Can you get a job with typing?

INSIDE: If you enjoy typing and you’d like to work from home, typing from home jobs are the perfect fit. Fortunately, there are several options with varying skill sets.

Are you looking for an easy way to break into working from home? Are you a good typist?

If you answered yes to both of those questions, consider a work-from-home typing job! Even if you’re a slow typist now, there are tons of free resources you can practice with to improve your typing skills.

And as long as you have good hearing or can handle data entry, there’s a typing job out there you can do as a freelancer, whether it’s general transcription, virtual assistance, or microtasks. Read on for my guide to online typing jobs and where to apply.

1. Data Entry Jobs

Data entry work is an incredibly easy work-from-home job that’s largely open to beginners.

You shouldn’t need any special training or experience for an online data entry job. You just need to be able to type and have basic computer skills, such as entering information into an application as directed.

That could involve adding data to a spreadsheet or entering data into a company’s system. You may be expected to verify and/or edit the data, and some forms of data entry involve research.

There are also specialized forms of data entry that require more training and even certification, such as medical coding or scopistry (editing and reviewing the transcription of a court reporter).

Data entry is a highly repetitive job, so you need to make sure that won’t get to you over long periods.

Equipment Needed

A private desktop or laptop computer you can work on from home, with high-speed internet access, is required.

You should also have a keyboard with a number pad (or a separate number pad you can plug in via USB).

A data entry clerk may also need access to various data processing programs, such as Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, and other Microsoft Office and G Suite applications.

How Much Can You Make?

Most data entry jobs don’t pay well because they’re easy, and almost anyone can do them. This also means competition for a remote job tends to be very fierce.

You’ll find the better-paying data entry jobs are the specialized ones mentioned above.

Companies to Work For

• AccuTran Global
• Axion Data Entry Services
• DionData Solutions
• SigTrack

Get a more in-depth look at data entry and find more companies hiring in my post “Legit Data Entry Jobs From Home.”

2. Captioning Jobs

With a captioning job, you listen to an audio file and transcribe what you hear. But instead of making simple transcription documents, you create captions on videos for people who are hard of hearing or who want to watch a video with the sound off.

Captioning tends to be more complete and more demanding than transcription, including notation of background noises, for example.

Closed captioning involves a prerecorded video file, from recorded lectures to TV programs.

A real-time captioner has a more intense job because they caption a live program, such as a sports broadcast or news show. There may only be a short delay in airtime, requiring you to be fast and accurate with your captions.

For most professional captioning jobs, you’ll need some kind of certification. Working with stenographic shorthand is often required, especially due to the demand for high typing speeds.

Equipment Needed

A computer or laptop you can work on from home with high-speed internet access is required, plus headphones to make listening to the audio easier.

You will also probably need a stenotype machine.

How Much Can You Make?

As a specialized form of transcription in a demanding industry, you can make more at captioning than at transcription. You may even be able to make full-time money once you have some experience and prove yourself.

Companies to Work For

• National Captioning Institute
• Rev.com
• Vitac
• FlexJobs

Learn more about captioning and where to find gigs here.

3. Transcription Jobs

This is probably what you think of first when you think of work-from-home typing jobs. As a transcriptionist, you listen to audio recordings and type what you hear. It really is that simple!

You need a good sense of hearing to do a transcription job, including the ability to understand various accents and untangle multiple sources of sound – from multiple voices to background noise competing with the speaker.

You should also be a good typist, with a high typing speed and low error rate. Transcription is not an industry that tolerates much in the way of typos or other mistakes!

Some online transcription jobs, such as those serving the legal or medical industries, may require certification, which you can complete online.

Equipment Needed 

To be a transcriptionist, you need a computer you can work from at home with high-speed internet access (of course).

You also need headphones to listen to audio files, and sometimes you may need specific transcription software and/or a foot pedal.

How Much Can You Make?

To be quite honest, entry-level transcription doesn’t pay that much, reflecting the simplicity of the job. However, experience can earn you better rates of pay, and so can specializing in medical transcription or legal transcription.

Much of the industry pay per audio hour completed, so you can also increase your rate of pay by being an incredibly quick and efficient transcriptionist.

Companies to Work For

• AccuTran Global
• GMR Transcription
• Rev.com
• TranscribeMe

Find more jobs in my post “Online Transcription Jobs: Work-at-Home Beginners Welcome.”

4. Virtual Assistant Jobs

With a home virtual assistant job, you can make money online by doing many things for your client, including data entry.

Some clients may want spreadsheets created from raw data they’ve collected, or they may want you to do some research – finding companies that fit certain criteria and filling out contact details in the client’s computer system, for example.

The great thing about virtual assisting is the sheer variety of tasks you might be asked to do, and research and data collection keep the data entry part of the job from being too monotonous.

Plus, if you can offer various other services, such as social media management, ghostwriting, customer service, or mailing list optimization, you can earn more than you might in more traditional data entry-only roles.

Equipment Needed

This depends on exactly what you’ll be doing for your clients, but a home computer with high-speed internet access is the default requirement.

You should also have a comfortable place to work undisturbed for extended periods, along with access to common software programs, from Microsoft Office suite to G Suite.

How Much Can You Make?

It depends on how you find your virtual assistant clients, but you can make a decent wage with most VA companies (better than or comparable to the minimum wage in most states).

You can charge more if you have your own virtual assistant business and you find your own clients.

Companies to Work For

• BELAY
• TimeEtc
• Vicky Virtual
• Worldwide101
• Zirtual

Learn more about starting your own VA business here.

5. Micro Task Jobs

A microtask is just what it sounds like: a small task that doesn’t take long to complete but can’t be automated.

Micro tasks which require a human to complete include identifying objects in a photograph or transcribing a small audio file. Or you may be asked to write a brief paragraph or update a spreadsheet with the latest prices of a series of items.

You can find these short tasks on a variety of microtask job sites, and because they often don’t take much brain power to complete, you can knock them out while doing something more pleasant (like watching TV) or in whatever brief snatches of downtime you have throughout your day.

Equipment Needed

As with any typing-from-home job, you must have a computer to work on with high-speed internet access.

Beyond that, it’s always a good idea to have access to as many programs as possible so that you can accept a wide variety of jobs. Make sure you’re familiar with and have access to the G Suite of programs (Google Docs, Sheets) and Microsoft Office (Microsoft Word, Excel).

How Much Can You Make?

Micro tasks come with micro pay. You can expect to be paid anywhere from a few pennies to a few dollars per job. There are rare occasions that you may find viable micro jobs that pay more.

Companies to Work For

• Amazon mTurk
• Appen
• ClickWorker
• Humanatic
• OneSpace

Dive deeper into the microtask world with my post “Micro Jobs: Easy Cash for Completing Simple Short Tasks.”

Now that you’ve read this, I think your typing fingers have been resting long enough. Get out there and earn some extra income with a home typing job!

Are online typing jobs legit?

While there are a lot of scams in any work-from-home opportunity, there are many legitimate companies offering online typing jobs that have been around for a long time.

Some of the red flags to look out for include being asked for too much personal information or high starting wages. Learn more in my article about spotting work-from-home scams.

Can I make money typing at home?

Making money by typing at home will vary depending on factors such as experience, difficulty of the job, speed, and accuracy, in addition to whether you are working for a company or freelancing.

Basic word processing tends to pay the lowest, whereas transcription services can pay much more.