Julie writes: Hi.. I just came across your site and find it very helpful and interesting. I wondered if you had any ideas or information on work at home opportunities. I am overwhelmed and confused at all that is out there . How do I determine what is legit and what is a scam? Specifically the Paid to do surveys online and also Mystery Shopping ads. I would appreciate any info. Thank You.

Hi Julie,

We aren't familiar with all of the possible work at home opportunities, but here are a few things to keep in mind:

Be clear about what the company wants you to do and what your benefit will be. Ask a lot of questions. If they won't tell you what kind of work you will be doing, I would keep looking.

If you find a company you want to work for, check them out. Do Google search for the company name and see what's out there about the company. Beware: If there are a number of web sites describing bad business practices, it is probably a bad sign. Find out where the company is located and check the better business bureau. If it is a corporation, contact the secretary of state's office in the state where the company offices are and see if they are listed in "good standing".

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Don't do anything where the company asks for money up front. For work at home jobs, there really isn't a good reason for a company to ask you to pay them. Sometimes the "job" is really a product that they are selling you. They may advertise "work at home" and instead of a job, what they're really offering is a directory of companies you can call to try to get jobs with no guarantee that you will get one with your "investment".

Don't give personal information without thoroughly checking out the company. There are many people out there looking for ways to get credit card, bank account and social security numbers. Never give out this kind of sensitive information unless you have thoroughly checked out the company, are certain who is receiving the information and are comfortable that the information is secure.

Be cautious of "too good to be true" income projections. If the income seems tremendous for a small amount of work, something is wrong. If all you have to do is sit at home and wait for checks to hit your mailbox, they're not being straight with you.

Multi Level Marketing (also called "Network Marketing") - Be very careful if you consider this type of work. Generally, when a person tries to recruit you for this type of work, the person will do everything possible not to tell you what type of work it is until you meet with him in person. That alone should make you suspicious.

It is possible to make money with this type of work, but it requires a tremendous amount of work to get a large income. I knew someone who did make a lot of money doing this. He said that in order to make a lot of money, he and his wife both ended up working 80 hours per week. He said that they didn't really have a life anymore and that it put so much pressure on their marriage that they nearly divorced over it. I think this illustrates that no matter what you do, you can't get something for nothing.

I can also tell you that when I was younger, I worked as a temp contracted for two days to a Multi Level Marketing company stuffing bonus checks into envelopes. During the two full days of work, virtually every bonus check I saw was for less than $5.00 and then once in a while, I saw one for $10,000. That is because only the one person was willing to do the work necessary for the big money. Everyone else was led to believe that the "opportunity" was the equivalent of a lottery ticket - big return with no work. Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way.

Paid Online Surveys - We recommend that you pass on these. I talked to a college student recently who said she made money answering surveys online, but I don't think this is an effective way to make a reliable income. She sounded like she just needed a little extra cash for the weekends. In exchange for filling out surveys, you generally have to request sales calls from companies and agree for companies to call, e-mail and mail you all sorts of solicitations. Usually, the time involved and the hassle of dealing with the solicitations is not worth the money.

Mystery Shoppers - Often, companies work with consulting groups who send mystery shoppers into their stores to evaluate products and services. I have known people who did this and they seemed happy with it. The pay was not great, but was roughly equivalent to a lot of part time jobs and did allow for flexibility. If you do a little research on the company and it seems legitimate, this can be a good opportunity.

Home Manufacturing - Some companies have work at home programs where they send you raw materials and you create a product. It might be a company that makes dolls and sends you the materials to make them. When the job is done, you send the product back and get paid. Most of what I have seen in this realm is very low paying work.

The best home businesses are home grown businesses. If you want to make money, try to find something that you are certain people need, but can't easily get and then find a way to give it to them. Jill has done ironing and sewing for people and sold homemade cookies. Tawra has grown and sold herbs, potpourri, crafts and cookbooks. We don't recommend art and craft items because too many people are willing to "sell" them at no profit because their motivation is primarily hobby centered.

Another thing that many people have success with is Ebay Selling. If you decide to do this, don't pay to buy somebody's "system". There are books that give tips to do this that you can buy or check out at the library. Try to think of items that you can get for a better price than the price the same items are selling for on Ebay. I wouldn't do it if you only made a dollar or two on an auction. We've known lots of people that had success with this and we have had some success doing this in the past, too.

If you're passionate about a particular subject and you have a website or blog, you can get extra money by putting ads on your site or by selling books you particularly like as an affiliate.

Many publishers offer affiliate programs that pay affiliates around 50% for e-book sales or around 30% for sales of "traditional" books. The way it works is any time the publisher sells something that you referred as an affiliate, you get paid. If you know somebody who has a book that you like, ask if they have an affiliate program. You can also check ClickBank, where there are many publishers offering affiliate programs but you would want to investigate the opportunity carefully to make sure you want to be recommending the item you choose.

If you decide to try advertising, Google Adsense is an easy and free system you can integrate in your site. In order to make money with Adsense, you have to have a certain amount of traffic on your site, so if Aunt Ruth is the only one reading your Blog, ads are not for you ;-). If you do try adsense, be sure to monitor the ads periodically. You can block ads from specific advertisers, which we try to do for anyone who seems to be offering "too good to be true" deals.

-Michael, Tawra and Jill

Jill's Story about Working at Home

Here is a reader comment about Paid Survey companies:

"Hi, I'm a stay at home mom and my youngest son is starting school this fall. I've been interested in finding something I can do at home to help with our finances. I've heard about the online survey thing where people receive payment in cash for doing this. Well, I decided to try it. I had to pay $35 to join and have since gone through most of the survey companies they have listed to find only a handful that actually pay out dollars for each survey answered. Most of them put you in a 'draw' to see if you can win cash or prizes. Some only offer prizes for completed surveys. The handful of companies that pay out cash for surveys are also very vague about whether a person would even get selected to take part in a survey." - Cindy

Here are some sites that have been recommended to us by people we trust. Some simply have ideas and others have Because we have not tried them personally, make sure you check out any opportunities thoroughly before signing up.

BizyMoms
Information and resources about working at home

Suggestions from Thriftyfun.com
Work From Home
Money Making Tips for Stay at Home Moms

Suggestions from MomAdvice.com
Work at Home Ideas
Take The Mystery Out Of Mystery Shopping

From Richard Booth, CEO of FindSavings.com and URShopping.com

Work at Home Ideas:
Baking goods and selling thru local coffee shops and similar venues
Small Venue Catering
Crafting unique items to sell at a flea market or similar venue
Laundry...Pick up and delivery of peoples laundry. it can be a very lucrative service if you are in the right area.
Home cooked meals delivered -- You cook the meals and then deliver them to homes for a price.
Dog/Cat/Pet sitting!

As with anything though the most important thing with the business idea is to nail down all the potential costs so you know you are going to make money and not just waste time and money on something that wont pay back dividends.

Also you asked for ideas for moms without skills but I beg to differ with you on that, they have skills they just need to hone the ones that can turn a profit! heh heh My mom could make an awesome cherry pie she just needed to figure out how to turn that skill set into making money!

      -Richard