I have been very busy lately and have not posted anything in a while, but I have been reading comments and emails you guys have been sending me and responding on an individual basis.  However, I decided that the things you guys have been asking are questions that probably several people have had, so I thought I would do some question and answer posts.  You can ask me any question you have about working from home, affiliate marketing, starting your own business, freelance jobs, medical transcription, etc.  If there is a program or job you have found that you would like me to review for you to see if it is legit, send that my way as well.  I will be happy to answer your questions!  Now remember, just like your teacher used to say, “There is no such thing as a bad question.”  So go ahead, ask away!  Send your questions to:  deana@legitworkathomejob.com

Being a virtual assistant is a great way to make money while working from home. What is a virtual assistant? Stacy Brice, chief visionary officer and founder of AssistU, sums it up this way: “A VA is a small-biz owner who provides administrative and personal support across the board to clients in long-term and collaborative relationships.”

Often times small business owners and mid- to executive-level professionals need personal assistants but cannot afford to hire one on a full-time basis or simply don’t have the space in their offices. Therefore, they hire people from remote locations to do their administrative work for them. This is where you come in. Virtual assistants can handle bookkeeping, administrative duties, travel arrangements, transcription and correspondence, and other support services that can be done remotely via e-mail and phone.

In order to do virtual assistant work, of course assistant experience is a plus. There are training/certification programs that will make it easier, but if you have experience you should be able to find work without training. How do you find work? Here are a few options:

1. If you currently working in this type of position in an office, see if your company has the option to work from home or if they would be interested in starting a work at home program.

2. A search on Google using keywords “virtual assistant” will generate results of many independent contractors. Some will outsource a share of their workload.

3. You should also consider starting a business on your own. Be your own boss, set your own hours, and acquire clients through self-promotion and marketing. Networking and referrals are your best bets for landing clients. Create an e-mail about your services and send it to everyone you know — and ask them to forward it along to everyone they know.

4. Look for jobs at www.virtualassistantjobs.com or at www.teamdoubleclick.com of course you can also look for this type of work on freelance sites and job boards by searching for the keywords “virtual assistant”.

Now, go forth and find virtual assistant work (if you are so inclined).

If you would like more info on how to find jobs you can do out of the comfort of your own home, click here to get the report I put together for you, which will tell you where to find available jobs, where to apply, and lucky for you I have sifted through the listings to weed out the scams and left you with the real meaty info! Get your copy today!

If you are like most people, this is the question that will run through your mind from time to time. It could be while you are stuck in traffic wishing you could be home with your family. It could be when you are planning a long distance move and you would rather not have to worry about starting a new job or you could just be thinking about the price of gas and how much you would save if you worked from home. It is true, working from home does allow for more time because you have no commute and spend less money on gas since you are not driving as much (and if you are thinking green - it also helps the environment). Working from home definitely has it’s advantages (it also has some disadvantages, but we won’t go into that in this article). So how can you start working from home? Well, there are a million things you can do from home - the real question you need to ask yourself is: “Do I want to work from home while working for someone else or would I rather work for myself?”

It may be hard to believe, but there are actually jobs that you can do from home - however, there are many, many more scams than there are actual jobs, so this will take some work on your part just to find these jobs. I believe I can make it a little easier for you with my free report “Top Resources For Finding Work From Home”. This will give you a huge advantage in your search and will teach you what to look for and how to spot a scam. This report will help you navigate the shark infested waters of a work at home job search and hopefully be your lighthouse to guide you safely home (and making money).

If on the other hand, you would rather work for yourself there is an endless array of things you can do to make money. The downfall of working for yourself is that there is no “paycheck” to fall back on - everything you make you work for and initially there is less security, but you can build that security if you work at it. If you think about it long-term working for yourself is actually more secure because you are in control and you won’t fire yourself!

I make money from home in two different businesses. The first is medical transcription, which I actually do work as an employer from home and also have some of my own accounts so this one thing allows me to both be my own boss and work for someone else. My second business is making money online through affiliate marketing, adsense advertising, and also, on occasion Ebay - although Ebay is more of a hobby than a business for me. I hope to in the future phase out of the transcription though so that I can have more free time to spend doing the fun things in life and maybe that is something you would like from a work at home job as well - freedom!

