Making Money at Home

Is This a Scam?

2011-10-11T13:40:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-06T07:01:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-05T08:59:00.000-07:00

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!

2011-10-05T08:05:00.000-07:00

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?

2011-10-05T07:57:00.000-07:00

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!)

2011-09-30T09:59:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-30T09:48:00.000-07:00

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!

What Else Can You Do?

2011-09-23T10:22:00.000-07:00

Aside from the online money, what else can we do to earn when we are home? Being that the economy is in its current state, more of us are at home and so even here, things have become more competitive. Here are some ideas I have implemented, thought of, or seen others do!

Pet Sitting- I put ads on craigslist every so often for this and sometimes I do get customers.

Yard Sales- They don't always go over great but if you have a table at community yard sale or flea market expecially this time of year, you can make out quite well. Everyone loves a good bargain!

Doll Clothes- Can you sew? People are paying top dollar for American Girl clothing. If you can make cute clothing in the right size for less, people will be interested.

Tech- Can you fix computers or video game systems? People are always looking for that as well.

Sales Experience- If you can do sales, there are always companies willing to pay you at least commission only to do sales from home. If you make money for them, they'll give you a cut. Make a resume or portfolio and seek out some customers you'd feel comfortable with.

Babysitting- Another thing that will always be needed is childcare. Charge less than the upscale daycares while providing a good, stimulating, loving environment and you will wind up with a parent or two who entrust you with their little ones.

Call Center Jobs

2011-09-23T10:14:00.000-07:00

Here are some call center jobs that I had not listed perviously here or on The Untrodden Road.

BSG/ Voice Log They pay a guaranteed $8.50 per hour and offer flexible work shifts. You'd be doing third party verification.

The Stewart Response Group This one requires you to be available (via phone) from 9-5 for two weeks for training before the flexible schedule comes in. They respond to 800 number calls from TV and radio commercials. They say the average customer service rep makes $15 per hour.

Extended Presence In this role you make calls to businesses for businesses. It involves cold calling and internet research. You are paid hourly plus incentives.

Holiday Gifts from Treasure Trooper

2011-09-23T09:49:00.000-07:00

I am still using Treasure Trooper. It was one of the first GPT's I used and continues to earn me money every month. Over the years, I have made thousands of dollars with them plus prizes.

Some things have changed with them. They are offering new ways to earn in addition to the old ones. They have surveys now, and "tasks" like choosing the best google search results for a specific term, virtual slot machines, and more. I still earn most of my money through completing the offers. Every so often I have to create a new free email address in order to keep the offers approving.

Aside from money, you also earn other things when you complete offers. With every offer, for example, you can win a pearl. With 8 pearls you can buy a bracelet which allows you to get the next two people who join TT to be your referrals (you earn a percent of whatever your referrals earn). You can also complete offers for gold or platinum coins. Now those are interesting!

With the platinum coins you can buy prizes such as:

A $50 Restaurant.com Gift Certificate redeemable at many fine restaurants

A $20 Amazon Gift Certificate redeemable for anything at Amazon.com!

A $25 eBay Gift Certificate redeemable for anything on eBay!

A $50 Visa gift card redeemable anywhere Visa is accepted!

A new, 6th generation, 8GB iPod Nano. Choose your color.

A new Xbox 360 Arcade system with controller.

A few years ago we earned the Xbox. Now we did have to spend some money to get this. We had do some of the offers which were not 100% free. However, we still got the XBox for about half of what it would have cost us in the store.

To make it even easier to earn these prizes, they added a currency converter. So you can trade pearls for coins, arrowheads for gold, silver for pearls, etc.

It takes a little effort to choose your offers, and add up the amount, and to remember to cancel any offers that may need to be canceled, but in the end you MAKE money, you don't lose it. (And they still always offer a very large list of offers that are 100% FREE!) I have to add that TT has great customer service. Whenever I have had any issues with the site they get back to me right away with a fix. So, that is why I am still sticking with them.

Plus it's fun! There are games, treasure hunts, comics, and more.

