Real Ways To Work From Home

The Lazy American’s Dream is to sleep in and maybe even spend all day in your pajamas doing {insert some mysterious variable here that is anything other than *work*} and making a boatload of money doing it.

The desire to get rich with minimal effort makes sense. To be blunt, it’s the exact opposite of the reality of putting in excess effort with very little reward. This reality is stressful, yet the fantasy is appealing. However… it’s just that. A fantasy.

With that being said, it is possible to work from home. More and more people are doing just that now, thanks to the wonderful world of the internet. Unfortunately, this means that more and more people are looking for a way they can quit the 9-5 to be their own boss, and that means there are scams out there ready to prey on the misguided.

No, you will not earn a successful income taking online surveys from home. Every once in a while, there is a legitimate company that might reward survey participants with a small payment but most of the time it’s an opportunity to win a small gift card or there are points that accumulate which can be redeemed for a small award.

In summary, taking surveys is not a good way to generate a sufficient income, even for extra money on the side. The effort is not worth the payout.

On that note, there are actual jobs for mystery shoppers but it’s not something you’ll ever find advertised to the public as a work-from-home opportunity. This is usually a real position with a specific company.

So if something sounds too good to be true– it is. However, it is possible to work from home, make your own hours, be

your own boss, and maybe even be successful at it! Of course you have to have a specific set of skills that are worth something. Graphic designers, freelance writers, web developers, internet marketers, social media marketing consultants, video producers, medical transcribers, etc. These are all examples of what people do in order to make a real income working from home.

The keyword is *working*. Sometimes there is an opportunity to earn income for tedious tasks, such as the listings on Amazon Mechanical Turk, where mindless gigs provide an income that accumulates the more you do.

Or if you want to start with something on your own—something unique and original, you can always test the market on a cheap job site like Fiverr. The bottom line is that you have to be willing and able to do something, and do it well enough that other people are willing to give you money to do it. In order to do anything that well you have to enjoy it. So look at the things you love to do. The things you do for fun, for free. The sky is really the limit once you identify your truest passions in life and then work on a way to make a living doing that.

But first, you have to stop chasing every scam selling the Lazy American Dream.