Is This a Scam?

Some things seem too good to be true. As we read our papers each day seeing the greed that is displayed in the business section, many of us become jaded and begin to think that nothing that seems good COULD be true.

It's not always the case. There have been many jobs that I have had where I have said to myself, "I cannot believe I am getting paid to do this. I am SO happy! This is so perfect!"

When I had my kids it felt too good to be true as well, and they are quite real, I assure you.

However, that is not to say there are not a ton of scams out there. Unfortunately, there are. Here are some ways to steer clear of them-

1- NEVER, EVER, EVER believe that you have to PAY to work. It is not logical! You get paid to work, not the other way around. Do not pay anyone for a job and do not even pay for the information. There are a million other people out there like me who post work at home jobs for free. The only exception is if you need to pay for a criminal background check. I did this with Live Ops, a call center I worked for, and I guarantee you the position was legitimate. Because I paid for it, they gave me a copy of it and I was able to use it for other jobs. If you are in doubt, go to a good work at home forum like wahm.com or whydowork.com and ask the community there about the position. Chances are someone will have already put it to the test. Googling does not always work. I have seen lots of google results stating that legitimate jobs that I have done first hand are scams. So there are some false claims out there on both sides.

2) If they do not tell you the name of the company, are vague about what the job entails, and/or send you an email stating you must "click this link" to apply for the position (again without revealing the name of their company), it is a scam. This happens often on craigslist. In fact, during the past couple of years I have seen less and less legitimate telecommuting jobs on craigslist, at least in my area.

3) If you are on the company's website, scroll to the bottom and check if they list their address and phone number. Most legitimate companies do because it is a requirement of businesses to do so. They should have a physical address, preferably a corporate headquarters, not just an email address.

4) Is real work involved? If you are going to get paid for doing next to nothing, it is probably not for real. Ask yourself, how are they making money and why do they need you? If it doesn't add up, you are not missing something, the job is just not on the up and up.

5) Some jobs are iffy- If you are filling out forms as someone other than yourself, reposting scammish craigslist ads, or clicking on ads to earn someone else money, be careful. If caught you'd be a world of trouble. So although the job is legitimate(ish) work, it can cost you a lot in the long run.

6) Data and Entry and Transcription- There are real jobs doing this. I have posted them in the past, but there are more fake ones out there than legitimate opportunities. Again, never pay to work! See if their site has a page for clients, not only for employees, and if there are testimonials from business owners who use them. Don't spend a ton of money on equipment if you are buying from the company that is claiming they will hire you and don't pay to take any tests to prove you know how to type. Again, double check with people who do a lot of work from home to see if they have heard of the company you are looking into.

Mostly, it comes down to common sense. And remember as long as you are not forking over money, then the only thing you have lost is a little time. The time wasted will only help you to avoid future scams and maybe you'll be able to warn others!

Note- If you are starting a business, even a Multi Level Marketing business, like Tupperware, Avon, Tastefully Simple, etc, you will be asked to spend your money. That's an investment and not paying to work. However, you should always ask yourself, does this company make money off of my sales, or do they make money off of the business owners buying their supplies? This is always something to consider when starting a home business.

Here is a site that has a good list of well known work at scams- scroll to the bottom for the list of the top ten.
http://www.scambusters.org/work-at-home.html

Coming Soon...Affiliate Marketing and How To Get Started as a Call Center Agent. Any other requests?

oDesk

oDesk is a site I signed up with a few months ago. Basically, employers post jobs that they need done. This could be real administrative work like data entry, typing,research, sales, telemarketing, graphic arts, or writing. There are even some somewhat shady jobs on there such as "craigslist poster" and adult voice work. (I have seen legitimate voice over work on there too and I am tempted to try it). There are a lot of requests for recruiters and travel agents right now as well.

After you sign up for oDesk and make your profile, you can browse through the jobs being offered and see what interests you. At the bottom you'll see the average bid people are making for the job. Yes, you bid on the job. You might ask for $10 per hour, but the average bid might be $7. You can rethink your bid or keep it as is because you know you are very experienced. It would be up to the employer to decide who they want to hire. Assuming you move along to the next step with a job, you will be contacted for an interview. Once you begin work, you log onto oDesk while you are working and oDesk takes screen shots during your work time to serve as a time card for the client and to give them peace of mind that the job is getting done. oDesk does get a percentage of your pay. They may get $1 per hour give or take depending on what you are making. This is all worked out during the bidding process. I don't mind this because they deal with ensuring the employees get paid and they provide the opportunities, software, and even allow you to take tests so you can add skills to your profile.