Since it is that time of year again I am really putting a lot of effort into my GPT's. Nothing makes me happier than free holiday gifts!

Here is a link to join, if you haven't already! Start Treasure Trooping!

Personal Update

2011-09-17T00:15:00.000-07:00

I started this blog years ago. My work at home "career" began back in 2005! I have not posted in a while and I see my pictures are very outdated. While at this moment I do not have the heart to take down the picture of my little guy at the bottom there (I can't believe he was so small!) or my little girl with me in the pumpkin patch in the side bar (she is 7 now!), I felt I should at least post an updated picture of the loves of my life.

I have found a lot of new opportunities and revisted some old ones that are newly improved. I'll be posting them in the next few days. Thanks for reading.

Swag Bucks

2011-09-16T22:50:00.001-07:00

Have you joined Swag Bucks yet? It's pretty neat and gives you a lot of ways to earn.

They send you surveys (and you can find them on their website). They also allow you to use their search engine (instead of google or bing) and now and then you will win Swag Bucks just for searching. You can watch videos for bucks, find hidden codes in their blog and facebook postings for bucks, play games, complete polls, tasks, and much more! I have not even explored all there is to explore with them yet.

Swag bucks are like points and points are traded in for gift cards or prizes. Very similar to My Points.

A lot of people are having great fun with finding the hidden codes, contests on Twitter, and winning big at games and searches. It won't make you rich but it can buy some holiday gifts or a night out to dinner!

$10 Survey

2011-09-16T22:31:00.000-07:00

I took a $10 survey today! That was nice!

If you do surveys, you know what I mean. A lot of time you put in a whole lot of effort for .75 or $2.00. I'll be sitting there while my kids are asking me to make their lunch or play a game with them saying, "Just one more minute," as I try and check off all those boxes putting lots of thought into every questions. It can wind up being 30-60 minutes just for a buck. Worse yet, sometimes you put in a good ten minutes before they say "Sorry you don't qualify after all."

So $10 for one survey has me elated!

The company is Focus Forward. I like them. I have no qualified for a lot with them yet but when I do it is well worth it. It is interesting work and not only limited to online surveys. They have in person and virtual focus groups, medical studies, and product testing too. I get 2 or 3 opportunities sent to my inbox daily.

A Few More Ideas for You

2008-11-22T08:23:00.002-08:00

Here are some of the opportunities I found when I was running the untroddenroad website that i coudl not fit into any specific category. Be sure tocheck out my other money blog- Making Ends Meet and mark it to your favorites. All the information from Untrodden Road has been moved there plus more! (remember I had hundreds of telecommuting employers listed on that site). And I have great holiday savings, freebies, and coupons listed, too.

Now onto the work at home jobs-

Selling-

Cafe Press- This is a great place to not only shop but to also sell! You can easily create products using your own designs and sell them on this site. It is also an excellent place to find totally unique gifts. You can self publish and sell your book here if you are a writer as well.

MyKidsCloset- Buy and sell children's items! You can also work for this company as a partner both promoting the site and serving as an assistant in your community by picking up items and delivering them and more- You make 30% of the sales this way.

Writing-
Billy Bear for Kids- Make money at home by writing letters from Santa and the Tooth Fairy, creating customized stickers and storybooks, and more!

Bookkeeping-
Check Your Books.com

Collections-
NorthStar Profit Recovery- Make calls to debtors to obtain payment

Web Tracer- WebTracer is an international search firm specializing in the business of locating the current address, telephone number and place of employment of missing debtors.If you have at least one year of experience as a professional skip tracer, this may be the home-based career opportunity you have been waiting for.

Foreign Exchange-
Aupair America- Hiring community counselors. Recruit host families in your area, conduct orientations, and more.
Coordinate Student Exchange Programs: Recruit famlies and match them up with international students. Also, recruit local teens to study abroad. Here are some companies:
Pax.org
Face the World

Fundraising-
Fundraising Zone: Tracy Hamilton Inc., through our web site FundraisingZone.com, offers community-minded and sales orientated individuals the opportunity to earn money at home by offering our line of fundraising brochures to local schools, leagues and other non-profit youth groups. Our program is especially profitable for PTA officers, youth group directors, volunteers and those people involved in planning youth / sports events.

