Would you like to work from home?

Here are a few options for you to choose from.


• Survey-101.com - Paid Online surveys

• AlpineAccess.com - Virtual call center provider using home-based customer service agents. They charge $45 for a required background check.

• Arise.com - Answer calls, e-mail and chat requests for global companies at home. Some users have reported a $13 background check fee, a $99 assessment test fee and other charges.

• ConvergysWorkatHome.com - Be a home agent providing customer care, human resources and billing services

• eLance.com - Links freelancers with employers in IT, graphic design, writing, engineering, translation, marketing, accounting and administrative and legal services

• IntelliCare.com - Call center company that provides clinical and non-clinical telephone services to health plans, healthcare providers, and care managers nationwide. Anyone who is not a qualified nurse needs to work at one of their their bricks-and-mortar call centers, not from home.

• LiveOps.com - Virtual call center using remote and home-based agents. All applicants are required to undergo a mandatory background check that costs $50. For an optional fee of $175, a more extensive background check allows you to work with specific Fortune 200 companies that have partnered with LiveOps.com. You also have to install a second, dedicated, telephone landline for this work -- only to be used for LiveOps work.

• MSVAS.com - This company has developed virtual assistant training programs for U.S. military spouses and U.S. Department of State Foreign Service spouses

• TeamDoubleClick.com - Be a virtual assistant

• WAHM.com - An online magazine for work-at-home moms

• West.com - Be an "at-home-agent," with duties including obtaining, entering and verifying customer information, answering questions, resolving issues, explaining sales features or offering additional products or services

• WorkingSolutions.com - Be a home-based customer service agent

• WorkplaceLikeHome.com - An active discussion forum where you'll discover lots of job leads

One bit of advice before you take the leap into a work-at-home opportunity: Take an inventory of your talent, add a dash of creativity to your thinking and come up with a plan that suits you.

• If you sew well, do alterations for others.
• If you have a good grasp of a particular subject, tutors are always needed.
• Good with a computer? Consider teaching others how to use one. You might also want to do computer work for college and graduate students. Try putting up flyers around your area as well as the local colleges and universities.
• Create personal websites for friends and neighbors. Parents might want to purchase one from you as a gift for a child. It can used for photos and 'firsts' as the child is growing. This makes a great gift to the parents of a newborn!
• Are you handy with crafts? Costume jewelery making and selling can be aimed at school-aged girls or adults, and all well-priced gift items sell well especially before the holiday season.

The list can go on as long as you align your talents with services or products others need. Be imaginative and create a job! If you choose to go the standard work-at-home route, heed these warnings from the Federal Trade Commission and the Better Business Bureau.