Overall, I’d give them a “meh.”

It’s not that you can’t look up a company and find out they’re a scam there. You can. Sometimes. The problem is that they can’t keep up with all the scams, some scams use the names of legitimate companies, and not all complaints to the BBB mean that they’re a scam.

Scams Come, Scams Go

New work at home scams come all the time. Just as with any other resource you use for finding work at home scams, the BBB won’t know about it until they start getting complaints about it.

This is particularly true of online businesses. It takes very little to set up a website. Scams online can change names very easily with the simple switch of a domain name.

If a business is in a potentially questionable industry, the BBB may have a notation on their listing for that business when they do have a listing there. It doesn’t guarantee that it’s a scam, just that you should use caution.

Complaints Only Mean So Much

A complaint to the BBB about a business only means so much. I just checked a variety of Walmart listings there. A corporate listing had over 200 resolved complaints, while individual stores had anywhere from a few complaints to too little information for the BBB to even rate them. That’s a major company where each location does a lot of business.

You have to look at what the complaints are and see if you can determine their relevance. When it comes to working at home, some people will scream scam at the slightest provocation, such as not having success handed to them on a silver platter. Others will complain with real reason behind it. You have to figure out if there’s something you should be concerned about.

The Internet Offers a Wide Array of Resources to Check for Work at Home Scams

The other problem I have with relying on the BBB to determine if something is a work at home scam is that there’s such a wonderful range of places to check opportunities out. There are sites such as scam.com that are dedicated to discussing all kinds of scams. There are posts people make on their own sites and others when they realize they’ve been scammed, all available through a search. Focusing on one organization just isn’t enough.

Sometimes you can spot a scam just by pasting a part of your correspondence with them or a part of their ad into a search engine. Include the word “scam” and it can be very interesting what turns up. A lot of scams use the same text over and over again, and it’s not too uncommon for frustrated scam victims to post their correspondence online.

I absolutely don’t mean you should avoid checking with the BBB when you’re concerned about an online scam. They’re a resource – use them. Just remember that they aren’t your only resource.

You’re a Resource Too

Finally, remember that you are a great resource for spotting work at home scams yourself. If something feels wrong about an opportunity, think about why it feels wrong. You might just be on to something.

When you’re thinking about applying for or accepting a work at home job or joining a home business opportunity, review what you know about it and look for the signs of a scam. If you don’t get overexcited about the opportunity you can often spot the scams on your own. And when you’re still in doubt, start asking around. People on the internet will often share their opinions on the matter.

Related posts:

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2. How Common Are Work at Home Scams?
3. Thursday Thirteen – 13 Ways to Avoid Work at Home Scams

To be specific, they’ve taken 90 actions against companies that falsely promised employment or successful businesses to job seekers. It’s good to see these things go down, as while I’d love for everyone to be able to spot a scam without help, desperate people don’t always think so clearly, and get taken for large amounts of money.

I do mean large. The article notes that with the scam through Ivy Capital, some people paid up to $20,000 for coaching that was supposed to help them start a business. I can scarcely imagine the pain of being desperate for an income and losing that much money. A part of the claim is that coaches weren’t competent, and other offerings were not as they seemed.

They started by getting victims contact information when they responded to work at home ads and online business opportunities. The ads were for companies such as Jennifer Johnson’s Home Job Placement Program and Brent Austin’s Automated Wealth System.

People responded to these ads, and received telemarketing calls that would do a hard sell on them to get them to sign up for services that they said would gain them a lot of money with little effort. You may know my opinion of such things, but if you don’t I think it’s ridiculous. Very few people make any sort of a living based on a few hours of work a week, never mind thousands of dollars.

Fake Sales Jobs

Another company, National Sales Group, is accused of making false claims about available sales jobs, claiming to recruit for Fortune 1000 companies, then charging excessive fees for background checks and adding in recurring fees without informing their victims. I suppose while you’re stealing someone’s money you aren’t going to be too anxious to let them know about it.

These first companies are just in the process of being taken down by the FTC, and there has not yet been an official ruling on them. Nevertheless, they have been court ordered to cease their practices and have had assets frozen.

Other Scams Shut Down

The FTC had a few victories in court cases against some other scams as well. A couple of these are practically classic examples of work at home scams. There was a home crafting scam, an envelope stuffing scam, and some job board scams. Good to see these gone.

How Do You Look Into Opportunities?

Whether you’re looking at a work at home job or a home business opportunity, you need to do your research before you pay anything or give them much information about yourself.