Work at Home recruitment Firms
Click N Work- They work with companies that typically hire home based workers and find the workers for them. They regularly have needs for analysts, mystery shoppers, researchers, writers, translators, web searchers, and more.
Vurv- Staffing agency that often has positions for "virtual workers." Simply search the job agent and for city choose "virtual" to see the listings. Typical positions are sales, accounting, marketing, and technical
Sterling- They seem to hire at home reference verifiers pretty regularly. Right now they are only seeking those who are bilingual.
Cyber Coder- Also a recruiting firm. They seem to have a pretty decent selection of work at home positions at any given time. Most are professional positions such as account managers, media buyers, software engineers, and mortgage account execs

Clinical Trials- You can get paid to participate in clinical trials (if you qualify). Here are two resources to find trials being conducted in your area:
ClinicalTrials.com
Center Watch

Posting
MyLot- This is an online community that pays you for your contributions. If you are familiar with Yahoo Answers this is similar, except that you get paid to post questions and answers, participate in discussions, and even refer friends. Check them out!

Travel
JetBlue- (Airline) Hires reservation agents to work from home. You have to train in UT though before working from your home office.

New Work at Home Jobs

2008-11-22T08:23:00.001-08:00

From Craig's List:

General:

Customer Service

Have a few hours to work from your PC wk?

Verification Agents

Seeking web designer/developer

Telecommuting Customer Service FT/PT

PT Ad/sales Work Flexible Schedule

Recruiters Needed - telecommute

Freelance - Flash Designer/Animator

Seeking Virtual Office Assistant

Typists/virtual assistants

Project Porchlight – Writer/Editor

Virtual Sales Agents Needed!

Phone Reps Full or Part Time-Telecommute

Proofreader/Writer/Researcher Internship

Writing:

NFL/College football fans needed as bloggers

Screenplay Wanted

Need Writer for a Technical Blog Site

Sports Writer Wanted for Sports Website

Call for Short Screenplays

Looking for a comedic writer that follows current events

Sports Blog Network Seeks Philadelphia Eagles Writer

From Other Places on the Web:

Bilingual Data Entry Researc

Freelance Writer

Writer Grammar Expert

Job Candidates Research - Telecommute

Telecommute Web Content Coordinator

A Few Work at Home Ads at 1:11 AM Because I Love You All

2008-11-12T22:11:00.000-08:00

Also, I sprained my ankle and can't sleep but that is neither here nor there. These are the ones that appear to be legitimate:

Telemarketer $10 per hour an additional $10 for every appointment you set

Lead Generation

IT Work from Home Contract Work $2500

Packaging

Closers (As in Closing a Sale)

Newest Work at Home Jobs

2008-11-09T09:10:00.000-08:00

Just a real quick list of the newest places to make some money at home! I am hard at work transferring all the information from untroddenroad.com to my new blog Making Ends Meet so that all those resources will not be lost! I decided not to move it here because this is more of an informal space where I share what is making me money at the moment and all my trials and tribulations. Check it out if you were missing untroddenroad. All the info is still there for you! And now on with the list of the latest ways to earn from home!

New Call Center That's the name of it- New

Daily Pixel is looking for Holiday Bloggers

Today.com wants bloggers. Pays $1 per blog and $2 for every thousand views.

Here is a good listing of dropshippers for you. Merry Christmas lol:
http://www.dropshiparea.com/ Seriously though the holidays are a good time to sell on ebay and dropshipping is a viable way to do it. (Dropshipping= selling products for a company and not having to pay for said items until after you get paid from the customer. You then have the dropshipper send the item to the customer for you. I will make a post about this soon in more detail for those unfamiliar).

Recycle for Cash! Make Green Green!
Cellforcash They have paid me so I am very happy with them and they have a referral program too!
My Boneyard For all electronics- broken computers, video games, anything
Recycle Bank Get paid for just recycling your glass and plastic out front like you always do!
Greenphone- more phones- see who gives you the best price and best opportunity to keep earning
ecoNew- consequently, owned by the same company as the New call center listed here

That's all for now! It's sunny here so I need to ge tmy kids outside and listen to some early Christmas music which I am strangley enjoying.

