If you’re looking for real money making ideas you’re obviously not alone. There are millions of people everyday looking for real money making ideas who are convinced that amidst all of the nonsense, scams, and confusing messages they will be able to find ways to generate income that will work for them.
Many of you have asked me who you can trust and I’ve suggested to you that you need to learn to trust yourself and your own opinions. Now, I can tell you who I believe will give you better information on home businesses, telecommuting, and freelancing than others – and I’ll do that in this post. But even that information I give is based on the general demographics of this site – but as corny as it might sound each one of you is unique and bring your own unique experience, talents, and personalities to the table.
If you only follow my advice or anyone elses advice for that matter you truly could end up selling yourself short. I’ve had several people that I’ve met through WorkAtHomeTruth.com who have done extremely well in ways I never would have thought of. I’ve met a person who went on to have an incredibly successful translation career. I’ve met a fellow who built over 400 niche websites within 18 months (and what he did NOT do is spend thousands of dollars on expensive “guru” products). I’ve met a person who started as a low level worker in the field of search engine optimization who went on to build his own company of 54 workers. But their success had nothing to do with ME or my advice…it had to do with their own ability to learn to trust themselves, strong motivation, the ability to network intelligently, their existing knowledge and experience, and as always, some amount of luck.
Learn What To Stay Away From As Well As What MIGHT Work For You
The other thing to keep in mind is that there are only ideas that can increase your odds of making money. There is NO guaranteed money making idea anywhere. If someone tells you otherwise, run away…fast. Scammers count on people believing in magic bullets and guaranteed wealth.
With that out of the way here are some ways for you to start developing your own ideas and filters about what you should definitely stay away from and what might work for your own background, talents, and personality when it comes to making money on your own.
Work At Home Scam Educational Resources:
- Robbing You With A Keyboard Instead Of A Gun – This is a book by my friend Lynn Edgington who works with an Assigned Federal Agent from the Secret Service as well 3 U.S. Postal Inspectors and has helped to take down a large number of very big financial scams including ASD Cash Generator, Pedro Dispenza/Peter Roor & Heleen Potman Poor (responsible for Oxford Club and many other scams estimated to be potentially near the billion dollar mark), InetGlobal/Adpacks (Steve Renner), Regenisis2x2, and too many others for me to list here. I contributed the chapter on work at home scams.
- Bizop.ca – especially The Bizop News & The Franchise News
- BobBear.co.uk – Directory of fake websites involved in money laundering and reshipping fraud.
- Business Opportunity Watch – This site is financed by you, instead of by biz opp ads and commission links. Does EXTENSIVE and unique analysis of business opportunities.
- ConsumerAction.gov – Consumer Actional Handbook
- FakeChecks.org – Created by the National Consumers Leage (NCL), the nation’s oldest nonprofit consumer organization, as a central source of information and advice about fake check scams.
- FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection – The FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection works for the consumer to prevent fraud, deception, and unfair business practices in the marketplace.
- FraudWatchIternational.com – Specializes in phishing fraud prevention. Includes free alert service.
- How To File Consumer Complaints (and ways to possibly get your money back)
- OnguardOnline.gov – provides practical tips from the federal government and the technology industry to help you be on guard against Internet fraud, secure your computer, and protect your personal information.
- PatrickPretty.com – Covers Ponzi Schemes, pyramid schemes, securities fraud, investment fraud and Internet crime.
- RealScam.com – Fraud fighting forum
- SaltyDroid.info (R rated for language) – a controversial, useful, in-your-face site that can help you to think for yourself and draw your own conclusions.
- ScamWorld Article at The Verge – Get the truth about many of the popular “Internet Marketing” gurus.
- WorkAtHomeTruth.com (the site you’re on) – especially the Not Recommended section here.
Resources for Home Business Ideas And Help
Note: theses are my lists of places I like to check out. However, keep in mind that I CANNOT vouch for every single thing on these sites. Some of them are a mix of home business resources, freelance resources, and telecommuting resources.