The first thing you need to be aware of is any expenses associated with the opportunity you’re considering. This should be easy to discover. If the offer is vague, that’s not a good sign of a legitimate opportunity. You should know what your upfront expenses are and if you’re likely to continue to have expenses.

If you’re talking about a job, there shouldn’t be any upfront expenses, aside from occasionally a very reasonable cost for a background check. Many employers do not charge applicants for the background check, so be a bit extra wary if they want you to pay for it.

Paying for access to job listings can be legitimate, but only occasionally is. If they’re claiming that you absolutely, positively will get a fantastic, high paying job, step back. They’re probably not honest about what you’ll get. No job board or other job resource can promise you that. It’s up to the employer.

You should also consider how fast they say you’re going to be successful. Scams always make it sound easy to succeed, but the reality of any business is that it takes a lot of work to earn a living. Starting a business online does not mean you’re going to earn massive sums of money. If it were that simple I wouldn’t have to write these kinds of warnings. We’d all be on a nice island vacation or something.

Business opportunities are supposed to disclose what the average results are with their program, not just what their top performers do. Scams usually don’t.

I have to admit, that one is a bit tricky. Given how many people want to start a home business, and buy information to help them do it but never take action, the average almost has to be close to zero. Even of those who take action, I don’t believe there’s any one program that will be right for every person who tries it.

You should also know exactly how you’ll be working on your business and earning money. Hands off is not realistic. A real business requires you to do something.

Even autoblogging, which many online marketers talk up as an easy form of business, takes work. You can’t just throw a bunch of articles on a site and make it work. You need to research to figure out how to get the best information to your site, and you have to build backlinks for it. Not my kind of business at all, as most are easily taken down by search engines for not providing useful information, but also not as easy as proponents claim.

The most important thing is to just be realistic about what you expect you can earn from home and what it will take to get there. It’s not all easy. There’s a lot of hard work involved, and if you think otherwise you’re setting yourself up to fall for someone else’s scam.

Related posts:

1. How Common Are Work at Home Scams?
2. Can You Use the BBB to Find Work at Home Scams?
3. Google Blog on Google Money Scams

Actually, there are several ways.

There’s no way to 100% guarantee you won’t fall for a scam, but many are so obvious that you can avoid them just by paying attention.

1. Ridiculously high pay.

If the pay is amazingly high for the amount of effort, it’s probably a scam. Thousands of dollars a month for easy, part time work – scam!

2. No resume required.

Real employers want to know about your past work experience. They are not going to hire every person who contacts them. They want the best person for the job, and your resume is a part of how they screen out the people they know they don’t want.

Scammers don’t much care about your resume. They don’t care about your past work experience. They want to suck you in quickly and get your personal information and/or money. Resumes are nothing to scammers.

3. Call for information.

Work at home positions don’t have people for you to call for more information. Real businesses are too busy with their business to deal with that many job seekers. When it’s a work at home job on the line, there will be a lot of people calling if there’s a number available, and employers know it.

Scammers want to talk to you. How else are they going to get you to bite? They want to appeal to your dreams of an easy work at home job with high pay. That’s easier to do with personal contact.

4. Ad says “work at home.”

For the most part, legitimate work at home positions are labeled as “telecommute” positions. It’s certainly not a featured part of the ad. Real employers want the best person for the job, not the one who first notices the chance to work at home and then the job requirements.

Scammers know people type things like “work at home” into job boards and search engines. Having that phrase feature prominently in the ad is one way to get your attention.

5. “No Experience Necessary.”

Sure, there are jobs out there that don’t require experience. There aren’t many of them in the work at home world, however. Working at home is demanding, and employers want to know that you have at least some sort of work experience, preferably in the industry you’re about to start working in. If experience isn’t an absolute necessity, they may something more along the lines of “entry level position.”

Scammers, once again, don’t care about your work experience. They count on your desperation to find some sort of work at home.

6. Vague job listing.

One of the great things about the internet is that employers can give details about what they’re looking for in an employee. It’s not like it was when job ads were usually in the newspaper, and space came at a premium.

These days you should expect to see specific skill and/or experience requirements in job ads. Employers don’t want tons of resumes from people who aren’t remotely qualified for the position. They want to hear from people who have as many of the skills listed as possible and a willingness to earn the rest.

Scammers don’t need to give a lot of information. They know the suckers are going to contact them anyway.

