Just Another Work From Home Scam?

The internet is awash with websites and e-mails offering to show you how you can make money working from home. All too many of these so-called latest and greatest and newest bizopp ideas from supposed millionaire gurus are actually last year’s rehashed and reworked "biz-flops" from people who didn’t make any money on them last year either. Others are never meant to be anything other than just another clever way to separate you from your money, aka "scam" "fraud" or whatever else you want to call it.

Unfortunately, it isn’t always easy to tell legitimate home business opportunities from totally dishonest scams. There are a lot a variables and fewer hard and fast rules than you might think. For instance, some have said never to pay for anything in order to work for someone. That is not true on the internet any more than it is true in the brick and mortar world. It is even less true if you plan to start your own home business.

Conventional employers often ask you to pay for your own fingerprinting, background checks, DMV printouts, etc. Online employers may want a background check. You may need to have certain office equipment that you are expected to provide at your own expense. Some freelance sites allow you to view teaser job offers for free, but if you want full access to everything there is a monthly or quarterly fee. This is legitimate.

However, before you pay anything to anyone, do your homework!

Visit the website of the opportunity you are investigating. Copy and paste the website address (url) into the search box on http://whois.domaintools.com/ . Look at when the domain name was registered. If it was very recently and only for a year or two, you might want to look elsewhere. If it has been a year or more and the registration expires several years down the road, that is a good sign. If the server is blacklisted, that is not good. Again unfortunately, these are not hard and fast rules.

Type the website name - probably the same name as the offer you are investigating - into your favorite search engine. Add "+ scam" or "+ fraud" (without the quotes) and see what comes up. Also type any person’s name into the search engine with the same two additions and also "+ legal action" or "+ lawsuit." Keep in mind that you may get a lot of results for a common name and you need to check whether any of the "hits" are really the person you are looking for. Check with the Better Business Bureau and look for unresolved complaints. Legitimate businesses do get complaints because it is impossible to please everybody, but if you see a lot of ignored or unresolved complaints, that could indicate a problem.

Type the business or offer name into the search engines with the above additions. You have to be especially careful here because you might get hits for a lot of forums where people are venting frustrations. They may have tried something legitimate thinking the money was going to flow into their bank accounts without doing any work. When that doesn’t happen, they cry "scam" or "fraud" when it may not be at all. Perhaps they tried to contact the offer and got no response. They cry "scam" or "fraud" when the problem is really with blocked e-mails. Some internet service and e-mail providers are not very good at discerning the difference between spam and legitimate communication.

If you are looking at an ebook that has been written to help get you started in a home business, investigate the reputation of the person who wrote the book as well as the people who are endorsing it on the sales page. Have they been around awhile? Have they been at this business awhile? Who else is their name associated with and what kind of reputation do they have?

As you can tell, starting up a home business is not something to be taken lightly. You need to spend time - a lot of time - doing research. If you are a praying person, spend time in prayer. Once you are confident you have chosen the right home business for you, pour your heart and soul into it. Make it work for you!

For a selection of Home Business Ideas carefully chosen for moms who want to make money working from home, visit:

123 I Work From Home 4 Me

123 Home-Based-Business-Works-4-Me

Creative Home Business Ideas - Sewing Arts

"They" say you should find out what you enjoy doing and then figure out how to make a living doing it. That idea sounds great to me so let's explore a few home business ideas that make use of your love of and ability to sew.

1) Clothes for Children. Consider creating your own line of clothing in standard sizes featuring your unique designs or appliqués and quality fabric and work. Small details in quality can make all the difference in the world. Take the little bit of extra time and care to produce quality items and your customers will reward you with repeat business. You could also offer clothes for hard to fit kids such as preemies, or children of any age with special needs that require custom fitted clothing. Definitely follow your heart on this one.

2) Doll Clothes. There are several paths to go down here. You can make standard clothes for the dolls available on the market, but in styles not available off the shelf. OR you can make clothes using ethnic fabrics in classic styles from a variety of homelands. As more and more people move around the globe in search of education or employment, this could tap into a new niche and be very popular. OR you can make matching outfits for little girls and their dolls!

3) Dog Clothes. Even though dogs already have a fur coat, many breeds have such short hair that they still need protection from cold, wind and rain. There is a huge market for dog sweaters and vests made from a variety of fabrics. Knitted items are also popular. Owners of pampered pooches love to dress them up for Christmas, Halloween, and other occasions. You could have a lot of fun with this home business!

