I started working from home full time in October of last year. Now when I tell people what I do, I’m often the recipient of blank stares, followed by questions of “How can I work from home?”
The work I do now consists of writing, blogging, and virtual assisting. But before I stumbled upon this line of work, I was constantly on the search for legitimate work-from-home opportunities.
I read emails for $0.02/piece, took 30 minute surveys for $2, and constantly searched for a more lucrative way to earn money from the comfort of my home. I searched long and hard, and never once came across a way to make fast and easy money — simply because there is no such thing.
The truth is that working from home is still work. In fact, I’d say I work a lot harder now than I did at my previous day job. Instead of working for one person, I work for several. And compiling a client list large enough to replace the income from my day job took me more than a year.
If you want to work from home, you can make it happen. You should, however, know what to look out for:
If It’s Too Good to Be True…..
“Make $250 a day by working for two hours.”
“Earn up to $97/hour with our fast and easy system.”
“No experience? No problem. Make thousands of dollars per month with our proven system.”
If you’ve searched for work-from-home jobs, then you’ve seen all of these statements. But think about it. If there was a way to earn thousands of dollars per month doing easy work, everyone would be doing it.
If it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is.
You Shouldn’t Have to Pay to Work
A couple of months ago, I received a text message from an acquaintance asking me how I was able to work from home. Specifically, she asked about a company that promised to pay hundreds of dollars a day for placing ads on social media.
The catch? You had to pay to join the company.
Red flag.
I immediately looked up reviews of the company and discovered that dozens of people had paid to work and never received any correspondence after forking over the cash.
Unless you’re paying for education, like a course on the type of work you’re interested in pursuing, you should never have to hand over money. Businesses pay employees — not the other way around. If you have to pay a company to get a job, it is almost surely a scam.
The Bottom Line
You can find legitimate work-from-home opportunities, but they won’t come easy. The next time you’re promised hundreds of dollars for virtually no work, don’t waste your time or money.
Once you decide what type of work you want to do, you’ll have to go out and find clients on your own. Stay away from scams, and remember: it takes time and hard work to build an online business, but it’s usually worth it!
Have you ever encountered any work-from-home scams?
{ read the comments below or add one }
I haven’t encountered any scams but, I have encountered websites that ask for way too much personal information before being accepted to work for them. Another think to watch out for is the ridiculously low pay for your hard work. I went on Mechanical Turk and found a job writing an essay for $5. I completed the essay but it took me 3 hours of my time. So its not only scams you have to watch out for but, being paid under minimum wage!