7. Pay to show your interest.

Scammers love to talk about how many people are interested in their opportunity. That’s why they need you to send them some money to show that you’re serious about the opportunity. It gets rid of all the people who aren’t serious about this fantastic opportunity you’re going to miss out on if you don’t send in your money.

When was the last time you heard about a company wanting people to pay to apply? Never sounds about right.

8.They want your bank account information.

Some scams will ask for your bank account information, saying they want to direct deposit your pay. Direct deposit is a wonderful thing, you get your money faster, but be careful in sharing your banking information with anyone.

If you want direct deposit for your pay, make absolutely certain the opportunity is legitimate first. You may have to work a while and receive paper paychecks for a time to be certain if the company is not well known. Even if you have researched the company, make sure you’re really dealing with who you think you’re dealing with, as some scams steal the names of legitimate companies to gain your trust.

Related posts:

1. Thursday Thirteen – 13 Ways to Avoid Work at Home Scams
2. How Common Are Work at Home Scams?
3. Can You Use the BBB to Find Work at Home Scams?

Is there anything you can do?

Be Careful

If you’re going to expose a scam, first and foremost be certain it was a scam, not just something that didn’t work out for you. I can’t tell you how often people run to forums complaining that some home business opportunity is nothing but a scam when it was really just a mismatch to their skills or they really didn’t try hard with it.

Be certain you have your facts straight. Call an opportunity a scam publicly when it’s not can lead to legal troubles. Sometimes scams will threaten legal action even when you’re precisely right about what happened, to get the information taken down. Most times it’s not going to happen, but be aware of the possibilities.

You need to be able to point to specific information showing that the opportunity was a scam. This could include a saved and/or printed copy of their sales page and any correspondence between you and the scammer.

Report to the Internet Crime Complaint Center

You can report online scams to the FBI through the IC3 website if either you or the scammer are in the United States. They’ll send it on to appropriate law enforcement, who may or may not act on your complaint. According to their FAQ, you can complain about “advance-fee schemes, non-delivery of goods or services, computer hacking, or employment/business opportunity schemes” as well as other crimes committed online.

Better have your facts straight. If an investigation is opened, you will want your evidence to be available. But also know that not all complaints will be acted upon.

Report to the Affiliate Who Referred You

If you went through an affiliate’s link to a scam, let them know why you think it was a scam. Some are very helpful and may be able to help you get a resolution on the matter. Other times they can’t, but if an affiliate values their relationship with newsletter subscribers or website visitors, they’ll at least apologize, and may even remove the offer from their site.

Report to the Site Advertising the Scam

If a site is more generally advertising a scam, let them know. You might be able to get the ad taken down.

If the ad was on Craigslist, flag it to report the scam. If the scam is a Google ad, check to see if it violates any AdWords policies, and report it if so. Google doesn’t allow the advertising of data entry affiliate programs or programs with unclear billing practices, for example.

Post on Forums

This can be a risky one, but really handy if the scam has been discussed on a forum you already frequent. Others will want to know your experience.

Stick to the facts and don’t exaggerate. Don’t get personal if people disagree with you. It takes more time for some people to see through a scam, and denial plays a big part. Otherwise most pyramid schemes wouldn’t last as long as they usually do.

There are also forums dedicated to unveiling scams. It may not hurt to post your experiences on one of them.

Keep Being Careful

It bears repeating. Just because an opportunity didn’t work out for you doesn’t automatically make it a scam. Really think before you start spreading word that it was a scam.

Related posts:

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2. Why Don't Work at Home Scams Get Shut Down More Quickly?
3. Let’s Fall for a Work at Home Scam Today!

Is it a scam or isn’t it?

The trouble is that costing money isn’t as clear cut a pointer to a scam as you might like. If they say it’s a work at home job, that you’ll be employed by them and so forth, then yes, most likely it is. But if it’s a home business, there are no guarantees.

Not All Work at Home Expenses Mean It’s a Scam

This is the hard part. Many work at home jobs are in fact independent contractor opportunities. That means that you aren’t an employee. You’re running a business. They have certain things they need you to buy or pay for.

Some legitimate employers expect you to pay for your own background check, for example. I’ve never been too happy about this one, as the search for employees should be a cost of doing business.

There are companies such as Arise, which expect you to pay for your own training as well. These are positions in areas such as customer service and tech support. You have to certify for each client you work for through them. That’s their business model, yet other companies in the same industry don’t require this. They’re upfront about it, however, and once you’ve met all the requirements you’re able to start working and they do pay. Not a scam, just a bit pricier than you might have planned.

