Resources

What is spiritual therapy? How can one become a work-from-home spiritual therapist? What educational and licensing requirements are needed to practice as one? How much do these therapists earn?

If you’ve always been in touch with your spirituality and wanted a profession that helps people and communities improve mental health based on religious traditions, then pursuing a career as a spiritual counselor, spiritual healer, or spiritual therapist could be something you’d thrive in.

What Does a Spiritual Therapist Do?

Just as there are many types of religions, spiritual therapy can also fall under different types (such as Islamic, Jewish, Christian, or Buddhist counseling, among others). Some therapists are non-denominational; meaning, the focus could go beyond religion and instead incorporate cognitive and philosophic areas of thought.

Whichever focus the counseling might go, spiritual therapy revolves around the idea that a person’s overall well-being is a combination of a healthy mind, body, and soul. And if a person faces a spiritual crisis, the spiritual therapist helps him/her avoid an unhappy or imbalanced life.

Spiritual therapists work in churches, schools, hospitals, the military, in their own clinics, and more. Regardless of what issue the clients have, the goal of a spiritual therapist is to help them achieve spiritual, emotional, and mental wholeness.

Work-from-Home Spiritual Therapist Requirements

Because therapy involves digging deep into a person’s psychology, mental health, and other serious trauma, the training to become one is quite rigorous.

To become a spiritual therapist, one must:

• Complete any bachelor’s degree and master’s degree. Preferably in psychology, counseling, or religious studies. Many spiritual therapists eventually obtain doctorates in ministry, psychology, or other relevant specializations, but this isn’t a requirement to practice.
• Get hands-on training – This could mean joining a seminary and interning with a pastoral counselor, serving as a counselor for local communities, or observing traditional therapy sessions under the supervision of a licensed psychiatrist or therapist.
• Licensing. Internship and clinical experience is a requirement for licensure. Your location and place you want to practice spiritual therapy will determine if you are required to take an exam. Different types of licenses exist (each with the corresponding number of clinical experience hours):
  • First-tier licenses: licensed mental health counselors, licensed professional counselors, or similar professionals need 2000 to 4000 hours of clinical training.
  • Second-tier licenses: Requires up to 5000 hours of clinical experience to become a licensed professional clinical counselor, licensed mental health counselor, or other similar professions.

Note that not all spiritual therapists are required to hold a license, but if you are dealing with people, it is always better to be licensed. Check your state about licensing requirements.

• Certification. Unlike licensure which is required and granted by state or federal agencies, certifications can be completed voluntarily. This means you can obtain as many certifications relevant to your spiritual therapy career as you wish. Certifications would help since it broadens your study and knowledge, but you can already practice your profession even without them.

As a work-from-home spiritual therapist, you’d need the technology to connect you to your clients. These include a computer, stable internet connection, video chat tools like Zoom, a good webcam/mic (if you’re not using a laptop), and an office that could give your clients privacy and the appropriate vibe.

How Much does a Work-from-Home Spiritual Therapist Make?

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that the mean annual wage of a counselor is $47,000 to $50,000 per year. Those with a master’s degree earn up to $64k annually, while those with a doctorate can take home up to $75k per year.

Being licensed, maintaining your own clinic, advancement in education, and freelancing can all contribute to higher salaries.

Where to Find Spiritual Therapist Jobs Online

If you want to become a work-at-home spiritual therapist and you already have your credentials and working experience, you have three options:

1. Join counseling websites and earn as you go.

The freelance world can be very lucrative, as long you know what you’re doing and bring your strengths to the table. You don’t really need to learn almost every skill. Stick to what you know (in this case, spiritual therapy) and the world will reward you for your talent.

The benefit of becoming a spiritual therapist working freelance for these therapy sites is that they do the marketing for you. Patients flock to the sites by themselves and if the site algorithm matches you with a particular client, then you just need to meet the client at his/her respective schedules. Sites like 7 Cups, TalkSpace, BetterHelp, and other similar websites take a commission from your hourly fees.

