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geraldsch... geraldsch...
 
M$2 January 23, 2009 08:02 PM

Are there any work-from-home programs that aren't a scam?

I've been seeing a lot of advertisements for work at home programs that promise lots of money for little work and no commute. Now I'm not that naive to think that you can get something for nothing, but I do know that there are people out there that work from home and make enough to support themselves.

Anyone have any suggestions for work-at-home programs that are legitimate and don't involve completely starting your own business or simply virtually commuting for a company you already work for?
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divyamistr... divyamistr...
 
 January 23, 2009 09:24 PM
I personally know at least 3 individuals who work from home and make enough money to raise a family. One of them involves starting a business. I know you mentioned you want the ones that do not involve "completely starting a business", so I've picked examples to minimize that.

#1 Insurance agency. Instead of starting your own "Tursiops Insurance Coompany", you should start "Tursiops Insurance Agency". You can get affiliation from State Farm, Farmers, or any other insurance company. Of course this is easy to do if there aren't many agencies in your area for that company.

#2 Web-designer/Interior-designer/Freelance Writer: I put all these in same category, because they are all different kinds of "digital designing" positions. You may be good at one of these, or similar tasks. You should create a few pieces of work, and use websites like Elance to get some beginning work and expand from there on.

#3 Crafts on Etsy / Furniture on Lushpad: If you are good at finding amazing original furniture, or make something of your own, Lushpad.com is a great place to showcase it and make good money. Etsy is a place to sell your own art/craft. If you're good at knitting, painting, or even making cool jewlerry you should give Etsy a shot. They'll setup a webstore for you. You get to pick the prices you want to sell, the deals you wish to run, etc. Everything is provded, so all you have to do is create something, take a picture, and upload with product details. I just setup an Etsy place for someone. She wanted to sell scarves.

If you are good at explaining things, you should consider teaching online. There are several online teaching / tutoring services. Some may require that you get state license, but that isn't too hard from what I've heard. And those services are likely trusted sources.

And last but not the least; if you are good at researching and writing stuff, consider Mahalo Greenhouse! For every accepted Mahalo entry you may be paid $10-$15 from what I remember. Mahalo search is still new, so trust me when I say that there is A LOT to be written about.

I hope these will help you discover the right options and get you started in more specific searches.

Hope this helped.


Source(s):
Considering similar options myself :)

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albanian albanian
 
January 23, 2009 08:13 PM
Perhaps you could ask some of those work at home people that you know exist what they do? I don't know any myself. I would say most artists, poets, and novelists work at home; but, only a few support themselves that way. Homes were not designed for most kinds of productive work.

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tursiops tursiops
 
January 23, 2009 08:45 PM
I've done one which is apply for www.alchemicdream.net
It consist on working from home, but don't think you'll become rich with it. At least it works and that's what you're asking for.
Source(s):
www.alchemicdream.net


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briannajan... briannajan...
 
January 23, 2009 09:34 PM
I personally think that there are very few that aren't scams. I hav found a few payperpost websites where they pay you for blogging on the subjects they want you to blog on. That one is www.payperpost.com
Associated Content is also a good one they they pay you perpost also to post about products or anything to that sort.
www.associatedconent.com
you can also go somewhere like www.ehow.com or www.eopinions.com or www.chacha.com and get paid for answering questions or writing articles!
Source(s):
www.ehow.com
www.associatedcontent.com
www.eopinion.com
www.chacha.com
www.payperpost.com


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krystyne20 krystyne20
 
January 24, 2009 02:55 PM
I've worked for transcription companies from home and currently do freelance writing from home to make some extra money.

The two transcription companies that I worked for that are totally legit are:

CyberSecretaries:  http://www.speak-write.com/TypistNav/Employment/index.cfm
Allegis Communications: http://www.allegisteam.com/WEB/about-us/employment.asp

I currently write articles for Associated Content, Bright Hub, and eHow.  Here's a link that gives you info on about 35 different freelance writing sites:

http://freelancehomewriter.blogspot.com/search/label/Upfront%20Pay%20Sites

Another good source is the Work at Home Moms site.  I get a lot of leads from their message boards:

http://www.wahm.com/

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infonaut80 infonaut80
 
January 24, 2009 10:49 PM
Hi Gerald,

My sister Monique has just recently got into the "affiliate marketing" arena. What i find so cool about this method is that you don't need to start up your own business :-D
As a generic rule of thumb there are NO get rich fast programs out there and anyone trying to sell you such an idea are frauds.

Peace
A.j

Source(s):
http://monique-recommends.prodigy380.com/freebies/marketing-tips.zip


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jennhollow... jennhollow...
 
January 25, 2009 04:08 PM

I've been working from home since 1999 full-time, so I believe this is possible.  Here are some of my past and current jobs:

  1. Freelance writer: this is my current profession, and has been a part of my work at home routine all along.  I don't do any of the other professions at the moment because writing is taking up the majority of my time.
  2. Author: I've written two books (since 2006) and am looking for new contracts all the time.
  3. Artist: From 2002 until 2005, I sold my art on ebay.com, etsy.com, and livejournal.com.  This was a great alternative because it allowed me a lot of creative flexibility.
  4. Consultant: I served briefly as a Mary Kay consultant.  I liked it in the beginning, but I didn't have the time necessary to "get out there" and make it work. If I did, this would have been a very successful business venture.
  5. Use book sales: I collected my books that I don't like anymore, as well as books from my friends and family, to sell on Amazon.com from 2005 until 2007.  This was a GREAT supplimental income and, if the books hadn't run out, I would still be doing this.

The idea is to find a business venture, rather than a pyramid scheme.  While Mary Kay is viewed that way by many, it is still a workable option because you're in control most of the time. I hope this helps


Source(s):
http://www.freelancewritinggigs.com
http://www.journalismjobs.com
http://www.mediabistro.com
http://www.marykay.com
http://www.amazon.com


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tomback14 tomback14
 
May 14, 2009 05:34 PM
There are freelance opportunities available which are genuine, but u have to bid for them and compete with the wages and hourly rates. Also there are few home based transcription work, where in you get the data in images or audio form and u need to convert them back in text form and upload. Here also you'd be competing against people from countries where the hourly rate of pay is a lot lower, so don't expect huge wages for such jobs, but still it might be good enough to start with.

Also there are sites that pay you to do specific tasks like posting something on a forum or writing comments on some blogs, finding a logo or pic for a particular brand and uploading on some site... or similar stuff, and there are amount specified for each tasks. tasks are easy, small and simple but the payout is not very huge per task, so you might have to perform multiple tasks to get some substantial income.

http://homejobsblog.blogspot.com/2008/12/work-at-home-using-typing-skills.html
http://outsource-guru.blogspot.com/2008/09/translation-jobs.html
http://start-blogging-for-money.blogspot.com/2008/09/get-paid-for-blogging.html

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