Legitimate Work from Home Jobs - Preferably Online Jobs

Updated on May 22, 2013
L.O. asks from Houston, TX
11 answers

HI! I have some mom friends who are seeking legitiate work from home job opportunities & I thought this would be the best place to ask this question. Please, NO MLM's or "business opportunities". These moms need stable reliable income right away, not anything MLM-related where they have to first invest money, buy products, and/or recruit people. Thanks in advance for your help!

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R.K.

answers from Appleton on

A couple of things:

1) We can't recommend jobs for anyone unles we know about their proir experience and education.

2) There a few work at home jobs that do not involve some type of sales; such as Avon, Mary Kay, Tupperware, Amway....

A friend of mine does medical transcription from home but that is the only at home job besides childcare that I know of that doesn't involve sales or a huge investment. Even childcare involves an investment.

3 moms found this helpful

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C.O.

answers from Washington DC on

Laura:

Many misconstrue "work from home" to mean - I can have my kids with me.
No. I am a recruiter/staffing manager - I get to work from home - however - it's NOT a "luxury". When I am talking to people on the phone? The last thing they expect to hear is a child screaming in the background.

I EARNED my way to work from home. I have a pipeline and produce quality candidates. You can't just walk into an organization and say - "I'd like to work for you - but I want to work from home." Most will laugh in your face.

There are sites called: http://www.hiremymom.com - and you pay for the service. They try to hook you up with companies that match your experience, etc.

There are also companies that want customer support and allow their employees to work remotely - however - they STILL EXPECT a professional environment - i.e. NO KIDS SCREAMING in the background.

Craigslist has people looking for people all the time. Several years ago I found a job on Craigslist for a guy who worked from his home and he needed an assistant/office manager. I was allowed to work from home - but had to go to his house twice a week - which was fine.

http://houston.craigslist.org/search/jjj?zoomToPosting=&a...

Unlike the hiremymom.com - if you find an organization that wants you to pay for training - sorry- that's a scam.

If they need money NOW? They need to open a day care (which of course requires licenses, certifications, etc. in most areas and then advertising costs). They can also have a garage sale and get rid of their excess. Suggest they borrow the Dave Ramsey book in controlling finances...

I hope they find what they are looking for!!

6 moms found this helpful

T.F.

answers from Dallas on

I haven't read the other responses yet but .... You ( and your mom friends) do realize that working from home is work???

No company will pay you to be home with your children.

Those who do work from home who are employed by a company have earned their right to work at home by proving their work ethic, discipline, etc.

I do work for home running our company and I could not do it with a child or children because it is a big job and I have to be 100% spot on correct or I could cost us thousands of dollars.

Anyone who does legitimate work at home and has children must have those children in some sort if care.

You'll get hit up by the recruiters for all the MLM, Direct Sales, etc and if that's your thing go for it but around here, we run from the MLM'rs.

If you are asked for any $$$ and if it sounds too good to be true.. Beware of a scam.

Good luck

5 moms found this helpful
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A.V.

answers from Washington DC on

The shortish version:

Sign up for a service like Hiremymom.com. It's legit. But it is a LISTING service, not a job service. So you get to connect with companies that are hiring for short or long term, online jobs. They know that HMM caters to mom professionals - those of us with a skill or degree who want to make money at home. You need to evaluate each listing and decide what you can do/what makes sense. If there's ever a questionable listing, HMM has always made good by reporting it, taking it down, etc.

Now, how you manage being home, being self-employed (which is basically what contract work is), etc. is up to you (or your friends). But for getting the job - that's a resource I do recommend. I had an interview for a company that was getting started that was a dud, but I have also had two legit jobs that did not ask me to pay for training, etc. You must be smart and it not likely to be immediate.

5 moms found this helpful

O.H.

answers from Phoenix on

The only non-MLM work from home I know of is home daycare. Good luck.

4 moms found this helpful
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A.R.

answers from Dallas on

What did they do before they were SAHMs? If it was something that could be done at home they might contact their old employers or other work contacts to see if there are any opportunities. However, they need to make sure that either the hours correspond with the school day (if school aged kids) or that they have daycare. As others have said, no professional company will pay someone to be home with their kids. I WAH; I earned it. I've been with my company 13 years and have a unique skillset that gives me the leverage I need to get a WAH flexible schedule. Even with the fact that I have a lot of leverage (ie no one else does what I do so my value is high) my kids are not home when I'm working. It's not fair to the kids and it's not fair to my work. Being a SAHM is a full time job. So is a full time job. You can't do both at the same time unless the full time job involves childcare.

