The answer to the question “Can I find a legitimate medical transcription job from home?” is a simple “yes.” Here is where you need to be careful though — again, people like to pray on those who want to work from home. The site that my friend sent me wasn’t legitimate. They wanted your money upfront, which is a big red flag.

Not only that, but being a medical transcriptionist is a job that you need to learn how to do. You can’t just wake up and do it. So should you pay to get certified online? Maybe. There are a few legitimate ways to do this online. Make sure that you thoroughly investigate the site you are considering using. It is important that you don’t look for the cheapest or the one with the most lucrative promises. Instead, focus on getting recommendations from people in the field.

You can also do an in person study through a vocational program. Check out your local community college for more information.

I plan on elaborating more on this subject in time.

A job is where you’ll be employed by someone. They’ll have a position for you to fill. They’ll pay you hourly or per project (most likely) and you’ll be somewhat under their direction. This is a standard work from home job. There should be no financial commitment from you.

A business is just that. It’s a business, not a job. There is financial investment and of course risk. You take on more responsibility but generally have the opportunity for more freedom. Standard “businesses” will involve selling products. Toys, make up, cooking products, food, etc. Popular companies are Pampered Chef, Mary Kay, and Avon.

Of course, there are other business ventures out there aside from the world of selling over priced products for someone else. You could create your own product to sell or you may have a wonderful business idea that you’d like to put forth.

If you are looking strictly for a job, not to start your own business, make sure that you never pay for information or pay to get a job. Legitimate employers will not require that of you. If someone’s asking you for money, they’re probably trying to scam you. Check out the post on how to spot a scam!

1. They ask for MONEY! Red flag! Run! If you have to pay, there’s a 99.9% chance it’s NOT legitimate. Why you may ask? Because what employer wants you to pay for a JOB? People get suckered into thinking that they’ll become rich overnight if they’re only willing to make a little investment.

There are of course exclusions. Some businesses (see article on jobs versus business) will have start up costs. Make sure you’re looking into a legitimate business (i.e. Mary Kay, Pampered Chef) that has a good rapport with its customers and preferably the BBB.

Keep in mind though, a job from an employer should never ask you for money upfront.

2. They want bank information. I applied for a very legitimate looking job and got a response saying that the position I applied for was filled, but they had a new one open. I just had to send my bank account information. This should be a given, but RUN! If you accept a position with a legitimate company, you may end up setting up direct deposit, but make sure you check the company out first.

3. “Give us your name and email address and we’ll send you more information.” This is especially true with forms. They’re going to try to sell you stuff. Don’t bother.

4. They don’t have a professional email address. Okay, this one is NOT cut and dry. But, it’s a good way to not waste your time. Say you’re looking at a job post and it looks a little sketchy, but you may give it the benefit of the doubt. Then you look and see that this person who’s touting a wonderful and professional company is using a yahoo.com email address – RED flag!

Of course, there are some professionals out there hiring that don’t use professional email addresses for a host of reasons. Perhaps they’re looking for a freelancer for personal projects or maybe they prefer their old gmail address. But if the site or ad is looking off and they use a free email program, you may want to skip it.

5. Email processor/envelope stuffer. Wow, if I would have known that I could stuff envelopes for a living, I may not have gone to college! Okay these positions should be bypassed because of rule number one, but if not, save yourself the time. All you’ll be doing is posting ads and trying to sucker other people into sending you their money.

Shortly after I began working from home, I had people asking me how I got my job and telling me they wanted a similar job. It’s as if they thought I just walked into it and that they could do the same. The plain and simple fact is that it took me weeks of almost full time searching in order to find the position that I had. I was afforded this time as I had recently suffered a severe injury that required surgery and I was laid up for most of the day.

Yes, looking for a stay at home job was a FULL TIME job! I cannot tell you how many resumes I sent out, phone calls I made, jobs I never heard back from… When my husband went to enter the wonderful world of working from home, he faced the same obstacles. As the economy was going into a slumber, it took him about two months before he landed his position.

The plain and simple fact is that working from home is working. If you want a legitimate paycheck, you have to treat it like a legitimate job search. There is no “click here for a six figure income that only requires two hours a week!” If that was the case, everyone would be doing it.

The other major consideration is your home set up and your lifestyle. A lot of people assume that working at home will be some background chore that they can do while the kids are napping. Depending on the position you get, you can be required to be on the phone, logged in, or otherwise well engaged in your job. This is not necessarily conducive to having young children in the house. It’s not as simple as hopping on the computer at your convenience. Think of jobs you’ve had in the past — can you imagine doing them with a screaming toddler or a newborn?

This is not to say if you have children you can’t work from home. But wanting to stay at home with your children is not necessarily a realistic reason to want to work from home.

My husband’s position requires his attention for every minute he’s logged in. When he’s working, he cannot watch our daughter (a toddler) alone. He needs to be focused on work. An acquaintance has a nanny watch their child while he works from home.

Again, this depends on what type of position you end up in. If you have children that aren’t old enough to occupy themselves, you’ll probably want to look for a position that allows flexibility in your scheduling so you can work while another parent is around, or when the children are in bed. You may also need to consider an extra caregiver to assist while you’re working.

None of this is meant to disinterest or scare anyone, but I want to be realistic. Despite what you may think, working at home is not for everyone. I have a friend who was able to continue working for her company remotely after she moved cross country. They supplied all that she needed to work from home. After a couple of years, she missed the socialization that a work environment provided and opted to go back to a traditional work setting.

If you think working from home may be for you, continue reading and dust off that resume!