The problem with these sites is that many of them have a flat rate, so you have less control over your hourly fees. There will also be competition among your fellow therapists.

2. Find a remote job and work full-time.

Websites like FlexJobs.com connect you to companies that are open to hiring employees in a remote setting. This is like any traditional job board, except most of the positions listed there allow new hires to completely work-from-home or half remote and half office-based work.

You have to apply to the spiritual therapy jobs, negotiate your salary, and adhere to company guidelines and schedules.

The benefit of this route is that most remote jobs come with traditional benefits (health, dental, 401k plan, etc.). The downside is that you’ll be under contract and couldn’t increase your service fees if you wanted to.

3. Get your “clinic” online and learn how to market your services.

You can help people even if you’re hundreds of miles away. If you’ve been a spiritual therapist for a while now, the best way to bring your practice to the next level is to expand your online presence. Here are some ideas:

• Build your own website. Create a blog section where you write about your expertise. This will bring people in, especially if you talk about spirituality, healing, trauma, emotional issues, and so much more. Include a service page to show that you’re accepting private clients as well.
• Join all relevant social media platforms. If you do not have it yet, create a Facebook page, Twitter account, Instagram, Pinterest, Tik-Tok, and LinkedIn with your spiritual consultancy business highlighted. Find a way to bring your knowledge to these modern platforms and in a way new generations can connect to you.
• Learn how to market yourself. As a work-from-home spiritual therapist, you are in control of everything – from deciding the look of your website, to the hourly counseling fees.

This route is the most work, but it is also the most rewarding because you’ll be turning your profession into your own business on a global scale.

Job Outlook: Spiritual Therapists in 2021 and Beyond

The demand for therapists sky-rocketed in 2020 because of how covid19 and its after-effects brought people all kinds of issues mentally and spiritually. But once everything gets back to normal, how do you think spiritual therapy would fair. Can it still be a lucrative career?

Unlike other specializations in therapy and psychology, spiritual therapy is a fairly new field. It is expected to grow by up to 10% through 2022. That’s good news if you’re trying to break into this profession, right?

But if you’re looking for other jobs you can do completely from home, make sure to check out this BIG list of work-from-home jobs.

Voice actors have been around for a long time, but audiobook narrator jobs have become a surprisingly big part of that industry in recent years.

If I had to venture a guess, I’d say it’s thanks to people’s long commute times and the boredom that comes along with that. Whatever the reason, being a narrator is great for anyone who’s been looking for ways to read and make money at the same time.

If eloquence and precise articulation get you excited, then maybe becoming an audiobook narrator is your calling.

It definitely sounds like an incredibly fun career track to pursue.

Before I start telling you all about this profession and how you can land your first gig, there’s something important you need to know first:

In voice acting, your voice is what’s going to get you hired.

It sounds obvious, I know, but think about that for a moment.

You need to have a pleasant voice.

Unfortunately, no amount of training or preparation can give you that. Like with other forms of acting, you either have it or you don’t.

That doesn’t mean audiobook narrating doesn’t require training or preparation, because it certainly does. But those things need to be fueled by natural talent.

If you think you’ve got what it takes to be a narrator, read on to find out what skills and equipment you need, the different types of audiobook narration, and where to look for audiobook narrator jobs

What skills do you need to apply for audiobook narrator jobs?

I’ve marveled at the unbelievable talent some people have for manipulating their own voices.

There’s something wonderfully entertaining about hearing someone tell a vivid story, or seeing a fictional character come to life thanks to the voice behind it.

People don’t always realize the amount of skill and talent that goes into audiobook recordings.

You have to consider the right pacing and tone but keep it entertaining, speak clearly, bring life to the story and the characters, and stay true to the original intent of the text.

All of these are necessary skills that you need to work on.

On top of that, very successful book narrators can modulate their voices to portray different characters (in what is known as solo narration), including ones of different genders and with different accents.