2 moms found this helpful

R.H.

answers from Houston on

Yep, childcare. I plan to do that when I retire. Not too many kids--my future grandchildren and maybe 2 other--whatever the legal limit without state regulations.

Were you an English major/minor? Write some term papers, type some papers.

Sell on Ebay?

2 moms found this helpful
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M.D.

answers from Brownsville on

This question gets asked every so often. I feel obliged to answer as I have been working from home for past 6 years, at one time with two toddlers and now with one little guy still at home.
I am bilingual and work as an interpreter. There are many companies ( for example LanguaeLine) looking for bilinguals to work from home, sometimes you get paid for the actual minutes you spend interpreting others pay by hour. But of course the emphasis is always on good customer services skills and yes no screaming children in the background. You can train yours. Most of these jobs offer flexibility. I only work when I can and as much as I can, yes that also mean I make lot less then I should or can. You cannot expect children to cooperate for 8 hours straight.
Again with bilingual skills you can do document translation, there background noise is not an issue but you need to be able to concentrate.

Other jobs include customer services( again handling phone) or virtual assistant, web assessor, writer/editor, insurance claim handlers or nurses ( with licenses of course) For Medical Transcription most of the time you are required to have some real time experience before you can go virtual.
Following is a link to very resourceful site that screens and posts "from home" jobs.
http://ratracerebellion.com/job_postings.html#axzz2U1ajeb00

There is always Ebay that helps you clean your house/closet/garage.
And you can sell your skills at Etsy.
if you are a cook you can try catering.

The opportunities are out there, it depends upon your skills, education, home environment etc.

1 mom found this helpful
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K.M.

answers from Kansas City on

The few moms that I know that work from home, worked in the office first. They all built up seniority in the company and then asked to work from home. You might have to start in the office first:(

1 mom found this helpful

R.W.

answers from San Antonio on

I've been looking for the online job opportunity. Good Luck. :)

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A.C.

answers from Madison on

I am a WAHM. I have been a freelance editor for the past eight years; my main employer is an e-publishing company. I do not make a lot of money; mine is DEFINITELY a second income used for "fun" stuff, not to actually contribute to monthly household bills. I work so that my resume shows that I have worked while I'm home.

We decided when my daughter was about to begin Kindergarten that one of us needed to stay home. She is special needs/sensory issues, required a lot of dr appts when younger, and needs to have routine. Out of my husband and me, he was the one with the skill set that would allow him to make the most money to support us. He also would go batty staying home all day, working and taking care of a kid.

I pursued my love of writing and used that to parlay into editorial work. I'd already belonged to a national writers association since 1993, had belonged to a multitude of critique groups, and at the time when I was looking for a job, was actively working on some manuscripts (writing has fallen by the wayside as editing takes up a lot of time). The e-publishing company I work for was just starting when I got a job as a content editor with them; thankfully for me, the company is still going strong all these years later. I've since added a proofreading job with a smaller publisher (on par with the NYC publishing houses; been with them for 6 years now) as well as a professor, with whom I've been working since he started his PhD program; he has now graduated, and I helped him work on his dissertation/280 pp book.

In order to work from home, you have to have a specific skill set you can use that employers will want. You need to be realistic about how much money you can make, how many hours you can devote, what hours you can devote. When I started working from home, my child was entering the all-day school system; if any of your friends have young children, they will have to factor in the cost of daycare until the children are in all-day school. The job I do, I can do anytime, anywhere. However, it would have been impossible for me to keep up with my workload if I had to watch/run after/take care/ or play with babies, toddlers, or preschool children.

I am using the fact that I work at home to study for a new career as a nutritionist and wellness coach around my editorial work and will start taking a yearlong program in July. Why? Because my daughter is almost in high school now and I can finally begin doing what I really want to do and I can get an office set up. And freelance editing, unless you also toss in freelance writing, doesn't pay a lot. There are so many NYC editors who are leaving the bigger houses and setting up their own independent editorial services that finding jobs is very, very hard (people are going to go with a famous NYC editor instead of someone who works for an e-publisher).

For me, my love of editing is waning while my love of helping people get healthy through alternative means is growing by leaps and bounds. I have the opportunity to engage in education while at the same time I'm also getting paid work in, so it's the best investment I can make at the moment.

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