Working From Home

One of the articles most asked for is an article with information on finding working from home situations. Sometimes there is a point in life where a stay at home mom would like to find a way to earn a few extra bucks but does not want to leave the home to do it. There are many great ways to work from home these days.

The first and best way to earn money from home is to use a skill you have. I know many moms who teach piano, make cards, or help design other people's scrapbooks for money from their home. They are offering a skill they have for sale. This is the best way to go because it involves no real cost to you. You can advertise through word of mouth. You usually have the needed items like a piano or sewing machine that are costly and the small incidentals are usually paid for or supplied by your customer as in fabric, thread, adhesive, paper, or whatever it is your offering needs. Think of something you are really good at and then consider how and where you can offer that skill.

The second way is selling stuff. This can be costly in either supplies or ebay fees depending on what you sell. I know many who sell stuff on ebay. However in order to do well you must have rare items that very few people have but many people want. My husband has done well selling VME items that he has tested on a linux based system. This has done extremely well because most VME items listed are not tested and there is no guarantee of them working.

The other way to sell stuff is through a direct sales company. Many stay at home moms join one at some point just to try it out. I find that there is a lot of competition from fellow consultants with in the same company and with in similar but different companies. It is really hard to be truly successful at this. Most of the really successful ladies are basically working their "job" like a real job. They put more effort into it than they might a real job. They still have bosses even though it is not the same as other jobs. That boss is their customers. This can be harder in a way because if you make a boo boo once, your boss knows it is normally not like this for you. A first time customer may think you treat all your customers like that normally and get hysterical on you.

I know many moms whose personality fits what is needed to do this and they are very happy with direct sales. Direct sales works great for a few extra dollars but in order to make some serious money from this kind of gig you will have to become a person you may not be happy being.

If you do go this route ask lots of questions. Find out what comes in the kit for the money you are paying. Who processes checks and credit cards? Ask your potential manager/sponsor about what they do to help motivate their recruits. Attend a meeting that your manager hosts to help pep up her consultants. Do not just sign up under somebody because they are a friend. Sign up under someone who will support you.

There are some hazards to selling stuff in either way. The first is that you are giving your address and/or phone number out to complete strangers. In both cases you may tell people information about when you will be out of your house. Now I must also say that crimes will happen with or without ebay, the internet, and direct sales companies but we must all prevent them from happening to us. There is also the risk of bounced checks or other scams involving these situations. Be careful.

The third and last grouping of money making ops are the ones I classify as scams. Get rich fast with little work. Pay to work. Sometimes people sell you a book of ideas you could of thought up on your own had you thought hard enough. The worse part is they charge you big bucks for that book. There are companies who say you must buy the equipment to get started and then they will return your money when you send them your first batch of work. This is usually involving making bracelets. Every time they will say your bracelets do not meet their "high standards". There is a whole wide variety of circumstances that you will find. Remember if you are paying for a job it is not a job. Direct sales are the only exception to this rule and that is because you are getting product for your money. Product that you will hopefully be able to use or sell. I have been with one company whose kit included a training manual, some samples of the product to taste, and some catalogs for $150. That would count as a scam too. The company should offer you enough product to equal the cost of the kit. All reputable companies will do that much for you. They want you to have product to show.