This isn’t a required skill, but it can open up a lot of doors for you.

Narration is a technical art form and requires dedication and stamina.

You have to coordinate with the publisher and other voice actors (if there are any), you have to deliver hours upon hours of reading work, and you have to be your own director.

Reading a book out loud is like directing a story that you’re telling; during every moment of the read-through, a narrator has to stay focused on the rhythm, characters, intonation, and enunciation.

Any mistake means doing it all over again.

Possibly one of the most important skills an audiobook narrator should have, however, is good organizational skills.

Books often have a lot of characters to keep track of and it’s important for continuity that the voices of each and the pronunciations of words stay the same throughout the book or sometimes a series of books.

What Equipment Do You Need to Do Audiobook Narrator Job?

1. Professional quality microphone

If you want to get and keep clients, don’t skimp on your microphone.

No matter how great your voice quality is, your recording can be ruined by a cheap mic that records poor quality audio or too much background noise.

It’s also recommended that the microphone you get connects to your computer via XLR, as opposed to USB or wireless microphones.

Also, a microphone stand is recommended, as you won’t want to hold the microphone for hours on end.

You’ll also want to invest in a pop filter, which is a mesh screen that you position between the mic and your mouth. It’s meant to reduce popping sounds from fast-moving air after saying sounds like p’s and b’s.

2. Professional quality headphones

Another piece of equipment that you can’t skimp on is your headphones.

To get and keep audiobook narrator jobs, you’ll need to hear your recording accurately to assess the quality of your voice and background noise while you’re editing.

3. Audio recording and editing software

You’ll need a stable program to record your audio as cleanly as possible without background noise and as little compression as possible.

It’s better if the program can also do editing, as in removing and stitching together splices, reducing background noise, and enhancing parts of the audio as needed.

4. Quality computer or laptop

Your computer needs to be able to handle all the equipment and software you need for narration.

Consider the ports available, sound card, processor, and memory.

5. Dedicated recording space

If you can’t afford a studio just yet, set up a space in a quiet corner in your house with minimal foot traffic, no outside sounds, and without ambient noises from fans, air conditioners, refrigerators, dishwashers, and other appliances and equipment that might be picked up by your microphone.

Egg crates work surprisingly well as a sound-absorbing material on your walls. You can also look for a desktop mic isolation shield that you can position around your microphone while you record.

5 Different Types of Audiobook Narration

There are three main types of audiobook narration:

1. Solo Narration

This involves just one person reading out all of the lines.

They could be acting out different voices for different characters, or use one tone of voice throughout.

It depends on the publisher’s needs and the type of book.

2. Duet Narration

This is where two people are reading different parts of the book.

It could involve one person as the narrator and another acting out the characters or both acting out different characters.

Sometimes, a book has two different points of view, of which each is then read separately by the two people.

3. Full-Cast Narration

A full cast is a whole production where a group of people is each assigned a different character role to read for.

Sometimes a person can still have more than one role.

As I mentioned earlier, there are also different methods of recording the audio:

4. Punch and Roll

This method of recording involves rolling back the audio a bit to before a mistake was made and then “punching” in a new recording that continues where that part left off.

C.C. Hogan does a great job of explaining this method if you’re interested.

5. Straight Record

The recording keeps rolling until you decide to stop.

This includes mistakes and rereadings to correct those mistakes. You then have to go back later and edit out the parts where mistakes were made.

How Does Audiobook Narration Typically Go?

The exact process varies depending on your employer or whether you work freelance, but in general, here’s how it goes.

You’ll be sent the text to read, often in advance, so that you can prepare.

Familiarize yourself with the book, the characters, any unfamiliar words, accents required, and other elements that can contribute to your narration.

Once you’re ready, start recording your narration with the appropriate cadence, lilt, voices, pronunciations, accents, and everything else required.

When you’re done recording, you can start reviewing and editing your recording to make sure that it’s clean and high-quality.

