Work from home question

[RavensGryf]

I'm curious...
I've read many times on this forum where people have mentioned they work from home. Due to recent life circumstances, I've come to think that this 'could' be ideal for me at this point. HOWEVER... In the past, what I had noticed in "work from home" job ads, was that probably 99.9% of them were just ads for scams, or telemarketing on commission, or some other variety of 'bs' presented in an attractive way you come to find out. :20:

Obviously, only in certain industries would working from home even be possible. I'm thinking that people who have seniority in a type of job which requires a computer, are able to do this type of set up if the company has such an opportunity open for them, but I can't think of what else is out there... With everything going computers these days, there has to be legitimate work from home jobs out there, right? If you do work from your home, and you don't mind sharing what it is that you do, I'd love to know!

 

[Dustbunny]

I know a lot of people who work from home, my husband included. The situations are all different though. Some own their own businesses. Some work as contractors for others. Some are full-time employees who simply use a home office for some or all of their work. Some of their jobs include: sales, sales engineering, technical assistance, QA, document writing, customer service, software development, and medical transcription. Most of the jobs are in the computer industry.

My husband started telecommuting doing contract work on the side at night. That allowed him to work with a couple companies and really get a feel for what they were each like. Eventually a very promising company offered him a full-time telecommute position and he accepted. A couple times a year he does have to fly to their headquarters for special in-face meetings, but mostly they use Skype. And these meetings involve the biggest companies you can think of across many industries. Telecommunication is becoming an increasingly viable and accepted option now by very large and small companies alike. Finally!

A friend of mine is blind but does medical transcription from home. Yep, pretty amazing. She studied for a couple years with a reputable school. (Careful, many of them are scams or not taken seriously by potential employers). Now she works part time from her home. I believe the company even provided her the computer and some equipment. However, she gets paid by how many lines she types or reviews, so you have to be good to make a decent wage. For her it works great because she just likes having a job for decent spending money.

 

[RavensGryf]

A good friend of mine has worked at home for many years as a medical transcriptionist. She's good and types fast since she's done it for so long, but still it adds up to be a very low wage. Even working hard for up to 60 hours a week, she wouldn't be able to make it on her own without her husband. It doesn't help either, that the cost of living in S. California is sky high.

 

[Kiwibird]

I sell stuff on ebay personally and still do some contract work for my old job in Arizona (graphics for their print ads and website). So that's my at home "job". I do pretty well at it too, I seem to have a natural inclination for selling things online. It isn't as much as I earned working full time, but it's always been part of our "life plan" for me to stay at home anyways, so the income is an added bonus and fills my time since we don't have kids at this point

I actually have a friend who does call center stuff from home as a full time job, and she's been doing it for several years. She does reservations and answers questions/complaints for a moving company. She seems to really enjoy the flexibility of her job, and it pays decent money.

 

[veimar]

I work AT home, not from home. I'm a musician (and my husband too) - we teach, practice and record at home. So that's probably not very helpful for you… I also paint at home and sell my artwork at art fairs and exhibitions.
I have a friend who works for advertising company and works mostly from home.

 

[Timothy]

I breed Sun Conures, Lovebirds, Cockatiels, and will be getting Senegals and Caiques to breed soon. This is a pretty decent amount of money for me. Not enough to live by myself, but it pays most of the bills and takes care of my birds. I also write peotry (I'm getting published some time next year) in which i will be earning about 8c for every book sold (2 of my poems in a book of poetry) which adds up to like 8 grand for every 100k copys sold (E-Books, Paperback and Hard Cover) I am also about 1/4 way thru a rough manuscript for a book i'm writing. My main source of income is the baby birds, and the writing is pretty much just a paid hobby.

Edit: I also will be receiving money from youtube for one of my channels on How-To's for Bird owners. Training, Caring for, Feeding etc. (The videos are private atm while i strike some deals with various retailers who's products i will be showcasing) The channel will be up and running in about 6 months - I expect to receive a few hundred a month from youtube, and money from companys who's products i use.

 

[Sterling1113]

I edit the website for the Vapor store my boyfriend works at. The owner did everything himself, and decided he could use some help, and since I'm already computer-savvy he just had to teach me how to use the software he uses for his website. It's the only thing I've ever done from home though, and really, it's a low wage. Only cause I really "work" about once a week, whenever they get new stock in.