How to work from home without getting scammed

August 18th, 2010

By Chris Corrigan

So, you want or need to work from home, but don’t want to be the victim of a scam. Searching for legitimate opportunities can make most people pull their hair out. However, there are legitimate opportunities, if you know how to find them and know what to look out for.

The first thing you need to know is that working from home isn’t for just anyone. You will find out you must be your own worst boss. You must be a self-starter who doesn’t need a boss over your shoulder to make you work. Your performance is directly tied to your income – if you slack off, so does your money. So, with that in mind, are you still ready to work from home?

Next, you need to decide what you might like to do, assess needs you can fill for a fee, and put it into action. Do you want to provide a local service, or sell a product online? What are your goals? Where do you want to be in a month, a year, and five years? If you don’t have a clear business idea and goal, you are setting up for failure.

You need to decide how to get the word out about your business. What is the best way to reach the most people with the least money? What most experts agree on is you need exposure. If you are a decent writer, you can start a blog on your product, educating people on the reasons they need your service or product. Join forums to get your name out there. If you have an advertising budget, you can try pay-per-click (PPC) ad campaigns such as Adwords, or email marketing.

And, finally, you need to be able to recognize a work-from-home scam. For example, if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. If you are paid by recruiting, it is probably a pyramid scheme. Be wary of opportunities that require an upfront fee or initiation fee to join. Check the Better Business Bureau.

The Work At Home Bible is a free comprehensive guide to working at home and avoiding scams. I was impressed with the amount of information inside about how to choose and start working at home with a lengthy section on how to recognize and avoid a scam. And, did I say, it’s FREE?

You don’t have to give me your email address, just click, download and read. It is a PDF e-book, so you will need the free Adobe Acrobat Reader to see it, but you probably already have that on your computer.