Thanks to anyone who is still reading this :)

An Alternative to Adsense

2008-11-06T22:12:00.000-08:00

I was bummed when I saw that Adsense retired their referral program. Since I so often write about working from home and making money online, it was just natural that I would include a referral link to Google's Adsense. Instead of just accepting this fate I decided to look into some other options. After all, not that I don't love Google (Do I? Hmmmm...My search results have been tainted with commercialism lately.) but they are not the only ones who pay you for these sorts of ads. What I discovered was Bidvertiser.

Bidvertiser rocks! Let me tell you why.

First of all they pay you for referrals. And not just pennies which is all I made from referrals with Adsense. If you get an advertiser to sign up you get paid $5 when they spend their first $10. And then another $20 when they spend $50. With publishers as soon as your referral makes $10, you get paid $10 also! (Nice right?). When they earn $50 you get another $40.

Another nice perk- you get paid monthly with only a $10 minimum for payment. Google makes you wait til you make $100. And believe me, when you are first starting out, this can be a long wait! And they'll pay direct to your Paypal account if you like.

You are also able to filter out any unwanted ads on your site. They filter them for you but if you still find an ad you would prefer not to have appearing on your page you can filter it out yourself.

I know Blogger is connected with Google and Adsense but it is just as easy to place these ads in the HTML sections as it is to place the Google's in the Adsense sections. I'm not saying to stop using Adsense by any means. I am using both for now. I like getting two checks anyway- multiple streams, eggs in different baskets, and whatnot.

This is just scratching the surface of Bidvertiser's great features. Check them out!

FREE STUFF!!

2008-10-27T22:10:00.000-07:00

Hey! Tis the season for free stuff. Times are tough so if you can save on your grocery bill, get free holiday gifts, or just some cool stuff for nothing WHY NOT? These are totally free sites. You do not have to get referrals, pay shipping, or get a ton of spam in your inbox. These are legit 100%.

Buxr.com

You can sign up so that when you get your free samples you will also be entered into contests for prizes. Just click on shopping and then freebies. They also have great deals on shopping as well for just about everything. Like a free Blackberry and free shipping on gifts. I just ordered a box of fruit roll ups, garlic mashed potatos, and shampoo and conditioner!

Start Sampling!

Start Sampling is an awesome site that allows you to sign up for free samples of groeries, beauty products, and more. I have received laundry detergent, resturant gift certificates, vitamins, and tons of beauty products so far.

Twisted Branches
Some wonderful person created this forum where some very active memebrs post all the legitimate links to free samples and products you can think of! I got a lemonade stand kit for my daugther, coloring books, games, formula, diapers, razors, and more!!!! You don;t even have to register to read the forum.

Been MIA

2008-02-25T12:34:00.000-08:00

So sorry I've been away. We had the baby and things have been hectic around here. Meet Christopher Edward Lane Pyle:

Big sister Abbie couldn't be happier:

It's been a little rough since December with the holidays and false labors and then he was a bit jaundice after birth. The week after he was born I had an infection, then Abbie got strep throat, then he was sick again. All is well now except I don't sleep :)

Anyway, I'll be getting untroddenroad back up within the week and I'll start trying to post up new WAH jobs daily or at least weekly again starting tomorrow.

Thanks for hanging in in there with me!!

XOXO,
Christen

More New Work at Home Jobs

2007-12-05T06:47:00.000-08:00

I am still not finished getting all the new WAH jobs moved over to this blog but here are more to add to the list. You can always go and check my site http://www.untroddenroad.com where they are all separated into neat little categories:

Public Opinion Research- Call center conducting telephone surveys from home

On Point- Make outbound calls pertaining to important issues, no sales, $12 hour

Lion Bridge- Bilingual Internet Assessors

Telephone Sales/ Appointment Setting

Get Paid for Your Opinion as Seen on CBS, CNN, NBC and more...