Most legitimate work at home jobs will expect you to have certain things already, such as a computer, high speed internet access, possibly a dedicated second phone line, a headset and appropriate software. These are all things you will probably be buying if needed on your own, not through any potential employer.

So When is It a Scam?

Some things in a work at home “job” opportunity flag it easily as a scam. Being expected to pay to prove that you’re seriously interested, for example. Jobs do not have application fees. As I said above, sometimes you will have to pay for a background check, other times your potential employer will do so, but that’s something different.

If you have to buy software from your potential “employer” it’s likely a scam. Generally speaking you’ll either be using software you can buy elsewhere or the employer will provide you with their proprietary software at no expense.

If they’re sending you a check to go buy supplies I would also consider that a big red flag. I had this one come up on my forum recently. If an employer needs you to have particular equipment, it makes plenty of sense for them to send you the equipment, not a check for you to go buy it yourself. There are too many scams involving check cashing out there.

What If You Can’t Tell If It’s a Job or a Home Business?

So many home business opportunities like to talk up the opportunity as though it’s a job. Sometimes jobs really are business opportunities. If you’re going to be an independent contractor, strictly speaking you’re running your own business. That said, pay attention to IRS rules about whether or not you’re really an independent contractor or an employee.  Many businesses are having to be more careful about who they call independent contractors and who they call employees, as this impacts how taxes are paid and by which party.

But other opportunities call themselves work at home jobs yet have nothing to do with being employed by that company. I’ve seen people advertise network marketing opportunities, affiliate marketing opportunities and more as work at home jobs, when it’s perfectly clear that they’re really home business opportunities.

My own rule of thumb is that if they can’t be upfront about the work being a home business opportunity, I’ll find someone else to learn from.

This is extremely common in supposed data entry work at home jobs. They’ll tell you that you’re filling in forms. The forms are for paying per click for advertising in search engine results, and you’re the one paying for every click, then getting a commission on sales or leads.

That’s a business, not a job. If the person who says they can teach me to do that can’t be upfront about that part, I don’t need to learn from him or her. I’ll find someone who can be upfront about the risks as well as the potential benefits. There are great resources for that out there, such as the AdWords Guide.

For those who are interested, pay per click advertising can be quite lucrative if you master it, but often expensive to learn. Not every campaign will pay off, even for those who are good at it.

It’s Hard to Tell the Difference Sometimes

Even the most alert job seeker will sometimes have trouble telling if an opportunity is a work at home job, home business or a scam. Some of the people who advertise these things are very good at obscuring the truth.

When in doubt, ask around.

Ask on work at home forums. Ask anyone in your life who understands that there are some legitimate work at home jobs out there. Just get a second opinion before you take too big of a risk.

You can even contact the person advertising the opportunity and ask for more details. See what they have to say. If they’re being too vague you may not want to trust them. If it becomes clear that it’s really not what you’re after, there’s your decision. If it’s sounding better, you might be starting the application process or you might be asking on some forums or elsewhere what people think of the additional details.

In many cases, searching for “opportunity name scam” isn’t going to get you the results you were after. Too many marketers have figured that one out, and positive reviews abound for many questionable products under titles such as “Is Opportunity Name a Scam?”

It’s not easy to find legitimate work at home jobs out there. There are way too many scams, and too many businesses trying to get your attention by pretending that they’re jobs. But there are great opportunities out there for those who find them.

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There’s just one problem. They want you to pay for a background check, and you aren’t quite sure you remember the company name. Or maybe you do kind of remember them, but you can’t find any good information about them online or anywhere else.

What do you do?

It’s a sad fact that there are many work at home scams out there, and a popular one is to get people to pay for a background check for a job that doesn’t exist. Unfortunately, a very few legitimate companies also make potential employees pay for background checks, making it very difficult to know for certain what you should do when asked.

Your very first step is to start asking around if someone else knows of the company.  Many work at home message boards have very knowledgeable members who can help you figure out if you should consider taking the chance.

They’ll probably tell you no unless the company is well known.

There’s a simple reason for such skepticism. Most often such offers are scams.

Sure, the cost of a background check doesn’t seem like much. It’s not hundreds and hundreds of dollars, after all.

But that’s what they count on when they send you the job offer. They’re trying to get past your “I can’t afford to lose that much money” radar and give you the feeling that you can afford to risk a small amount if it means you’ll finally be working at home.