4) Drapery and Furniture. If you have taken classes in interior design or interior decorating, this might be a home business for you. Because of the skills, training and equipment needed this home business is not for everyone, but that can work to your advantage as you would have limited competition!

5) Tailoring. We all know that much of the clothing purchased "off the rack" fits OK - sort of - but could fit a little better with a bit of tailored tweaking. Other times tailoring needs arise because the owner changed sizes (either way!) and does not want to discard an otherwise perfectly good garment when some skilled tailoring will extend its life. If you have tailoring skills, this could be a great niche market for a home business.

6) Wedding gowns and bride's maid dresses. After watching a few "bridezillas" on TV I almost hesitate to even mention this one. BUT if you are the right combination of seamstress and psychologist, you could make it work.

Find the Home Based Business or Work At Home Job that's waiting for you! Don't procrastinate any longer! Visit one of the two websites below and get started TODAY!
123 I Work From Home 4 Me

123 Home-Based-Business-Works-4-Me

Creative Home Business Ideas - Kitchen Arts

"They" say you should find out what you enjoy doing and then figure out how to make a living doing it. Sounds like a good idea so let's explore a few home business ideas that make use of inborn creativity. We will limit this article to kitchen arts.

1) Baking. Baking what? Well, darn near anything.

Try baking and decorating wedding cakes and other wedding treats, birthday cakes, anniversary cakes, or cakes for any special occasion! You could try cookie baskets or huge whole cookie sheet cookies in special shapes for special occasions.

The number of people who are intolerant to certain foods is growing exponentially. I would NOT recommend getting into making treats for these people unless you are VERY familiar with what is involved in their food preparation, but IF you are, special treats for these people would be a Godsend and oh, so appreciated.

Treats for sale at local truck stops or sandwich shops. There are certain legal requirements and permits that need to be passed before selling home baked goodies, but if you are willing and able to navigate through those, this home business could become quite lucrative.

Gourmet treats for dogs and cats. Some people pamper their pets like royalty. If they have the money to do so, they indulge in all sorts of pet finery, including custom made biscuits without dyes, preservatives or other unhealthy ingredients. There will be legal requirements and permits required here, also.

2) Candy Wrapping. Would you believe there is quite the market for candy bars in wrappers created specially for that certain event? Every event you can think of that calls for celebration might also call for specially wrapped candy bars to be handed out. Think birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, graduations, new babies. There are several e-books on the market on this topic. Some come with templates for the wrappers as well as for gift tags, gift cards, address labels, etc. Others come with instructions for creating your own unique templates and designs. All come with information on marketing your business.

3) Candy Making. Special events sometimes call for special treats in special shapes or flavors. With pure wholesome natural ingredients and your creativity, your quality product could become a very lucrative business. Chocolates and hard candies can be poured into molds of almost any shape, or you can make them free hand. Colors and flavors are limited only by your imagination! The same legal requirements and permits as before will apply here.

4) You could also combine your candy making business with your candy wrapping business!


For information on these and more Work-At-Home Business Ideas and Opportunities, visit

123 I Work From Home 4 Me

123 Home-Based-Business-Works-4-Me

How Can I Work From Home?

Finding the Right Home Business

There are two basic ways you can work from home: start a home based business or find a work from home job.

If you want to start your own home business you need to break the concept down further into two basic types: sell a product or service, or become in essence a one man (or one woman) company and market yourself as an independent contractor to people who contract for your skills. The distinction between that and finding a work from home job can be a bit fuzzy, so we will focus on working from home with your own home business.

All of us are interested in something, good at something, passionate about something. Figure out what you are passionate about, and then figure out how to make money from it.

Do you enjoy children? You could start a home daycare, but you certainly are not limited to that. If you are also good at writing, you could start a "Santa Letter" business and market it to parents of kids you know. Those letters are not only from Santa; they can be from any character and the business can be operated all year. If you like to sew, you could create and sell custom made clothing. Market to friends, at craft fairs and swap meets. If you have skills in subjects taught in school, you could tutor. Tutoring can be done in person (your house or theirs) or online. You choose the subjects, location, and times. If you have outstanding skills in music, art, or sports, consider giving private lessons. Depending on your skill and skill level you may be able to make a good income!

Teaching sign language to moms and their babies is really popular. You could also offer your services to daycare facilities (home or professional) and churches who have nursery workers that could benefit from understanding what a baby is telling them. Consider also offering the teaching to pediatricians and their nurses, children's hospital workers, police and firefighters, and anyone else who might come in contact with an infant.

