Good Morning America's Referral of Associated Content Leads to Viable Career Prospects

Anyone who has searched for real work-from-home opportunities knows that these types of roles can be difficult to come by. Illegitimate work-from-home opportunities are advertised all over the internet, preying on those who are desperate to find a job. The numbers on those who actually work from home confirm that these types of careers are tough to find. According to the latest U.S. Census data, 4.1 million people (or 3% of all American workers) worked primarily from home. 32 million Americans ages 25-64 were not in the workforce during this period. The vast majority (69%) of these non-workers were women who were often at home because of family responsibilities. Certainly, some of these people who were not working had chosen to retire or may not want or be able to work for other reasons. However, many of these people would like to work, if they could do so with some flexibility in locations and schedules.

Tory Johnson, CEO of Women for Hire and workplace contributor on Good Morning America, regularly offers advice for those looking for work-from-home opportunities. In November 2006, Ms. Johnson provided a telecommuting job prospect for every day of the month. These tips, ranging from call center agent to medical transcriptionist, were geared to those of all backgrounds. One option suggested was freelance writing, with the Associated Content website cited as a good place to start for those who had no professional writing experience. The site was listed in Ms. Johnson's article as "a good way to build an online portfolio of published work while making some money at the same time."

I have to admit that I was curious but skeptical when I visited the Associated Content website. I had researched work-from-home opportunities for a year and hadn't found any legitimate ways to earn money on the internet. I had no professional writing experience (unless writing for the high school newspaper counts), but I had always enjoyed writing and thought that it would be something I would like to pursue. Since the site didn't charge for registration, I decided to join and submitted a few articles for publication. Within days, my articles had been accepted for payments ranging between $5-$8. Although this wouldn't pay for our monthly groceries, it was a start in being a published writer. One of my articles, "The Ten Wineries You Should Have Visited in 2006," was actually named as Featured Content in Associated Content's Travel Section, which boosted my confidence and made me feel as though I could actually be a freelance writer. For further inspiration, I bought copies of "How to Start a Home-Based Writing Business" by Lucy Parker and the 2007 Writer's Market (which outlines magazines and other publications which pay for articles), after which I started to submit queries to magazines that seemed like a good fit for my writing skills. So far, I've had three magazines make offers on my articles and several others have shown interest in my ideas. After months and months of looking for a job, it seems like I may have stumbled on something - maybe you actually can make money working from home.

For additional work-from-home opportunities and tips, see Tory Johnson's article:

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/TakeControlOfYourLife/story?id=2621388&page=1