Are there any real work from home jobs in Australia?

No doubt you have scanned hundreds of websites looking for work from home jobs in Australia– only to be fed up by talk of serious money but little actual opportunity given. I know – I’ve been there, done that, bought the T-Shirt. Instead of recommending you try yet more dodgy pursuits such as forking out money for US Companies or telling you how filling out surveys can provide an adequate income to live on (I don’t know anyone in Australia who can live on $5 a day, do you?), I’m able to sum up years of research on work from home jobs and tell you: there’s very few real moneymaking opportunities on the web and a lot of competition. If you are looking for some part time income though, I can point you in a few directions, especially if you reside in Australia and feel you can’t tap into what’s out there. Here's some of what I've learned:

Medical Transcription Jobs

These have circulated all over the world, but did you know that there are now real medical transcription jobs in Australia and not just in other countries? You need a transcriptionist’s certificate to get in the door and then you can take the hard road of finding work on your own or join up with a transcription agency which services Australia. The Australian transcription course looks quite legitimate and I was tempted, but cannot quite part with the price tag for the course (I have another course in mind). It looks like there are real career opportunities for working from home in Australia as a transcriptionist and I’d definitely check it out. I might even see you there in the future!

ODesk, Elance, Guru Etc

These models for home based work all involve pitting your skills against global competition and the wages also reflect that. Unless you have a specialised niche skill or a large company who can output complex tasks for a pittance – forget it. However, having tried all of the above, the best one for wages would be Guru, which believes in filtering out the millions of people living on $2 a day. This means bosses are more likely to pay more.

Graphic & Website Designer Jobs

Everyone’s doing it. You probably know friends of friends who do it. I wouldn’t say that graphic and web design are good careers anymore – there’s a whole lot more need for advertising (since companies are not selling enough) and there’s more headaches than ever before as designers come to grips with dealing with a general public who think it’s easy, cheap and why can’t you copy that Amazon website? However, I have picked up a quarter of my customer base from graphic and website design jobs found through places such as Guru or Elance. Be prepared to have headaches and be paid a pittance though.

Rewards Central

This is a pretty handy site for earning pocket money, but not a full time income. I've personally made about $150 per year for the last seven years or so by doing minimal clicking and short surveys. I find Rewards Central not to be too invasive or time consuming and their "ebank" for points is quite cute, rewarding interest for savers of points. Very reliable on payouts for Aussie members. Visit the Rewards Central Website

Starting a Home Based Business

Unless you already have an idea and it’s unique, or you already have ten years’ commercial experience in your market and know how to sell it big-time, you are not going to be bothered working seven days day and night for something that doesn’t pay. It’s a lot of work. It costs money. Can you be bothered? Also, if real world franchises in Australia are any indication, they’re not making tons of money. Online, you have less costs but the same problem, only now you have global competition too. However, if you think you have what it takes, give it a go...

Transferring Your Day Job To A Work From Home Job

This is the most likely way to get into working from home – ask your boss if you can. I have actually had bosses offer this to me before and it’s definitely a good way to earn a living and still stay at home. Be warned though: working from home requires massive amounts of dedication, persistence and the ability to sit at a computer for hours and hours, even when you don’t want to – to me the computer time put in for wages is more than required in a REAL job. But less politics and pressure for sure!

Hubpages

Hubpages is a great way to earn a bit more pocket money than Rewards Central. It involves a bit more work (ie, writing articles) but it is also very interesting work to do and earnings are entirely dependant on how much work you put in. Earnings vary significantly between people and articles - my average is about $5 per 10 articles per month. There are some people on the site earning hundreds each month (by having about 200 articles). If you'd like a chance to make some dollars online give it a go and see what you're capable of: Take a tour or join Hubpages

Call Centre Work

If you are the sort of person who enjoys this work and can do it for many, many hours each day, go for it – there’s loads of positions in Australia for this work from home opportunity - I see them on the Seek website all the time. However if you are not into doing call centre work, you won’t want to as it’s even harder to do alone than it is in a real call centre where there are sympathetic teammates to complain to.

Gumtree

If you need a job RIGHT NOW and you need it in Australian wages, check out Gumtree. Go to Google and type in "Gumtree (your city here)". It has heaps of jobs for Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane, Perth, Hobart and many in between. You will get less-than-industry wages but it's cash in hand work a lot of the time.

Conclusion

Well, that sums up this particular hub about work from home jobs in Australia - ie, they are far and few between. Feel free to leave a comment if you have experienced anything useful that Australians might benefit from regarding work from home jobs. I wish I could give everyone here a million to buy their first house, but I am sadly I will not able to. Cheers.