This is a guest post from MD of Studenomics — the perfect place for those who are looking to destroy their credit card debt, who want to have more money now and wish to enjoy life a little bit. Come on over to check out my new design! If not then at least consider subscribing to my feed.
Work From Home Jobs: How To Find Legitimate Opportunities
With all of the get rich quick schemes and work from home scams that plague the Internet, many young people are wondering this: are there any legitimate work from home jobs out there?
Of course there are.
The problem is that many amazing opportunities are buried below scams and penny earning jobs. If you search hard for these jobs and are willing and comfortable to work from home, then here are some possible options for finding a real work-from-home position:
Within Your Own Company
Don’t look now, but you can potentially find an opportunity like this from within your own company. So how is this possible? Well, it’s 2010. Does every single person have to commute to the office every single day? Nope. As long as you can prove that you’re productive from home and that your quality of work won’t deteriorate because you’re away from the office, then telecommuting from home could certainly work out.
Image from MoGallery.com
How is this entrepreneurial? Because most of the other people within your company will want the comfort and discipline of being confined to working at their desks. You, on the other hand, know that you can work from anywhere, as long as there’s an internet connection and a cup of coffee available. There’s nothing wrong with being the entrepreneur within your company.
Freelancing
Write some articles. Create some website designs. Draw some logos. Give some lessons. Sell some products. Maybe start an online business. Do whatever it is that you’re good at. I can’t give you all of the answers, nor can anyone else. You know yourself the best. You know where you excel, more so than anyone else out there does. So use it to your advantage.
My friend is an amazing guitar player. He’s studying guitar in college, he plays in a band, and spends all of his spare time practicing. The unfortunate thing is that guitars are not cheap and neither is studio rent. So he decided to go into freelancing; he put up a bunch of posters and got the word out that he was available for gigs. Now he makes money playing the guitar in ways that he thought were originally lame. He plays at weddings and teaches others to play guitar. He’s not going to get rich any time soon but he has enough money to support his hobby and have some left over to do as he pleases.
Blogging (apparently!)
Setting up a blog is idiot proof (I did it!). The challenging part is making some decent money off a blog. Anyone can tell their buddies to click a bunch of Google ads for pennies a day, but that’ll get you banned by Google in no time.
But once you do start making money from blogging (the legitimate way), not only can you work from home but you can work from anywhere in the world.
How do you make money blogging? I’m nowhere close to there yet but the plan is to use Adsense, to join affiliate programs, and yes — to eventually sell my own products.
The next time you see a flyer or an internet site or ad promoting the fact that you could make a ton of money from home, give pause and think twice. Research that opportunity very well. Check for web and offline chatter about these endeavors (in fact, watch out for those proprietors, sites and companies that don’t have any footprint on the web or anywhere else) and find out what you can about the opportunity. Any promises of easy money should be met with suspicion. Be wary of big promises as many of these leads are merely scams that are set up to separate you from your money. So please watch out!
Copyright © 2010 The Digerati Life. All Rights Reserved.
{ 22 comments… read them below or add one }
Don’t forget there are lots of “contracting” types of opportunities. You say Amway, I say My Vintage Baby clothing. There are dozens of companies that will pay strong commissions for you to host parties to sell their products similar to Tupperware.
I’m interested in blogging and I love it, because we can work anywhere..
Making money online is much more complex than most people think. You need to have a strategy… what kind of traffic are you targeting? That will dictate how you make money for the most part.
Good post.
Well said, to work from home is great, I have fun every day. You must research that opportunity very well, pick a home business you like with a good product, what ever you pick you have to work. some people think they can work from and make lots of money with out any real work, no you can’t. you must set your goals and take action plan the road a head. In business you will have ups and downs keep looking a head and you will get there, I love Network Marketing, do you see the word WORK in there, what ever you do I wish you success and keep looking a head.
“Now he makes money playing the guitar in ways that he thought were originally lame. He plays at weddings and teaches others to play guitar.”
