The idea of working from home sounds awesome. In fact, it sounds so awesome that many people fall victim to scams. There are a lot of illegitimate work from home jobs out there. Many times they take your money instead of you making money. How do you find some honest work from home jobs? Luckily there are many good work from home jobs out there. Here are some tips for how to spot them as well as a few to help get the ball rolling.

What To Look Out For When Working From Home

#1. You Have To Pay

The first red flag is if the company asks you for money up front. No company that is employing you is going to ask you for money upfront. This includes buying a starter kit. They should be providing this to you for free, if they charge you, run.

#2. You Never Heard Of Them

Yes, there are a lot of companies out there that you probably never heard of. But when it comes to working from home, you have to do some homework on these companies.

Do some internet searches on them. Try to find other employees. When doing this, don’t rely solely on the testimony of current employees. They could be just saying things to get you to join. A good place to start is with the Better Business Bureau.

#3. Put Things Into Perspective

Many times work from home jobs catch our attention because of their promises. ìWork 20 hours a week and make $100,000 a year!î This is a red flag. Don’t get caught up in the hype but rather put things into perspective.

Think about it. If you really can make $100,000 working just 20 hours a week, why aren’t more people doing this? The more questions you ask, the greater the chance you will dig deep enough to find out if the job is a scam or not.

#4. Think Things Through

Lastly, think things through. What is the work you will be doing? Once you know this, think about how it relates to the real world. By this I mean, think about if there really is a need for a person to do the job or if there is technology out there that can automate or do the job better.

Legitimate Work From Home Jobs

Now that you have a list of things to keep in mind when searching for work from jobs, what are some real ones you can consider or at least begin your search with? Here are a couple of ones that I have found. You can find many more by searching around, but again, make sure you follow my tips above so you don’t get burnt.

Call Center Agent: As a call center agent, you could easily work from home. You would need to have a computer and a quiet place in your house to work without interruptions. There are many companies that need call center agents and many do allow you to work from home.

Medical Transcription: This is a tough job, as you are listening to a doctors audio notes and putting them into written form. You need certain training for this job, so it’s not for everyone.

Virtual Assistant: As a virtual assistant, you can help out others with just about anything that interests you. Obviously the more jobs you can help out with, the more in demand you will be.

Web Design: If you are one who enjoys computers, you could get a work from home job as a web developer. With Google changing their search algorithms all of the time, companies are always looking to update their websites. If you are skilled in this area, you could easily start working from home doing this.

Final Thoughts

So there you have some red flags to look out for when searching for work at home jobs as well as a couple to get you thinking about the possibilities of working from home. As technology advances, more and more jobs have the ability to become work from home jobs, either completely or partially.

You might even find that you can do your current job from home a day or two per week. It certainly is something to bring up to your boss the next time you have a meeting.