How to find legitimate secretarial work at home?
Jan 2004
Ok, I'm finally gonna ask the question. Has anyone ever tried
one of these ''work-at-home'' stuffing envelopes (or other such
scheme) jobs? My brain tells me it's always a scam but they
always make it sound so *tempting*! I mean, all I have to do
is pay them a paltry fee of $29.95 or some such amount and I
could be rolling in dough in a month? My dad always told
me ''if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is'' but the
thought of some way to make some extra cash so I can quit my
miserable job and stay home with my baby is clouding my
judgement....or is it? Anyone want to (anonymously, of
course!) contribute their experience and either set me straight
or encourage me?
Not afraid of paper cuts
Please don't even respond to the offer. Your dad was right. If
something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
I wrote for Action Line, a consumer column at the San Jose
Mercury News, for eight years. And this was a common scam we ran
across. Around Christmas this past year, the federal trade
commission was on most of the TV and radio news shows with
specific warnings against participating in the envelope stuffing
offers. I suspect they're popping up more frequently as more of
us are scrambling for jobs.
The bottom line is that you should never have to pay money to
gain employment. If you do pay the money and receive anything at
all, it will be envelopes and a list of people to send the same
phony ''offer'' to.
Gwynne
I haven't tried it but this is a well-known scam. Basically, for
your $30 what you get is a brochure or letter advising you to
place similar ads to their own (become rich by stuffing
envelopes), charging $30 for photocopies of the letter you get.
A classic pyramid scheme.
Do a search for ''envelope stuffing scams'' and you can read all
about it.
anon
Check out Ariel Gore's story in her book, The Hip Mama's
Guide to Survival'', about a work-at-home scheme that
ripped her off. Essentially, she sent in her money and got a
letter back that said ''I just made $30 off of you. If you want to
make $30 off a bunch of people, advertise an opportunity for
people to work out of their homes and have them send you
$30 each to get started.'' I hope that makes sense....
Basic rule of thumb is, if the business wants you to give
them money before you can work for them, it's probably not
a trustworthy scheme.
Good luck.
Anne
Personally I don't think people can still ''get rich by stuffing
envelopes'' with today's automation technology. Years ago I
taught an on-site ESL class at a mass mailing company in SF and
learned a lot about the mass mailing process, which included
envelope stuffing. The rate for envelope stuffing was generally
very low, ranging from a few cents to about a dollar a piece
depending on volume because it's all done by machines. Just
about everything (printing, folding, stuffing, sealing, address
labeling, etc.) can be done by machines. If it's a job
requiring manual stuffing due to odd size and/or material, there
are usually workers (mostly foreign-born and receiving minimum
wages, unfortunately) in the company getting it done, which
allows the company to charge just a little more than machine
stuffing. You may wish to call a mass mailing company or two,
and ask them if they subcontract out envelope stuffing jobs and
what the rate is like if they do (or did before.)
Chris
Sorry, this is a really old scam. I actually got suckered into
it when I was a broke college student. You send money to the
person whose ad you saw. In return, you receive instructions to
place an ad to scam others.
Pretty sad, huh?
Stuffing envelopes at home is sort of a scam. Actually, there is
an article that came out in Maxim about it. The author said they
basically expect you to put out flyers like the one you see and
then when people respond with inquiries, you send them the
packet for money. You could probably google and find that
article. It was very interesting as it tackled other home based
opportunities as well
April 2003
My husband and I are trying to become home owners and need some
extra cash for paying off debt and for closing/down. Any advice
on how to earn extra money without investing a lot of our own
money. Thanks!
Tiffany
I posted a similar response last week for a stay-at-home mom
looking for part-time work to generate some extra income. The
direct-to-the-consumer (also known as direct sales or
network marketing) industry is a great way to generate extra
income, whether it\222s to help with a car payment, pay down debt,
or just have a little extra spending money. Working for a
direct sales company typically requires very little initial out-
of-pocket investment, allows for a very flexible work schedule
so you can accommodate family needs and/or existing work
commitments, and can have significant financial benefits.
Examples of direct-sales companies that you may have heard of
are Creative Memories, Discovery Toys, Pampered Chef,
Longeberger Baskets, Tupperware and Partylite to name a few.
