Thursday November 5, 2009
A website with name like "Google Easy Street" that promotes work at home opportunities immediately makes me wonder if this is truly legit. As a company, Google just doesn't offer many work at home jobs. And building an online business with Google Adsense, well, there's nothing easy about growing a successful home business. In fact, Google work at home opportunities are one of the common types of work-at-home scams.
But I'm not the only one who wondered about this so-called Easy Street. The Better Business Bureau of Southern Arizona issued a consumer alert for the online company, technically called Creative Synergy Training (CST), which purports to sell the secrets of making money at Google. (See the BBB consumer alert, which has a link to CST.) The BBB says that in a little over a month it received 10 complaints claiming the company charged consumers credit cards after they had requested their account be canceled within the three-day window that the company allows consumers to cancel their account and receive a refund.
When looking for legitimate work-at-home jobs, keep in mind the telltale signs of a work at home scam, which include:
- Promising big money for little work,
- High pressure tactics,
- Advertising endorsements by well-known companies without providing links or other proof of such endorsements,
- And confusing monthly billing policies in small print.
Tuesday November 3, 2009
My husband and I both work at home, but we don't share a home office. It just wouldn't work because we have very different styles. He's neat and I am, well, not. He needs to be away with the door closed, and I like to be right in the thick of things. Can you guess whose office is whose?
Though there are some things to keep in mind for a productive home office space, making the space your own will serve you best. It has to be a space where you want to be.
What do you do to make your home office a great space for you? But don't just tell me; show me! Submit a photo of your home office and tell me why the space works for you. I will then publish a gallery of the collected photos for all of us to browse for home office ideas.
Monday November 2, 2009
Working from home is a constant learning experience. As a work-at-home mom, I find each new job, project or client I take on gives me a little more insight about how to meld work and home while keeping my sanity.
Things are always changing. Not just the jobs, which is par for the course when you're an independent contractor, but the kids keep changing and growing. And so what worked to keep them busy when they were in preschool doesn't cut it in middle school.
Over the years I've collected a few tips for WAHMs --everything from ways to find free child care to keeping the house clean. But because working from home is not a one-size-fits-all proposition, I'd like to hear from the rest of you. What works for you? I've set up a folder in About.com's WAHMs Forum for your ideas. Post them, and I may add them to my list of tips.
Thursday October 29, 2009
My husband and I are so proud of ourselves. We fixed the garbage disposal...again.
This time it was an earring clogging up the works. A few months ago, we changed the wax seal on a leaky toilet--probably our most impressive home maintenance feat!
Neither of us are naturally handy, but over the years, we've managed to avoid calling a plumber on a number of occasions, thanks to our Reader's Digest New Fix-It-Yourself Manual (Compare Prices). The book's subtitle How to repair clean, and maintain anything and everything in and around your home pretty much says it all.
My parents gave us this book, which lists for about $35, when we bought our first house more than a decade ago. I would venture to say it has saved us thousands of dollars.
After my husband began working at home too, we've used it more as we look for ways to save money. When something broke, we didn't automatically reach for the phone book to find someone to fix it. With our trusty manual, we started taking a stab at it ourselves first.
Sometimes it takes a few attempts. But a nice thing about being at home is we can step back, maybe do a little (paid) work, and then come back with a fresh perspective. We're not always been successful; sometimes we need a professional. But we haven't done any damage yet either. And we're just so proud of ourselves when we do manage to fix something, it's almost comical.
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