So how do you get started making money from home? Well first choose your path. Do a little soul searching and see if you can come up with some things that you have lots of knowledge in that could be of some use to others whether it be a service you provide, an information product, or another type of product. If you want to get some ideas and see what types of things people are looking for you could try searching a freelance site to see what types of things people are looking for. If you find something you are capable of doing apply or bid on it and see what happens!

If you are interested in medical transcription you can see my post “About Medical Transcription” where I post where to find training programs and where to find jobs along with some other information. If you have any further questions about this topic you can always post a comment or contact me at deana@legitworkathomejob.com.

If you would like information on affiliate marketing and making money online, there is tons of information out there, but I started with the Super Affiliate Handbook and I highly recommend it contains tons of good information about making money through affiliate links. Of course there are tons of other great products out there - as well as some not so great ones so please be careful when spending money on any products in this field.

If you have any questions about making money from home I would love to hear from you. Please post a comment or email me at deana@legitworkathomejob.com and I will do my best to help you out.

If you have been looking for some ways to make a little extra money this holiday season consider doing some work as a Holiday Helper or Personal Concierge.

Many professionals are often too busy to properly plan for the holidays and are in need of some assistance in this area. You would be like their own personal little elf spreading holiday cheer and getting all the things done for them that they do not have time to do such as Christmas shopping, gift wrapping, and shipping of gifts. You can also offer to assist with cooking and cleaning for holiday guests or you could photograph parties and prepare a scrapbook to preserve memories for years to come (and remind them of you the next year). You could also offer to prepare and send their cards out for them so that they are sure to be sent on time. For families who will be going out of town for the holidays, you could offer to pick up their mail and newspapers, water their plants, and give their pets food and water and take them for walks. Really just about anything you can think of that people don’t want to do or don’t have time to do for themselves.

How do you go about getting customers? You could print inexpensive business cards or flyers on your printer or order them from Vista Print and distribute them to neighbors, schools, churches, and any place where busy professionals are likely to be. You should expect to charge $10-$20 an hour depending on your location and the type of work you are doing. If you get the word out well, this could turn into a pretty good bit of money for the holiday season!

Once the holiday season is over, don’t let them get away! Turn those customers into year-round clients by catering to their every need. You could get paid to pick up drycleaning, shop for groceries, shop for their clothing, take care of mailing things for them and picking up and sorting their mail (who wouldn’t love never seeing all that junk mail?), walking their dog, waiting for the cable guy to show up, or setting up electronics for busy professionals or people who have difficulties leaving their homes. The list of things you can do for them is endless, every client will need something different, but if you stick with advertising services that you know people would need like those listed above for now it should get the word out pretty well.

You could offer one time discounts to your clients if they refer someone who also signs up for your service. Word of mouth referrals are the best form of advertising you can get!

Also, if you would like more info NOW on how to find jobs you can do out of the comfort of your own home, click here to get the report I put together for you which will tell you where to find available jobs, where to apply, and lucky for you I have sifted through the listings to weed out the scams and left you with the real meaty info! Get your copy today!

If you have seriously considered working from home for any length of time then I am sure that the idea of starting your own business has crept into your head more than once. Although some people really just want to work for someone else in the comfort of their own home, many others love the idea of starting their own company and find the idea empowering and exhilarating.

Starting your own business can be very rewarding, but it does take time to get everything rolling and many people throw in the towel before they even get fully off the starting line. If starting your own company is something you are seriously considering or have even already started then I really think you should consider some business training because your business can only get as big as your skills allow it to be, so you must always be learning and improving so that your business can continue to grow.

There is a great new program that has just been released by Eben Pagan called Get Altitude. This program is the absolute best program for business I have seen! It packed with loads of QUALITY content that will have your business highly profitable in no time…as long as you take ACTION on what you learn! I highly recommend this program if starting your own business is something you are truly considering or have already done.

Check out some of his free videos on business by clicking here.

Also, if you would like more info NOW on how to find jobs you can do out of the comfort of your own home, click here to get the report I put together for you which will tell you where to find available jobs, where to apply, and lucky for you I have sifted through the listings to weed out the scams and left you with the real meaty info! Get your copy today!