I am a Creative Memories Consultant and work my business along
side another business that I started. As a CM Consultant, I
help people organize their photographs and create meaningful
photo albums by offering information, materials and hands-on
instruction at home classes, shows and workshops. There are
plenty of Creative Memories consultants who make a full time
income but only work the equivalent of part-time, others who
are really just hobbyists (they want their album-making
supplies at cost) and plenty of in- between consultants who
just want to help out with a few household expenses.
I am more than happy to talk to you in more detail about
Creative Memories, or the direct sales industry in general.
Karen
FOR THE PARENT LOOKING FOR IDEAS TO EARN EXTRA INCOME AS A
SAHM:
I realize this is an older post, but I recently had an idea. It
involves -- Nursing Bras. I had a terrible time finding a
decent nursing bra, and discovered that the selection of nursing
bras available in our local stores, compared to what is
available and what is needed, esp. by those with bigger busts,
is terrible. There is a whole world of nursing bras out there,
ladies, but you would never know it from shopping at Baby World
or similar places. I found a website with a great selection, and
when I ordered one, they sent this form indicating that they pay
SAHM's a commission when they refer someone to buy a bra. Maybe
you could periodically have something like a tupperware party,
but for nursing bras. It would have been a great help to me.
Anyway, email me if you want the name of the company.
Kim
May 2002
Does anyone have positive experiences with home-base companies?
My family and I will be moving to southern California next month
and I will be at home with our 1 year old son. I would like to
supplement our income by working from home, however I have not
found anything that doesn't require selling something. I would
love to hear people's experience/advice on this subject.
sp
The Work at Home Mom site seems designed to help moms find
legitimate jobs they can do at home. Take a look:
http://www.wahm.com/
(Note: I don't work at home and I haven't actually used this
site, but it looks like a decent place to start your research.
Offers bulletin boards where you can talk to other WAHMoms,
e-mail newsletters, etc. Seems to be run by a mom.)
Dana
I have no personal experience with this, but I do have a couple
of friends who have worked at home as Medical
Transcriptionists. It requires some training (community
colleges seem to give the necessary courses) and you may have to
buy your own transcribing equipment (basically a fancy tape
recorder), so there's investment involved, and you have to scare
up doctors to work for (the job basically involves making a
written copy of the taped recorded messages doctors make about
patients so that the paperwork can be put in the doctor's
file.) The people I've known who've done it said it was
reasonably profitable for them once they got started, and did
let them work at home. Again, I have no personal experience, so
I can't really vouch for this one way or another, but it could
be worth looking in to. I think you could find info by googling
on the term ''medical transcription.''
elise
Boy, I have been in the same boat as you! My mom told be about Dr.
Laura's web site. As controversial as she may be, she has a whole
section devoted to work-at-home parents full of ideas and
contacts, not scams, and ways of figuring out what would be the
best job for you. I will soon begin the process of publishing the
first edition of ''Moms Inc. Business Directory of Work-at-Home
Parents'' for the east bay, due out this fall. It is a great way to
get the word out about your at-home business and looking at it
could give you some new ideas such as, flower arranging, language
instruction, accounting, bookkeeping, legal work, massage etc.
etc. You might want to check out if there is one like that in the
area in which you will be living, or you could start one!
Liza
If you are organized and good on the computer, you might want to
look into becoming a virtual assistant. This is a growing field
of folks who provide support staff services from their
homes(primarily for small business people who need a little bit
of help but don't need a body in the office fulltime). All tasks
are assigned and accomplished via a combo of computer, fax,
telephone and snail mail. I think there is a national
organization of virtual assistants; you could probably find more
info by doing a little search on google or something.
Janet
I have been working part time as an online reader to grade the
essays of California High School students exit exams. If you
have previous teaching experience this might be an option since
you can do this at home. ETS will open applications for CAHSEE
readers this fall (see the ETS website for details-the same
website for GRE and GMAT exams).
Alice
October 2001
I am very interested in working from home but there are so many scams out there.I
got burned before so I would appreciate any advice on how to find legitimate
classifieds from legitimate companies wanting people willing to work from home
(telecommute) in the field of secretarial work-data entry,word processing,spreadsheets
etc.Thank you for any help!
kristina
Hi,
this is in response to the person who wants to work at home:
I haven't used this website to find work, but found it to be a good
resource. On it are listings of "legitimate" businesses for moms who
want to work from home. It is called WAHM (Work at Home Moms).
Here's the address: http://www.wahm.com/
Good luck.
Michelle
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