Part Time Expert Readers- Screen online condolence messages

Flash Game Programmers

Travel and Blog!

Website Maintanence

Write reviews for products and websites on your blog and get paid with Review Me

Lots and lots of blogging jobs out there and more and more are coming. I wonder if this trend will last?

Ebay and Closet Cleaning Two Great Tastes that Taste Great Together

2007-12-03T13:15:00.000-08:00

Nothing has really motivated me to clean out my closets and basement except for the fact that I am making a pretty penny from selling the stuff I don't need on ebay. I have to make room for the new baby and room for all the new presents Santa will bring so it's out with the old. I've alreay made close to $200 and that money is separate from the rest since it is in my paypal account. I am then just turning that money right back over and into Christmas gifts. It's working well for me.

If you don't have an ebay account, you don't know what you're missing. You'll find most of your Christmas gifts (I stress most, not all) cheaper here than in the stores and if you are also selling items it feels like you are getting your shopping done for free!

Here's a link to my auctions of the moment. They are always changing depending on which part of my house I am clearing out. I know they say you should find your niche, but we just have all sorts of things...
My Auctions

New Work at Home Jobs

2007-12-03T12:00:00.000-08:00

These are some of the newest work at home opportunites I have added to The Untrodden Road in the past couple of weeks:

1) If you yourself have a home based business or MLM, you may want to consider advertising on the Untrodden Road site. From Dec. 1- Jan. 1 I am offering advertising at HALF price and free classified ads IF you mention this Making Money from Home Blog. A lot of people have had success selling their products or building their downlines from my site. I work hard for advertisers!! Here are the normal deals/rates.

2) A few new call centers:

ICT Group

Smart Office Solutions
1-800-Flowers

3) Data Entry/ Transcription:

Palm Coast Data
Mountain West Transcription

4) GPT's

Fusion Cash

Tik Tik Cash

Cash 4 Offers

Daily Payers:

Cash Lagoon

Deal barbie Pays fast

Surveys:

ECN research

Neilson Net ratings

NFO

New Writing Gigs:

Rowman and Littlefield Publishing Looking for Proofreaders, Copyeditors, and Indexers
Book Summary Writers Wanted
Common Ties paying $100 per personal story
Ramaboo.com Needs a Creative Writer

This is taking much longer than I thought..I'll add the rest of new for November later and hopefully by the end of this week we'll have new jobs on the site and a new spotlight for December!

Mail Scams

2007-12-03T11:53:00.001-08:00

I don't know about anyone else but I think it is from all the GPT's I do that my name gets onto every scam list imaginable. The latest thing I am getting are letters claiming I have won an international lottery and enclosed with the letter is a check that is supposed to help me pay my taxes on the winnings. One check was for $2000 from the Gap, Inc and another today is for $3275. Out of curiosity we looked up this scam online and it turns out if someone were to fall for this and think they truly won the lottery, they'd be arrested when they tried to cash the check. Apparently, if someone writes you a fake check YOU get in trouble for it. They say you have to call them about your winnings and then they try to get you to give them money from your bank account to cover the taxes and since you have this check from them you are supposed to feel secure in doing so. I am going to see if there is somewhere to report this to. I never really minded the junk mail or the transparent scams but something about large checks I cannot cash staring me in the face disturbs me....

Backgammon Anyone?

2007-12-03T11:40:00.000-08:00

First it was poker and that had to stop. Then it was Bingo for a short time. Now suddenly Backgammon is the thing.

I am not talking about myself. I am no good at these sorts of things. I am talking about my husband. I never would have figured him as a backgammon guru but he decided to try his hand at it and almost won the $50,000 dollar tournament! As it is he walked away with $50 instead but that's still pretty good and going straight into Santa's Christmas fund. He made it look easy. I fyou want to try your hand at it click on the banner above!

Work at Home Help Wanted Ads

2007-11-06T12:55:00.000-08:00

Here are some of the new listings from the "This Just In" Page on the Untrodden Road Site.