If you have done much searching online for work at home opportunities, I am sure that you have found that it feels much like you are trying to swim in shark infested water. Navigating this murky water can be tricky and if you do not pay close attention to the offers you consider you could find that your work at home dream has become a work at home nightmare!

This is the main reason that I started this blog. When you search for work at home information, it is extremely hard to find quality information. I once read that the ratio for scams to legitimate work at home opportunities is 42:1. So for every 42 scams you come across you will find one golden nugget of information. If this is true, then consider yourself to have hit the jackpot in finding this site because you will find only legitimate information here. I was fed up with weeding through all the hype and scams so I decided to take it upon myself to scope out the actual opportunities and make them easily found so that is how this blog came about…ok, enough of that little rant, let’s get down to business!

Here are some things to watch out for when evaluating a work at home opportunity:

1. They ask for money upfront to get started. Now, this applies mainly to the jobs where you will be working for someone else. If you are starting your own business, such as direct selling (Mary Kay, Avon, etc.) then you will need to have some money (usually not too much) up front in order to get started, but if you will be working for someone else and not starting your own company and they want you to send them some money then this should be a huge warning sign. If you are going to send money, ask first about a money-back guarantee. Specifically, find out how you’ll have to go about requesting a refund if you’re not satisfied and when you’ll receive it. This is especially important for websites that require a registration fee for access to listings or for sites that want to sell you an “information packet” or “starter kit.” Just because they request a fee doesn’t automatically mean it’s a scam, but you must do your due diligence to decide. Check with the Better Business Bureau for any complaints about the company and try to verify the seller’s PayPal record.

2. They ask for passwords or personal information. Once you’ve accepted a job and you opt for direct deposit, you’ll have to provide your bank account number. But this information isn’t relevant in the application process. Beyond that, you should never reveal passwords and pin numbers for banking information or PayPal accounts, even though many online scams request these details. They claim they’re only requesting it to determine if you’re an honest applicant. Don’t fall for that nonsense.

3. Just because an ad or posting appears on a seemingly reputable website doesn’t mean the opportunity has been verified for legitimacy. The big job boards and a wide range of work-from-home websites are rich in resources. Yet they often feature ads and links that aren’t vetted for accuracy. With an abundance of opportunities out there, no single source can possibly verify the validity of every opportunity. You must do your own research, inject a big dose of common sense, and follow the advice here to avoid getting ripped off.

4. Legitimate work-at-home opportunities should tell you - in writing - what’s involved in their program. Here are some questions you might ask:

• What tasks will I have to perform?
• Will I be paid a salary or will my pay be based on commission?
• Who will pay me?
• When will I get my first paycheck?

Here is a listing of some of the most widespread scam jobs:

• Envelope Stuffing.
• Assembly or craft work.
• Medical billing - although there are many people who do make money from this at home, the ads you see for this are usually scams. The ads are for a medical billing “business opportunity” and while again, you can make money doing medical billing from home, you are better off learning how to get involved in this by reading my “Medical Transcription” post below. Although the post is about medical transcription, most of the schools and employers also teach and hire medical billers and coders as well so if this is something you are interested in, please research here first and DO NOT buy a medical billing “business opportunity”!

If you have spent money and time on a work-at-home program and now believe the program may not be legitimate, contact the company and ask for a refund. Let company representatives know that you plan to notify officials about your experience. If you can’t resolve the dispute with the company, file a complaint with these organizations:

• The Federal Trade Commission works for the consumer to prevent fraud and deception. Call 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357) or log on to www.ftc.gov.
• The Attorney General’s office in your state or the state where the company is located. The office will be able to tell you whether you’re protected by any state law that may regulate work-at-home programs.
• Your local consumer protection offices.
• Your local Better Business Bureau.
• Your local postmaster. The U.S. Postal Service investigates fraudulent mail practices.
• The advertising manager of the publication that ran the ad. The manager may be interested to learn about the problems you’ve had with the company.

Also, if you would like more info NOW on how to find jobs you can do out of the comfort of your own home, click here to get the report I put together for you which will tell you where to find available jobs, where to apply, and lucky for you I have sifted through the listings to weed out the scams and left you with the real meaty info! Get your copy today!