Perhaps you would rather work around adults. There are seemingly countless services that adults somewhere are looking for. Consider starting an errand service, or ironing/laundry. You could start a cleaning business, become a professional organizer, party or event planner, or you could sell almost anything through home parties. Create and sell gift baskets or craft items. Consider focusing on a particular ethnic group, either yours or one with which you are very familiar. Almost everyone is interested in genealogy. Acquire the necessary certification and research family trees for people who have "hit a brick wall."

The possibilities are almost endless.

You can find more Home Business Ideas and Opportunities by visiting

123 I Work From Home 4 Me

123 Home-Based-Business-Works-4-Me

Professional Organizer

Some people are just naturally organized and tidy. I think they are born that way. They just naturally keep their rooms, desks, closets, homes, garages, cars, whatever clean and neat. Either that, or they learned the skill at an early age and realized how much easier life is when you can find things!



Others are not so organized. They never quite seem to get it, or they struggle mightily trying.



A growing trend even in today's economy is for more and more naturally organized people to start home businesses as professional organizers.



Professional organizers have total control over whose stuff they organize and what kind of spaces they organize. They can choose to limit themselves to homes or even certain rooms such as kitchens or garages. They can even limit themselves to closets only! Through networking with others in their area, they can make mutual referrals for others who prefer to organize different areas. Everyone wins!

Professional organizers can set their own rates and can choose to charge by the hour or the job. Depending on the economics of the area, the nature of what is being organized, and the experience and reputation of the organizer, rates can range from around $25 per hour to $200 per hour or even more.

If this sounds good to you, here are a few links you can explore for more information.


Becoming a Professional Organizer


Before & After

Planning For Your Successful Home Based Business

Plan for your home based business to be successful, and fully expect your home based business to be successful, but don’t expect it immediately. Depending on what type of business you are starting, success may take months or even a few years. As has been said, "Don’t quit your day job" until you can support yourself reliably with your home business.

To put this another way, assume your new home business will be a successful one, and then make plans to assure that success. As has been said, "if you fail to plan, you plan to fail."

Yikes! Don't let that happen to you!

The United States Small Business Administration has many resources available to you for absolutely free to get your home business off to a good start. In fact there are pages and pages and pages of valuable, essential information to help you formulate your business plans.

One of the greatest advantages of a home based business over a brick and mortar business is the cost of overhead. In a traditional brick and mortar business, you either buy or rent space, and then add utilities, insurance, furniture, inventory, and whatever else. That cost alone has done in more than one small business. When you work out of your home, you have none of those expenses above and beyond what you are paying in your home, anyway. There will be a financial investment that you will have to make, but it pales in comparison to starting a traditional brick and mortar business. Financial success may take months or even years, depending on what type of business you are starting. Being aware of that and planning on it not only will enable you to "ride it out" but will help you avoid discouragement.

In addition to financial planning, you need to plan what you will actually do on a typical day. If you are starting an internet business, will you write? Will you network? Will you research? Will you maintain your website?

If you are starting a home business dealing with either a product or a service, plan how to attract and even more importantly keep customers. Plan your advertising strategy.

Refer often to that SBA website. It will help you get your business off to a great start!

Work Is A Four Letter Word

Any business, home based or brick and mortar, is a lot of work. Be prepared, at least at first, to work longer and harder in your home based business than you do in your job. Once your home business is established, you will be able set the hours you choose to work. Often, you can choose the location as well. While the beach on a south sea isle may be a bit far fetched, you are not limited to your office. Take your laptop and go somewhere enjoyable.

However, remember that the only place "success" comes before "work" is in the dictionary. As I wander around the internet reading the testimonies of the very successful, one thing has really stood out. They virtually never work less than a 40 hour week. Often it is more like 50-60 hours per week.

So why is this better than your current 40 hour week at your drudgery job? Because these people are doing what they love to do. They are their own boss. They do things their own way. They are free to go pick up a sick kid from school as necessary. They are free to meet an out-of-town friend or relative for lunch and not have to rush back to work. They can take the afternoon off to smell the roses.

Sometimes of deceptive sales landing pages you read of someone claiming that a typical day for them goes something like, "Ho-hum, wake up when I feel like it, drink a cup of coffee while reading the newspaper and checking how my stocks did, answer a few e-mails, spend a few minutes writing this or that, and I'm done for the day." Don't believe it. Either this person is lying, or isn't as successful as they would like you to think.

No matter what business you have, if your don't invest yourself in it, you won't get anything out if it.