Secretary from Home

Work as a Seller's Assistant for My Kids' Closet

Telemarketing Cold Calling

Telemarketers, auditors, sales

Typists/ Transcriptionists

Home Business Opportunity

Customer Service Reps 10 hours per week

Morningside Partners Need Transcriptionists

New Data Publications Pays for Surveys, Phone Surveys, Shopping, and Trying Products Up to $4800 monthly.

And here are three new Work at Home Call Centers:

New! ICT Group - Hiring Home Based Agents
New! Smart Office Solutions
New! 1-800-Flowers (only some staes are hiring)

Make Moola from Direct TV

2007-11-06T12:32:00.000-08:00

Really cool affiliate program here. You'll get paid $125 for every member you refer to sign up for Direct TV and the product truly sells itself.

Having now been a customer of Comcast, Dish, and Direct TV- I can tell you that Direct TV has the lowest cost (for the amount of channels), more HD channels than the other two, and the best customer service.

For a few less channels on the Dish and only about 12 HD channels (none of which were watchable) + DVR and Showtime I was paying over $100. On Comcast, just for Basic Cable and DVR I was paying $100 and they had limited my basic cable to only about 26 channels, which is what made me switch in the first place(My child needs NOGGIN! lol). Now we are paying $45 for Direct TV with DVR and we have Showtime free for three months. We have more channels and my husband is happy because he has ever sport channel he could want, my daughter is happy because we have all the kid and family channels in the world, and I am happy because I have IFC and VH1 and my treasured DVR. It's pretty much a no brainer.

So the first thing you need to do if you are not already a customer is sign up for this awesome service. After that you can join their affiliate program by clicking on the affiliate link or you can even just have friends and family give your name and address when they order and Expert Satellite will begin cutting you checks at $125 a pop. I'd be telling everyone I know to sign up with Direct TV anyway so I might as well get paid for it!

Here is some more info for you:

New Work at Home Jobs:

2007-11-02T11:43:00.000-07:00

Here are just a few of the new work at home jobs listed on the Untroddenroad Website. I try to post daily,or at least weekly, the new jobs I find on the This Just In page.

Blue Zebra Appointment Setting
Full or Part Time Admin from Home
Work from Home Administrative Assistant in NYC Area
Part Time Web Based Promotions Job
Greeting Cards Looking for Poems
Freelance PR Agent
Creative Writer Wanted

I have lots more to add and lots more to say, but I need to go and pay attention to my daughter right now!

Untrodden Road Site is Back Up Again!

2007-11-01T13:52:00.000-07:00

Thank God because it would have taken me a very, very long time to transfer all that information. I really put my heart and soul into that site and tried to make sure that it included anythign and everythign you'd need to earn a living form home. Of course, there is always more to add and I'll be tweaking it through the next few days. If you've never seen it please check it out if you are interested in working from home.

After looking it over with a fresh head, I wonder if I put too much information on there. I may take some things out or organize it differently in the weeks ahead....

Comments always appreicated.

http://www.untroddenroad.com

My Survey

2007-11-01T11:00:00.000-07:00

This is another trusted friend of mine, My Survey. They are the only survey company that has steadily been paying me for the past two years! They always have new surveys to take and often you get sent neat products in the mail to try out and then answer questions on. You can also join their affiliate program once you are a member and get paid every time a new member joins.

This is by far my favorite survey company. I just received a nice check from them so it reminded me to post up a link for you all.

How it works is each time you take a survey, you get points. You then trade in your points for either cash or prizes. Personally, I always take the cash but I know a lot of people who have gotten TV's and IPods as well.

These surveys are legit and actually fun to take!

Get Referrals Now!!

2007-10-29T21:20:00.000-07:00

Whether you are using GPT's, Surf Sites, Ebay, or paid to read email sites; whether you are a work at home mom promoting her business, a webmaster, or an MLM owner, we all need referrals. Until now we've been blogging, spending money on paid per click sites like Google Adwords and Yahoo, placing ads, posting on message boards, and other time consuming and often unsuccessful techniques to let people know about our opportunities. Now with Star Referrals you can EARN referrals all on one place and reach the people you need to reach, those with the same interests and goals as yourself.

