Does anyone work for a home based company that is a legitamate operation. The reason I am asking is that I feel I need to make some changes in my life. Right now I am comuting over 35 miles just to get to work and the stress of my job has been causing me to have panic attacks. I just started to take medication for the panic attacks and requested a 2 week leave of absence. With gas prices rising everyday it is getting to the point that I am making less money and being away from home more. Something is wrong with this picture. I have looked into refinancing and would be able to drop my monthly payments by $300 a month so if I could find something to supplement my income at home It might be well worth it. Has anybody else done this and has it worked? Any other suggestions would be helpful.

-- tracy (murfette@stargate.net), May 12, 2001

Answers

Response to work at home

Tracy,

The answer lies in the first sentence of your question "... home- based business that is a legitimate operation? " Steer clear of any at home franchises or too good to be true schemes. A good start is Ken S.' e book on making extra money. Think a little outside the box , homesteader style and something will come. Ten years ago if someone had told me I would be setting up a bait and fertilizer worm ranch as "unemployment insurance" I would have laughed, now I'm knee deep in worms and can see them as a viable income for the future.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL. (jayblair678@yahoo.com), May 12, 2001.

Response to work at home

Since posting the above response, something else has surfaced that may be a posibility for you. We are prepping a new gardenspot here and I am removing the grass "cut sod" style for transplant to other areas. If you have enough space you could consider sowing transplantable sod for sale to city folk wanting ready made yards. Here in North Alabama the sod farms get 2 to 4 dollars per square. and the grass retakes the harvested plot every 45 to 90 days depending on the type of grass. You might even be able to build it into a lawn installation service and charge labor too. Could turn into a nice regular job and being homestead based should reduce the stress factor. If you don't have a lot of space , consider a specialty product like gourmet mushrooms. A friend at work is following the instructions from the Countryside article on growing shiitakes and is makeing 100 to 200 dollars a week from a 12 x 15 foot room in his home.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL. (jayblair678@yahoo.com), May 12, 2001.

Response to work at home

35 miles???? I wish, I do 135 each way 6 days a week. Wish I could help with the home based business

-- stan (sopal@net-port.com), May 12, 2001.

Response to work at home

How about E-Bay, or making crafts/growing veggies to sell at shows and farmer markets? What skills do you have? can you turn any of them into a work from home business? There are alot of things out there it just depends on what it is you want to do and are able to do. Just remember that even home business's take alot of hard work and time, and the money does not roll in for several yrs. sometimes. Even with my home business/micro farm, I still have to work a outside job. Good luck to ya!

-- Tom (tjk@cac.net), May 12, 2001.

I have worked at home as a newspaper reporter/photographer for two newspapers for the past 21 years (I do all the writing here and just leave home to cover meetings, court, etc.)

Are there some kind of lessons you could teach on a weekly or monthly basis? piano, keyboard, decorating a cake, knitting, crocheting, sewing, quilting, cooking, floral arrangements, etc.???? I'd stay away from any of those "work at home" businesses that advertise!

My husband also has been running a home-based business for a year next month where he is basically a handyman, doing all kinds of electrical work like moving electrical outlets, but carpentry work too like hanging doors, cutting off doors that drag, and all kinds of stuff! He's even taken down an elederly woman's storm windows, washed the windows, and put the storm windows back up and washed them! He's changed all the light bulbs in one older woman's home....just about anything anybody wants done! And he stays busy all the time!

Hope these ideas help!!!

-- suzy in 'bama (slgt@yahoo.com), May 13, 2001.

I think the handyman (handywoman) idea is something that might work. There are always elderly people looking for work to be done around their houses such as raking leaves, cleaning gutters, cleaning out attics, etc. It is best if you have a pickup truck for this kind of business, though. My brother did this for awhile and besides earning money when he cleaned out attics and basements he often kept some of the items they wanted taken to the dump and resold them or kept them for himself. I'll never forget one woman who didn't like the smell of the two brand new dressers she bought and wanted him to take them to the dump. Obviously, he just took them home and gave them to my mom. I now have one of them myself. Not a thing wrong with them. She just didn't like the smell of new wood. Make up flyers and get them distributed in your local town so there is no commute. Churches are a good place to distribute the flyers as well as senior centers. Good luck and let us know what you come up with.

-- Colleen (pyramidgreatdanes@erols.com), May 14, 2001.

I have a suggestion. I'm working at home for a great company! They are a 16 yr old catalog company and they do all advertising by "word of mouth". They made over $480 million dollars last year, so it works! They are listed with the BBB and have been in INC 500 magazine 5 yrs in a row!

They manufacture products that you NEED to run your household, and personal care products too! The BEST PART is these products are NON- TOXIC and earth-friendly! 70% contain tea trea oil... which is a natural antiseptic, fungicide, and solvent.

If you would like to know more, please email me at stedfastmom@yahoo.com and put in the subject line where you seen this post at. (I get a lot of junk mail... wouldn't want to delete you response by accident.)

God bless you all... and best wishes in your search for a good work at home business. Be careful out there! Do your homework and pray about it! That's what I did... and God led me to this!

Many Blessings....

Wendy

-- Wendy E. (stedfastmom@yahoo.com), May 14, 2001.

Wendy - I don't mean to sound like I'm bashing you or anything but this is the second post you've made regarding this GREAT Fortune 500 company, but you never mention their name. Makes me wonder how great or legit ir really is, or if you just want to suck us in.

As for Tracy, I use to work for a self-employed marketing consultant. She needed someone to help organize her office and life, pay personal and business bills, run to Kinkos and do light accounting and word processing. I worked around my daughters school schedule and we made special arrangements for the summer. I made $1,000 flat rate for 3 to 4 days a week, usually 9am to 3pm.