Home-Biz-Help Bizopp Review: Medical Billing

With more and more people looking to work from home or start a home based business, the topic of medical billing comes up frequently.

Search engines have literally millions of choices for schools or jobs, and warnings about the schools and jobs the other sites are offering. Proceed with caution.

This is not a job or bizopp suitable for on-the-job training. If you are going to start a medical billing business from your home, you have to know what you are doing. You must be a stickler for details and obsess over accuracy. You cannot be prone to mistakes, because you are dealing with people's medical records. You must also have an appreciation for the need for privacy.

The person most suited to start this home business will have had the necessary schooling, and some experience working in an office doing the same kind of work. This person will be comfortable with medical terminology including anatomy, will know the proper codes for insurance company forms, and will know how to fill out the forms.

This person must also be a people person because they will be dealing with patients, doctors and insurance personnel.

Doctors in clinics and large practices usually have staff who take care of their medical billing, or else they use a professional firm. So whose business would you seek out? Look for small practices - one doctor offices. Look for chiropractors or optometrists or alternative medical practitioners. Present your credentials, let them know the experience you have, and that you are starting a home business because - insert your own personal reason here.

Stress the personalized service they will receive. You most likely won't be swamped with business right away, but it will come.

I know of someone with experience in the field who had to go out on her own because the company she had been with went out of business. She now has four doctors as clients and may soon pick up more. It can be done!

If you have the knowledge but would like to pick up experience, click on the image below. there you will find hundreds of jobs in the medical billing field as well as many others.

When The Traditional Work Place Doesn't Work For You

I spent 33 years working for the same employer, and saw a lot of people come and go. Some were viewed a absolute assets - the "boy, if we only had a few more of those" types. Some were viewed as liabilities because, frankly, they were. They thought the world owed them a living and all they had to do for pay was show up and hang out.

But some didn't fit either category. There were a few people whose health - or the health of a family member - just kept getting in the way. These people were intelligent, capable, hard-working, loyal, and all those things you want in an employee. But they came to be thought of (usually not to their face) as "high maintenance." They became "a bother" because they always needed something - time off, to leave early, a schedule change, something. There were times when the air was just thick with impatience as management was forced again and again to deal with their neediness, and forced to pretend that it was OK when it wasn't.

No one wants to be treated this way. No one wants to be thought of this way. No one wants to be sick, and no one wants to be in the position of caring for a chronically sick family member. At the very least, the stress is not healthy for anyone involved.

But life happens.

It has made me realize just how many people would be better off working from home. Depending on what type of work they did, they could sit or stand as much or as little as necessary. They could move around and change positions if that was what they needed to do. They could - again depending on they type of work they did - be interrupted as necessary and it would be OK.

They could work in short spurts - odd hours - frequent breaks - whatever. Perhaps they could even work on a laptop in a doctor's office waiting room!

They could work long hours one day and no hours the next, if that is what needed to happen. They could work 45 minutes and rest for 15 if that is what needed to happen.

The point is, there are countless ways to work from home - either as an employee, an independent contractor, an freelancer, or a home business owner.

If working in the traditional workplace is not working for you, look seriously into the ways you can work from home.

Check out my 2 sites below. There you will find many opportunities that fit into one of the above mentioned categories. To the best of my knowledge, there are NO scams. All require work and ability on your part, but can be done. Check them out and see if one is for you!


123 I From Home 4 Me
123 Home Based Business Works For Me

Home-Biz-Help BizOpp Review: Bookkeeping From Home

I used to know I single mom who really needed to be available for her son before and after school. She also obviously needed to have a source of income to provide for herself and her son, and she was able to do that by working as a bookkeeper from her home.

She had at one time worked in an office as a bookkeeper, so she knew what to do and how to do it. She was also able to obtain references from her boss and from clients when she left the workplace to strike out on her own.

If you have experience, working from home as a bookkeeper can provide you with a nice income, complete control over who you work for and with, and great flexibility with your work hours. This would be a great home business for that Work At Home Mom with a head for numbers and organization.

There are many small businesses, not necessarily home based, who need someone very part time to keep their books. For more information on how to find these potential clients, convince them that you are just what they need, and other vital information you will need to start your Home Based Bookkeeping Business, click on the link below.

Secrets to Starting and Running Your Own Bookkeeping Business,

Home-Biz-Help BizOpp Review: SFI Part 2 - Veriuni Health and Wellness Products

Back on October 26, 2007, I posted Part 1 of the SFI Home-Biz-Opp BizOpp Review. I discussed the opportunity to market the Veriuni All Purpose Cleaner, the best all-purpose cleaner money can buy, IMHO.

