Legitimate Work At Home Opportunities

Locating Legitimate Online Work At Home Opportunites

Finding legitimate work at home is not an easy thing to do. Even though there are literally thousands of online income opportunities available, many of them are not feasable for the average person. A favorite which is found in a lot of the search engine listing are MLM or multilevel marketing plans. These can result in people winding up with a hugh debt as a result of their marketing and advertising strategies. Not to mention there are plenty of outright scams. So let's try to determine what are legitimate ways to earn income in your home.

Technology is opening up new opportunities for those who want to work at home. Finding and landing a legitimate profitable income source still isn't easy, but here are a few avenues to try.

A call center in your home

There are many companies routing their customer-service calls to workers overseas, but a less-noticed trend is the growth in home-based call-center workers. The number of such workers in North America has risen significantly in the past 5 years with over 500,000 phone agents in the United States and Canada now working at home.

Thanks to the Internet and better call-routing technology, more companies are finding they can outsource their order-taking, sales and problem-solving calls to home-based workers, but it provides technology for companies that want to set up their own home-based call centers.

Flexibility is one of the many benefits companies offer. Home-based operators are typically contractors who are paid for each minute spent on the phone, so companies can quickly gear up to meet high demand without having to pay for idle workers during slack times.

The job has some drawbacks. Pay usually starts around $8 an hour, assuming you get enough calls, which can come slowly at the beginning, The jobs that simply require taking orders often pay the least, while the better-paying jobs typically require that you have sales skills.

Call centers usually have no tolerance for noisy distractions like a crying baby, barking dog or loud background music. These can get you fired quickly. (Some companies require their workers have dedicated offices with doors to minimize potential distractions.) An operator also needs a separate phone line and computer with high-speed Internet access.

Online auctions

Online auction sites have helped people do more than empty their attics (or fill them up again). The largest online auction site, eBay, which has over 200 million registered users of which nearly 1.5 million are "professional sellers" who report the site is a primary or secondary source of income.

Auction sites have "how to" sections to help beginners with the selling process, and a little research can help you determine the best way to market your offerings.

Sellers also need to be mindful of their reputations because bad feedback from buyers can hurt future sales, she said. Staying organized, using truthful descriptions and shipping items promptly are essentially to a profitable auction business.

Veteran sellers advise newbies to start slowly, particularly if they're buying items with the intent to sell them at auction rather than selling off what they already own. It can be easy to misjudge what people will want to buy, she said, and listing-costs, the site's commissions and buyers who don't pay can eat into profits.

Mystery Shopping, & Surveys

Mystery shopping and survey-taking opportunities are nothing new, but the Internet has made finding them easier. Mystery shoppers are normally paid $5 to $100 per assignment to pose as average customers and then submit a critique of the store or service. The range for filling out surveys or participating in focus groups can be even wider, from a few dollars to a couple of hundred dollars.

Applicants need to be prepared to start small and work their way up. Research companies look for dependable, articulate, detail-oriented people and reward the ones who consistently perform their job well. Both tend to come with freebies as well as cash. It is not uncommon for moms to be given free laundry detergent and diapers in exchange for opinions on surveys.

Mystery shopping is more time consuming, however, generally pays more. It's not unusual to make up to $5,000 a year in cash, plus free goods and services worth another $2,000 to $4,000.

Considerations for the Home-Based Worker... Your best income opportunities can be close to home. If you're still working, ask your current employer to see if any home jobs are currently available. If you're well-regarded and your employer has an opening, your chances are much better. A plan explaining your proposal may land a job for you.

Anticipate competition... There are a lot of people who want to work from home and will contact any company they think might be hiring.

Have real expectations and research the company... The sure sign of a scam is a promise of big money for little effort. The real world just isn't like that. Do not pay big upfront fees for materials, details or training. A small fee for work materials and/or training may be appropriate but avoid any cost over $100. Carefully scrutinize any "opportunity" that involves stuffing envelopes or assembling products since these activities are normally only profitable to the company.

The people I have communicated with who are making decent money at home also made a nice income in their regular job. They mostly had good educations, along with strong business skills. If you're well organized willing to make a commitment, you could do well working out of your home. If not, your options are likely to be more limited.

Seed Newsvine

Bookmark this article in your preferred program

Comments

Add Comment

Popular Articles in this cathegory

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.