Mailbag: Can I Make Money Working from Home without Experience?

Every once in a while, I like to answer questions. I thought this was a really good one: Can I make money working from home without experience?

So, let’s talk about it!

Getting started making money when you work from home without experience won’t necessarily be easy, but it is possible. There are some things you need to do.

Assess Your Talents and Skills: What Do You Bring to the Table?

Everyone has talents and skills (I’m not talking about the OnlyFans kind…and yes, I know OF isn’t just for adult things, but that’s what it’s known for. And, hey, sex work is real work as long as it is done by an informed, consenting adult.)

So, even if you don’t have any experience working in certain jobs, what are you naturally good at or what skills do you have? I know people who are great at building websites and they have no actual education in it. Oh, hey pro tip…all basic courses (beginner courses) at Codecademy are free. I don’t get anything for telling you that. Or that all HubSpot certifications are free.

So, what the hell is HubSpot? HubSpot is a much fancier version of WordPress that does fancier things. It’s like if WordPress and SquareSpace had a lovechild. And you had to pay a lot of money to access it (as a business, I mean). It’s very versatile. Let’s say you’re a good writer or good at coding, right? You could go take a bunch (or a few) of HubSpot certifications for free. Businesses who use HubSpot want to hire HubSpot certified writers/marketers/SEO folks/website folks because HubSpot is kind of its own thing. I know. I write about HubSpot. I’m not certified, but I am an excellent researcher. I do plan to become HubSpot certified in the near future. So beat me to it and snatch up all the business!

Maybe you’re good at data entry, setting up Excel (I suck), don’t mind answering phones (I hate it), and don’t mind doing administrative tasks at beginner, intermediate, or executive level! Guess what? Being a virtual assistant may be for you! You really need to be good with people (and to be very nice to people). You can make great money with the right clients, but it’s okay to charge a little less in the beginning depending on how you decide to set up your business…and no you do NOT need to invest in a super expensive course (you can if you want, but if you don’t have the funds, please don’t spend a ton of money…you really can bootstrap it – find me online and talk to me and please let me talk you through, okay? I was an Executive Assistant and paralegal for years. I’m a successful work from home copywriter who owns a digital agency. I can help you if you’re devoted.).

Those are a few examples…but make a list of all your talents and skills – there’s pretty much a damn market for everything…you can even write erotica, publish it, and get paid for it if that’s your thing.

Decide What You Want to Do to Make Money from Home

So, when I started my digital agency, I had two other part-time jobs. I worked on finding clients in every spare moment I had (and creating writing samples). That meant less TV, less social media…I can’t say less going out because I’m a homebody. I’d go out with the kids because I’m a mom – that’s my job. My kids were 4, 13, and 15. And I was (and am) married.

But I started with one thing: article writing.

I did not offer social media. I did not offer graphic design (at all, not even Canva…I don’t know if they were even around back then!). I did not offer SEO. I did not offer landing pages (I didn’t really understand the basics involved…). I did not call myself a copywriter. I did not offer “business writing.” I did not offer “academic writing” for colleges or other educational institutions. I was an “article writer.” I was even terrified of

That’s right…WordPress, blog post writing, and WEBSITE CONTENT!

To be honest with you, I thought I’d fail at my “attempt” to make money from home with no experience..but on the other hand, I knew I had no choice but to succeed. And that attitude is really the game-changer.

Burn the Ships

I’m not saying quit your job if you have one. I didn’t. Read those two sentences again. And again.

I quit the PT teaching job first (there was a lot going on there. You can read more here.). I still worked at a real estate law firm. It was a pretty nice job since I only had two lawyers (one I liked and one I tolerated…the one I liked was older. The one I tolerated was around my age and so obnoxious). The one I liked was the named partner. I did the billing, the typing (he refused to use any sort of legaltech and so everything was written long-hand by him), helped him with his email (he was terrified of technology), and answered the few phone calls that came in. In between all of that, it was okay with him if I worked on my tiny business. He was great.

I kind of hated to leave, but once I was turning work away (which was turning money away and I would have made more than working for the law firm despite my experience and degree), it was time to help the lawyer find my replacement. So I set up his computer to help him find everything he needed (including installing something he could click that would read his email to him).

I dove in. I dealt with the busy times, the slow times, the scary times…all of it. I had to learn to deal with difficult clients, one or two clients who wouldn’t pay (the good news is, it wasn’t much money), and how to find clients. And all of it is learning.

You have to think of the entire experience of making money from home less as making money from home and more as a business…because that’s what it is. You have to treat the entire thing as a business…a business where you are the CEO and the employee and the marketing team and the customer service agent and you’re constantly learning.

And that’s what throws people – it is always a learning process that most people aren’t ready to face.

Now, eight years later, my business offers graphic design, copywriting, newsletters, entire academic courses for multiple platforms, editing, emails, social media creation and management, web content, WordPress management, SEO, and landing pages. It’s practically a one-stop-shop for clients. Everything I know (I know nothing about graphic design – I have someone for that!) I learned…on the internet for free.