When you’re looking for a work at home job, no matter how frustrated you get with the difficulty of the entire process, it’s vital that you not let your guard down. Don’t suddenly start trusting an offer just because you really, really need the job. You have to be a skeptic. It’s the best protection you have.

Your best bets are to always stick to reputable companies that are known for hiring at home employees and resources that provide screened opportunities. If you go beyond these resources in your search, increase your skepticism.

There are legitimate work at home jobs listed even on sites such as Craigslist where anyone can place an ad. But the lack of screening means that scams do get through.

You should be wary if they ask for any money at all. You should be wary if they want your bank account information, even if they say it’s for direct deposit, doubly so if you haven’t actually received any pay at all yet. You should be wary if the pay is oddly high for the work you’ll be doing.

You just plain need to be careful if there’s no proof that you’ve found a legitimate company.

Sadly, a healthy mistrust of unproven opportunities is a good thing when you’re job hunting at home. It can save you a lot of money and heartache.

Related posts:

1. When the Work at Home Company is Real, but the Job Isn’t
2. When a Good Work at Home Job Goes Bad
3. 8 Rules to Help You Avoid Work at Home Job Scams

You’ve been thinking about working at home, haven’t you. You want it all, the money, the house, the car, the free time. All without effort. Well, now is the time!

It’s easy! All you have to do is stuff envelopes. Tell people that you’ll send them information on how to start their own business for just $19.95. Get their money and tell them to put up the same ads you just did. They can then do just the same as you. They’ll love you for it. The Postmaster will love you for it. Everyone will love you for it. Even your future cellmate will love you for it.

Once you’ve started that, it’s time to start some data entry. All you have to do is fill in some forms and off you go. You’ll be making money in no time. Pay no attention to the money flying out of your wallet as you pay for the ads that the forms create.

Now just to be sure some money comes in, let’s apply for a work at home job. The application fee just means you’re interested, right? And the software they want you to buy looks great. Really useful. $5000 per month working part time is just amazing. Life’s going to be so good.

Hey, is that a package in the mail? Now who wanted that shipped to them? Overseas? No problem! Just cash that traveler’s check and send them the extra, keeping your share for pay. This stuff is just so easy.

Wait. Google wants to pay you? Yippee! Such a small cost to get started you know it has to be good. Pay no attention to the fine print hidden in the terms of service. You might even be able to do the same with Twitter! Tweet, tweet!

Now is the time to share the bounty with friends. Join a group and all of you gift $1000 to a randomly chosen person. Keep doing that until you’re all rich from those $1000 cash gifts you’ve given each other and don’t forget to bring in some new recruits! Remember, it’s a gift so of course the IRS will have no problem with it.

Isn’t it wonderful how little effort and money all this cost? Now where’s my mansion and sports car?

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It’s a kind of interesting situation since they don’t yet have the names for all of the defendants. That’s one of the challenges of the internet, of course. Scams thrive because they can be done anonymously.

Google’s doing what they can. They’re permanently disabling associated AdWords accounts in general that provide a poor user experience. But it’s challenging because it’s so easy to pop up under a new name when you’re online.

These are the names Google says to be aware of now:

Names to be wary of: Google Adwork, Google ATM, Google Biz Kit, Google Cash, Earn Google Cash Kit, Google Fortune, Google Marketing Kit, Google Profits, The Home Business Kit for Google, Google StartUp Kit, and Google Works.

They know quite well that more names will appear; that’s the nature of this kind of scum.

It’s kind of a pity to see the name Google Cash up there, as there was also a legitimate product by that name, made by Chris Carpenter. But now the scammers have used it too.

As always, remember that no product can guarantee you riches or any degree of success. If they’re making wild promises, just don’t believe it.

There are products that can help you along the path to building a real business, but there are still a lot of factors that may keep you from succeeding, allow you to succeed beyond your wildest dreams, just let you earn a little extra spending cash or anything in between. It’s mostly up to you. The information just helps.

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Yeah, I don’t trust it. And I’ll tell you why.

First and foremost, they aren’t offering a data entry job. They’re talking about affiliate marketing. The two are not related. What these guys are really offering is pay per click affiliate marketing, more likely than not.

Now, pay per click affiliate marketing is legitimate. Take my advice, though, and learn it from someone with a solid reputation such as Perry Marshall. You’ll be much better off than if you buy information from someone who doesn’t even admit the difference between data entry and affiliate marketing.

You know you’re not that dumb but they sure think you are.

Other Problem Signs

It’s more than just that I can tell at a glance some of what they’re talking about. There are other scam signs too.

