by Lecia Parks Langston
Working from home—it seems to be many people’s dream. Women are especially enticed by the opportunity to earn money and take care of family responsibilities at the same time. But don’t think that you will get rich quick! In Utah, only 4 percent of those who worked at home made $100,000 or more, according to a Census Bureau survey. Most (55 percent) made less than $15,000 a year even though 65 percent of them worked full-time.
•As a regular employee of a company
•Direct Marketing—selling Avon, Tupperware, Mary Kay, Pampered Chef, etc.
•Running your own business.
Selling products to your friends, and their friends, and their friends is one way to make money working out of your home. The following web site offers some ideas on selling for some of the larger companies: http://home.ivillage.com/homeoffice/homeoff/topics/0,,4tn4-n2,00.html. To do this kind of work, you must love to sell and be very self-motivated. No one is going to come knocking on your door to buy your product. You must know yourself and whether you will be able to arrange “parties” and do the other work involved to make a profit. If you are the shy, retiring type, this isn’t the job for you. Often you must do a lot of work to earn your commission.
Beware! The National Consumer League lists work-at-home offers as number seven on its Top 10 list of Internet frauds. In addition, the Council of Better Business Bureaus last year fielded more than one million inquiries about such schemes. The most common scams include medical billing, envelope stuffing and “unclaimed funds” processing. The advertisements usually leave out the fact you may have to work many hours without pay, or they don’t disclose all the costs that you will have to pay.
Many work-at-home scams require you to spend your own money. There are legitimate opportunities, but they are very difficult to find. The Utah Better Business Bureau advises that work-at home companies should be willing to offer details of their programs in writing. Some questions you might ask include:
There are opportunities to work at home as a “normal” employee. The Internet has made telecommuting possible for many workers. However, typically before a company will let its workers work from home, they must have an established work history with the individual. If a company knows the worker is reliable and it is possible to do the work from home, some employers will permit telecommuting. Nevertheless, most telecommuting is still done on a part-time basis.
The few-and-far-between opportunities to work from home typically involve workload that can be easily monitored. The important part is to establish a great working record with an employer in an occupation that can be transferred home. Keep in mind that, in this case, working from home will allow little time for family responsibilities. Your employer will expect you to be working for the time that he’s paying you—not changing diapers and nursing booboos.
Regardless of what type of work you’re doing at home, Doreen Nagle offers some suggestions to make it “work.”
Ellen Parlapian and Pat Cobe, authors of the Mompreneurs, Online suggest there are 10 top mistakes that women make when they first start out working from home.