Hopefully over time you will develop your own lists based on your own abilities, talents, and personality.
Business oriented
These are listed these in alphabetical order.
- AbsoluteWrite.com – Writer’s site. Especially the writer’s forum here.
- Arindam Chackraborty – Definitely follow his blog and sign up for his email list (which will notify you of new blog posts). He puts out some really great material for anyone interested in online business ideas and techniques.
- Business.gov – Extremely heplful government site to help you understand licensing requirements, etc. for your home business. There is also a forum at http://community.business.gov.
- ExtraIncomeForAll.com (low cost membership site of a large number of money making ideas) – run by Shawn Swinigan. I’ve also contributed quite a few ideas to the site now.
- FastCompany.com – reports on topics including innovation, digital media, technology, change management, leadership, design, and social responsibility.
- FastCompany.com videos – Fast Company videos on YouTube
- iHubbub – Home Business Networking – iHubbub is the online business community giving its start up entrepreneurs, home businesses and freelance members a place to meet, learn, collaborate and support each other.
- IveTriedThat.com – Run by Steve Wrzeszczynki. Also does some nice scam write-ups along with great experiments having other people try products out.
- Lis Sowerbutts – Adventures in Self-Publishing & Making Online Income. “Passive” Income Online by Lis Sowerbutts.
- MakeUseOf.com – Cool websites, software and Internet tips.
- Michael Brown Internet Marketing Blog – advice and thoughts on business and growth.
- NicheWisdom.com – Run by Matt Levenhagen. Various marketing and money making tips.
- ReadWriteWeb.com – ReadWriteWeb is a popular weblog that provides Web Technology news, reviews and analysis, covering web apps, web technology trends, social networking and social media.
- RyanHealy.com – Blog about business growth strategies.
- SBA.gov – The Small Business Association.
- S.C.O.R.E. – Free Small Business Advice
- SEOBook.com – an enormous amount of free information about search engine optimization.
- SEOMoz.org – Another great source of free information about search engine optimization.
- SparkPlugging.com – provides extensive information and resources for home based entrepreneurs and those who want to become home based entrepreneurs.
- Stump Markus – Useful information and often complete money making ideas presented at no charge. Note: I’ve known Markus a long time and believe he often leaps to conclusions about fraud without connecting the dots properly – having said that, he took a stand against many online hucksters WAY before it was the “in thing” to do.
- TechCrunch – a leading technology media property, dedicated to obsessively profiling startups, reviewing new Internet products, and breaking tech news.
- TED: Ideas worth spreading – TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) makes the best talks and performances from TED and partners available to the world, for free.
- The Simple Dollar Credit Card Resource Center – Helpful articles to guide you through the often confusing and tricky world of credit cards
- Tiffany Dow’s blog – does outstanding product reviews. Note: her Work At Home Truths book came out well after WorkAtHomeTruth.com – but is just a coincidence.
- White Hat Crew – with Antone Roundy. Extensive, free, helpful information about internet marketing.
- Wired.com – coverage of current and future trends in technology, and how they are shaping business, entertainment, communications, science, politics, and culture
Freelance And Telecommuting (Home Job) Oriented
Note, it is extremely difficult to find a home job that is like a regular job. Most online positions are freelance positions where you are an independent contractor responsible for your own taxes and benefits.
You should also keep in mind that many low level (easy) jobs are often done over sees these days by people willing to work for as little as $2.00 per hour or even $2.00 per day sometimes. In other words, if you see a job listing claiming you can make a lot of money doing “easy work at home” don’t believe it.
That said, here is my list of places to look for Freelance & Telecommuting Positions. These places are places that are geared towards pretty much any type of work. If you are in a specific industry and are looking for a site to find freelance work you can ask in the comment section below.
These are listed in alphabetical order:
- Best Of Fivver – a blog which features gig reviews and actual work samples from users of the popular microjob site.
- Elance.com – popular site where businesses go to find freelance workers of all kinds.
