Top 10 Work-From-Home Courses: Get the Skills to Succeed

Is a lack of a specific skill holding you back? If you are looking to bust through those work at home barriers, here are several sites offering work-from-home courses that may help you make legit online. You won’t obtain a degree or diploma, but it may be just enough work-from-home training to get you on the path to success.

Note: Prices and course curriculum may change at anytime.

1. CareerStep

This is the place to get training in the popular work-at-home fields of medical transcription editing. The healthcare industry is expected to continue to grow in the near future as will the need for high-training, qualified employees.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the median income for medical transcriptionists is $27,000 to $44,000 per year. Career Step works closely with hundreds of medical transcription employers. These partners currently have more openings than qualified applicants. Over 90% of Career Step medical transcription graduates get jobs right off the bat. That’s good news for you!

Career Step offers self-paced learning courses that include hands-on practice. While many students are able to complete the courses within four months of committing to full-time study, you do have 12 months of program access to allow you to work at your own pace. Over 100,000 students have taken their courses!

What it covers:

• Typing skills
• Medical terminology
• Grammar and punctuation
• Anatomy and pharmacology
• Medical record types and formats
• Editing theory & technique
• Exam prep
• Productivity tips

What it costs: The Career Step Medical Transcription Editing course costs $3,199 at the time of publishing this post. Tuition assistance, monthly installments, military discounts, funding and monthly specials are available.

Learn more here

2. 30 Days or Less to Freelance Writing Success

According to PayScale, freelance writers are currently averaging around $24.17 per hour. That’s not too shabby for many of you out there looking to work from home with an extremely flexible schedule.

Gina Horkey turned to freelance writing as she was desperate for a career change. That’s a story I hear a lot.

Within six months, she was earning over $4,000 per month while still working a full-time job outside of the home and tending to two small children. Within eight months, she was able to quit her day job and start working from home full-time.

The truth of the matter, however, is that many people will never move beyond writing for pennies. Gina’s course aims to help you do just that – get paid what you are worth.

What it covers:

• How to get started even if you don’t have an English or journalism degree.
• Building your writer platform
• Creating a portfolio
• How to write for online businesses
• Where to find clients
• Swipe copies and pitch templates
• Interview tips
• Invoicing tips
• Service agreements
• Communication tips
• Tools of the trade
• Securing recurring work
• And bonuses

What it costs: $197

Not sure what you would write about? Download this free list of 200+ writing niches to consider.

3. Reseller Tax Academy

My husband and I started selling clothing on Poshmark in June 2019. We immediately fell in love!

What we didn’t fall in love with was the tax worry. What expenses do we need to keep track of? How do we deduct inventory? Do we need to worry about reporting sales tax?

Thankfully, I was introduced to Mark Tew from Not Your Dad’s CPA early on.

Mark specializes in helping ecommerce sellers with their accounting and taxes. He knows what he’s talking about and he explains things in an easy-to-understand and friendly way. In January 2020, he released his first self-paced study for online sellers, Reseller Tax Academy.

I was so impressed by this course. Mark provides 48 lessons within nine modules. Within the learning center, he will help you:

1. Introduction to Taxes
2. Tax Basics for Online Sellers
3. Assessing Your Current Situation
4. The Optimal Structure for Your Business – LLC? S Corp? Sole Proprietor?
5. Inventory – perhaps one of the most confusing aspects of reseller taxes. This is where I had the most questions. What if I keep something for myself? What if I donate unsold or damaged items?
6. Deductions
7. Cleaning Up a Tax Mess
8. Getting Your Books in Order
9. Putting it All Together

There’s power in knowledge. And, if you are like me, tax fears can really hold your reselling business back. You’re scared to make too much. You’re scared to get too far in when you aren’t sure how to keep up with the bookwork.

I can’t begin to tell you how much more at ease I am after digging into this course. And, like I said, I think I had a pretty good head start! I think Mark can help you too.

Ready to master your books? Learn more about Reseller Tax Academy here.

4. TranscribeAnywhere

There is a big demand for remote transcriptionists, and the need keeps growing. Bloggers need their podcasts and live streaming events transcribed. Doctors, lawyers and insurance agents use transcription services as well.

TranscribeAnywhere was created by Janet Shaughnessy, a 30-year transcription veteran. Her goal is to help you build a successful business in this industry even if you are a newcomer.

