Work At Home
The desire to work from home is not a new concept.
For years, newspapers, magazines, television and most recently, the Internet have been filled with those “work at home opportunities“, “work at home taking surveys“, “companies work at home” and “free work at home data entry“ shouting at people. Many of these offers may sound good at first, but in reality they are outright ridiculous! There are just too many websites and television commercials touting “real job opportunities” which are actually unreal opportunities and scams.
With the current economic situation, more scammers are out there than ever preying on well-meaning people who are desperately looking for something to do at home or who are hoping to bring in some extra income to make up for the loss of a job. This sad fact, can make you wonder if it is possible to work at home without getting fooled by a scam?
Is it possible to work at home?
Yes, I am here to personally tell you that it is possible.
I’ve been working from home since 1999 as a Freelance Financial Advisor. In 2003, I launched my first home-based online business – the Ishopathome.ca.
I’ve been lucky to enjoy the freedom of working from home ever since I made that leap.
Should You Work For Someone Else or For Yourself?
The answer is as simple as what your perception of career security looks like. For example, if you are more comfortable with a guaranteed paycheck then you should probably work for someone else or for a reputable company that offers regular hourly pay. On the other hand, if you wish to guarantee your own job security and do the work you truly enjoy, then working for yourself is the best route to go.
Where Can I find (Real) Work at Home Jobs?
This is the million-dollar question, but it’s best answered by what to watch out for to avoid the scams. If you are looking for work at home jobs through the internet, beware of the hundreds if not thousands of sites that offer “work at home” jobs which are nothing but scams.
To avoid these sites, you must narrow down your search with these simple search tricks:
Contrary to common belief, don’t type “work at home jobs” or “data entry job” on a Google search. When you do a search like this, you will find websites that are in the hundreds aimed to sell you a membership, or a “kit” that will not give you what you want. For one thing, these are not job titles.
For a more effective search use specific job titles like: transcriptionist or key words such as contract freelance, this is a home based position, may work from anywhere, independent contractor, this is a telecommuting job offer etc.
To find these available jobs, it’s best to check agencies online such as workopolis.com, craigslist.org, Monster.com and CareerBuilder.com. However, use extreme caution when you use craigslist. It used to be reliable, but many scammers have infiltrated it and now you see scams all over the site. Become smart on using it and don’t fall for scam pitches.
Know the difference between the actual job posting and a “sponsored ad” or “site advertisement”.
Sometimes, when you go to a legitimate job agency’s site, you will see some “work at home” job offers scattered around on the websites. You will see these offer links either on the right or left panel or on top or below the actual main text of the site. Sometimes, it is obvious because it says “sponsored” or “Google ads”, but sometimes it’s not so obvious.
Watch out for these red flags when evaluating work from home ads:
* Promise of big earnings
* No experience required
* Urges you to respond right away
* Asks for too much personal information
Here are some examples of legitimate Work At Home Jobs that can be found online:
What’s the common denominator of all these job postings? They clearly tell you what is required, not vaguely. The ads tell you where to apply and you know EXACTLY who you are going to be working for because that information is included on the posting. The job postings are also posted on the company’s website vs. an ad posted on a free website.
Questionable online jobs or work at home job offers:
DATA ENTRY WORKERS NEEDED!!
Work From Home – Earn $1000/Day
Obviously, this “job” sounds too good to be true. The all in CAPS letters and exclamation is not from a reputable business looking for help. Also, there’s no job in data entry that will ever pay that much in a day. If it sounds unrealistic, then it probably is.
WORK AT HOME
No experience necessary.
Reputable companies require some talents from prospective employee or worker.
No experience needed? What exactly are the job titles / responsibilities? The ad doesn’t state any real information about a job, nor does it include a link to a reputable company. Watch out – it’s a scam.
Learn from this experience of someone who was a victim to a work at home scam:
How I got taken by a work at home scam
Lastly, there is no easy job online. Many sites and job postings try to make you believe that there are plenty of jobs where you can make oodles of money while “sleeping” or doing very little. Wouldn’t it be nice if there really were jobs like this? Remember, honest business and work can bring in great success!
