REAL work at home jobs

I guess perhaps I've been through some of these things before. So, I'll share some of my experiences with you.

Work at home: Mary Kay/Avon/Pampered Chef/Etc.

These are not bad programs for most people who can devote the time to chasing new orders every week, bagging and delivering and all the other fun things that go along with them. They're even more effective if you have home parties.

Hazard: You spend your profits on (a) sales literature (b) special products for demonstration (c) things you love (d) promotional things to 'reward' your customers.

Upside: If you have the time, the dedication and the willpower to not spend your profits you can make some money at this. Can you make a living at it? Probably some can, most can't.

Affiliate Marketing: Google/Amazon/Etc.

It's free to sign up you only need your email address and a PayPal account. If you want to spend 6-8 hours a day online updating your Hub Pages, blogging, etc., to keep your content fresh then maybe you can make some money.

Upside: If you are an extremely resourceful person and want to spend full time updating a multiple number of sites you can make some money. My net results with over 150 hub pages, 9 blogs and over 200 Squidoo pages nets me about $60 a month. It's nice to have the pocket change. I use these funds to buy odds and ends on Ebay.

Multi Level Marketing: We all know what they are. Amway is the one that immediately comes to mind, but I've seen some responses to your inquiry that include others. They're everywhere. They're expensive!

Can you make money: Sure, but before you do be prepared to spend hundreds of dollars to 'get started'. After all, you need samples to demonstrate the products (not just Amway but others). Then there's the motivational stuff that costs plenty to keep you going on the 'right path'. Them perhaps you need to set up a website to promote your business. Need I go on?

Upside: If you're a great salesperson, have a huge network of friends or are in a position to purchase THOUSANDS of email addresses maybe you can make some money. Someone makes it, Amway and companies like it make millions of dollars a year on product so someone is selling it. I sold Amway for about 4 years. My net income from this venture was just about 4,000 dollars. So $1,000 a year is less than $100 a month.

Real work at home: I am assuming that you have some basic skills. So for instance you can clearly type. Are you a fairly good writer? Can you do spreadsheets? Do you know how to program? Do you have good reasearch skills? Can you develop websites? Do you know about SEO Marketing?

I happen to be a fairly good writer. I also have a fairly good grasp of SEO Marketing techniques. For me, I wanted income I could depend on, I wanted to work at home and I wasn't about to pay ten cents to start either (nor was I going to pay fees later).

I researched hundreds of websites - literally. I looked into all types of programs, work at home opportunities, MLM's - you name it I looked at it.

Last September my research took me to oDesk and you talk about getting lucky. I spent about 9 hours uploading a portrait, a resume, taking tests, etc. and then I started posting for jobs.

It took a while....It took me until October to get my first job and to be frank about it the pay was awful. But I had discovered that I could work at increasingly higher rates if I could get feedback so that's the decision I made. You can choose to do this however you want to.

Fast Forward Today: In October of 2007 I made $23.76 on oDesk. It was very discouraging. I was however determined to make it and I kept at it day after day, bidding on new jobs and telling people why they should give me a chance. I also took on some fixed rate jobs (which oDesk does not guarantee payment on) just to obtain feedback. Well in January of 2008 I successfully completed (and was paid for) 300 hours of employment from November to January. Now I know this doesn't appear to be full time, but you'd have to understand that November and December were still growing months for me so I sort of keep them out of the equation. I can make it easy for you. In January my income was four figures for the month. It was higher than $1500 is as far as I will disclose for you.

Downside: You have to be willing to commit the time it takes to develop your profile and perhaps take some lower paying jobs to get yourself started.

Upside: If you accept hourly paid assignments oDesk guarantees payment through the use of a tool called 'team' where the buyer can get 'screen shots' of your work.

Downside: You must constantly bid against others for jobs. There are approximately 10 providers for every job - brush up on your cover letter skills! Once you land a job you're not off the hook. Some jobs are long term (most of mine are) but others can be as few as 5-10 hours (some less).

Honestly though it's legitimate work and I guarantee that you'll get paid if you work! No surveys - honest to god working for a living!

oDesk also provides this widget for providers to add to their blogs or other websites they are active with - this would be a banner if HubPages allowed banners!

The On Demand Global Workforce - oDesk