They’re being a little smart and saying that the cost is to let you know about companies you can work for. But do you really think you’re getting paid hundreds of dollars to fill out 4-5 lines of information for companies?

That’s not what’s happening. You’re taking more of a risk than just a few moments to fill out a little information. The financial risk to pay per click marketing is huge. You are paying, as they say, per click, whether or not the person buys. That gets expensive if you haven’t mastered it, and not everyone will.

Do you really think that there are jobs where employers will not turn you down? They’re promising that none of their “employers” will turn you down.

There’s a good reason for that part. They aren’t employers. They’re businesses selling electronic products such as ebooks through Clickbank. They don’t screen affiliates (NOT employees!), that’s Clickbank’s job.

And then there’s that cute little tidbit about having only 4 spaces left. I don’t expect that number to change. I’ve seen this site a few times and it never does. If they still have 4 spaces left, they’re lousy at filling them. It’s just a trick to make you feel as though you have to hurry.

You don’t. You can get what I think are better products elsewhere.

What If You Want to Do Data Entry?

I have to admit, I find it a little amusing that one of their bonuses is a list they say is of traditional data entry jobs, of the sort that likely pay by hour they say. Even they know that a lot of people coming to their site are looking for real data entry work at home jobs, not a business.

You don’t need to pay them for that. I have a free list of data entry work at home jobs for you right on this site. Why buy one?

Does This Mean Affiliate Marketing is a Scam?

One of the things I dislike about this kind of scam is how strongly it associates with affiliate marketing. Gives a good industry a bad name.

Are there scuzzy, scammy affiliates? You’d better believe it! Too many work in the work at home/home business field, as it’s prime for people losing their heads and not doing their due diligence.

That doesn’t make the industry bad. It makes those people and their particular businesses bad.

If you want to learn it, do so! Go for Perry Marshall’s AdWords Guide if it’s pay per click you want to do. Go for Rosalind Gardner’s Super Affiliate Handbook for a different style of affiliate marketing. Just go for it and keep it honest.

Are those affiliate links?

You’d better believe it. But they’re to products I trust, ones that don’t try to pretend to be jobs. Or even all that easy, for all some people do brilliantly at them.

Just always remember the difference between work at home jobs and home businesses, and understand the risks you take.

Related posts:

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3. Work at Home Scam Bingo

If you can stand it, sometimes the best solution is to create your own opportunity. That’s right, start a home business. You’ll have ups and downs with a business, and have to deal with clients who are reluctant to pay you, but at least you’re in charge.

It’s not for everyone, of course. There’s stress involved. It can take a long time to earn anything. But if it’s taking ages to find a legitimate work at home job you really aren’t losing out by starting a business. You might even earn more than you would have from a work at home job.

Here are some that you may want to consider:

Affiliate Marketing

I’m rather fond of this one. Affiliate marketing earns me some pretty good money some months. Lousy income other months. There’s quite a bit of range in there.

There are scams possible in this one, so it’s important to remember that you should never pay to become an affiliate. The merchant should be making their profit off selling to the customers you refer to them, not from you.

One of the keys to succeeding as an affiliate is finding an interesting niche, nothing too broad at least for your early efforts.

SiteBuildIt’s Affiliate Masters Course is a free resource on running your own affiliate websites. They’ll walk you through many of the steps you’ll need. It’s still up to you to make it work.

Errand Running Service

If you don’t mind being out and about a lot, running other people’s errands can be a good business. You can focus on helping out the elderly, people whose jobs keep them too busy to run their own errands, that kind of thing.

Virtual Assistant

This is a popular choice if you’ve been looking at all the data entry and customer service positions, although it’s not exactly the same thing. You may be doing some of those jobs as a virtual assistant, but if you have the skills you could also be working on a website, managing ads, writing and submitting articles, answering emails and so forth.

Writer

Another popular choice. There are plenty of freelance opportunities for writers. A lot of them don’t pay a lot, but as you get experience you can do better. You might be writing website copy, articles for websites, articles for magazines and so forth.

Blogging

Just another form of being a writer in many ways, but you can do it on your own. If you want to make a business of blogging, I strongly recommend getting a domain name and paid hosting rather than going with the free stuff. It looks better as you grow. Blogging to the Bank is one resource to help you learn how to make blogging pay off.

Other Home Businesses

There are tons of other home business ideas out there. The one thing I can promise you about them is that there are no guarantees. More home businesses will fail than succeed. That’s just life.

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