If you have ever considered starting your own business but just did not know what to do? Well I am here to tell you that the possibilities are endless when it comes to what types of businesses you could start. Here are a few suggestions, take the ideas and run!

Pet sitter - Watch pets for owners when they are out of town.

Dog walker - Dogs need to be taken out for a walk, especially in cities where there is not that much room for them to roam and run free. You can do this for the busy or lazy owner.

Babysitting service - be the go between who hires people to babysit children. You have a list of people who are looking to babysit, the parent calls you and then you get the appropriate or available sitter. This way the parents do not have to spend too much time searching for a reliable babysitter who is available.

Create your own line of products - Ever dream of seeing your slogans and artwork on T-shirts, mugs or hats? You can turn that dream into reality, and into cash without investing even a penny in expensive startup costs like equipment and stock. You can submit your original ideas and art online to Web sites like Zazzle, CafePress, and others, and you’ll receive commission on all sales generated with your designs. Do this for T-shirts, mugs, kids’ accessories, housewares, posters, stickers, and so much more. In addition to securing orders from strangers who visit those sites, you can also make money by doing some proactive promotion of your own. Encourage your friends and family to place orders, and get them to e-mail all of their friends, too, by forwarding links to your products.

Daycare - Watch children while the parents are at work.

Personal Concierge - Cater to your client’s every day needs. You can get paid to walk a dog, garden, shop for groceries, wait for the cable guy to show up, fetch dry cleaning, or set up electronics for busy professionals or people who have challenges leaving home. Offer one-time discounts to your clients if they assist you with successful referrals by chatting up your services in their offices. Create inexpensive business cards or flyers on your home computer touting your services. Distribute them to neighbors, schools, churches and any place where busy professionals are likely to be. Expect to charge $10 to $20 an hour depending on your location and the nature of the work you’re doing.

Catering - Prepare food for special occasions and deliver it to the event. Print up fliers and cards and pass them out to all the businesses in the area as well as event planning companies, wedding coordinators, etc.

Restaurant Delivery Service - For a fee you will deliver food from area restaurants to people in their homes. Most people do not mind paying a little extra for the convenience of not having to leave their homes to pick up the food themselves. You can deliver for restaurants like Applebee’s, TGI Friday’s, Popular Chinese restaurants, any restaurant within a predetermined area so that you will save on gas if you know you are only working within a certain radius of the restaurant. To promote this you could deliver fliers to houses within your target area.

Mow lawns in your area.

Take pictures or video weddings or other special events - You can promote this by going to event coordinators, wedding planners, etc.

Internet/Affiliate Marketer - Earn money selling your own or other people’s products online. You will set up a site, drive traffic to your site, then when an item sells you get money. You can learn more about affiliate marketing by reading one of the best books for available on this subject: The Super Affiliate Handbook by Rosalind Gardner. There is a lot of information out there on this subject and it can get very confusing (and expensive) to try to figure it all out on your own, but you can start off on the right foot with this book! I found it to be very informative and easy to follow, it will teach you a lot about affiliate marketing whether you are utterly clueless about this work or just need some more info to up your results.

That should give you a few ideas to think about. Keep coming back for more as I will be posting more about starting your own business as well as legitimate jobs you can get to work from home. You can also check out my free report full of places you can find online jobs which will allow you to be employed while working from the comfort of your own home.

Deana

Medical transcription is how I started working from home not long after my son was born so I thought I would post about that tonight. What is a Medical Transcriptionist you ask. Medical Transcriptionists translate oral dictation into detailed patient reports which accurately communicate medical information. There are many, many people working at home as medical transcriptionists but you should know that not all transcription jobs are work at home jobs. There are several big transcription companies online who hire people to work from their own home and some of them even supply the computers on which you are to work however in order to get work at these companies you have to have been a transcriptionist for at least 2 years and in some cases 3 or 4 and you have to be able to pass the transcription test they give you OR you have to have completed training from a certified program and pass the test they give you (either way you have to pass their test).

