Hey, guys. It's Chelsea from The Financial Diet. And today, I want to talk to you about a subject that for many of us is probably really, really relevant right now. And that is how to make extra money. And I don't want to do it in one of those really annoying, spammy comments like my cousin made $300 from sitting in his room, kind of ways. I want to talk about the not sketchy, completely legitimate ways you can start making extra money. And why is this so relevant right now? Well, if you've been living in some kind of bunker, Kimmy Schmidt situation, and have been unaware of the global pandemic that has had enormous economic impacts, I can fill you in. The Economic Policy Institute predicts that almost 20 million Americans will be laid off or furloughed, which is a leave of absence without pay, by July. And as of today, May 12, about 18.6% of the US workforce, which translates to just shy of 30 million people, have applied for unemployment benefits since social distancing measures have gone into effect, according to the US Department of labor. Right NOW as of mid-May, about 60% of Americans are in some kind of a lockdown, which is down from a high of about 94% at the end of March. And although by the time this airs, that is subject, probably, to some change, one thing that we have learned from some of the states that have reopened earlier than others is that just because a state is open does not mean people are going out and shopping and spending in the same way. All of these various components-- the need to stay home, combined with the loss of a lot of income for many, has resulted in a much higher level of interest in work from home opportunities. And one thing to keep in mind is that with all of this increased need for more easy side income, there are going to be a lot of scamming opportunities out there. Do remember that anything that requires you to give money or put down a credit card for a job opportunity should be considered immediately sketchy and to be avoided. You should always also be able to get total clarity around the terms of your job, even for a contracted project-- things like how much you'll be paid, when you can expect to be paid, how to invoice, et cetera. Do not allow the unusual circumstances to translate into people taking you for a ride. So without further ado, here are seven ways to make money from your home right now that aren't completely sketchy.

Number one is virtual babysitting. So a new thing has risen up in the need for parents to access child care, combined with the inability to safely have child care workers come to their home. And that is virtual babysitting. Basically, this is when you are spending time with a child via things like Skype or Zoom while the parent is in the home, but otherwise occupied. The demand for this service has exploded. It is up 700% in the last month, according to Elizabeth Harz, the CEO of Sittercity, which is a website that connects parents and babysitters. And of course, this is not a complete replacement for parental supervision. And the sessions are usually on the shorter side, lasting around an hour or so, so the parent can accomplish another task. And the activities can range anywhere from doing little workshop activities together to reading a book to leading some kind of exercise class to just spending time with the child while the parent can focus their attention elsewhere. Rates can range from about $15 to $36 an hour with an average tending to be somewhere around $16.50. And usually, the sessions are booked in multiples and paid up front. Sites like care.com will allow you to set up a profile and specify virtual only for the time being. This can be a great opportunity for people who have a lot of experience with kids. Maybe you've had your own, or you've had experience with nannying or babysitting, or just been the oldest of many siblings. If you're good at taking the lead in these situations and figuring out creative ways to keep children engaged, because obviously, you can't physically keep them in the room-- so you have to make them want to stay paying attention to you-- it's a pretty cool challenge, and something that can easily add to your monthly income. It is worth noting, however, that nannies and baby sitters have seen an average 84% drop in employment. So competition is likely to be steep. But you could easily have an edge if you are fluent in another language or have a skill you can teach, like yoga or singing, or something else that could set you apart.

Number two is virtual assisting. Unlike virtual babysitting, virtual assistant jobs have been around for a pretty long time. Everyone from authors getting ready to head out on book tour to large companies looking to keep some of their workforce remote have utilized virtual assistants for years. And there's no one set definition or list of responsibilities for a virtual assistant. But common ones can include things like calendar management, setting up meetings and work trips, managing emails, updating websites, and sometimes even updating social media channels, although social media management is often a job in its own right. And the average hourly rate is $15.80, according to Payscale, with an upper bound just under $30. For more resources, you can check out things like the International Virtual Assistants Association, or the Virtual Hub, which match assistant with clients, and so on and so forth. The most important skills for this sort of job are things that you might imagine, like organization, clear communication, timeliness, attention to detail, heavy familiarity with basic office software, et cetera. But if you have higher level communication skills, around things like using the latest apps or social media and communication tools, that can easily give you an edge. Check out sites like Upwork for listings.

Number three is tutoring. If you have a background in education or a specific field, or have heavy knowledge in a specific skill-- like for example, fluency in another language, or ability to very accurately teach English-- tutoring is likely to see a very big surge in demand. Because parents are turning to tutors to help supplement their children's newly online classes and make sure they don't fall behind. For example, tutoring company Varsity Tutors saw a 40% increase in demand in April, again, mostly stemming from this total shift that we've all had to make in terms of education. And the rates for tutoring do vary wildly, depending on your level of education, expertise in a subject, experience with tutoring, et cetera-- also, whether you're an independent contractor or work with an agency. The average hourly rate for a tutor at a company like Huntington, Varsity Tutors, Mathnasium, and so on, is about $13.85 an hour. Independent tutors who set their own hourly prices typically make closer to $26 per hour. And that's with minimum experience. A personal note here from our research assistant. She tutors middle school math and science and high school physics and calculus. She has a physics degree, but no education background. And her rates are $60 for middle school and $80 for physics slash calculus. She's pretty sure she's actually undercharging for the area, because most of her clients are friends of her aunt. Her cousin, who is a full time teacher in addition to an English tutor, charges about $250 an hour. As she puts it, NYC prices are wild. And while obviously, this huge rise in online meetings lends itself very nicely to a lot of the way that tutoring had been done virtually in the past, taking the extra step of using things like screen sharing to ensure that your student is seeing a fully rounded picture of what you're trying to teach is a great way to make sure that nothing is slipping through the cracks, just because you don't happen to be in person. And yes, as some tutoring companies do require that tutors take certain exams in order to demonstrate proficiency and pass them with certain minimums to be certified to tutor. But if you are already proficient in a subject and have a natural ability to help other people learn, you may want to give this a try yourself.

