I am a member of another forum specifically set up for work-at-home moms, and a lady came onto the forum asking for help. She had just attended one of those seminars where they advertise the event as being some great happening, that it will really change your life, blah blah, and then when you get there, you find out it’s just a pyramid scheme that requires a whole lot of selling and a whole lot of money to make it work. She came onto the forum upset because she felt like she had been lied to (which she had been) and wanting to know what the “perfect job” was out there that doesn’t require a lot of money or skills or talents to do.
Along the same lines, yesterday I was at the office supply store, a place I used to work at, and I was talking to a former coworker of mine, a real sweetie. I told her I was a freelance writer online, and made pretty good money from it. She asked me, “How did you find a real job online? Whenever I do a search, all I find are scams and junk. I just want to lick envelopes and get paid for it, but I don’t seem to ever find anything that easy to do. Have you found anything like that, that I could do?”
To both of these people I say: Online work is no different than a bricks and mortar job–you still have to bring something to the table. If you have no skills, no training, no talents, and no desire to do anything but lick envelopes, of what use are you to an employer? There are machines that lick envelopes (which as a sales clerk at an office supply store, my friend should know that but apparently she hasn’t browsed the catalog lately) so the ability to lick an envelope is not exactly a prized ability that will garner you a whole lot of attention from employers.
There are as many types of online jobs as there are bricks and mortar jobs, so if you have any sort of experience doing something, you can most likely find a job that correlates with that experience. Do you have a passion for something? Use those strengths to find the best job for you. Just because one person does well with a job doesn’t mean you would do well too.
Today I was at the college meeting with my counselor to figure out what classes I should take (I’m going back to school to become an elementary ed teacher.) I was telling her that I wrote as a job, and she shuddered with distaste. “I hate writing. I am no good at it.” Really? I just stared at her for a moment, trying to fathom that, but finally gave up. Life without writing would not be a life at all, at least for me. Writing is a dream come true for me, and nightmare come true for her. You’ll find that almost job is that way–it will be the perfect fit for person A, and person B would rather kill themselves than do it every day.
So to all of the people who are sitting around, waiting for someone to come along and tell them about the “perfect job” that requires no skills, no experience, no talents, and no desire, I have to say: You better quit waiting. It’s never going to happen. It’s up to you to find a job, now go make it happen!