Working from home is a dream for many of us, but many people are scared to take the plunge because they have a fear of getting scammed and losing everything. If transitioning from a regular job, it is best to start small to try your plan to work from home out before staking your future on it. That way, you can get a feel for the process and boost your earnings gradually while you are still earning a regular paycheck. It is important to remember that legitimate companies will not charge you for information or to take your application and generally do not solicit applicants through junk e-mail messages. Here are some real opportunities to work from home that will have you earning real money in no time.
People that work in retail or sales may be able to make good money as a home-based telemarketer. These telemarketers work from home on behalf of companies willing to pay them to cold call potential customers and try to sell them products. Telemarketers are typically paid by the hour and may earn incentives and commission based on their performance. If you would like to work from home as a telemarketer, you can go to Telereach.com or Intrep.com and apply to be hired on their websites.
If you are patient and like talking to people, you may be able to work from home as a customer service rep. Many companies outsource their customer-service operations to third-party companies, which hire home-based workers to take calls and orders. One such company is Alpine Access, which currently employs more than 7,500 work-at-home customer-service agents. These agents make around $9 an hour and are eligible for benefits plus a 401k program when they have worked over 1,000 hours, averaging more than 20 hours a week. Other companies that hire work-at-home customer-service agents include ACDDirect.com, Arise.com, LiveOps.com, WestatHome.com, and WorkingSolutions.com.
Another option to work from home is becoming a freelancer. There are dozens of ways to make money freelancing, including writing articles for others for money, blogging, providing professional services like accounting or legal help, and doing basic office tasks from your computer. Numerous websites and job boards have sprung up to help connect freelancers with interested customers. People considering freelancing can sign up for accounts on sites like Elance-Odesk, Textbroker, OnlineWritingJobs.com, Scripted and Freelancer.com. There is no cost to sign up and you can review posted jobs and rates to see if any are of interest to you.