When someone mentions “work at home” one of two thoughts usually come to mind; get rich quick and scam. Funny how the two most common ideas about working at home are the farthest from the truth. Certainly, some people make good money in a short period (due to hard work not luck) and there are definitely scams. But there is work as well. People who avoid work-at-home options because of fears of being scammed are missing out on many great opportunities.
It would be nice if the authorities could stomp out work-at-home fraud more effectively and efficiently, so that you could feel safe in searching for and applying to jobs or other work-at-home opportunities. Aside from the fact that law enforcement agencies don’t have the budgets or manpower to hunt scammers down, is that fact that staying ahead of scammers is increasingly difficult in the Internet age. But that shouldn’t deter you from searching for legitimate work-at-home options. Companies of all sizes are hiring, even in this challenging economy. Many of these companies you’ve heard of like Amazon.com, 1-800 Flowers, American Express and Capital One. Smaller businesses and government agencies also hire home-based workers. Plus, there are many business opportunities, as well as the option to turn a skill or passion you have into income.
The trick to staying safe is to first learn about working at home so that you understand what it’s all about (hint, it’s not stuffing envelopes or processing email). Then you need to search for work or opportunities based on your skills, experiences and interests, just like you would in the traditional work world. Sites like WorkAtHomeSuccess.com offer tips, information and even screened job leads. Finally, you need to do the work. For a job you need to submit a professional resume or application. For a home business, you need to find your market. In both cases, you need to give your best in the work you do.
Don’t let the fear of scams stop you from finding flexibility working at home. Yes, you need careful in your search, but work from home opportunities are prevalent.
Be sure to check out the following pages at WAHS for information on scams, work-at-home jobs and opportunities:
Getting Started Working At Home
How to do a Work-At-Home Job Search
Work-At-Home Success University – eCourses in work-at-home jobs, blogging, affiliate marketing, writing and more.
I work from home and regularly get scammers. They are quite easy to spot now but in the early days it took me a while to work out they were scammers. Fortunately I was not taken in by them.
I would recommend to anybody working from home that you have a clearly defined space where you work. The kitchen table when everyone’s finished dinner and done their homework is not ideal!
I moved out into the garden. I had our garden shed done up, insulated, electricity and internet put in place. Before I used to work in the living room. I could not go back to that now!
Great idea to use the garden shed. In fact, I believe I had aguest post on how to to that recently. Thank you for posting Ruth!