[Myth]

I am starting to look for work that I can do from home. I probably won't be able to go back to work after the twins are born because of the cost of child care and what I earn currently. I was looking online and everywhere I look I have to give money to join... I can't afford to do that, and they always sound like a scam. I'm looking for any advice anyone can give me.

[fredg]

Hi, Myth,
NEVER pay for a job online; the employer is supposed to pay you!
You have already mentioned that, so just thought I would re-enforce your feelings.
I worked part-time online, last year, with a company called:
http://www.customloyal.com
You can find out more about it from:
http://www.workplacelikehome.com
If you go to the above link (workplace), the click on the Forums link over to the top left.
Go from there. It's a forums site that also gives links to good jobs online. The best paying are for broadband connections, like Cable, etc.
I do wish you the best, and good luck.
PS; Had to quit working for them due to family health issues.

[Myth]

Thank you soooo much fred. I would have added to your rep but I have to spread it around some I guess. I haven't had much luck searching on my own so I thought I would ask here. I will go look at them now. Hopefully I will find something worth while, or anything at all... lol. I have a dsl connection so that won't be a problem. Thanks so much again.

On this site it askes if I was referred by a member and I would love to be able to tell them you but I'm not sure about how you would feel about that fred. Let me know or private message me. Thanks

[Fr_Chuck]

I have a good friend who does medical transcription from home. They took a class in it at a local medical training school. They work for several doctors, get the info sent to them and they type it in and send it back by computer.

I have a relation that makes and sells dresses, prom and pagent dresses on eBay and off a web store she created. That is her entire income and she raises her family fairly well.

[Debra]

Selling on eBay can be an extremely profitable endeavor. One person's garbage is another person's treasure.

Start with what you have around the house and then branch out. Be the early bird, take the kids, and hit rummage, yard, and garage sales. A salt and pepper shaker set / dish / oil can / sign, etc. that you buy at a rummage sale for 50 cents might fetch you 5 dollars or 50 dollars or more from a collector who buys on eBay. Go to estate and junk auctions and buy boxes of "junk" and "paper" for a dollar or two per box and transform that small investment into $100 or $200 per box. Find a merchandise liquidator and buy pallets of returned and excessed merchandise for $100 or $200 per pallet and transform that investment into $1000 or $2000 or more. Sell other people's "junk" on a 30 percent commission.

Spend a few days researching ebay--find out what sells and how much it sells for--and try to meet the insatiable appetite of eBay consumers. If you know what you're doing, making money on eBay is as easy as eating a piece of pie.

[kp2171]

My wife and I have a small candle business that we run out of our house. We are both chemists with backgrounds in manufacturing and formulations, but that just made things a little easier to get organized when trying to make the best product.

Candle making does take up some space. You really cannot run it out of a kitchen if its going to be a consistent thing... but that is how we started. Its also requires the use of fragrance oils and other things you don't want kids to get into... so having little ones around means work after they are asleep or on the weekend when they're diverted.

But we started simply through fundraising through a church and through a group at a high school. When you have ten or twenty kids selling for you it is easy to get a thousand plus in sales for a fundraiser, of which you'll keep 30% profit after they get theirs and you restock materials, also depending on how you price. Also sold to a restaurant, a knick-knack store, and a beautician... all found through friends of friends and all came to us.

If you do direct sales you can easily get 50-60% profit... but again, you get more volume when teams are selling for you. My wife will do candle parties now and then... a good party might get a few hundred dollars in sales.

We haven't pushed the business so much with our little one running around lately, but man... it spread through friends and family by word of mouth and we did several thousand in sales the year my wife was pregnant with absolutely no marketing effort... as in we were not even trying to run the business... people just came to us through contacts wanting to do fundraisers. We don't do any craft shows. Just starting to get the business back in full gear again.

May not be the best time for you to do something like this business, but keep it in mind. Not a lot of overhead to start and once you get a product you like, if you can run it through fundraisers where they give the $ and orders up front, then you can wait to buy materials if you so desire.

Just an f.y.I.