Thinking about working from home? Good idea, there is plenty of money to be made.
Unfortunately, most of that money is going to be made from you.
Unscrupulous businesses are more than willing to make pie in the sky promises in exchange for your $29.
99 or $49.
99 one time payment.
The various career sites are stuffed with these work from home links, all of them wanting your cash up front.
What you need to ask yourself is not should you pay them their fee, but why they want you too in the first place.
If their idea is so good, why do they need you to crowd the market place? The closer one can get to a monopoly, the more money that can be made.
This is a simple rule of business.
Competition costs everyone.
Perhaps the answer to this question is that their business model has nothing to do with the actual work at home business, and everything to do with getting you to click on that flashing button and enter your credit card number.
When you consider that nearly every company is selling the same tired old work at home contacts, this theory becomes very clear.
There are only so many things you can do from home that will actually make money for you directly, or in the form of a paycheck.
Taking a look at the various opportunities that these programs offer, the one that seems to crop up the most is envelope stuffing.
The internet is littered with promising offers for these kinds of jobs.
Looking a bit deeper, there are also a number of websites which claim that no matter how many envelopes you stuff, you are going to make less money than most illegal immigrants.
Not exactly a get rich quick business plan.
By far the easiest way to test the work at home waters is to try selling on one of the various auction sites.
Without naming any of them, I am sure one has already popped into your head.
This is the cheapest way to try out the work from home method.
Take a look at what people are selling, find out where they are getting it, and calculate how much they are making.
If you feel you can duplicate their business model, give it a try.
A few hours at night and on weekends is all it takes to start something of this nature, and you will quickly decide if they work equals the rewards.
Selling on auction sites not your thing; how about setting up an information website? Do you know everything there is to know about something other people would find interesting? Advertisers are more than willing to pay you for access to those interested website visitors.
However, before you run off and spend money on a domain name, and web hosting, carefully consider what you intend to build.
Research the importance of key wording, links, SEO, and the numerous other factors that go into building a successful website people are going to want to visit, and be able to find.
Before you decide to click on one of those flashing buttons which promise you wealth beyond the dreams of mere mortals, make sure you are not selling yourself short.
If you are really the kind of person who can work from home and own their own business, then you should also be the kind of person who can find answers to questions without paying people to do it for you.
Working for yourself is all about self-reliance.
You are not going to have a boss to run to, or coworkers to place the blame on.
The buck is going to stop with you, and the money you make or lose is going to be yours.
If you want be independent, then start out that way.
Look at those flashing buttons promising riches, and consider them for what they really are; bug zappers for your bank account.