Legitimate
Home Business or Jobs
Hi
Leslie,
I
am now a stay at home mom and would like to find
something to do in my spare time while the kids are
in school. I also want it to be legitimate.
A few years back there was a business that you could
do at home selling greeting cards, gifts, etc.
Is there anything along those lines still out there?
I want to be able to do this mainly from home and
not have to travel around due to that I have to be
here when the kids get out of school. On the
other hand I am also looking for either typing/data
entry or billing. I am not having much success
in finding any information unless I have to pay out
a lot of money to end up at a dead end. I
don't have alot to pay out for start up and then
have it be a dead end. I can not afford to
waste money. I am willing to pay out start up
cost if in fact it is legitimate and working.
Can you help. - Ginger Warnick
Hi
Ginger,
Before
I go into to more detail on your answer, there are a
few issues I should clarify to help insure your
success whatever you decide. There are many great
businesses and jobs that can be done at home. What
many fail to understand though is that working at home
in a business or job takes a great deal of work. The
idea of earning a good income during nap time or while
Oprah is on is false. Everyone I know who is
successfully working at home spends a great deal of
time and energy on a daily basis to make it happen. If
you are looking for some easy online sign-up-get-paid
program, you are bound to be disappointed and risk
being scammed. However, if you understand that any
work-at-home endeavor requires consistent effort, your
chances of success increase significantly.
If
you are looking for a home business in the area of
gifts or greeting cards, I recommend starting your
search at the Direct
Selling Association. Members of the DSA are
reviewed for a full year before membership is granted.
Further, members must adhere to a strict code of
ethics. While most of these companies use a party plan
or person-to-person selling strategy, some may allow
sales online or through eBay. Any company that you
find, you will want to research.
-
Verify
any claims it makes such as being in the Better
Business Bureau or featured in on television.
-
Find
out the refund policy, the longer the better. You
will want at least 30 days but longer is better as
it takes time to fully learn and implement a
business.
-
Check
with fraud alerts to make sure there are no suits
against the company. The Federal Trade Commission
is a good place to check. Here is an alert I found
about a Greeting Card Business: Greeting
Card Business Opportunities Fraudulently Marketed
by Florida Companies.
-
Make
sure you review the compensation plan and
understand the "system" by which you
will be expected to build a business. Sometimes,
in effort to get you signed up, the person you
contact about joining will leave out
important details. In my experience, most bad
reports on home businesses found on the internet
have less to do with the company and more to do
with enrollers failing to fully disclose important
information.
-
Most
importantly, whatever business you decide to join,
develop a business and marketing plan. Most
businesses fail because people don't do the things
that need to be done to be successful. Marketing
is more than posting an ad or a flyer. Its a daily
part of the job.
As
far as typing and data entry, I am finding more and
more small and medium size businesses are outsourcing
many of their clerical services. However, work-at-home
jobs are like any other job in that employers are
looking for qualified employees. Do you know how fast
you can type without errors? Have you done data entry
before? Further, many of the these companies allow
people to work from home but are looking for employees
that live in their area. A good place to look for
these jobs is at Craigslist.org
in your area. Craigslist makes it easy. Just choose
"jobs" and then click the
"Telecommute" box for work-at-home jobs in
your area.
There
are several online companies that are taking on
customer service and clerical workers in a freelance
capacity. This work is quite competitive and may or
may not be regular depending on your specific skills.
My favorite resource for work-at-home jobs and
companies that are frequently hiring is Virtual
Assistants. Its not free and there is no guarantee
you'll find work. But its one of the best online
databases of work-at-home jobs.
Its
important to remember, you never want to pay money to
get hired to a job. A home business can cost you money
but no legitimate employers charge to hire people.
That doesn't mean you won't spend money in a job
search but you can't buy a job.
The
best way to successfully earn income from home in
business or job is to learn all you can about home
business or telecommuting through books or online
information resources, research any opportunity you
find interesting, make a detail business and marketing
plan, and then work that plan every day.
Ask
WAHS Leslie is Leslie Truex a stay and work-at-home
mom who has been helping people work at home since
1998 with her website Work
At Home Success. She is also the author of Jobs At
Home: A Complete Guide to Finding a Work-At-Home Job.
Ask WAHS Leslie is a weekly column. You can submit a
question to Ask WAHS Leslie by emailing
here.
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