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" Virtual Assistant the job: Do administrative tasks, such as bookkeeping and word processing, for various businesses. Some firms desire more specialized work, such as designing websites or legal proofreading, and they pay accordingly.  the pay: $25 to $150 per hour.  the hours: At least 10 to 12 hours a week. Some jobs, like handling customer service calls, require you to work during the day. But tasks such as making flyers or analyzing spreadsheets can often be done at night or on weekends. what you need: A computer, Internet connection, fax, separate phone line, and, depending on the work, profi ciency with office software such as Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.  how to get started: Learn more about the industry by contacting the International Virtual Assistants Association and the Alliance for Virtual Business. Then check out guru.com and elance.com for freelance job listings. You can also join local business groups to network--and don&amp;#039;t be shy about contacting former employers!  --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; the job: Sell products at online auction sites like eBay, Yahoo!, or MSN auctions. You can either buy items at a discount and resell them at a higher price, or sell items for other people and take a cut of the profits. You&amp;#039;ll need to do research on the auction sites first--to see what the hot sellers are, and how much you can list similar items for, says Barb Webb, author of The Mom&amp;#039;s Guide to Earning and Saving Thousands on the Internet. If you&amp;#039;re offering new products, keep an eye out for sales at local stores so you can snap up stuff to sell.  the pay: Varies widely. Webb, who resells women&amp;#039;s clothing bargains she buys at bricks-and-mortar stores on eBay (often for double what she paid!), says online auctioneers can easily make $5,000 a year working 10 hours a week. If you do consignment, a typical commission is 25 percent of the sale price.  the hours: Up to you. The more items you list, the more money you&amp;#039;ll make.  what you need: A computer, Internet connection, and a digital camera for taking photos of items to sell.  how to get started: Get a feel for the process and for what sells by listing some garage-sale goods you have. Then branch out to reselling new products or used ones from friends and family for a commission. You can also find used stuff to sell by placing ads for them in church bulletins and on publicnotice boards at the local library, the gym, and even in the newspaper.  --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; the job: Sell products--anything from cosmetics to scrapbooks--on one-on-one client visits or phone calls, or at parties, where you get friends and potential clients together and show off your wares. Of the 13.6 million direct salespeople in the U.S., about 80 percent are women. &amp;quot;A lot of moms do direct selling because of the truly flexible schedule and the social contact,&amp;quot; says Amy Robinson, director of communications for the Direct Selling Association.  the pay: $5,000 a year working 15 to 20 hours a week. You earn a commission on the products you sell, and, with some companies, you&amp;#039;ll also get a 2 percent to 5 percent commission on the sales of anyone you bring in to work for the company. the hours: Flexible, but you&amp;#039;ll need to spend time training, then filling, preparing, and delivering orders, plus organizing the parties or sales calls.  what you need: Good people skills and lots of motivation (it helps if you truly like the product you&amp;#039;re selling).  how to get started: Look up a list of companies on the Direct Selling Association&amp;#039;s website (dsa.org), and contact the ones you like. Some well-established firms to consider: Tastefully Simple (which sells easy meals), Longaberger (housewares), Creative Memories (scrapbooking materials), and Mary Kay (cosmetics). Speak to current salespeople to get a good sense of what the work involves.  --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; the job: Help students with homework, college application essays, and other academic studies. Tutors are needed in all subjects, but expertise in math, reading, and foreign languages is in high demand.  the pay: $10 to $125 per hour, depending on the subjects you tutor, your experience, and where you live. A calculus tutor in New York might charge $125 per hour, while an elementary-school math tutor in a rural area might charge $25. Online services, such as tutor.com, where you can assist kids over the Web, pay about $10 an hour.  the hours: However many hours you want, depending on your clients&amp;#039; needs.  what you need: Expertise in a subject area (prior teaching experience or an advanced degree may be required by some clients) and a knack for working with kids. Another must: a quiet, neat spot in your home for tutoring sessions.  how to get started: Make appointments at schools to meet with guidance counselors, department chairs, and principals to find out their students&amp;#039; needs and ask for referrals. Leave a flyer with your contact information and qualifications at the school office, as schools often keep files of tutors on hand. You can also post a flyer at your neighborhood library, or online at Craigslist.  --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; the job: You pose as an ordinary customer at a store, restaurant, retail website, or other business, then fill out a customer service evaluation form to help the company assess how it&amp;#039;s doing. Typically, you start with simple assignments, such as fast-food restaurants: You might be asked to order a meal and then answer &amp;quot;yes&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;no&amp;quot; questions about the service. As you gain experience, you can move on to more complicated--and higher-paying-- questionnaires. A bank visit might require you to ask about IRAs (individual retirement accounts) and mortgages, then write a detailed analysis of the service. the pay: $5 to $150 per report, depending on how detailed the report is.  the hours: Varies depending on the type of report and how many you do. In some cases, you just have to buy an item and fill out a one-page survey. Other assignments might take an hour or longer, requiring you to go through complex transactions before writing up your report.  what you need: Strong writing and observation skills. Some shoppers jot down notes or record their impressions in a mini tape recorder once they&amp;#039;re out of the store, says Judith Rappold, author of Get Paid to Shop and the president of Business Resources, a mystery-shopping firm in Austin, TX.  how to get started: The Mystery Shopping Providers Association (mysteryshop.org) lists jobs; the International Association of Service Evaluators (iasemysteryshop.com) provides a directory of member companies. Try to find businesses you already use, so you can get your shopping done and make some cash while you&amp;#039;re at it!  --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt;  How to tell if a work-from-home biz is legit.  Working from home means you may never meet your boss face-to-face, and that anonymity makes it easy for unscrupulous &amp;quot;businesses&amp;quot; to trick you into signing up for work--and then paying them for it (usually via an &amp;quot;application&amp;quot; fee). Follow these tips to protect yourself.   1. Check that the company you&amp;#039;re interested in actually exists. Some are just shady operations with P.O. boxes waiting for your money. Ask where the company is headquartered and see if its phone number and address are listed in that town.  2. Be wary of clerical jobs that ask you to send money to get more information. &amp;quot;They&amp;#039;re often schemes where you pay $25 to $99, and all you get are instructions for advertising the same scam you just fell for,&amp;quot; says Terri Murphy, general manager of moneyfromhome.com, which posts work-from-home jobs--and rejects thousands of scam listings a year.  3. With direct-sales companies, you sometimes have to pay for a start-up kit, but any kit that costs more than $500 should raise a red flag, says Amy Robinson, director of communications for the Direct Selling Association.  4. Avoid direct-sales companies that don&amp;#039;t buy back products you&amp;#039;re unable to sell--and be sure there&amp;#039;s a product to be sold. Often what looks like a direct-sales business is just a pyramid scheme, which lures new recruits to &amp;quot;invest&amp;quot; large sums of money, thinking they&amp;#039;ll be paid in turn when others join. But these schemes are illegal.  5. Likewise, skip any mysteryshopping job that charges a fee--it shouldn&amp;#039;t cost you to get started.  6. One last to-do: Check the Better Business Bureau or state attorney general&amp;#039;s office for complaints against the firm you&amp;#039;re considering.  --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; --&amp;amp;gt; "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.redbookmag.com/life/money-career/advice/a225/make-money-yl/>