She has two courses available; General Transcription: Theory & Practice and Legal Transcription: Theory & Practice. Depending on the field you want to get into – general transcription or legal transcription – these courses will help you get started and get your foot in the door within 2 to 4 months.

What it covers:

• Transcription equipment & getting the best deals
• Test expanders & shortcuts
• Transcription style guide
• Time coding instructions
• Step-by-step guide to finding work
• Sample contracts
• Hands-on practice files
• Lifetime access and updates

What it costs: $597 to $697 (payment plans are available)

Enroll in the free course here

5. Proofread Anywhere

Caitlin Pyle began proofreading court transcripts from home after losing her job. She was able to quickly replace that income and has never looked back. Today, she is sharing that knowledge in her General Proofreading: Theory and Practice course.

This course was designed to help you generate extra income on your terms, even if you have no prior experience. With so many people turning to self-publishing their own ebooks, cookbooks, novels and blogs, the demand for well-training proofreaders continues to grow!

What it covers:

• Introduction to General Proofreading
• In-demand markets and common terminology
• Proofreading basics
• Proofreading methods and practice
• Turning proofreading into a business
• Finding jobs
• What to do once you get the job
• Living the freelance life
• Tons of bonus resources

What it costs: $497 to $597

Listen to the free webinar

6. Elite Blog Academy

If you want to grow your blog quickly, I highly recommend this course. I was in the inaugural class last fall and was able to triple my traffic and income in just over a month (results will vary). It’s a self-paced 12-week course with forum support available.

What it covers:

• Refining your message
• Growing your traffic
• Monetizing your platform
• Building your business
• And more

What it costs: $997 in 2019

This course only opens for enrollment once or twice per year.

7. Six-Figure Blogger

While you wait for Elite Blog Academy, you may also be interested in Create and Go’s Six-Figure Blogger course. This one really focuses on the selling aspect of blogging. It doesn’t go much into the nuts and bolts of blogging as a whole. You can find that in some of their other courses.

What it covers:

• Foundations & Framework of the Six-Figure Blog
• Selling digital products via affiliate marketing
• Creating digital products
• Creating profitable eBooks
• Creating profitable eCourses
• Creating High-Converting Sales Pages
• Getting traffic to your sales pages
• Email trust funnels
• And more

What it costs: $297

Learn more here

8. Pinterest Virtual Assistant

Pinterest is a favorite traffic source for many bloggers. But, many bloggers don’t have the time or desire to build up successful profiles on this platform. That’s where you can earn a great living as a Pinterest Virtual Assistant.

Kristin and Gina put together this course to help you have a Pinterest VA business up and running in no time. They will help you learn everything from how to create compelling Pins to finding your first client.

What it covers:

• Understanding the Pinterest VA role
• Finding Pinterest VA clients
• Establishing your Pinterest VA Practice
• Onboarding Clients
• Invoicing
• Showing results
• Expanding your business
• Pinterest and Tailwind Technical Training
• Pricing suggestions
• Pitching templates
• Onboarding workbook
• Reporting templates
• And more

What it costs: packages start at $799

Learn More Here

Read PVA success stories here.

9. Bookkeeper Launch

To the delight of many, you don’t need an accounting degree – or bookkeeping degree for that matter – to become a thriving at-home bookkeeper. As you can imagine, the demand is large! Every online business owner large or small needs to keep good books.

Ben Robinson has been running a successful bookkeeping course for several years now. Over 3,500 students have graduated from this course since 2001. He teaches you A to Z what you need to know to succeed.

What it covers:

• A Day in the Life of a Bookkeeper
• Bookkeeping basics (financial statements, ethics and laws all from a beginner prospective)
• Hands-on experience with bookkeeping software
• How to create monthly financial statements
• Finding clients
• Taking your bookkeeping business to the next level
• And more

What it costs: $2,697 or three easy payments of $999

Enroll in his free 3-class course here.

10. Work-at-Home School

What if you know you need to learn something but you aren’t quite sure what yet? That’s where Work-at-Home School can really come in handy.

This online learning center was put together by Caitlin Pyle early 2018. It brings together over 30 work-at-home experts – myself included – to teach you valuable skills to help you earn more money from home.

What it costs: Enrollment is closed at this time. But it will open up again in Spring 2020. Get on the notification list here.

Those are just a few of my favorite work-from-home training courses. Now that you know where to learn something new, I urge you to take that next step to work-at-home success. Big things are waiting outside your comfort zone!

Originally published April 2015. Updated January 2020.