The harsh (AND rewarding) realities of work at home from a single Mother who continues to earn her family's living by working from home.
The American Dream has encountered some nightmarish twists over the last couple decades. Employers dabble in exporting jobs overseas, while our steadily growing population seeks the security available via the almighty, yet increasingly more difficult to locate, honest wage. Our current government, whether the Reagan, Clinton, or Bush administration, will tell us everything is fine on the home-front…(unemployment is down, spending is up, etc). Sure it’s easy to say that, but American citizens live with reality day after day, generation after generation, and they know better. We desperately miss our children while barely scraping by, only to retire at a ripe old age on a fixed income, and without adequate medical care.
Having researched a few work at home opportunities, and while struggling to support my own family as a single mother, I am about to present you with some honest truths about work at home opportunities.
First and foremost, if you have a job outside the home now, don’t quit it. I would not recommend anyone voluntarily leave employment to seek work from home even if their spouse is also employed. Let’s look at some of the harsh realities.
~ There are about 5,000 individuals seeking the same opportunities you are, per day. Type in the phrase "work at home" at the above link and you'll see for yourself.
~ Most home-based jobs require long hours of tedious work to earn enough even to maintain monthly DSL service. Many are “independent contractor” positions, meaning you will somehow have to pay your own taxes and find some form of health insurance. Unemployment benefits would be out of the question in this scenario, and if you are not contributing to your social security fund on a regular basis (employers usually do this for you when they deduct from your gross pay), you will not be entitled to benefits should you become unexpectedly disabled.
~ Many who work at home must work for several companies as workloads do lag occasionally.
~ There may be added expenses for printer ink and paper, long-distance phone charges, equipment maintenance, and so on. Sure, you can write these off at the end of the year providing you’ve made enough to justify the expenses, but that won’t help when the rent is due next week and you have $70 to your name.
~ Work at home is not for everyone and it is very likely you will still need childcare in order to free up your time for working. In addition, some call-based jobs require no background noise.
~ Expect several of your friends and family members to interrupt frequently, after all, in their minds you’re home all day dabbling with 'some internet thing', and you're at their disposal.
~ Plan on your housekeeping suffering as you become acclimated to a new schedule you must formulate in order to juggle all the tasks at hand. It’s quite common for folks to struggle aimlessly while lacking ‘self-motivation’. Suddenly, instead of taking orders from the “boss”, they become lost in trying to figure out what they should be doing, how much they should be doing, and when it should be done.
~ Be prepared for criticism from your spouse, friends, or extended family. Work at home, while it is a growing option employers are steadily exploring, it is not quite “accepted” by society in general. You will hear things like, “don’t you ever get off that computer”, “why don’t you go get a real job”, and “how come there are dirty dishes in the sink if you were home all day”.
~ Unless you are able to schedule routine activity out of the home and away from “work”, you will likely suffer with lack of human interaction and loneliness.
~ Just as you now feel guilty about not being home with your kids, you’ll feel just as guilty about being home and unable to interact with them so that you can work.
There are immeasurable positive aspects to working from home as well. Let's take a closer look.
~ The ability to prioritize life on our own terms, including not having to beg an unrelenting boss for an hour off in order to see our child perform in his first school play.
~ Being immediately available to handle unexpected emergencies.
~ Saving money on things like transportation costs incurred when traveling to and from work, and special work attire.
~ The relaxation of not having to rush off in the mornings while yelling at the kids to skip breakfast and hurry so that you won’t be late punching in to work.
~ The fact that you won’t have to pre-warm the car or scrape frost and snow off of any windows.
~ The ability to get up, walk a few steps and be ‘at work’, knowing it doesn’t matter if you haven’t combed your hair, put on make-up, or even changed out of pajamas.
~ Being able to perform household tasks, such as laundering, while in between calls or assignments.
~ Having the freedom to move your job with you wherever you choose to relocate.
~ Knowing you won’t have to call in an absence to an employer, which may jeopardize your job or future references, should your child (or you) become ill and need care.
~ Not having to worry about potential lay-offs, employer financial hardships, or any type of in-person harassment from co-workers or clients.
For every legitimate work at home employer there are probably ten thousand scammers. The internet is the surest means of finding live “bait” for those seeking to take advantage of the misery and desperation of others. It’s a hard fact of life, but these people are driven toward the almighty dollar just as we are. Although I will never condone the dishonest and low-down tactics used by some others, I can understand how desperate people do become in trying to care for themselves and their families.
If I were to read a message on a work at home forum which read something like, “See how I make $6,000 a week and you can too!” then I would wonder why this person is not on the beach somewhere in the Bahamas, soaking up the sun, and sipping cute little drinks with umbrellas in them, rather than trying to “sell me an opportunity” to spam others.