- FlexJobs.com – has a trained staff of real people that scour thousands of online resources for jobs – such as invidual employer websites, industry blogs, reliabe public job boards, and online newspaper calssifieds for all of the most current postings that involve some level of telecommuting and online work. Their staff is trained to weed out scams, thus saving you time.
- HomeJobStop.com – The HomeJobStop Job Bank is an active job board specializing in home jobs and freelance work listings. Again, the site weeds out scams to save you time.
- International Virtual Associations Association (IVAA) – The International Virtual Assistants Association (IVAA) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the professional education and development of members of the virtual assistance profession.
- Introduction To Freelancing – Article at WorkAtHomeTruth
- MysteryShop.org – The Mystery Shopping Providers Association. This is the most reliable place to get information about mystery shopping opportunities.
- ODesk.com – another popular site where businesses go to find freelance workers with almost any background you can think of. It’s also a good place to get a “reality check” of how little some workers are willing to be paid for basic tasks which can show you why the sites that claim you can make big money doing “easy jobs” are lying to you.
- RatRaceRebellion.com – Launched the pioneering virtual careers training company, StaffCentrix in 1999. They post free job leads and resources at the RatRaceRebellion.com site. Founder, Chris Durst appears regularly on CNN as an Internet Fraud and Safety Expert.
- TelCoa.org – The Telework Coalition. Enables and supports the advancement of virtual, mobile, and distributed work through research, education, technology,and legislation.
- WAHM.com – has a good forum where you can often get feedback from people about specific companies.
- WorkAtHomeTruth.com – there’s a telecommuting to to help you search for legitimate home jobs and freelance work at /TelecommutingTool.php
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I just wanted to Thank You for this information, valuable information. So, Thank You. Thank You very much.
You’re welcome, Todd.
All I can say is WOW. You really put some work into this and I am sure everyone who reads this email would want to say THANK YOU!!!
You’re welcome, Bill.
Thank you so much for this information. It is such an eye opener. Thank you again.
You’re welceom, Rael.
what kind of work would i be doing if i was only charging $2.00
per day or hour.
James,
There are people in certain countries such as the Phillipines, Nepal and some parts of India that are doing such work as data entry for that low. I’m just trying to make people aware that when you see websites claiming you can make huge money doing data entry or other simple tasks it’s not true.
Wow! What a fantastic list of resources you’ve put together, Paul. Very, very useful and so helpful in sorting the wheat from the chaff.
Thanks a lot – I shall definitely make use of your recommendations.
As usual, a wealth of information. I’m glad I found your site about 6 mo
ago. Thanks again
You’re welcome, Robert.
Great job. Thank you.
I just thought of freelancing, and a website that looks really good. how do I know whether its a scam site
Samuel,
I’ve put some basic due diligence rules about searching for freelance work and jobs here:
/Rules.php
Thanks for making a list on scam materials. It helps to not get scammed if one knows about these things. I’ll have to say a lot of people are lured into making money off of the Internet because they look at it as easy money. It really isn’t (legit ones of course) as easy as it looks, especially for beginners. I know I’ve been there and still struggling, but making progress now.
Thank you, first I seen the profit website info off the fake news. Went to info and knew the red flags. I need to finish your blog but you have put in so much, that i’m sure your helping so many. We have been scammed by a fake google website. It promised that your job was to review posts and create links. They hit our account for a startup of 99.00 and then few days later for a few hundred. We contacted google who forwarded us to a manager, the lady was extremely rude, stating it was our fault we got scammed and there was no relation ands google does not hire work at home. The sick thing was it was the first headed link on google, you know the big rectangular box highlighted at the top of the page, and the link was what appeared to be a real google link. When we asked “how does google the owner of the site, allow fake google links at top of page exist, and not shut them down, or sue the crap out of them for using there logo and name”? She stated they dont concern themselves with scams and have no control or no right to shut it down. As soon as I stated that innocent people are being scammed and you know about it…she screamed and hung up. It seems to me that the internet is just not regulated enough, nor will it ever be, we should all know by now, if you cant physically go into a company’s doors, you should not give them your money. I even refuse to speak to a company when there call center is forwarding me overseas. THATS an important reminder too, if they cant understand you, they cant help you.