When she wanted to put a garden in I got to design and plant it.

When she wanted to landscape I got to shop for all the plants.

It was a fun job, but she had legal problems with a client and her income is tight, so I got laid off. Now I work for a temp agency part- time and the local library part-time. Neither one pays a lot but I still work around my daughters schedule and DH told me to take the summer off then start up again in the fall.

The plan is to work during the school year and not during the summer.

I think if your phylosphy is do your best at what ever you do regardless of the pay you have a good chance of being employeed most of the time.

And in answer to your question I don't know of any legitimate home- based business, except the one's you start yourself. They all seem to be multi-levels or scams.

Good luck, and Ken S does have a book with good ideas.

-- jennifer (schwabauer@aol.com), May 14, 2001.

I ran a mail-order book store from home for several years (it grew, and we opened a store front, but I got bored and sold the whole business). It can be a simple matter to have books or most other products drop-shipped to customers.

I know several people both on and off the forum have some success with ebay. I haven't tried it yet, but haven't heard much that's bad about it.

I'm sure that you can find something to do that would be profitable as well as interesting (Make SURE its interesting!!!). What do you enjoy doing???

-- Sue Diederich (willow666@rocketmail.com), May 14, 2001.

It depends on your background. I used to grade papers at home for a distance learning college.( My background is in education.) I've also sold dolls on e-bay and at weekend flea market and antique shows. Other ideas--You could develop an internet mail order business. Many people do fine with that, or perhaps operate a small retail business from your home if you are zoned to do so, such as a second hand store (e.g., resale store for childrens' clothes and toys). My father made a living as an antiquarian book dealer, selling hunting, fishing, and natural history books by mail. He did this for 30 years and we lived off the income. He had to travel to find books, but all his work was done in a home office/library and by mail.

-- amy (acook@in4web.com), May 14, 2001.

Sometimes, the answer lies in finding ways to cut costs, rather than finding ways to earn more money. I found The Tightwad Gazette books to be a godsend when I was trying to figure out how my husband and I would be able to afford to have one of us stay at home with the new baby. We decreased our expenses rather than trying to earn more money, and it has been a wonderful experience (affordable too!).

-- Liz Rhein (merhein@shentel.net), May 14, 2001.

Hello Tracy, We sell on Ebay. I make doll (cabbage patch size) furniture and my wife makes lye soap. We also go to yard sales and look for stuff to resell. I can understand your frustration about your job and its situation. But, one of the ways we save money is just simply....spend less. We recycle instead of paying for a garbage pickup service. We make, grow, hunt, fish and forage for as much of our foods that we can. ( A garden can produce $500 or more a season in vegetables as an example). We think about alternatives before we by something. A) Can we substitute something for it. b) Can we use it until it wears out? c) can we do it another(usually less expensive) way. etc. These and other time proven examples have made it possible for Meli and I to both leave our high paying jobs in the city to persue a simplier and more rewarding life in the country. I hope this will be of some help to you. Sincerely, Ernest

-- http://communities.msn.com/livingoffthelandintheozarks (espresso42@hotmail.com), May 14, 2001.

I spent 4 years doing foster care in the Country, it was a great experience. The Children loved the setting, it was really good for them. The schools and support from the community helped. If you love kids, that could be an option. It is very rewarding, these children benefit so much, of course it hurts when they leave, but it is a great feeling to know you have touched another life.

-- Esther (realestatez@hotmail.com), May 17, 2001.

I dearly hope that we aren't going to find Melaleuca in too any threads! I'm not even going to say what I usually say!

-- Ardie from WI (a6203@hotmail.com), May 17, 2001.

My husband hates working for anyone else... has to be his own boss. He started his own business of house painting twelve years ago, and is now getting to the point that he hardly has to advertise at all anymore. He tries to major on quality of work, rather than cheapness of jobs, so that now he is known as the guy that rich people will wait in line to get.

I have found on my end of the deal, that being an old-fashioned stay at home mom is more financially profitable. When you concider the cost of good healthy vegetables, meats and milk products that I can grow and put away for our family, plus making clothing for the family, I am making money that we never have to pay taxes on. Plus, I am saving so much in gas, in not having to run to work. I dont have to have as nice a wardrobe either, not having to dress up to go clean out the barn. -thank God!

When you concider how little a working wife actually adds to the bottom line of the family finances, after her expenses are deducted from her paycheck, you realise it just isnt worth it. And then too, what the wife makes often will raise her husbands salary into a higher tax bracket, so that both of them are taxed at a higher rate than his income alone would be.

I guess what it boils down to, is good old fashioned thrift, creativity, common sense, and hard work.

-- daffodyllady (daffodyllady@yahoo.com), May 17, 2001.

Just a thought for you to consider. Not exactly a home home based business, but here goes. How about school bus driver ?? A few hours a day, off all summer, weekends and holidays. Don't know what it pays but ...Also, rural newspaper delivery ?? I have a home based business plus I continue to work (less and less) at my nursing profession. I will not mention the company because I would consider it advertising and wouldn't want to do that. Maybe the person who answered earlier didn't mention her company either for fear of someone thinking that she was plugging her company. Ever think about a dog kennel or doggie sitting ?? Just start to "brain storm" on a piece of paper and you might just find something that will work for you !! Good Luck !!!

-- Helena Di Maio (windyacs@ptdprolog.net), May 25, 2001.

How about a pet-care business for people who are away for various reasons. Of course, you need to be bonded and have insurance. My daughter has such a business and she has regular clients who pay her to come to their homes and do whatever needs to be done. She gets paid well and can pretty much set her own hours.

-- Ardie from WI (ardie54965@hotmail.com), May 26, 2001.