After editing and processing, you’re ready to deliver to your client and get paid.

How Much Do Audiobook Recording Jobs Pay?

According to established audiobook narrators like Krystal Wascher, someone who’s just starting out in this line of work (even those with no experience) can expect around $80 per recorded hour.

Experienced narrators can get paid up to $250 per finished hour, and sometimes even $500 for the best and most experienced narrators.

There are too many variables and branches of voice acting to get a solid number.

That said, audiobooks can be a great source of both active and passive income, depending on the deal.

Sometimes, a gig pays a flat rate (usually per hour), and other times the narrator will get a percentage of the royalties paid to the writer over a number of months or years.

A ‘finished hour’ does not refer to the number of hours you put in, but the length of the finished audio track.

Some narrators say it takes them about two hours of recording per one finished hour, depending on the number of mistakes, stops, and retakes involved.

Where to Find Audiobook Narrator Jobs

There are dedicated job boards for audiobook narrators, as well as voice actors and talents.

ACX is probably the most specialized and the most popular site to find audiobook narrator jobs.

It works as a marketplace where authors, agents, and publishers can connect with audiobook narrators, sound engineers, recording studios, and other producers of finished audiobooks.

Through ACX, you can find an unlimited number of potential gigs, and the audiobooks you produce will be available on Audible, Amazon, and iTunes.

Being on ACX is also great for beginners. There are plenty of knowledge resources on their site. Also, it allows you to build your confidence and skills by auditioning to different jobs, plus you can use your recordings as samples to land clients outside of ACX.

Voices.com is a more general marketplace for voice actors, but you can specifically list your services under “Narrators.”

Other job boards for voice actors include Voice123 and Bunny Studio Voice.

Getting a job directly with an author or a publishing company allows you more flexibility in terms of your pay rate as well as a greater chance that you’re hired for future projects if you do a great job at first.

Your first stop should be FlexJobs. This job board vets companies that list jobs with them so you can rest assured you’re not going to get scammed.

The classic freelancer sites like Fiverr, Upwork, People Per Hour, and Freelancer are also great places to look for narrator gigs.

Tips to Be a Successful Audiobook Narrator

Read the book in advance. You’d think this shouldn’t even be said, but you’d be surprised at how many rookies waste time with imperfect recordings because they think they can wing it but get sidelined by unexpected words or accents from characters.

Develop a system to keep track of the characters and their voices. Some narrators color-code text spoken by different characters. Others list down pages and the lines themselves.

The physical descriptions of characters are also important when planning out voices for them. For instance, an active child may speak a little differently from a sick, frail child.

Learn to control your movements while narrating. Any movement you do creates extraneous noise: your clothes rustling, your desk or chair creaking, your foot tapping. If you’re working with a physical book, the sound of the pages turning can also make noise.

Watch your habits. Audiobook narration can strain your voice, so you’d be wise to change habits that will strain your voice even more.

This is a good time to stop smoking and drinking alcohol, especially before a recording session. It’s also a good idea to avoid eating food and drinking beverages that increase mucus output, such as dairy, eggs, soy products, soda, or coffee.

Another tip from the pros is to always have lip balm handy during a recording session. Otherwise, your lips could be cracked and bleeding at the end of a sessiomn.

The Bottom Line

Audiobook narration is only one branch of an over-arching voice actor industry.

There are plenty of other ways to earn a part-time or full-time gig with your voice, though you have to be dedicated and know where to get started.

This isn’t always an easy industry to get into, but it can be a very rewarding one with plenty of career satisfaction, especially if you love reading and like getting paid to read.

Does audiobook narration interest you? Where do you plan to look for jobs? Share your plans with us in the comments!

Being a mom to small children at home and earning enough income to support your family at the same time seems far-fetched a generation ago, but thanks to the internet, there are now plenty of work-at-home jobs for moms you can apply to.

