It is fairly easy to get cynical about work at home opportunities because we have heard about so many scams, or maybe even gotten involved in some fairly shady schemes that really did not work out very well. But there are many people who have either started, or continue to, run real legitimate and useful businesses from their homes. Sometimes they even hire other home workers, and so they provide work at home jobs.

Many of these opportunities can be started part-time with a very small investment. So they are the type of small businesses where a person can dip a toe in, as they say, to see how it works out. Then they could expand or contract as the individual owner requires.

Food Catering Business: The general term, food catering, actually covers a lot of niche businesses. They could range from specialized mobile catering or lunch trucks to preparing gourmet treats for business events and weddings to delivering healthy meals in the same way that a pizza man delivers, well, pizza!

This can be simple or complicated. Some areas may require a licensed kitchen in order to prepare food for sale. If you run a snack truck where you only sell pre-packaged food from wholesale distributors or if you prepare food at the customer’s house or location (personal chef), you will need much less paperwork than if you want to prepare the food on your own site and deliver it.

You may be able to cater from home, but in many locations you would need a seperate commercial kitchen. Legally, you probably cannot use your family kitchen. However, many flexible caterers have solved this problem by renting (or working out an agreement) with a local church or similar organization that does maintain a commercial kitchen.

Otherwise, the rest of the business like planning, meeting clients, or advertising for more clients, can be done from a home office.

Party Planner:Again, this could cover anything from planning a toddler’s first birthday part to a wedding with 300 guests. It all depends upon your own particular expertise, talents, and ambitions.

Virtual Assistant: This field is actually growing right now. As small businesses try to control costs, they are more willing to hire out certain tasks. Of course, the particular tasks you would be open for will depend upon your skills, abilities, and training.

You may work purely from home, over the Internet or a phone, setting appointments, filling out spreadsheets, handling social media (i.e. Facebook, etc.), or handling customer service. If you are mobile, small businesses may need somebody to run errands, hand out fliers, or man booths at local events.

Real Business Ideas?

If you have any other real business ideas, we invite your comments!

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There seems to be a demand for a series of suggestions for actual “jobs” that can be done from home, rather than home business opportunities. We are great fans of home business, no mistake! But being a home based business owner is not for everybody, and we understand that many people prefer the structure of an actual job from an employer who offers a set pay rate for the job that is done.

Alpine Access Work At Home Customer Service

One employer that has been noted a lot is Alpine Access Work From Home. Note that we are not affiliated with that company in any way. They do appear to fit the criteria for a legitimate work at home job provider, in that they do post requirements for employees, take job applications, etc. They want to recruit serious people who really want to work at job duties just as if they were in a real office, but just want to be able to do it from a home office.

Posted Job Requirements

Current opportunities require English speaking applicants, and some bilingual positions that include English are in particular demand. They also require some basic computer skills, like being able to use common word processing software. They also require a year of customer support experience, and applicants need to have some equipment like a phone and a computer with a high speed internet connection. Furthermore, this company expects their recruits to have a quiet “office-like” environment to work in. They do not want children crying or dogs barking in the background.

Perks, Pay, and Benefits

These are actuall work at home employee positions, and are not contract work. The company does provide training, which is done online, also from home. They also have full or part-time positions, but mention that most shifts could include some week-end work. Posted benefits include health and retiremen plans, and the opportunity to advance.

If you are serious about finding a work-at-home position, and are also serious about working, this may be a good company to check out.

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Again, the problem is NOT that it is impossible to profit from search engines like Google. I, myself, make a living online, but it took me a long time to learn how to do this. Any internet marketer I have ever spoken too, who actually makes a full or part time income online, says the same thing. They worked hard, took the time to develop skills, and were willing to take some risks.

There are tons of free webmaster and internet marketing forums, like this one. If you take the time to read and research you can learn what to do. If you are not willing to take that time, you are not likely to do well at the business ayway.

Note: None of these products are actually affiliated with Google at all. Some of the names for the products are google cash scam, googlecash, google money tree scam, google kit scam, make money with google, etc. They are supposed to teach people how to make money by selling products to visitors they get through a major search engine like Google. But the people who get rich from them are the people selling the products.

The Problem of Instant Riches with Google Biz Kit or Google Profits

So you can see my first problem with any ads like the Google Biz Kit or Google Profits system that promise quick riches. I would be much more likely to trust an advertisement that promised to help a person make money with some hard work and patience. You would still get the advantage of unlimited income potential, flexible hours (though possibly lots of them), and a work at home job.

Google Biz Kit or Google Profits Rebill Scam

But here's my second problem These ads also imply that the information will be sent with a small credit card charge for shipping. It will be something like $1.99 or $5.99. But that is just the first payment, really meant to validate the credit card. In the FINE PRINT (notice I did not make the print fine), there will be information about a rebill. Some people are charged $70 a month or more because they have actually purchased a recurring membership! And many people have complained that these memberships are very hard to cancel too!

In fact, they may be so hard to cancel that they will actually hurt your credit if you don't pay. Be very wary of any rebill offers. I have enough problems with slick marketers gettig people to overpay for outdated or incomplete information and promises of quick riches. I have even more problems with rebill scams, and yes, they are being investigated by the FTC!

Yes, people make money online. Some of the people who make money who market the Google Biz Kit scam and Google Profits scam, and not always their customers!

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