Number four is transcription and translation. Transcription is very simply the art of listening to an audio recording very closely and writing down exactly what is said. This often will happen for things like interviews. And there are three main types of transcription-- general, medical, and real time. General transcription includes writing out of anything pre-recorded, like lectures, interviews, podcasts, and even captioning videos, which we get done for the TFD channel. Medical transcription is more specialized and does require familiarity with medical terminology. Medical transcriptionists listen to a doctor's recorded notes on a patient and transcribe those notes onto a patient's file. Real time transcription is different from the other types because it isn't off of a prerecorded audio. You're typing up an event as it happens. Most real time transcription jobs aren't remote-- think things like court stenographer. But there are some opportunities if you're an incredibly fast and an accurate typist. The average hourly rate for these jobs is about $15.12. And translation work can be bundled in with transcription work. But often, the rates are higher because it obviously requires the dual skills of being a good transcription and bilingual. Some places that hire transcription Rev, Transcribeme and TranscriptionServices.com. But it's worth noting that these places often pay per minute of audio transcribed, rather than a set hourly rate-- often somewhere between $0.25 and $0.65 a minute, which on average takes about four minutes to do, because you're frequently having to stop and re-listen to the recording. However, if you're subtitling, that will often change to about $1.50 to $3 a minute.

Number five is remote data entry and management. Data entry is very simply the act of taking some kind of information that a company has received-- could be anything from a PDF to an audio recording to a Word document-- and translating it into data that is organized and stored by the company. In less fancy terms, it's often just the act of typing up things and entering them into a spreadsheet. Bookkeeping and payroll are very common examples of data entry jobs. Data entry, though, can go well above that and involve things like managing and organizing documents, updating company information, and managing budgets. Technically, transcription is also a form of data entry work, and is one of the more common ones. According to Payscale, the average rate for data entry is about $13.36 per hour. Admittedly, this is a pretty general kind of work and can often be bundled into things like secretarial or administrative work, and even be included in things like those virtual assistant jobs we were talking about earlier. But if you have experience, for example, with things like coding, that can mean that you have a much higher level of expertise to offer when it comes to data management, and therefore can look for more technical opportunities.

Number six is copywriting. Copywriting is basically just writing the text portion of ads or promotional materials. And while high level copywriting can be a pretty bucks job, there is quite a lot of copy everyday that is often just written by freelancers. Think of the descriptions that you see of a dress on a store's website, or social media posts from a brand. Often, those are done by freelance copywriters. Other common examples are things like website copy, email marketing campaigns, even stuff like coupon language. And copywriting does require a bit of expertise. And certain things, like familiarity with search engine optimization or marketing strategy, can be a huge plus in this area. But as someone who used to heavily supplement her income with freelance copywriting gigs, I can assure you that once you get your foot in the door-- and I used web sites like Contently to market my services and get jobs-- it can be a great gig. It's worth noting the copywriters are paid more frequently per project than per hour, negotiating a set fee for a certain number of ads, descriptions, et cetera. But according to Payscale, the average hourly rate breaks down to about $19.95. And if you have general writing experience and a few bylines to your name, that can be a great skill to translate into copywriting, for which the work is often more steady and better paid.

Lastly, number seven is catch-all freelance opportunities. If none of the above apply, or even, frankly, if all of them do, there is also always the opportunity of going on to websites, apps, forums, et cetera that list all kinds of different freelance and one-off gigs for things that may not fit neatly into any one category. Sites like Fiverr, Freelancer, Upwork, Taskrabbit, are all different places where you can turn any skill you might have-- even some that you wouldn't normally think to monetize-- into a way to catch one-off gigs. I personally found someone through Taskrabbit quite a while ago, when we were moving into the TFD office, to help us with a few kind of basic furniture building and mounting projects, that I've ended up working with at least a dozen times since on various things in the TFD office and in my own home. These are places that allow you to create a profile, list your skills, and set a rate for yourself on different projects. People post looking for all kinds of things, from graphic design help to music composition, general errands, building IKEA furniture, and much more. And while not all of them can be done from home, the vast majority can be. It's worth noting that some of these sites do take a certain percentage of your rate, usually about 20%. But some people do choose to mark up their prices, so they can still get paid a fair rate after the site takes its cut. And while most of the highest paid freelancers do eventually establish their own clients directly, these websites can be a great way to build a network, establish your expertise in various areas, build word of mouth, and gain the confidence to potentially go out on your own. If you have a skill that other people would want to learn or benefit from, chances are you can find a way to make a little money off of it. So the point of all of this is that we're entering a pretty unprecedented time, where not only are we going to all have to be a little bit more creative about how we make money, but we're also going to have to get more comfortable with a life that is a little bit more digital and remote than it used to be. And by getting creative with some of these options, you can find that you even make more money through all of these various gigs than you were at your previous job. We actually recently had a TFD contributor who wrote about her experience simply doing random errands and tasks through Taskrabbit, and made over $1,000 in one go on it. And it doesn't look like remote work is going away anytime soon. According to MIT, about half of the workforce currently is working from home. And given that we've now established that telecommuting is possible for so many of these jobs, it's unlikely that this will completely reverse. Getting a little bit more flexible about how we're bringing in money and being a little bit more creative about how we're using all of the various skills we might have accumulated is the key to staying nimble and viable in this economy.

As always, guys, thank you so much for watching. And don't forget to hit the Subscribe button and to come back every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday for new and awesome videos. Goodbye.