HoundsGood

I get hundreds of emails a month touting “work from home” opportunities. If given the choice, many folks would love to work from home to tend to a baby or pets while they are working. Of course, the time management factor can be much worse with so many more time stealers. Don’t answer ads asking you to stuff envelopes. Sure, you can make some money, but what you didn’t read is that you need to stuff 1,000 envelopes to make $2.00 and there isn’t an inserter machine in your living room.

Apart from a few scams, a few jobs exist where you can truly work from home or telecommute, but they are not easy money. Most of the careers involve opening your own business or contracting for someone else. There is no reality where a work from home job does not involve accountability to a customer or another entity. Most involve advanced training, but it comes with some independence.

1) Mortgage Broker. Not a true “work at home only” job, as sometimes you must meet with clients at a third party location for a personal touch, though it is not required. What is the best mortgage broker training? Make sure the course selected carries IRS approval.

2) Tax Preparer. Some large companies, such as Intuit, occasional contract independent tax preparers. Networking can bring personal clients, too.

3) Hobby-based businesses. Segue your hobby into a small business. Refinish furniture for neighbors or sew and design a clothing line. All work at home opps in this category require vision and dedication to become gainful, or do it just on occasion.

And…not so gainful…

4) Babysitter or dog sitter. If you are occupied with the care of a little one all day and only are able to carve a few hours out for concentrating on something else, caring for one other couple’s child or children or allowing another dog to hang out for the day may bring some extra cash. Some dogs need more than a daytime checkin due to medications taken or anxiety. Neither situation would bring a gainful income, unless you actually opened a daycare in your home or take on multiple dogs and supplement that with quick visits out to check on other pets and allowing overnight weekend guests.

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