Wow, Tina
What a terrible reply to get from Google.
I’ve recently put up this page (which I’ll add to the list above):
/blog/2010/12/30/how-to-file-consumer-complaints/
It goes over how to file consumer complaints and possibly get your money back as well.
I’m shocked! A Google employee did that?! The Company sure needs to have a customer service training for its employees. Smaller companies like call centers are better off than they are. How embarrassing!
Ive been looking for ways to make money for years and paid into a few scams on the way. I found a free way to try and make money and still no luck. So I will share that because maybe someone out there will do better than me. I went to webs.com and got a free website. I signed up for affiliate sites such as, google affiliate, ebay partner network, amazon associates, linkshare, commission junction and a few more. I posted links on my site and added my site to all the search engines. I posted links on my facebook and everywhere I could think of. I of coarse am my own best customer. It didnt work and I spent many hours on it but at least it was a hope and a dream that was free for a change. Good luck to everyone and my search continues. One more note. I see some companies hire at home workers but you need to live in certain areas. Hilton Hotel hires at home workers for around $9.00hr but you have to live in the Tampa or Houston areas. There are a few more companies I havent checked out yet but I think one of the airlines and American Express do too.
Alice,
Submitting your sites to search engines won’t do much these days. You have to get backlinks to your sites at minimum. You also have to make sure that you write your pages/posts in a way that Google understands what your page/post is about. And you have to make sure that what you write about is something that people are looking for.
I clearly have a lot to learn. What are backlinks?
Alice,
Backlinks are links from other sites pointing to pages on your site. Typically the more the search engines trust the site that’s linking to you, the more impact that link will have on your rankings. There are other factors, but that’s a good, basic start.
So am a Student And I really need money.. Therefore,Paul Can u please give some hint about sites that could help me working online w getting paid?!
Thank you
Mira, if you mean extra income, then you may want to take a look at the following:
http://itsfreefun.com/
/blog/2011/06/09/make-money-writing-for-the-web/
I’d definitely also check out http://www.ivetriedthat.com
You stated that anyone who says “making money online is easy and you can make lots of money” that we should be careful and probably a fraud but that is what Micheal Browns “Niche Blitz” is advertising. My sceptical mind says that you be his friend etc..(just thinking)
How can i trust this site?
Any advice is welcome.
Thomas
Thomas,
I think if you watch the video, he is telling you that you have to be persistent and patient, but I agree that there are parts of his sales letter that still have some of the types of phrases I’d rather not hear. But he’s one of the few people I know who actually tell people that they have to be willing to WORK, WAIT, and put in time to see results.
I would say that NOW I’m his friend, because he’s treated the people here so well. However, you need to understand WHY I’m his friend now – it’s because he did such an amazing job helping the people here.
You don’t have to trust this site or any other site. That’s why I’m pointing you to OTHER sites and fraud resources so that you can learn for YOURSELF how to analyze and evaluate sites.
I’d also encourage you to start using the tools that *I* use to do your own analysis. You can see a list of them here:
/blog/competitive-intelligence/
Ideally though, you’d find people you get along with where you can compare your OWN notes about what is working for you and what isn’t.
I can point you to some of the interviews and help I’ve provided to government agencies, BBB:
http://community2.business.gov/t5/In-the-Loop/Power-User-Spotlight-From-Computer-Programmer-to-Home-Business/ba-p/21204
http://louisville.bbb.org/storage/23/documents/Blog%20List%20of%20Fake%20News%20Websites.pdf (BBB using my research) (BBB using my research)
http://www.ftc.gov/os/caselist/0923103/index.shtm – I provided EXTENSIVE help and documentation to the FTC on that case which involved one of the top 100 spammers in the world.
http://savvyconsumer.wordpress.com/2009/01/13/bitter-fruit-for-consumers-from-the-google-money-tree/ is a warning that was done by the National Consumers League based on a warning I had done 2 months earlier (you’ll see a link to my blog there).