To join just click the link above and put in your information. After you verify your account via email click the home page to read the details. You can purchase referrals and/or ad space if you're in a hurry (starting at just $2.50) or you can earn them for free by clicking on ads, joining other people's programs, and completing FREE offers.

I just joined a neat surf type site called Bux.to and earned ten stars in about two minutes. If you are needing a downline, I'd definitely give it a try. It's quick and easy and, best of all, free.

Earn Money for Blogging- No Really....

2007-10-27T06:05:00.000-07:00

I've told you about making money from your blogs before but PayPerPost really does pay off! It's easy to get started. Just sign up. To do so you'll need the URL of your blog and your tax ID or SS # (because you'll be getting paid). If you don't have a blog take 2 minutes and sign up for one on Blogger, Myspace, Bravenet, or LiveJournal!

Advertisers create "Opportunities" for bloggers to write about their products, services and websites. They range from $5 to several thousands of dollars, depending on the criteria set by the advertiser. Bloggers with high amounts of traffic can expect to earn a significant amount of money for each post they create on behalf of an advertiser.

Advertisers will post all sorts of Opportunities, from simple buzz campaigns to product reviews with pictures or videos. It's up to you to pick the Opportunities that best suit you and your blog. If it doesn't feel right, if you don't own the product, or if you can't be honest they ask you to pass on the opportunity. Dishonest or completely off-topic posts can ultimately hurt your blog's credibility and traffic, dimishing your earning potential. They strongly encourage you to only take opportunities that relate to you and be judicious in your selections.

Don't worry too much about all the talk on traffic. It takes a little time and effort but it's not too hard to drive a decent amount of traffic to your site or blog. I have lots of tips on that that I will post in a future blog if anyone is interested. Basically, just have your site listed on the major search engines, maybe put it in a couple of surf sites for a while to get your numbers up, and if it's on myspace add as many friends as you can and invite them to be readers of your blog. Read and comment on their blogs as well just to be fair. And have your blog listed on sites such as technorati.com and blog top list. That should be enough to get you started!

Guess Now!

2007-10-27T05:58:00.001-07:00

I just found a cool new website called Guess Now that awards you points if you guess correctly on such things as the weather, world and country events, and celebrity gossip. For example, I just answered whether I thought J Lo would admit she is pregnant by the end of October (I think she will). For every question you get right, you get points. For every point, you get paid money! I thought it was pretty neat and fun! You also get a percentage of the all the points of the people you refer to the site. (So refer good guessers!) Check it out!

Click Here for Guess Now!

Take care!

Christen

If You Need Money Right Now....

2007-10-27T05:27:00.000-07:00

If you are home for any reason, whether it is to take care of your kids, or yourself even if you're ill, or because you're laid off- whatever, I just think that it stinks that what you are doing while you're home is seen by so many as "worthless" just because it doesn't bring in money. It's a sad state of affairs that our self worth is measured in how many dollars we can get our hands on.

Anyway, I struggle with this sometimes. I did used to be a career woman after all and I was good at my job. Before we had kids, my husband and I spent money all the time on silly things. Now we pretty much just pay the bills!

Anywho....the other day I was wanting something- I forget what it was. I think maybe to take my daughter out or start holiday shopping, but the point was I wanted to make some money RIGHT NOW.

And so I did:

The first thing I did was list a few items on Ebay. I hope to find more to sell as I sift through all the mess from the basement and playroom. I set the auctions for only three days on a Friday so I had money in my Paypal by Monday. As a bonus I signed up for a new Ebay account through Instant Profitz and they'll pay me $10 just for doing that. {A quick tip- If you have some extra cash start buying the Nintendo Wii's and reselling them on Ebay. Those things are selling like mad for double the price!}

So the Instant Profitz thing is good but they only pay monthly like most GPT's (Get Paid To's) but I knew there had to be some daily paying ones so I started searching. Sure enough, I found some nice GPT's that pay you daily or every other day straight into your Paypal account:

Deal Barbie Pays Fast- They pay you ever couple of days into your paypal. They also have the offers sorted really well so that you can only do email and zip code submits if you want to. (That's what I tend to do because it's quick and easy).

