Working From Home

I began looking for a way to work from home in 2004, when one of my boys was having serious health problems. I left my full-time job and took a part-time job. Wanting to be home and put my child's needs first, I was searching for a work at home job that would let me work whenever I had free time. This lens documents my work at home experiences. Hopefully, others can learn from them.

There were two forums that helped me land my first work at home job. They continue to be the most comprehensive places to find information on working from home: WAHM and Workplace Like Home. I also have an article that might be helpful to you on the best way to find a job using work at home forums.

Back then the easiest job to get working from home was "customer service agent." There were several places that hired agents to answer telephone calls in their own homes. The top companies hiring for this type of work are: West, LiveOps, ACD Direct, Arise, Cloud10, and many others. These are not outbound calls. They are calls coming into your home for orders. West is by far the easiest place to get hired, as it is the largest. They usually began new employees for West working a line they called "DR." DR stands for Direct Response and is code for meaning you have no idea what product you are representing until it pops up on your screen. You will read from a script. Direct response isn't a lot of fun because you don't have any true knowledge of the products and it can make you feel like a complete idiot when the customer on the other end of the phone wants information. I worked my last DR shift when I received calls for the Girls Gone Wild videos. I simply wouldn't read the script. =) Luckily, West allowed me to take orders for a famous television shopping network instead.

There are also many outbound calling jobs available for people who wish to do phone work. Verafast offers an outbound calling job that pays decently and is simply verifying peoples address. There are also surveys. Finally, outbound calling to SELL pays well, but it isn't my style. Those jobs are available if they work for you. For either phone position you will need a quiet place to work and a quality headset.

I was pretty excited when I landed my first job grading high school aptitude tests from home. Although I was grateful to have found something to do from home, I didn't particularly enjoy phone work. Also, I felt I had the skills to get a better job from home. Grading aptitude tests from home requires a college degree. There are 2 companies that hire regularly. They are Pearson and Educational Testing Systems.

• Grading aptitude tests was fun and I still do that sometimes in the spring, but it requires you to schedule your hours in advance. When I found "Write for Cash," that was the first time I got paid to write and earn money, something I could do whenever I had free time. Some people are looking for at home JOBS and some people want more freedom in their schedule. I wanted much more flexibility to work my job around my family, not my family around my job. Writing web content allowed that to happen!

  "Write for Cash," no longer exists, but soon after I found Associated Content, Constant-Content, and paid forum posting. Later, eHow and Squidoo came along among many others. There is so much opportunity out there for freelance writers today. We are all very lucky.

  I've written several articles about my work at home experiences. Each include information on the hours required, what type of work you will be doing at home, how much you can expect to be paid, and how to apply. Please never pay a fee to work at home! Also, I report my work at home experiences factually and free from hype.

  My articles discuss the requirements for each job, give application instructions, a good idea of the job requirements and pay rates.

  
  

Some people have good luck selling Crafts online. Here is a little more information on the best places to do that.

Make Money Selling on Etsy.com

Working from home has advantages! You lose the commute, the panty hose and day care expense. You save time as well as money by working from your own comfy home. No more rushing to get to work in the a.m., you sit down and you are there. But, most work at home jobs pay less. How much of a cut in pay are you willing to take to leave the rat race?

There are many false advertisements out there for working from home. This video from TheGreenApple gives many of the legitimate opportunities. Obviously, I'm a freelance writer as she mentions. She also gives a very descriptive explanation of call center work with websites indluded. She mentions medical trials, which as she says can be lucrative without taking frightening products if you happen to live in the area where the trial occurs. I have not done product reviews, but she gives a list of legitimate companies. The mystery shopping that she discusses can be an easy way to make a little extra cash.

This last video discusses ways that busy stay-at-home moms can make money by blogging. It discusses earn money from advertising on your blog as well as earning money from products and services purchased by a dedicated audience, or followers.

Another interesting story in this news segment is of a man experiencing medical challenges that lost his brick and mortar job. He turned things around despite his health obstacles and created a concierge service.