In the age of “outsourcing” overseas, one might think in our economical age, it might be more helpful to the “American-worker” to take over those opportunities. But the truth is America’s Corporate Monsters know that paying another country’s contractor $1 an hour vs. an American contractor $10 is going to save that company a ton of money.

As this scenario may be a bit exaggerated, the fact is there should be more opportunity for at-home outsourcing to American’s than is offered. The trend of working from home is becoming more popular in America and legitimate as home based agents take over the bricks-and-mortar call centers.

There are so many independent contractors (IC) who will work for a minimal wage and no benefits just too happily contribute to their family expense and being able to stay home with their children. Better yet, it is a smoother ride for the American consumer, especially if it comes to a customer service telephone call. Not that another culture can’t do a darn good job, but the difference between language and culture does make it more irritating for customers and maybe even for the IC on the other end as well.

In a day where jobs are highly competed for, studies have shown that the work-at-home jobs are even harder to land now, as oppose to even one year ago. This is due to smaller businesses realizing the benefits of outsourcing within the United States. The job requirements are being enforced more than ever before to the at-home job seeker. In other words, you are treated like you would be applying for an outside job. There’s an application and extensive interview process in most cases.

As an at-home employee recently told me, she had applied for a customer service position and later after hired, the company told her she was one out of over 500 applicants applying for that position. She was hired due to her years of experience working from home and other required criteria she had to meet.

So this begs the popular question of how to make money online from home. The solution may have to have a creative twist on your end if you happen to be one of the 499 who didn’t get picked for that customer service job.

There are unlimited opportunities for sales distributors in the MLM sector. But as you may know by now, those require up front and ongoing fees, including your own advertising expenses and education. The rewards may be very high if you are a savvy Internet marketer or are willing to invest into your education. The old-school ways of walking from door to door are now dead. As an Amway distributor might have once done, it’s not as effective as it use to be today. The Internet monster allows nanoseconds (one billionth of a second) click away from the next high paying offer and will easily distract anyone new or old to the industry that has little direction.

The second is a job as an IC or employee. Most companies that offer this type of opportunity are legit, but still yield the recommended research before you apply. Most at-home jobs, just as with a MLM business, ask that you have at least a computer with high speed Internet connection, a dedicated phone line, fax, printer and email – all at your own expense. Some employers will offer long distance reimbursements or even a phone line, but this is a rarity.

So where do you begin?

First you need to determine what it is you are willing to do from home. In other words, are you interested in taking the risks in a sales MLM business? Or would you rather have something of stability – paychecks each week or biweekly as an employee or IC.

Here are some resources to get you started that are not only popular, but pretty reputable sites to begin your research and application process.

For the MLM industry, the suggested solution is going to www.magneticsponsoring.com and sign up for the free online community. The main theme here is education and learning the know-how of Internet marketing. There are many MLM heavy weights there you can directly consult with as well if you are interested in joining a business.

For the IC and home-based Employee sector, there are several sites you can begin your search. However a few that have proved to supply what home-based job seekers are looking for without the fuss are, www.wahm.com, www.virtualvocations.com, www.problogger.net job board, www.moneymakingmommy.com and www.womenforhire.com, which was founded in 1999 as the first and only company devoted to a comprehensive array of recruitment services for women, by CEO, Tory Johnson who is the workplace contributor for “Good Morning America.”

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