Today I am going to discuss the Veriuni line of nutritional health and wellness products marketed through SFI.

It has often been said that the best home business to start is one about which you are both passionate and knowledgeable. Also, the best advisory sources say, don't find a product and then try to sell it; find a need and meet it.

Do you or a loved one have food allergies or intolerances? Do you or a loved one have other health conditions that make it beneficial to take an easily absorbed nutritional supplement?

If your answer to any of these questions is "YES" then becoming an SFI Affiliate may just be the opportunity for you to make some money with your own home business, and provide a wonderful product that will benefit many others. You truly would be helping yourself by helping others. It doesn't get much better than that.

First of all joining SFI is absolutely FREE. You are invited to look around as long as you like. You can make a purchase for resale, and recoup your purchase price. Or you can have people buy directly from your SFI-provided website, without spending a penny from your own pocket.

Perhaps the best marketing technique might be to purchase the products for your personal use, and then recommend them from your own experience. There is nothing like a personal testimony to get people to try something new.

Let's face it. The Veriuni product line is suffering from a lack of recognition. Even though there are millions of SFI affiliates world-wide (not all of them active) that is a small drop in the bucket of the 6 Billion people in the world, most of whom have not heard of the Veriuni product line.

In the USA alone, there could be 7-10 million people with food allergies and/or intolerances. Many of these people are not properly absorbing the nutrients from the food they eat, and their health suffers even more because if it.

These people are your potential customers for Veriuni Advanced Liquid Nutrition.

If your digestive system is not absorbing enough to keep you healthy, it is to your advantage to make it as easy on your digestive system by providing it with Veriuni Advanced Liquid Nutrition. "You are what you eat" because of what you absorb from what you eat. If you are not absorbing what your body need to maintain optimum health, your health suffers, and so do you.


So in conclusion, marketing the Veriuni line of nutritional supplements by becoming an affiliate of SFI could be a very lucrative home based business for someone interested in natural products and personal health and wellness.

Is A Home Business Really For You?

When all the individual uniqueness of each business is stripped away, a business is still “the buying and selling (or providing) of goods or services,” and it really doesn’t matter whether the business is located in a home, or in a traditional brick and mortar store front.

If you are a business owner, you are the seller. You are a successful business owner when you convince others to become your customers and buy whatever product or service you are selling. You are even more successful when you convince them to become repeat customers and buy from you again. Repeat customers are worth their weight in gold!

It takes a certain personality type and temperament to be able to sell anything to another person. I have observed three levels of ability and temperament. The lowest level is not cut out for sales. Such a person would squirm just reading about it. The thought of trying to talk anyone into buying anything makes these people clam up and unable to get the job done at all. I think they hate being on the receiving end of sal;es pitches so much that they absolutely HATE the thought of making one! This person should not own a business unless they can hire or partner with someone else to sell the product or service.

The middle level is very good at selling to people who come to them for something, but not good at going out and initiating the sale. For instance, if a customer came into a store looking for a particular item, this middle-type person could not only show the customer what they came for, but also something else to go with it, all the while engaging in conversation. The customer leaves happy, the business owner is happy, and the middle-type person has done a great job. But that middle person would clam up just like the lowest level person if they had to go out and make sales calls, probably for the same reason. The difference here is the customer came to the business looking to buy - BIG difference.

The highest level person is able to go out and make calls, selling whatever he or she has to offer. This person is not afraid of rejection. This is the person who should own a home business.
So what can your home business offer? There are party-type businesses selling clothing, home decor items such as candles, toys, educational supplies, jewelry, etc. There are businesses offering character letters to kids, virtual assistant services, medical transcription, bookkeeping, proof reading, wedding planning, candy wrapping, catering, organizing, etc. Or how about yard service, day care, home and/or office cleaning, repair of almost anything, computer techie service, and on and on and on.

What do all of these have in common? The business owner has to not only sell the service or product, but sell themselves as the one the customer wants to choose to provide the service or product.

Easy if you’re cut out for it. Difficult to impossible if you’re not. And so we end where we began: Is A Home Business Really For You? Only you can answer that one.

Sandi Moses has been involved in internet marketing since November, 2003, and working from home since 2005. For more Work From Home information and home shoring opportunities, visit her sites at
123 I Work From Home 4 Me
http://www.123iwork4me.com/
123 Home-Based-Business-Works-4-Me
http://www.123-home-based-business-works-4-me.com/