Anybody know of legitimate WORK FROM HOME opportunities

Well you missed quite a few books (including mine) that share legit opportunities

Danielle is absolutely right. There ARE legitimate work-from-home JOBS. One of the most common types of jobs is as a call center agent, taking a company's customer service calls. This is exactly the type of job I currently have.

Many companies outsource this to a third-party company like Alpine Access, etc. These companies specialize in this type of work and will have several accounts from several different companies. The company I work for (Teleperformance.com) has several big-name company accounts: Google, AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, etc. and has offices around the world. Not all of the company accounts allow at-home workers. In fact, most don't. It's entirely up to the client (Verizon, AT&T, etc.).

I do tech support for Verizon and work from home. I work full-time and have benefits. It is a regular JOB where I'm paid by the hour and receive a regular paycheck.

However, like most call-center jobs, the pay is low and the work itself (call-center work) is NOT pleasant. I also work a split shift: 9 AM - 1 PM and then 6 PM - 10 PM, which is probably the biggest factor in allowing us to work from home. I work nights, weekends AND holidays. (This year, I magically get Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's off but only because Tuesdays and Thursdays are my normal days off. Not so last year. Christmas morning, we were slammed because everyone was getting gadgets for Christmas and needed help to get them working.)

However, I have some physical (mobility) limitations and so for me, working from home is more important than a few extra dollars per hour.

My brother was accepted by Arise at one point and I believe they make you register as a corporation and pay you as an independent contractor. And you're only paid for actual talking time (in seconds). You're NOT paid for any time spent waiting for calls to come in.

The company I work for pays me by the hour, including any minutes spent waiting for a call to come in during my shift. Verizon pays THEM by the second ONLY. (Heaven only knows what Verizon is paying them per second to make up the difference so they can make a profit.)

I went through our local career center to find this company and had to jump through several hoops, even though I already had several years of call center experience. I had to go in for a group "interview" (orientation), then through a brief online aptitude test of some sort. Then one or two more interviews/tests/orientations, etc.

Initially, I was put on the AT&T account (NOT a work from home account, uggghh!), but then was switched to the Verizon account.

All of the interviews, testing and training were done in their offices. So yes, you have to be local. Well, I live in West Palm, but work out of the Ft. Lauderdale office, a full hour south of me. So I had to drive down there every day for 6 weeks of training before I could work from home.

Once that was done though, I went home and stayed there. I do have to periodically go into the office for performance coaching, update training, etc. But for the most part, I get to stay at home. (My supervisors are kind enough to take my physical limitations into consideration and limit their requests for me to come into the office.)

Companies are becoming more comfortable with telecommuting although even those positions require some face-to-face time, if only for the training period. These companies hire both directly and through employment agencies/career centers.

Prior to that, I did in-house call center work for my local electric company. However, I initially had to work in the office and only when I'd been promoted twice was I allowed to work from home. (I didn't even know they did that until I was hired and I learned it much later.) Of the 7 years I worked there, I worked full-time from home for 3 years. But I was still required to come into the office every 2-3 weeks or so, depending on if there was a meeting, if they needed to coach me, etc.

If you really want to work from home, call center jobs are probably the easiest, best jobs to look for. Even then, only a certain percentage allow working from home. But because of the sheer volume of customer service calls that need to be handled from companies all around the world, they're still easier to find than a lot of other work-from-home jobs.

I don't know where you're located, but try some of the companies Danielle and I have mentioned. Look for companies in your local area or within a reasonable driving distance. Even if you have to drive for 2 hours to get there, if it's only for training and periodically after that, it may be worth it to you.

If you've never done customer service, call-center type work though, be prepared. It's not particularly pleasant and is low-paying. But if you're working on something else, like going to school or building your own business, etc., they can be ideal for a time.

Hope that helps!

Michelle