The New American Dream

The American dream is different for everyone, but it almost always revolves around work. How many of you have read the ads promising that you can get rich in just a few hours a week, working from the comfort of your home? I know I have, and it is always such a good dream: no long commute to work, no traffic, no dress code, no office politics, just me, my computer, and my animal menagerie, makin' our way in the world right from home. When reality strikes however, I realize that this cannot be true. If it were really possible to do so little work for such vast fiduciary rewards, wouldn't everyone be doing it? Of course they would. Still, that hopeful little voice inside me head whispers, there must be some truth to all these ads. It is this little voice that has led me on what some may call a wild goose chase of the newest American dream: the dream to work from home. For the past two years I have been searching for that job that allows me such freedom, and I'm here to give you the good, the bad, and the truth about work at home companies.

The good news is that there truly are legitimate work-at-home opportunities out there, and a person really can make some money working this way. The bad news is that these opportunities are few and far between, and you really will have to kiss more than a few frogs to find the prince in the bunch. If you want to start up your own home based business, you can create your own opportunities, depending on what your skills are. Most of the people I have spoken to are looking to be an employee, though, and not a business owner. To these people, I have the following words of encouragement: I myself had the opportunity to be a work-at-home employee, working for an actual company. Yes, I once lived the American Dream.

Although I never saw the company in person-my contact was strictly via email-I was employed for over a year, and made enough money to pay off my credit card bills. I used this as a second job, but it could easily have been my only job, were it a little more stable. My work consisted of finding web sites based on a list I was given and write descriptions for them that would then go into a whole library of descriptions in order to make searching for information a snap. I was paid by the description, and in the course of my time with this company, I turned in anywhere from 30 to 200 descriptions a week. The company did not take taxes out of my check, but my checks arrived at my home once a month like clockwork. When I paid off my debts I stopped working for this company, a decision I regret in hindsight. While I was employed I was treated respectfully and I was a member of a team of which I could be proud.

That has been my only real work from home experience thus far, although I am still searching for that wonderful paradise in which my opportunity awaits. My most recent experience was more typical of what one expects when answering a wok-at-home ad. I paid $15 for training materials-even though I am well aware that I should not have to pay anyone, it was $15, and I was curious-and then discovered the scam. The training materials, as they were called, were simply a guide telling me how to turn around and sell the same guide to unsuspecting rubes who answered the ads I would place on the internet, and collect my money. I am ashamed to say that I nearly considered doing this, even though I knew I was selling nothing at all. There is the cutest little Chihuahua who I am certain is dying to blend in with my family, but even those tiny eyes could not convince me that it was all right to sell this crap to someone else.

So there you have it, the good, the bad and the ugly about the new American Dream. I will keep looking and hoping for my next big break and the chance to work from home in my pj's, and until I find it I will keep slaving away like the corporate shill I may be destined to be.