Does anyone do the "work at home" thing through the internet?

Gretad08 · Jun 22, 2009

There was an ad at the top of this site today for www.hiremymom.com. Has anyone ever used this site or something similar?

I'm trying to find something to supplement my day job, but I'd like it to be writing/editing/proofreading related. I'll take what I can get though.

If anyone has an experience or advice to share I'd appreciate it.

Thanks!

som1luvsmi · Jun 22, 2009

All the stuff I've ever looked into wanted me to put out money first.

If I could afford that, I wouldn't be looking on the site! sheesh!

Matera the Mad · Jun 22, 2009

Yeah, watch out for work-at-home stuff. At least 90% of it is sucker-bait. The legit jobs are there, somewhere, but it takes work to find them.

Gretad08 · Jun 22, 2009

Matera the Mad said:
Yeah, watch out for work-at-home stuff. At least 90% of it is sucker-bait. The legit jobs are there, somewhere, but it takes work to find them.

That's what I'm afraid of. I'm not trying to quit my dayjob by going after a get rich quick kind of thing. This is purely supplemental.

That's why I was hoping someone might have a good experience to share.

Salis · Jun 22, 2009

Anything that requires you to put up cash up front is a 99.9% of the time a scam.

Anything that advertises stuff like "100$ a day!" is either misleading, or a scam.

And so on.

benbradley · Jun 22, 2009

Here' s a few, some of these MAY be legit:
http://clarkhoward.com/topics/workathome_help.html

Acoustic · Jun 22, 2009

I run a clothing business on cafepress.com.
It's fantastic. They only give you a cut of the profit (basically you raise the base price of the items and with each purchase they keep the base price and you get the portion that you tacked onto the price). There is a kind of high learning curve and I've noticed that having Photoshop makes it a lot easier.
I only made about $4000 last year, but I'm not going to complain because it's free (unless you choose to run a premium shop, which is only a few dollars a month anyway) and I hardly ever make new designs. So I guess you couldn't really call it a "work at home" thing, but I'm sure that if someone was more enthusiastic about it than me and advertised, they could make a lot more money...

Deleted member 42 · Jun 22, 2009

Be very very careful. Mostly I rely on referrals from people I've worked for and with for years.

Watch out for people who want you to work for free, who ask you to pay for "access," or "membership" or "lists" or who ask for name, address and social security data before you are satisfied that you are going to be paid--identity theft is HUGE.

There's a legitimate requirement to fill out a tax form, but be careful.

Christine N. · Jun 23, 2009

No, but "hiremymom" sounds like a great premise for a story...

Pepper · Jun 23, 2009

An aquaintance of mine spends about 5 hours a week scouring garage sales. She sells off the stuff on Ebay for a profit. On average she makes about $1000 each week. She does have a good eye for bargins though, and it's taken her 2 years of building a good ebay reputation and getting the hang of things.

Every single "work from home" job I've seen, the ones like you mentioned, have been scams 100% of the time.
In fact, my old boss once paid the up-front fee to see how he could earn $300+ per day. The answer? The dude sent him a generic email, telling him to advertise online that you have the secret of earning $300+ per day, and charge an up-front fee for the info.

caromora · Jun 23, 2009

You could try Demand Studios. There's a thread on them in the SEO/Content/Blog Networks forum.

Gatita · Jun 23, 2009

Acoustic said:
I run a clothing business on cafepress.com.
It's fantastic. They only give you a cut of the profit (basically you raise the base price of the items and with each purchase they keep the base price and you get the portion that you tacked onto the price). There is a kind of high learning curve and I've noticed that having Photoshop makes it a lot easier.
I only made about $4000 last year, but I'm not going to complain because it's free (unless you choose to run a premium shop, which is only a few dollars a month anyway) and I hardly ever make new designs. So I guess you couldn't really call it a "work at home" thing, but I'm sure that if someone was more enthusiastic about it than me and advertised, they could make a lot more money...

Wow, that sounds really cool... so you don't do any promotion?.

Fox The Cave · Jun 23, 2009

Pepper said:
An aquaintance of mine spends about 5 hours a week scouring garage sales. She sells off the stuff on Ebay for a profit. On average she makes about $1000 each week. She does have a good eye for bargins though, and it's taken her 2 years of building a good ebay reputation and getting the hang of things.

Every single "work from home" job I've seen, the ones like you mentioned, have been scams 100% of the time.
In fact, my old boss once paid the up-front fee to see how he could earn $300+ per day. The answer? The dude sent him a generic email, telling him to advertise online that you have the secret of earning $300+ per day, and charge an up-front fee for the info.

This could be the most epic Win of all time.

Acoustic · Jun 23, 2009

Gatita said:
Wow, that sounds really cool... so you don't do any promotion?.

Nah. The stuff shows up in the cafepress marketplace and google and stuff, so I try to put a lot of exciting tag words in my clothing descriptions and I tell my friends to tell their friends about my shop, but other than that, I'm too lazy to promote.

tjwriter · Jun 23, 2009

I have some resources that are valid on my computers at home. Unfortunately one of them is in storage, but I'll see what I can find for you. I've scoured long and hard to find the legit sources.

tjwriter · Jun 24, 2009

Unfortunately, I was very brain-dead tired last night, and forgot to do this.

Off the top of my head:

www.wahm.com - Various resources regarding various work at home opportunities from valid call center type jobs to individual opportunities.

www.freelancewritinggigs.com - If you're interesting in writing opportunities.

And I have one on the tip of my brain that I cannot recall. There are several bookmarked on my laptop though.

Does anyone do the "work at home" thing through the internet?

Gretad08

som1luvsmi

My brother loves me thiiis much! :)

Matera the Mad

Bartender, gimme a Linux Mint

Gretad08

Salis

You Lie!

benbradley

It's a doggy dog world

Acoustic

my my, hey hey

Deleted member 42

Christine N.

haz a shiny new book cover

Pepper

I IS PRANCING

caromora

Still alive. Kind of.

Gatita

Girl reporter

Fox The Cave

I get cancer. I kill Jack.

Acoustic

my my, hey hey

tjwriter

Emerging Anew

tjwriter

Emerging Anew