Finding a Legitimate Home Business or Job  

By Leslie Truex  

Hi Leslie,  

I am now a stay at home mom and would like to find something 

to do in my spare time while the kids are in school.  I also 

want it to be legitimate.  A few years back there was a 

business that you could do at home selling greeting cards, 

gifts, etc.  Is there anything along those lines still out 

there?  I want to be able to do this mainly from home and 

not have to travel around due to that I have to be here when 

the kids get out of school.  On the other hand I am also 

looking for either typing/data entry or billing.  I am not 

having much success in finding any information unless I have 

to pay out a lot of money to end up at a dead end.  I don't 

have alot to pay out for start up and then have it be a dead 

end.  I can not afford to waste money.  I am willing to pay 

out start up cost if in fact it is legitimate and working.  

Can you help. - Ginger Warnick  

Hi Ginger, 

Before I go into to more detail on your answer, there are a 

few issues I should clarify to help insure your success 

whatever you decide. There are many great businesses and 

jobs that can be done at home. What many fail to understand 

though is that working at home in a business or job takes a 

great deal of work. The idea of earning a good income during 

nap time or while Oprah is on is false. Everyone I know who 

is successfully working at home spends a great deal of time 

and energy on a daily basis to make it happen. If you are 

looking for some easy online sign-up-get-paid program, you 

are bound to be disappointed and risk being scammed. 

However, if you understand that any work-at-home endeavor 

requires consistent effort, your chances of success increase 

significantly. 

If you are looking for a home business in the area of gifts 

or greeting cards, I recommend starting your search at the 

Direct Selling Association 

http://www.dsa.org/directory/index.cfm? 

fuseaction=show_CompanyResults. 

Members of the DSA are reviewed for a full year before 

membership is granted. Further, members must adhere to a 

strict code of ethics. While most of these companies use a 

party plan or person-to-person selling strategy, some may 

allow sales online or through eBay. Any company that you 

find, you will want to research.  

· Verify any claims it makes such as being in the Better 

Business Bureau or featured in on television.  

· Find out the refund policy, the longer the better. You 

will want at least 30 days but longer is better as it takes 

time to fully learn and implement a business.  

· Check with fraud alerts to make sure there are no suits 

against the company. The Federal Trade Commission is a good 

place to check. Here is an alert I found about a Greeting 

Card Business: Greeting Card Business Opportunities 

Fraudulently Marketed by Florida Companies 

http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2003/04/greetingcards.htm  

· Make sure you review the compensation plan and understand 

the "system" by which you will be expected to build a 

business. Sometimes, in effort to get you signed up, the 

person you contact about joining will leave out  important 

details. In my experience, most bad reports on home 

businesses found on the internet have less to do with the 

company and more to do with enrollers failing to fully 

disclose important information.  

· Most importantly, whatever business you decide to join, 

develop a business and marketing plan. Most businesses fail 

because people don't do the things that need to be done to 

be successful. Marketing is more than posting an ad or a 

flyer. Its a daily part of the job.  

As far as typing and data entry, I am finding more and more 

small and medium size businesses are outsourcing many of 

their clerical services. However, work-at-home jobs are like 

any other job in that employers are looking for qualified 

employees. Do you know how fast you can type without errors? 

Have you done data entry before? Further, many of the these 

companies allow people to work from home but are looking for 

employees that live in their area. A good place to look for 

these jobs is at Craigslist.org http://www.craigslist.org in 

your area. Craigslist makes it easy. Just choose "jobs" and 

then click the "Telecommute" box for work-at-home jobs in 

your area. 

There are several online companies that are taking on 

customer service and clerical workers in a freelance 

capacity. This work is quite competitive and may or may not 

be regular depending on your specific skills. My favorite 

resource for work-at-home jobs and companies that are 

frequently hiring is Virtual Assistants 

www.virtualassistants.com/cgi-bin/affiliates/c.cgi/wahsuccess_ad. 

Its not free and there is no guarantee you'll find work. But 

its one of the best online databases of work-at-home jobs. 

Its important to remember, you never want to pay money to 

get hired to a job. A home business can cost you money but 

no legitimate employers charge to hire people. That doesn't 

mean you won't spend money in a job search but you can't buy 

a job. 

The best way to successfully earn income from home in 

business or job is to learn all you can about home business 

or telecommuting through books or online information 

resources, research any opportunity you find interesting, 

make a detail business and marketing plan, and then work 

that plan every day. 

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Ask WAHS Leslie is Leslie Truex a stay and work-at-home mom who has been helping people work at home since 1998 with her  web site http://www.workathomesuccess.com.  She is also the  author of Jobs At Home: A Complete Guide to Finding a Work-At-Home Job. Ask WAHMS Leslie is a weekly column.