However, I would encourage you to go through the resources I’ve put on this page (fraud resources, books, etc.) to see how complicated figuring out “who to trust” actually can be. Unfortunately, it’s much easier to figure out who NOT to trust than who to trust.
I was just curious about the sites Click bank, Google Adwords and Website Center. I’m not sure of these sites and was wondering if you could give me some feedback on them.
Thank You
ClickBank is just a 3rd Party Payment Processor. That means it’s hit or miss as to the quality of the products you buy through there. Some are great, a few are decent, and others seem to be pretty bad. It’s about the same as going to a huge retail store like Target – some products are great, some are decent, and others are lousy.
Google Adwords is tough and if you are a newbie I would NOT recommend starting with Adwords these days.
There are a lot of products with the name “Website Center” so I’m not sure which one you mean. Can you be more specific?
Thank you,
How about the Partner with Paul program, any news on it.
Summer,
It used to be a lead gen program for HerbalLife.
You can read more about it here:
Partner With Paul
Hi Paul,
What do you think about a website called automatedprofitpackage.com?Have ever heard of it?
Thank You in advance
Hi Gina,
I would STRONGLY recommend you avoid it. I’ve actually helped MANY people get refunds who paid for that. I have a write-up about it here:
Automated Profit Package sales page review.
And there are about 238 comments on that page – many people are commenting about major headaches/problems they’ve had with that program.
hi. i am working full time…but still looking for an online job to add up on my salary since I have a son. Please do help me find a legitimate online job and definitely can have a good income. thanks. pleae email me. I’m from the Philippines.
Hey Paul. Great site, been a good read for the last half hour after finding you while searching for scam info about that APP thing. On a side note, i am willing to proof read your site and spell check it for you for a nominal fee daily… lol.
Stray.
Or I could remember to use spellcheck. LOL.
Dear Paul,
I must say first off, thank you for helping those that cannot look out for everything here on the net that is scrupulous. I come across these type of “ads and scams” all day long and think of everyone who may fall for them without the proper information for whatever reason, such as not knowing how or where to check if a company/ad is legit. I am glad to see that there are others out here supplying information to the public along with resources that they may check for themselves. Great job..many kudos and keep up the fight and the information against those that wish to prey on the unknowing.
JR.
[email removed to keep it away from email harvesters]
Thanks, Joe
I appreciate you taking the time to say that. Btw, I’ve removed your email from the post to keep it away from automated email harvesters that spammers use to collect email addresses.
Dear Paul,
Thank you for creating a website that will help many people discover scams planned by people with selfish and evil motives. You are a blessing to all the people that come across your website. You’re such a good man with a big and caring heart!
Thanks, Erwin
Dear Paul,
May I sought your help to recommend me websites that offers legitimate money-making online at home in our country like the Philippines. Thank you.
Erwin,
You may want to explore ODesk.
Thank you so much, Paul.
You’re welcome, Erwin
hi Paul, can you please tell me which website will let me make money from home since im single mom and student. I really need the money
Did you see the huge list of sites on this page?
“Zeinab says:
July 15, 2011 at 5:48 pm
hi Paul, can you please tell me which website will let me make money from home since im single mom and student. I really need the money
Reply
Paul (Founder, WorkAtHomeTruth) says:
July 18, 2011 at 12:01 am
Did you see the huge list of sites on this page”
Paul, I reviewed the page you mentioned, but did not find list of sites you are speaking about. Could you please list (at least a portion) again?
Thanks so much! loyce.
([email protected])
Hmm. OK. Maybe it’s not as clear as I thought.
Can you tell me a bit about your background, your skills, work experiences, interests…things you’re good at? The we can work from there.
Wow, thank you. I was a click away from jumping into that “HOMECASHACCESS” work at home website, when my brain said, “find out if this is legit first”. Thankfully, I came across your page. I am a single mom, with $36k in debt and was desperately looking for a 2nd job to pay it off. I appreciate that there are people like you who are here to look out for people like me. Thank you so much.
