Are you ready to start your online career, or take one to the next level?
If so, free courses are the perfect way to get your feet wet and see if a particular online career is the right one for you.
For me, a free course was the thing that got me started in affiliate marketing. I was interested but unsure and not ready to make an investment. Taking the free course gave me the chance to check affiliate marketing out and see if it would fit into my busy life, and if I even liked it.
Once I got into the course material, I was excited to find out it was a legitimate way to make an income from home, and that it was flexible enough to fit into my busy life. After that, I was ready to invest with confidence.
Take a look at the following free online courses to start your work-at-home career and see if one or two stand out to you.
They are all FREE and have all been verified as legitimate work-from-home careers. Just click on the free course links or images to get more information about each course.
[Disclosure: There are some affiliate links below, but these are all courses I highly recommend. I won’t put anything on this page that I haven’t verified and/or personally used.]
[Updated March 13, 2019]
Free introductory bookkeeping business course
- 3-session video course with transcripts
- Presents what bookkeeping actually is, the characteristics needed, the income potential, the basics of getting clients, the mindset required and more!
Interview with the course creator, Ben Robinson CPA
Free introduction to general proofreading
- 76-minute workshop
- Jam-packed with info on how to start a proofreading business
- Shows what good proofreaders do and don’t do, how to develop the skills you’d need, how to use one of the most popular proofreading tools and more
Interview with the course creator, Caitlin Pyle
- 7-day email course
- It provides a basic idea of what scoping is, the demand for it, the skills and education required, the earning potential, marketing aspects and what you need to get started
Interview with the course creator, Linda Evenson
Free general transcription mini course
- 7-day email course
- Provides information about general transcription as a career – who can do it, who needs it, where you can find clients, how much you can make, the skills you need, whether or not you fit the bill to become a transcriptionist and more…
Interview with the course creator, Janet Shaughnessy
Free legal transcription mini course
- 4-day email course
- An overview of the legal transcription industry along with foundational information to help you in your decision on whether or not it is a career that would suit your interests and needs
Interview with the course creator, Janet Shaughnessy
Free resource to learn about how to provide digital marketing & SEO services
- Webinar and follow-up emails
- A basic idea of what digital marketing and SEO are, how they affect small businesses and entrepreneurs and how sought after people with such skills are. It also includes an overview of the full course and the skills you need to become a digital marketer.
Interview with the course creator, Claudia Pennigton
Free introductory course to selling on Amazon
- 7-day email course
- Helps you understand why Amazon is perfect for building a business, how you can use it to avoid inventory cluttering your own home, how to choose inventory that will make you a profit, how to choose the right items – the ones people want and the tools that help save time and help you run your business efficiently
Free access to introductory affiliate marketing training
- Access to the first 10-lesson course that is part of the Wealthy Affiliate Online Entrepreneur Certification
- 2 free websites
- Access to the first 10-lesson course that is the basis of affiliate marketing
Some FAQs about this affiliate marketing training platform
Review of the full training offered
Free introductory court transcript proofreading course
- 7-day email course
- Provides some basic tips and advice on general proofreading and gives an introduction to court transcript proofreading, a proofreading niche that many of us haven’t even heard of
Review of the free course
Interview with the course creator, Caitlin Pyle
- Summit orientation starts with the Work-from-home Truth Bombs e-book, Summit workbook and more
- Access to Work-at-Home Heroes Facebook group – an awesome place to ask all of your questions about working from home
- Continues with informative emails
- Concludes with the free Work-at-Home-School Summit hosting nearly 50 experts offering introductory training enabling you to plan, build and thrive working from home. (You have lifelong access to this free summit – you can watch/listen to it as much as you need to digest it all!)
Interview with Work-at-Home-School creator, Caitlin Pyle.
Review of the Work-at-Home-School Summit
(**Work-at-Home School is a seasonal course which means the doors aren’t always open! Click here to find out if it’s open, or to join the waiting list to be notified once it’s available!)
Additional Free Resources:
A free list of over 150 services you could offer as a virtual assistant – ideas to help you figure out if you have the skills or the interest to go down this work-from-home road!
If you’re interested in finding out more about the world a virtual assistant Gina’s interview might be an interesting read.
A prep book to give you a head start on becoming a Pinterest VA containing 4 tasks to teach you the main tools you need to get started as a Pinterest VA.
If you’d like to know more about what a Pinterest VA is and what kind of training is available, you might find Kristin’s interview and the review of Become a Pinterest VA Today interesting.
A free list of more than 200 niches to give you ideas of what you could write about if you are considering becoming a freelance writer – ideas to inspire and get your imagination flowing!
Wondering if freelance writing is a realistic work-from-home career for a mom with limited time? Check out this interview.
A free report on how to build an Amazon FBA business created by the Selling Family. It introduces how to get started selling quickly and without spending a lot of money, and it explains how to start selling on Amazon without piles of inventory in your home.
You probably have a gut feeling right off the bat about which course sounds like a good fit for you, but it doesn’t hurt to sign up for more than one course since they’re completely free.
Now is the time to do some thorough research.
You never know – you might be surprised by one.
And be sure to check in again if you find the courses you sign up for aren’t the right fit. This page will be updated with more free online courses to start your work-at-home career as new ones become available and are verified as worthwhile courses!