Many people consider working from home to be the holy grail of work perks, and thanks to the internet, it’s entirely possible. Whether you want a full-time job or just want to make a little extra money on the side, you have options if you know where to look.
A word of warning: “Work from home” or “online work” does not mean “get rich quick.” Always be extremely skeptical of jobs that promise great wealth for very little work. They are almost certainly scams.
Here are some simple guidelines to avoid scams when searching for jobs online.
— Always make sure the company is legitimate and has a solid history online.
— Never pay upfront fees, including application processing fees.
— Never provide personal information in your application that a typical company wouldn’t ask for.
— Research.
With these caveats in mind, let’s take a look at some jobs.
home agent
Home agent is an umbrella term that includes duties such as telemarketing, market research, customer service, and technical support. In other words, work that would normally be done in a large call center with hundreds of staff can be done from home.
You can find home agent jobs posted on the usual job sites like Indeed.com and Monster.com. Alternatively, you can go straight to the source with a dedicated home agent company such as Converygs, TeleTech or Sitel. These companies typically treat you as an employee with regular hours and health benefits, but if you want to be an independent contractor, check out sites like LiveOps.
If you don’t mind getting out of the house every now and then, you can sign up for a service like TaskRabbit. This allows you to find small jobs near your home and get paid, such as walking the dog, shopping for groceries, or making minor repairs.
freelancer
People skilled in creative or technical fields such as graphic design, video and image editing, writing, and programming can try out life as a freelancer. There are many job sites for freelancers and people who want to hire freelancers.
Three sites I often recommend are Elance, Guru, and FreelanceSwitch. You can look up job listings posted by others, and post your skills to be found.
Most of these sites allow you to set your own hourly and project rates before you start applying. Please note that some jobs may require a lengthy interview process before being hired. Salaries vary depending on the project, but can range from a few dollars to hundreds of dollars.
Of course, becoming a freelancer isn’t always smooth sailing. If you encounter a difficult customer, you could end up without pay or even end up in court.
e-book author
If you can write, but don’t want to write for other people, being an e-book author might be the job for you. Last year, publishers earned his $3 billion in sales from e-books, and that doesn’t include self-published e-books, but they’re definitely lucrative.
You don’t even need to write a novel to be successful. Short stories, funny life anecdotes, insightful commentary, and detailed instructions for skill-based tasks are all popular topics for sale.
Visit Amazon or Barnes & Noble and check out the best-selling e-books in every category to get an idea of what titles and topics are selling best. Then, think about what unique perspective you can bring to those areas and get to writing.
Always have one or two editors review your manuscript before publishing. You can use friends and family, but you can also use the freelance sites mentioned above to hire professionals. You can also hire someone to create a great cover for you. After all, it’s the first thing people see.
The only thing left to do is decide where to sell it. Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing is a good place to start. Apple’s iBookstore is one of them. Alternatively, you can create your own e-book files (PDF or ePub) using a program such as Caliber and sell them individually through your own website.
No matter where you post your e-book, marketing is key. You should at least promote it on social media. One good trick is to start a blog and post short introductions or entire chapters to give people a feel. Perhaps you could launch an entire site on the same topic as your book to attract readers.
On The Kim Commando Show, the nation’s largest weekend radio talk show, Kim takes calls and offers advice on today’s digital lifestyle, from smartphones and tablets to online privacy and data hacking. For her daily tips, newsletters and more, visit: www.commando.com. Email us at techcomments@usatoday.com.