You may worry about trying to get a few hours to yourself with a newborn or toddler to take care of in between the feedings, baths, nap times, playtimes, and all the other activities you need to do.

But plenty of these jobs for work-at-home moms are flexible enough to adjust to moms’ hectic schedules.

In today’s article, we run down some legitimate work at home jobs for moms who can put in the hours but still need to be there when their kids need them.

Before that, though, let’s explore the factors that you need to consider when looking for this type of work.

What to Consider When Picking a Work-at-Home Job

Before you start looking for work-at-home jobs, you need to have an honest self-assessment of your current situation, lifestyle, capabilities, and other factors you have to consider.

First, consider your equipment. You’ll need a computer, preferably a laptop, and a high-speed internet connection to be qualified for most work-at-home jobs.

Specific jobs also require particular software or accessories. For instance, writers usually need word processing and spellcheck software, while data entry specialists usually need spreadsheet software.

Next, list down your skills and qualifications, including those that you didn’t necessarily get from school. For instance, you may have a Liberal Arts degree, but you may have a knack for cooking.

You would also need to truthfully figure out how much time and how much mental and physical energy you have you have to work.

How much time you have is determined by many factors, such as your partner’s schedule (if you have a partner), availability of childcare, your children’s feeding times or mealtimes, doctor’s appointments, and many more.

Evaluating your energy level is a bit more subjective and is highly dependent on how much focus and brainpower you have left after you take care of your children and do household chores.

Lastly, it’s important to take a job that will add value to you as a person; that is, find meaningful and interesting work that will hone your existing skills or teach you new ones.

If you can, find a job that can act as an outlet for your creative energy, as you badly need it at this stage of parenting kids.

10 Legitimate Work at Home Jobs For Moms

1. Online Teacher

Becoming an online teacher is a great way to keep your passion for working with kids and teaching others alive while staying close to home.

Another perk of becoming an online teacher is that there are so many options available to you in terms of which subject, age group (even adults!), what times of the day, and how long a class you want to teach.

Make sure you have the right qualifications for the subject and state or country you want to teach in.

Online teaching regulations in the U.S., for example, are still the same as those for a traditional teacher, so you’ll still need a Teacher’s License.

However, if you decide to teach English to students in another country, you likely won’t need a Teacher’s License, but being certified as an instructor for English as a Foreign Language is definitely an advantage.

The TEFL website is a great source for anyone who wants to teach English as a Secondary Language online.

If teaching English online is something you’re interested in, here are some companies to check out.

2. Virtual Assistant

A virtual assistant performs many of the duties a typical assistant would—answering phone calls, managing schedules, answering emails, updating spreadsheets, etc.—but isn’t actually in an office.

The only possible downside to this sort of work-at-home job is that you’ll usually need to have a specific few hours to set aside each day without too many interruptions, and this may be hard to manage if you have really small children.

To find virtual assistant work, look for opportunities on company websites and on freelancing sites like Freelancer. I’ve also written about what you need to get ahead as a virtual assistant.

3. Virtual Bookkeeper

More and more companies, big and small, are turning to virtual bookkeepers to keep track of their financial records and taxes. Online personalities and remote organizations usually hire virtual bookkeepers as well.

If you have bookkeeping experience or are excellent with numbers, then this might be a great job position for you.

If you can get a foothold in this industry with a couple of clients then you can easily grow to make around $60,000 or more a year.

Virtual bookkeeping is a good option for moms who have a few hours a day open to devoting their attention to their clients.

I’ve found some companies currently offering virtual bookkeeper jobs here.

4. Transcriptionist

Plenty of industries have tons of video footage and audio files that need to be converted into written content.

The medical, legal, film, television, and many other industries have a constant need for transcriptionists. They either hire their own transcriptionists or dump their files on a transcription company, who will then hire transcriptionists to work on various files.

Transcriptionists are often assigned to transcribe video or audio content, reviewing reports and transcripts created by other transcriptionists, and proofreading and correcting errors. Most companies will require you to type 75 WPM or more.

