Work From Home

Question:

I’d really like to work from home, but I hear that a lot of those jobs are really scams. What do I need to watch out for?

Answer:

Welcome to the gig economy!

Many people are working from home or doing side hustles these days. There are lots of legitimate opportunities out there; but as you note, there are also many that will take your money and run.

These are some fields that are more likely than others to be frauds:

• Envelope stuffing

• Mystery shopper

• Taking surveys for pay

• Multi-level marketing

• Medical billing and coding

• Assembling crafts

To be sure, there are real jobs in all these fields, as well as many others. So how do you separate the frauds from the finds?

First, you should never have to pay for a job. If you’re required to send money, or pay for materials upfront, be very skeptical. Don’t work for free, either; that’s just another way to pay for a job.

If very little information is available until later in the process, that’s a red flag. If they don’t ask about your skills, experience, education, etc., that’s another red flag.

Never deposit a check if it involves sending part of the money to someone else.

If your intuition tells you to be careful, pay attention to it. If you have to keep asking for information, stop asking and run away.

Finally, if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is.

Is it time to start your own business? If so, get in touch with the Maryland Small Business Development Center at https://www.marylandsbdc.org/ They teach seminars in Frederick, and at many other locations, and will be happy to share tons of information on getting your home business up and running.

If you do your research, you’ll come up with a way to make money from home. There are many creative opportunities out there for the motivated person with the right skills. Just be sure to cultivate the skills of business research with a healthy amount of skepticism.