*****In case you don't know about GPT's, they are sites that get paid for providing leads and customers to other companies. Since they get paid, they also pay you a percentage. So, what you do is create a few free email addresses on Yahoo, and use them to submit to these things. Those email addresses will get spammed constantly but it's okay because you never have to really use them. And if you find something on there that you were going to buy anyway, buy it through the site and get some cash back (sometimes you get more money than you spend, so if you have a credit card the possibilities are endless).

Cash Lagoon- Pays in less than 24 hours

Gangster Greed- Pays within 24 hours AND has only free offers. (However, a lot of their offers are outdated and you have to sift through them).

They all also have great referral plans as well. If you think you can't make much from referrals, think again. I am still with Treasure Trooper and making about $100 a month from them. Only about a dollar or two of that money is from offers, the rest is in referrals. Just think, if I had put in as much effort to recruit for other programs I might be pulling in close to a grand in referral money every month for doing almost nothing! I pull in about $50-$100 per month from Google Adsense as well that are placed on my websites and blogs. Again, minimal effort for regular checks.

By the way, I think I am about to break $1000 in earnings from Treasure Trooper. (Not to mention a free X Box 360 and I Pod). I love that site!

All the info from my website (for those of you who read it) is still available if you go to www.archive.org and use the "Way Back Machine" to type in www.untroddenroad.com and choose the most recent date there. In fact here is a direct link: UntroddenRoad. I have lots to add as soon as I get the hosting back. I added a few things not mentioned here to the site's blog which is still accessible at http://christenwypy.bravejournal.com/.

Using Affiliate Programs to Create Income

2007-10-27T05:20:00.000-07:00

Another way to make money from home and online is through affiliate programs. Max Bounty is one such program. Basically, if you do not have a product of your own to sell, you can sign up with a company such as this that sells other people's products. You then make a commission from every product you sell or lead you generate for the client(s). There are hundreds of offers and companies to choose from! If you saw ads on the Untrodden Road site, some of them are affiliate ads meaning I only got paid for the advertising when someone either signed up or purchased from the client.

You don't have to have a website to promote products. You can also blog about them or post about them on message boards relating to the product. You can even email great offers to friends who you know would be interested!

Best of all, with Max Bounty, many of the offers allow you to offer incentives. That means you can do what the GPT Sites do. You can share your profit with the person making the purchase or completing the offer. So say a company is going to pay you $5 for every lead they get, which means for every person who submits their email addres to them for more information, you can then offer to your readers or friends that you will pay them, say $2.50, once they complete the offer and you receive the $5. Next thing you know, you could have your own GPT Site!!

Just make sure to read all the terms and conditions on each offer as some allow you to offer incentives and others do not!!

If there is an interest I will post links to more great companies like Max Bounty in the future!

First Post

2007-10-27T04:54:00.000-07:00

Just a quick introduction. My name is Christen Pyle. I run a work at home website called Untroddenroad and I also write articles on the fine art of making money between diaper changes and playdates. Unfortunately, Untroddenroad is currently down but should be back up soon. The blog is still working fine and from the archives of newsletters on it, you can get an idea of all the work at home ideas on there. If you'd like to check that out feel free. Here is the address: http://christenwypy.bravejournal.com/

Anyway, between some illness in the family and getting pregnant again I found myself working less for the last few months. Now I am back and hustling again for the holidays and the new baby. I figured I'd just jump right in and keep a blog of what is working for me and what isn't so other Mommies or Work at Home Execs can benefit from my experience.

There are lots of ways to make money from home and in time on this blog I will try and divulge them all. They are not all online. Some are "legitimate jobs" on the books. Others may seem a bit shady to the newbie in the work at home field. However, if I've tried it and I received a check I'll let you know about it.

So that's it for now. I'll move some of my most recent posts from the Untrodden Road over here now and from here on out, I'll just keep you posted.

Take Care & Good Luck!!

Christen