The most common question I get is how do I get into medical transcription? Well if you know someone who is a transcriptionist who is willing to teach you and give you work you can go that route, but there are very few people who actually have this set up so the next best option is to go through a certified training program. A list of training programs can be found here. Training is usually self paced so you can go as slow or as fast as you want, however I believe most people finish in about 9-14 months. There are many advantages of these programs but one of the best is that they help you find a job after you complete the program and a lot of people even find work while still going through the program.

Once you get the training you need you can either try to find your own customer and run your own business or you can apply for work at hospitals or online. Transcriptionists are paid by the line so pay rates vary depending on how much you get paid per line but the average is probably around $30,000-40,000 per year however if you own your own business this number could go up dramatically.

If you are looking for work as a medical transcriptionist here are some of the job boards available for this type of work:

www.mtjobs.com (has lots of new jobs every day!)

www.jlgmedical.com

www.transcriptionmatchmaker.com

www.medquist.com

www.healthiva.com

www.precysesolutions.com

www.amphionmedical.com

www.spheris.com

www.med-scribe.com

www.softscript.com

www.ositranscription.com

www.nicholastranscription.com

There are many more links available but this is a good starting point! You may also want to check out www.ahdionline.org (formerly www.aamt.org)for all the latest and greatest news on MTs. This should get you off to a pretty good start. Good luck in your endeavors!

Also, if you would like more info NOW on how to find jobs you can do out of the comfort of your own home, click here to get the report I put together for you which will tell you where to find available jobs, where to apply, and lucky for you I have sifted through the listings to weed out the scams and left you with the real meaty info! Get your copy today!

Deana

There are 4 main categories that work you can do from home falls into and they are in no specific order:

1. Employee/General contract work - Employees have bosses that they must answer to. They do everything that they would do in an office (and sometimes more). General contractors are essentially employees but they have no benefits so their pay is sometimes higher to compensate for this.

2. Entrepreneur/freelance work - This type of work is for those people who do not want a boss telling them when to do what. If you have a special skill you could do good at freelance work. Those best known for being freelancers are artists, writers, computer whiz types, and marketers just to name a few.

3. Direct Selling - This is for people who like to sell basically. Think Avon, Mary Kay, Candle Lite, etc. There are many, many of these out there and their start up costs range greatly from very minimal to way too pricey!

4. Miscellaneous/Extra Money Work - This category is for those odd jobs that pay a little, but in most cases do not pay the bill (of course there are exceptions). This work includes mystery shopping, driving cars with advertising on it (driving for dollars), mock jury work, surveys (very hard to find legitimate surveys that pay), online tutor, etc.

So which type of job do you think you would be best cut out for? Do you have any special training that could be transferred over to a job you can do at home or do you have enough knowledge in an area to start your own business? These are all things you need to ask yourself so that you can find the perfect fit for you and your family. Your success is dependent on you, your attitude, and what you know or are willing to learn. So for today think about what special skills or interests you possess and how you can turn that into income.

Don’t forget to bookmark this blog and come back often, I am just getting started here and will be giving you loads of information to help you in your quest of working from home! Post your most burning questions about working from home here or email me at deana@legitworkathomejob.com and I will do my best to answer your questions for you.

Also, if you would like more info NOW on how to find jobs you can do out of the comfort of your own home, click here to get the report I put together for you which will tell you where to find available jobs, where to apply, and lucky for you I have sifted through the listings to weed out the scams and left you with the real meaty info! Get your copy today!

Deana

There are lots of places on the internet to find information about mystery shopping, unfortunately most of those sites charge you for this information. Well there is a way to find this type of work without paying a dime for it. I always tell people NOT to pay for this information under any circumstance because you can get most if not all of the information they are selling for free at www.mysteryshop.org and clicking on the map for your area of interest. This website has a listing of jobs available in your area and they update this often so I would check back at least once a week to get updates and see if there are any companies listed who you have not signed up to do work with. As this work is generally piece work if you would like to do this for your main source of income you will most likely need to be signed up to do mystery shopping for several different companies but this type of work is legit and there is work available but please do not pay for this info. Go to www.mysteryshop.org to find a mystery shopping company near you!

For more information on finding jobs you can do from home, please see my special report which is packed full of useful information you can use right away to start making your work at home dream a reality!

Deana