Many scammers have become quite tactful in luring honest folks out of their hard-earned cash. As a general rule of thumb, don’t trust anybody. Do your own research into the legitimacy of a job or business venture.
If you’re still serious about seeking to work from home, here are some useful and basic guidelines.
~ Research every job thoroughly before supplying any personal information such as email address, driver license, birth certificate, social security number, or accurate home address and phone number. There are people who collect this type of information to either manipulate your identity, or to collect data solely for selling to others who ‘target’ certain types or groups of people for mailings, scam offers, credit card offers, and the like.
~ Be patient. Take your time and thoroughly investigate job leads in your free time, while keeping in mind several companies hire in intervals. Several women I have spoken with have sent out resumes to numerous employers and waited anywhere from two weeks to a year before they receive any type of response or follow-up.
~ Do not pay for a job or list of jobs. If you wouldn’t pay a local factory to consider your application or hire you, then why would you pay a complete stranger for the opportunity to work? With that said, there are a few legitimate folks online who ask a fee for help in matching your talent with prospective employers. Their fees are justified since they make it their job to scour the net and research the legitimacy of work offered. one such company is called Telework Recruiting. I've personally witnessed several members of forums become matched with legitimate work from this company. Some companies do deduct a reasonable training fee from the first check.
~ Realize there are a growing number of honest people like myself, who compassionately relate to the difficulties of life and single-parent households, and offer insight into real work at home options. It is always best, however, to use extreme caution in all cases. Even the most well-meaning webmaster can be tricked into unknowingly providing a job source to viewers which may turn out to be a scam.
~ Do not ever consider a job which requires you to handle money for others. There are several versions of scams out there which not only have the potential of discrediting your good name, but that are punishable by law if you’re caught contributing to these money-laundering operations.
~ Several opportunities will not pay enough to make it worth your while. While they may provide a little extra cash now and then, it is extremely unlikely anyone could live off of things like doing surveys for pay, for example. If it sounds ‘too easy’ then there probably isn’t much use in looking at it as a means of survival.
~ If a company requires you to obtain a DBA (doing business as) to ‘work for them’, consider the fact that if the company ‘hired’ you to perform any type of activity which could be construed as illegal or damaging to others, YOU will be the one sued while the company remains intact and continues on in business. Please be sure you understand exactly what you may be setting yourself up for.
~ Check with several rip-off and scam alert sites when researching companies. Keep in mind, however, that not all rip-off reports are legitimate. Webmasters of those sites can also be rail-roaded, or even underhanded in their own approach. Being a member of the Better Business Bureau does not guarantee a company is safe or flawless. To be a member, a business must have been in operation for six months, paid dues, and little else. If derogatory claims are made against businesses listed, they can and have simply folded and re-opened under another ‘untarnished’ assumed name.
~ Analyze the job offers as if you were the one presenting them and try and get a feel for what each particular company ‘really wants from you’. From their standpoint, how could they gain by your response to the ad? Read all text and terms very carefully. Look for things like untraceable common names (Manager, John Smith), discrepancies in locations (South Fork Boulevard New York, Texas) or a phone area code that does not match the company location. Check with Whois to discover who owns the domain of the particular job website and for how long. Does it match the information presented on their company site? Or will you find that the ABC Company offering the job in Kansas, is actually registered by the domain name to QZL Enterprises in Washington?
~ Read and make use of search functions to access old scam alert threads on message boards. Read signature lines forum posters use, and dig a little to see what does and has worked for others. Keep in mind that while using message boards such as WAHM there will be thousands of viewers who read the boards daily without ever posting. Some may only skim frequently for “newbies” in order to find ‘fresh meat’ for their scams. Newcomers have a habit (me included at one point) of providing personal details in their original posts while providing a simple means for everyone to access their email account and target their 'dreams'. Some message boards are also indexed by search engines and everything you contribute, literally word for word (your email address and all other personal information) can be located within a matter of seconds simply by typing in your name or user identity to Google or Boardreader. When typing your email address in a post for others to contact you, create spaces and symbols so that email harvesters cannot target you for advertising and spam. For example: “poster At somewhere dot com”. Better yet, offer to meet up with someone via instant messenger for added safety.
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Author: Polly Taskey supports her family through work at home. She is the Webmaster of Designing Life (http://www.designinglife.net), a site focused on empowering individuals to rebuild life and strengthen family, finances, and future through work at home and self-help resources. Some of her other ventures include www.plantscapes4profit.com, www.k-9campus.com, and her business with Watkins - www.tsginfo.com/index.php?rc=PT4443. This article may be reprinted with this byline included in full, and all links made clickable. Please email me if you choose to use my article and I will provide a list of exact URL's used for article emphasis and support. Thank you! |