There’s absolutely nothing lame about teaching someone else a skill 🙂
Lots of people say that blogging is great because it is location independent. But I’d like to point out that it only works if you go to a place that has a good Internet connection. I’ve been to areas where I can’t get any network connection at all, even when I expected to.
@Kosmo Lame in the sense that he would rather be a rock star. I told him in my opinion it’s possible to make money playing the guitar but to be realistic.
@SVB Really? I’ve found internet connections in the strangest places on Earth. Just a few weeks ago, my resort in the Dominican Republic had wireless internet. While my girlfriend and friends got ready I checked up on my blog.
Blogging nowadays is making a lot of money! I think it’s great that everything is moving to the internet because it makes things more accessible for all of us. I think if you are able to work from home, that’s already a great thing to be able to do.
Teaching English to immigrants is another possibility. You can get certified to do it by taking a c0urse or do it informally. Instead of bashing immigration–and let’s admit it, many of us do–instead see it as an opportunity.
Might also be a way to learn or brush up on a foreign language. Becoming bi-lingual in a global world can open all kinds of opportunities by itself.
It’s all about the double D’s – Due Diligence.
Wealth comes to those who prepare themselves to receive it. The internet is a goldmine of information and a land mine of misinformation. It takes weeks to get the facts about any work at home opportunity. You have to use your hype sifter.
Solid advice about following your passion. You’ll do best – whether working online or offline – when doing something that you love.
Working at home takes trial and error. You’ll receive many opportunities to learn more – ie, mistakes. But there’s no limit to your salary and you never have to answer to anybody other than yourself. Embrace this responsibility with the freedom, do your work at home homework, and you can succeed in whatever work at home endeavor which you choose.
Hello folks, I have started a new blog. I am a novice blogger. However, in this economy and the way everything pretty much is going virtual, I thought I would help connect people to those opportunities if they wish to browse.
James
Freelancing….I’m going to do more of that this year…good post. I’m going to keep at this blogging thing as well.
Here is a good article on msn on earning extra income.
Blogging is a good idea. I think being an entrepreneur first and foremost and finding out what your passionate about is key to being able to get out of the rat race. I would have to add investing/trading in the equities market and real estate investing as excellent ways to provide income streams
Working at home can be great and rewarding, and there are many excellent and totally legitimate work from home jobs out there. It is hard to weed out the scams from the real jobs for many people though, which is unfortunate. It is nice to see posts like this that can help people find the best legit jobs for them. The internet is changing things in so many ways, and work at home jobs are perfect for so many people, many just need this type of guidance.
Thanks for the great content and information on legitimate online businesses. I search the net looking for this type of content to give me ideas on future articles that I am going to write on this same general subject. Appreciate reading your article and information on this particular subject.
It’s tough to work at home and make good money. Most of the companies that offer real work at home jobs already have way more applicants than they’ll ever need. I’ve done some blogging and made a little money, but it takes far more time than I’m willing to commit to really make it worthwhile so it’s just a hobby that provides extra cash.
The thing with any home business is to focus on one thing at a time, learn it, apply it and then move forward. Information age creates information overload to.
I would say too direct sales, with high commission products. BUT of course you must be a good online (and off line ) marketer.
At-home moms in pajamas or blue jeans are the new secret weapon of Fortune 500 companies in the US. Up to half of those multi-billion dollar companies rely on moms, students and retirees working at home to participate in paid online surveys to evaluate their products, test their advertising, and rate them against their competitors. This is a great deal for the consumers/researchers. They can work from the comfort of their own homes for whatever hours fit their schedules – daytime, evenings, even overnight – spending as much or as little time as they can spare. And they’ll be paid $5 or $50 or $75 per survey or focus group panel for their honest, unvarnished opinions.
Getting a work from home job can be really tough. It requires a lot of patience and research to be able to find a legitimate opportunity but being able to land one is really quite rewarding.
Excellent post. I think blogging is an excellent way to make money online. It takes patience and consistent posting though. A well monetized and optimized blog is the trick.
I’m a freelance writer myself and freelance article writing is a great way to earn an income. You can earn through residual writing sites, personal clients who pay up front for articles or through affiliate marketing with articles. All great ways to make some money!