By Stacy Garrels | April 24, 2021

2020 and 2021 proved that independent contractors have some of the best jobs on the market. There’s more than one kind of remote job, though, if you want to start working remotely on your own terms. Remote work in the field of data entry lets you find your place in an established company or strike out on your own. Depending on which path you take, you can set your own rate, enjoy corporate benefits, and keep your analytical mind active all without leaving the comfort of your home.

What is a Data Entry Job?

Data entry jobs are essential in businesses large and small. Independent contractors in these positions help companies better process the information they bring in from product test runs, from marketing programs, and so many other companies and clients.

On the surface, online data entry jobs at an entry level position in the world of data entry doesn’t seem that engaging. You spend several hours a day, after all, filling out Excel documents and assessing any patterns that appear there. If you’re the type of person who enjoys finding patterns in data, however, you can use your pattern-detecting skills not only to stay sharp but to make a steady income without leaving home.

What Skills Do You Need to Work in Data Entry?

Data entry is not a particularly intensive field. If you want to kick off your career in the world of data entry, you’ll want to let potential employers, companies, and clients know that your strongest skills include:

Attention to Detail

Data entry, as mentioned, can get a little monotonous over several hours. That’s why workers, be they employed by a company or independent contractors, need training to help them stay on top of the details of the work they’re handling. If you already have this skill down pat, you’re already halfway to fitting in with the old hands in the industry.

A detail-oriented data entry clerk does more than help you keep data files organized while you’re working from home. You’ll also have a better chance of presenting your data in ways that encourage company growth. If you don’t have the kind of eye that can start detecting patterns in your collected data, the data you’re entering into your software of choice can look like a wall of numbers. While it isn’t your job to serve as a data analysist, you can still benefit the company you’re working with if you can make a little bit of sense of the data that their work has brought in.

A Strong Freelance Work-Life Balance

When you work at home, it takes time to learn the difference between the end of your work day and the point of time when you want to stop working. On one hand, independent contractors have a little more say over their hours which is a great way to balance work hours. If a contractor wants to work until three in the morning and the client doesn’t mind, then the two parties can get into a successful rhythm. There’s a difference, though, between setting your own hours and having a supervisor contact you for new work in the middle of the night.

While, then, an effective employee in the data entry field needs to be dedicated to her deadlines, she also needs to know when to create work-life boundaries. Employees who have a harder time drawing a line between their work hours and their play hours can often encounter burn out, at which point data entry may become mentally untenable.

Patience

The work that people in the field of data entry do is relatively unforgiving. Even in this society, where you’re on your computer for the bulk of the day, constantly entering data over the course of an eight hour shift – or a longer full time position – can be a drain on the spirit.

That’s why people who perform data entry jobs from home need to be patient. Moreover, people who perform data entry jobs from home need to actively practice self-care. Be kind to yourself if you can’t get a two-thousand point data plot entered in a single day. Take your time, instead, and make sure that you’re entering the data as effectively as possible. So long as your supervisor believes in a healthy work-life balance, you should be able to be kind to yourself while still getting your job done.

When in doubt, folks who want to start performing data entry jobs from home can use outside tools to help them cultivate the patience they need to succeed in their industry. Remote work allows you to use online tools like Internet blocks, Spotify, YouTube, and even Netflix to keep your mind occupied while you’re entering data. So long as your supervisor doesn’t disapprove, you can use these external means to help you be kind to yourself while you’re at work.

Self-Control

There’s a difference, however, between being kind to yourself and being deliberately ineffective while you’re on the clock. With that in mind, anyone with a remote job in the data entry field needs to have a lot of self-control.

Office environments, while social, promote a general sense of communal work effort. When you’re working from home, though, you’re working right next to your kitchen, television, video games, and so on. Distractions are everywhere when you work from home. While taking a break is never a bad thing, losing yourself to these distractions can compromise the integrity of your remote work. The longer it takes you to turn over sorted data to a supervisor or client, the less likely you are to succeed in your current position. While it’s never a bad thing to play the job field, especially as an independent contractor, you don’t want to develop a professional reputation for distractibility.