That is the basic gist of oDesk. I have not worked for them yet but I have been contacted for interviews and I know a couple of people who have done short term jobs for them. Some have told me that it is difficult to secure work when competing for jobs with employees from other countries who are willing to work for much less, but I find if I search for US companies by putting United States in the keyword box, the price they are willing to pay (which you also see on the job description) is reasonable for work from home. And if you are not from the US, you will find there are jobs from many countries on the site.

Something else to remember- if YOU have a home based business and you just do not have the time to post ads, do your typing, make sales calls, etc- you can utilize oDesk to contract out this work without making a long term commitment or breaking your budget.

I'm going to put out some bids later today after I deal with a broken washing machine!

October Contest with TT

Treasure Trooper is holding a contest this October so it's a good time to start completing the high end offers. Not only will you have your money in plenty of time for the holidays but you'll also get a BONUS for money earned. Here is how it works-
Earn $100 this month and you will receive a $10 bonus.
Earn $200 this month and you will receive a $25 bonus.
Earn $300 this month and you will receive a $50 bonus.

Now remember you also earn from SHOPPING. So if you were going to buy something online anyway (again if you want to get a jump on the holiday shopping) buy through Treasure Trooper under "Cash Shopping." You will earn CASH BACK for every dollar you spend. This is an easy way to increase earnings if you were planning on making a purchase. The totally free offers are great to make anywhere from .25-$2.00 per offer. Just go under offers and click on 100% free. My advice though, is to create multiple email addresses and use different ones especially if the offer or survey looks similar. (If it is the same company they often will only approve you once). Also clear cookies between offers to get them to approve. This time of year is the only time that I also will complete some paid offers. I'll do the free trials and put in my google calendar the date to cancel by so I get my money back and I'll do offers for "free" things I might be able to actually use if I get paid more than the cost of shipping. Under free trials there are a lot of free things that are not completely free because you pay for shipping. Or you have to join something but you get paid more than the cost you pay out. As long as you remember to cancel anything that requires canceling it works out if you have the money or credit card to put out the cash initially. You do get it back. I've been with TT for 5 years and I have not had an issue (knocking on wood!).

There are also cash surveys and cash tasks. I have only done one task and it was a higher paying one and took a long time (close to an hour) so I am not sure if I will pursue those again. The surveys are great if you qualify. However, I do not qualify often with the TT ones. You might have better luck.

For surveys I like Focus Forward, My Survey, My Points, and Swag Bucks under the trusted survey section. And those are the only ones in the last 7 years that work for me. That being said I have made more money with Treasure Trooper than with these sites

Click here to join Treasure Trooper.

Make Couponing Your Job!

I know some people that are such good couponers. They see it as a part time job. They get all their groceries for free and for a lot of us that is what a part time job does, buy groceries. I have heard these people say, "I wish there was a real job doing this." (This is what I usually say about building my son's train tracks and refurbishing cabbage patch kids- no luck for me yet!)

Well, now there IS true employment doing what you already do with your coupons. Living Rich with Coupons is looking for Deal Finders for 10 major grocery stores. If you are good at finding deals and matching them up to maximize your savings, you can now get paid for your time and effort.

Here is the link to apply: http://www.livingrichwithcoupons.com/2011/09/wanted-deal-finders-for-coupon-match-ups.html

Coupons Follow Up. Fail?

So, it was about 2 hours of clipping coupons and 2 hours of shopping, making it a total of 4 hours worth of work. I saved $40 with coupons which comes out to about $10 per hour. I also used 4 coupons from Swagbucks (the rest were from the paper) so I will get 40 Swagbucks for those. So, I guess that's good? But here is my issue-

Say, for example, I have a coupon for Philadelphia Cream Cheese. So, I buy that cream cheese for .50 off. Maybe I spent $2.00 now on it. Meanwhile, if I had bought the store brand or another brand the store had on sale, I might have only spent $1.00.