You’re welcome, Christine.
So Paul how long have you been doing affiliate marketing? and does this people know that you make money every time they click on your so called money making ideas program? Ive been selling internet marketing coaching for 7 years and we help our clients but its obvious that no everyone is going to make money even with coaching so makes you think that they can make hundreds and thousands of dollars by investing $97. its a blue print to get started! its common sense
Of course they know that I”m compensated, because everything goes through a page that has a giant STORE header. And there’s an entire store section at http://store.workathometruth.com.
What’s the name of your coaching company? Hopefully you aren’t one of the scumbags that tries to rip people off every day. It doesn’t even look like your using your real name here, which makes me question everything else about you. Not only that, but your IP address is from Salt Lake City, Utah, which is THE coaching scam capital of the world.
Anybody reading this, should go listen to the FULL audio here:
http://saltydroid.info/scamming-two-debbies/
That’s how a typical “helpful coaching” call goes from the types of companies it sounds like “Carlos” is talking about.
As to your other points:
I’m going into my 8th year of doing affiliate marketing full time – and I’ve done it in several different markets. I spent over $300,000+ in PPC advertising within the first few years that Adwords started up. I was also one of the first people to use many of the techniques sold in thousand dollar courses like PPCFormula (which obviously only work in the scammy PPV market now). I also behind one of the first Adwords mass campaign organization tools before.
I also provide documentation to law enforcement about the scams on a regular basis through Eagle Research And Associates. I directly helped the FTC shut down one of the top 100 spammers in the world and provided extensive documentation to the Secret Service about a huge cross-border business opportunity scam at their request.
They should know that I”m compensated, because everything goes through a page that has a giant STORE header. And there’s an entire store section at http://store.workathometruth.com.
I’ve known many people who started with less than a hundred bucks that went full time. The owner of Offervault started with $100 (he bought Google Cash & Adwords Analyzer back in 2003) and was making $50,000/month within his first 6 months. Michael Brown didn’t even buy any tools until he was making money. There are plenty of other examples, including myself.
However, I also took the money I had made on my own and started WASTING it on nonsense like you try to sell, which is why I do everything I can to make sure people avoid it. It’s a core reason this site exists, so you’ll have a hard time peddling your scam-idea that people need to “invest money in coaching” here.
Just because people get fooled into thinking that they have to squander a bunch of money on useless coaching by companies like yours, doesn’t mean it’s true. In fact, I’ve seen people ripped off by thousands of overpriced coaching programs with coaches that are just out to grab people’s money. That’s actually one of the reasons this site exists – to make sure people AVOID that nonsense. I’ve seen too many people believe coaching sales people who tell them they have to “invest” thousands of dollars into their business – which you and I both know isn’t true.
Sounds like sites like this are working to cut down your commissions of selling crap to people if you’re coming all the way over here to post.
Hello, my is Aaron Hwang. I go to Towson University in Maryland. This site is just wonderful. Im truly amazed by your knowledge, especially when you Shut Carlos up with his coaching scam. Is there another place besides here where I can talk to you personally? I have alot of questions, but i will try to dim it down by reading everyones posts here and looking at the links that you gave to other people. Also, I would like to talk to you about what I started one month ago and I need your specific thoughts on it because you are genuinely a mastermind at what you do and I know that you can help me.
hello paul please i bold this package and since then they keep playing me this is their name here(AUTOMATED WEALTH PACKAGE)please what can i do now since i am a student please i need your help please you can as well link me to a good online job please to help my study i from Thailand thanks
In the U.S. we try to work out a refund with the company and if they don’t cooperate then file a chargeback. I’m not sure how it works in Thailand. If you paid with a credit card, file a dispute with your credit card company. The dispute procedures are usually on the back of your billing statement. If you paid with a debit card, you’ll need to talk to your bank about their particular dispute procedures. Both may ask you if you’ve tried to work it out with the company first.
paul please link me to a good online job thanks