The Best Remote Data Entry Jobs

Becoming a data entry clerk in the age of online employment doesn’t have to be difficult. If you think you have the skills to make a name for yourself in the world of data entry, there are ample opportunities for you to get that work from home job! There are several bullpens that are willing to reach out and hire data entry clerks. Both part time and full time positions are available for those who do the search, this article will help workers and job seekers find home data entry jobs. You can also choose to make yourself available as an independent contractor, at which point you can have more say over your clientele and the data you work with.

If you’re just kicking off your home data entry jobs search, some of the best jobs available to aspiring remote data entry clerks include but are not limited to:

Amazon Mechanical Turk

Who hires job seekers looking to gain experience like Amazon? Anyone looking for a full time gig in the data entry field can thrive while serving Amazon’s Mechanical Turk.

The Mechanical Turk marketplace lets you choose what kind of work you want to take on. When you create a profile through the marketplace, you’ll have the opportunity to work on the projects that interest you most that have been shared by companies around the world. This kind of freedom makes it easy for anyone looking for entry work to gain experience in the data entry field.

Clickworker

Do you want to make money working on small, remote projects? Clickworker lets you do just that. Anyone interested in data entry, writing, and transcription services can take on micro-jobs, or jobs that pay less than a dollar per assignment. You can complete these jobs in little to no time at all to the benefit of the company’s partners. Take on the work part-time, and it’ll be easier than ever for you to start supplementing your income.

Scribie

Anyone proud of their typing skills and excited to work at home should send their application to the team at Scribie. Scribie hires freelancers who want to earn their stripes transcribing a variety of client files. Scribie will connect its employees to their bullpen of clients, at which point you can transcribe a six-minute audio file in exchange for pay-per-hour based on your experience.

SigTrack

Employees who are politically-savvy may want to dedicate their services to the civil process around the country. SigTrack allows parties who want to work at home do just that. Employees with SigTrack will process voter registrations all year, including before important elections. These parties can also be placed in charge of petition signatures, at which time they will record the issue being addressed and all of the parties interested in said issue.

Payment with SigTrack is based on the number of pieces a person submits. All parties receive pay for their efforts through PayPal.

Axion Data Entry Services

Do you want to make your own hours but work with the same company for an extended period of time? Axion Data Entry Services often hires independent contractors to keep on for years at a time. You will need a little bit of experience to make it with the rest of the company’s team, but you’ll also receive payment for each assignment you submit to an attending supervisor.

AccuTran Global

If you’re a pro with the English language and willing to spend your days working with a team of talented transcriptionists, then AccuTran Global may be the place for you. AccuTran Global hires more transcriptionists than it does parties with data entry experience, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t overlap between the two fields. Take the company’s initial assessment and see here you may fit in the company’s team.

Capital Typing

In 2020 and 2021, virtual offices rose in popularity. Capital Typing lets independent contractors and comparable employees generate these environments for other businesses. Anyone who wants to work remotely for the company will be hired on a paid contract and will have the chance to enter data for a variety of the organization’s clients.

Working In Temporary Positions for Small Businesses

You may also have the opportunity to hold temporary remote data entry jobs. You can create profiles for yourself on platforms like Fiverr, Upstart, and Guru to advertise your focus and dedication as well as any previous experience you have with data entry. Small businesses and larger corporations looking for temporary help can reach out to you once your account is established. From there, they can employ you as an independent contractor.

Working with an independent contractor pursuing data entry jobs allows you to set your own rates and hours. You have more control over the opportunities that you take on, as you don’t have to answer to any supervisor other than yourself until you have a client. Work as an independent contractor, however, requires a significant amount of self-management. If you’re the type of person who works better in a structured environment, then you may want to see what kind of remote data entry jobs you can pick up with an established company.

Supplement Your Income With Work Through Swagbucks

Working as a freelance employee or independent contractor gives you a lot of control over the kinds of home data entry jobs you pursue. There’s more than one way, though, to supplement your income. While you work in data entry, you can also sign up for a Swagbucks account.

Swagbucks allows you to earn money in the comfort of your own home. Once you sign up for an account, you can take surveys, watch videos, and play games to earn in-platform points. You can then exchange those points for cash through a third-party, like PayPal, or through your bank account.

Take advantage of the legitimate opportunities you have to make money on the side. Work with Swagbucks while you’re looking for work in data entry, and you’ll find yourself more financially secure than you used to be.

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