute walk. To find clients you can sign-up through Rover and/or Care.com.
Notary
A notary is an appointed official of the state government and serve as an unbiased witness to perform numerous duties depending on where you live.
Some notaries can perform marriages, oversee the signing of loan documents for new homeowners, witness the Power of Attorney and much more.
Becoming a Notary can be a great way to make money on the side depending on where you live. Different states have different rules so check out my article on How to Become a Notary to see if it’s right for you and how much you can earn.
Research Studies
Research studies can be a very lucrative way to make extra money. With companies like Respondent, they will give you up to $400 for typically one hour of your time to give your feedback or opinion. Below are the best-paid companies to sign up for
Surveys
Another way to make some quick easy money is by doing surveys. I only recommend signing up for Survey Junkie, Swagbucks, and PrizeRebel. This is just to earn some extra money, you could earn up to maybe $50/$100 per month if you do enough.
Website Tester
If you have some extra time why not get Paid to Test Apps and Websites. Companies need feedback on the user experience of their websites, and they’ll pay you to get it.
Here are two companies that will give you $10 per test and usually take around 15-20 minutes each (User Testing now pays up to $60 per test):
I hope you found an independent contractor job that will work for you. These are all jobs where you are your own boss, so make sure when choosing a job this is something you would like to do.
If you don’t want to do it, you won’t do it.
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