WORK-AT-HOME MOMS: GET SCAM-FREE JOBS!
Just what you’ve always wanted: the chance to work at home and still be part of your children’s lives. Let’s face it. We all want that life. Millions of mothers are trying to get jobs from home, and the most likely place for them to look is on the internet.
Once again, the internet scams. 6 million moms have reported being scammed trying to work from home this past year. What is unique about these scams now is that they often come from individuals who are posing as legitimate and familiar “name brand” companies.
WORK AT HOME BUSINESSES
The key with Work at Home Businesses is holding on to your money. As crazy as it sounds, don’t fall prey to any business that asks you to pay for books or manuals.
TUTOR STUDENTS ONLINE
Parents don’t have a lot of homework time. Help out by offering online tutoring, for $10-15/hour. Tutor.com.
Good:
For parents: they have discounts or freebies, like the first 20 minutes for only $1, or a free TI calculator when you join their services. You get qualified tutors in every subject.
For tutors: Many benefits, like health insurance and life insurance—that is huge, paid holiday time, even gym membership reimbursement!, free online tutoring for your own family—having a study buddy is a great luxury these days. Looking for bi-lingual people.
Good job, as the hours are typically after school, into the evening.
Bad:
Full-time is only $30 hours/week, looking more for advanced subject tutors, and pay is not great; $10-15/hour, but looking for a very skilled tutor. Watch out: Must pay for videos you need to get started. Wait-list common until you get slotted for a position, especially in this economy.
VIRTUAL CUSTOMER SERVICE
This is customer service that big companies, like JCrew, or1800 Flowers is using to save on benefits. Alpineaccess.com
Good:
Earn $9/hour from home, but more if you are promoted as a manager-type.Very easy to get started. Usually need to work a minimum of 15 hours/week. Under 35 hours is part-time. After 20 days, you are eligible to receive health and 401K benefits, which is huge. Pay by the hour, not by the call, and no commission here.Easier to get jobs around the holiday season. Interviews are done online or on the phone. Key is having good interpersonal skills.
Bad: Many of these groups don’t offer any benefits and pay on a project basis, offering unsteady employment, like Workingsolutions.com.
WRITING ABOUT YOUR EXPERTISE ON ABOUT.COM
Good: Great site (owned by the NY Times) with lots of interesting and popular topics. I like that you can navigate your way to the topic you are looking for quickly, right from the home page. When we search for topics or answers to our questions we are often transferred to sites like www.about.com
Earn $675/month in the first 2 years and $500/month after that, plus bonuses for very successful pages with a lot of traffic. Dozens of topics are available for writers with opinions. We all can do this one and have some fun with it. Eligible for benefits, like health care and health club membership discounts.
Bad: Not steady work, and it can depend on the economy and ad dollars generated. Must submit 4 articles a month and update your blog about 3 times/week. Lots of work for a writer. Average writer makes about $2,000 after the first 2 years, but that first year, the pay is low– $1,000/mo.
FREELANCE IN COMPUTER-RELATED AREAS
For example, Elance.com
Good:
This is good for the post-college grad with terrific computer skills. These are companies that post jobs and you can respond to the job opening for a freelance position. Typically, computer-related jobs like programming. You negotiate your own terms and pay. Good site because it is easy to navigate to find job postings, and you can create your own terms and compensation requirements.
Bad:
You can only apply to say 3 jobs per month. That is nothing in this economy, but the quality of jobs is generally good and so is the pay. The jobs are done on a one-time basis, to start.
TYPES OF SCAMS TO WATCH OUT FOR:
Administrative: Ex: stuffing envelopes, doing crafty things that everyone is qualified to do, where you are promised a good hourly wage, of say, $20/hour. Watch out for too many capital letters, believe it or not—usually scams. Also, who will be paying your wages and how? You need to get this in writing upfront.
Tracking UPS and FedEx packages: This is supposedly for companies that don’t have time to track packages. They hire you, agreeing to pay you between $50-75/hr to track their packages. If the promised delivery time is even off by 1-minute, those shipping companies are supposed to credit you the shipping charges. Their “software” that you have to buy is not legitimate. Any job where you have to buy books, videos or software upfront. You shouldn’t have to pay any upfront costs.
If you have been scammed by these companies either approaching you directly or through advertisement, call the BBB and the Attorney General’s office.
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