The challenge in this type of job is that you’ll have to be able to find ways so you can hear your audio clearly. From noise-canceling headphones to audio editing software, there are various tools you can use to do this and transcribe your assigned audio files.

I’ve compiled a list of transcription jobs you can do from home.

5. Social Media Manager

The great thing about being a social media manager is that it is one of the most flexible jobs out there.

You can truly pick your own hours as scheduling software has made it easy to schedule posts to be published in advance.

Almost every company these days needs a social media manager and many opt to go for a freelancer because it’s much easier than hiring someone for the office. There are plenty of opportunities for this type of work-at-home job for moms.

The easiest way to find work as a social media manager is to look for opportunities on sites like Upwork and Flexjobs as well as apply on company websites.

6. Baker (and Blogger!)

Having a baker for a mom will probably result in some big smiles from the little ones as they get to lick off spoons and act as taste testers.

The big key here is to find clients to bake for.

It’s a good option to find a bakery to sell your goods to, as well as a few regular clients. You may have to hit a few farmer’s markets, holiday fairs, and bake sales.

The income you can earn as a baker might be small in the beginning, but you can steadily increase it by taking on more orders and regular clients.

Another idea would be to set up a blog and track and photograph the recipes you create. Grow a big enough following and you can turn your baking into a business worth seven figures!

(Any one else is addicted to Sally?)

If you’re really interested in going this route, we did write about how to sell baked goods from home.

7. Start a Homemade Crafts Business

There are plenty of major success stories out there from moms who started their own businesses by creating handmade gifts, products, and art.

Many people, including most parents, are increasingly becoming conscious of how the products they consume are impacting their families as well as the environment.

Online businesses that sell custom jewelry, natural cosmetic products, and homemade toys are seeing the big bucks rolling in.

The kicker: many of these online businesses are run by stay-at-home moms.

Any mom with a knack for creating crafty or gifts or products can definitely consider this as a legitimate work from home job. The beauty of it is you can create whenever you want during the day and leave the business side of it for when things have quieted down in the evenings.

Here are some examples of crafts to make and sell.

8. Life Coach

If you have a knack for helping people with their problems then perhaps you should consider becoming a life coach.

You can run the business from your home and book appointments with clients during the hours you know you have open.

Right now, it’s not necessary to become certified as a life coach – though you certainly can get certified if you want. There are some training opportunities out there as well that can help you get started.

Learn to Become is a great source for everything you might want to know about this potential career.

9. Writer

As content rises in popularity, companies and brands are constantly looking for content writers to help boost their brand awareness and marketing efforts.

If you have a knack for storytelling and have near-perfect grammar, freelance writing can be just the thing for you. Those who hire writers normally set deadlines for your work, and you can schedule your writing around your day so you can submit your articles on time.

Here’s how to find freelance writing jobs as a beginner.

Note that freelance writing is also a great stepping stone toward blogging, which is a great tool for earning passive income.

When you start your blog, you can write about pretty much anything that has an audience. You can write about your interests, your passion, your hobbies, heck, even your parenting journey.

10. Proofreader/Editor

Do you like reading more than writing?

And do you find yourself catching spelling and grammar errors quite easily in the text you’re reading?

If so, you might make a great proofreader or copy editor.

As companies and brands increase the amount of written content that they publish, the demand for proofreaders and editors to double-check that content and correct any errors is also increasing.

A giant list of proofreading jobs can be found here.

The Bottom Line: You CAN Be A Work-At-Home Mom!

Remember: You can chase your own dreams and work toward your financial goals while being a great parent.

Hopefully, this list of jobs for stay-at-home moms convinces you that this is possible and inspires you to get started today.

Looking for even more online work from home opportunities?

I’ve covered EVEN MORE stay-at-home mom jobs here!

Are you an expecting or stay-at-home mom looking for work? Which of these work-at-home jobs for moms on this list interests you? Let us know in the comments!