My order total was high, very high, over $300. It should have been $349 but I saved a little over $40. However, I think when I go into the store coupon-less and simply comparison shop, buying the cheapest acceptable brand of each item, that I do much better.

Now granted, I COULD do more research. I could see what was on sale at all the stores first. Then I could look for coupons for the items that were already marked down. THIS is what I want to do. I want to advance to extreme couponer level. I want to spend $5 for $300 worth of groceries. I am just not sure I have the time or patience to pull it off.

The extra 40 Swagbucks will come in handy. But I found it difficult to find the coupons I was looking for. I wish they had a search function.

I am not giving up yet! Two trusted friends on Facebook recommended I try Living Rich with Coupons. More on that in my next entry!

I promised you an entry on affiliate marketing. It's coming. On a personal note, my family and I have spread ourselves way too thin this year. My husband has started a new job, a new business, and works a second job- making him a three job man. I have PTO, Girl Scouts, Church, Writing, Volunteering at the animal shelter, and working whereever and however I can- pet sitting, writing articles, surveys, etc. I have also begun a new diet and exercise program. Plus housework and kids and probably some other things I am forgetting! My kids- my son has speech therapy, nursery school, and karate. My daughter has CCD- first communion this year, theater arts school on Saturdays, American Girl club once a month, Girl Scouts, the animal shelter, and now she has added cheerleading. Whatever they do means I am involved in some way, too. I am beginning to feel a twinge of overwhelmed. That being said, I am happier this way than when I am a stagnant, procrastinating, lump of flesh.

So, affiliate marketing article on the way. And a way for you to earn money- AS A REAL JOB- with couponing. Coming soon!

Trying the Coupon Route (getting paid to use them!)

I have been so enamoured with the women on Extreme Couponing on TLC that I really want to try it. Seems to me, the way to go is to see what your store has marked down really low and then find a manufacturer coupon that makes the price a negative number. You then buy as many of the item as you can with the coupon giving you a credit on your grocery bill.

In my searching for coupons, I saw that on one of my regular paying sites, Swagbucks, has a link for coupons. Imagine my surprise when I saw that I will EARN SWAGBUCKS each time I redeem one of these coupons!

Now remember your swag bucks can be traded in for prizes and gift cards. Gift cards are as good as cash! So not only will I be saving on my groceries but I will earn again through Swagbucks.

I'm all about doubling the money! After the shopping trip, I will let you know how it goes.

Time to Start Writing Again

For a long time, I was working on my website, The Untrodden Road, writing about work at home opportunities. The site was bought out from underneath me and that made me sad because it was such a massive site filled with so much information. Luckily, as I have posted in previous blogs, you can access it through the wayback machine.

Anyway, aside from that I also had a TV Blog which I was earning from with google adsense and amazon and I lost that one, too. And I kept a spiritual blog that I had hoped one day my children would read. Due to some sort of glitch in the server's system, it was completely deleted last year.

I believe in signs and I thought for sure I just was not meant to write. I did keep writing in word though and I have been working on a story that I hope to one day finish. But other than that, no blogs, no articles, nothing more than facebook status updates.

All the loss of my writing coupled with being a mom (a BUSY, involved mom), led to any public writing stopping completely. I had been earning a decent amount with filler articles and forum postings back when I was running Untrodden Road.

So, today I decided I am going to get back to writing. I am taking the mass deletion not as a sign to stop doing something I have passionately done since I was 7, but as a clean slate and as a new beginning.

If you are also a writer (or just someone who is pretty good at it), here are some opportunities. I'll be applying right along with you.

Quality Gal- They pay pretty well for articles- about $15. Of course, some of the work does require a fair amount of reseach so it is up to you to decide if it is worth your while. For me, it is.

PayPerPostForum- I used to do some work for them years ago. Looking at their site, which has been revamped, it seems they have added article writing and blog filler to their jobs. I used to just do some forum postings on message boards for them for a few cents a post. Not sure how much work they have to offer but it's worth checking out.

Text Broker- They look like they really have it together and offer a lot of support. They pay per word for 500 word articles (these are a snap) and they grade you on the quality of your article. If it is perfect, professional quality you can get paid $25 for an article.

Sometime between tomorrow and Monday I will post to you about affiliate marketing. Til then take care!