Good opportunities to work from home

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- There are warnings out there about work at home schemes -- don't do it, Michael Finney has advised. But now he's back and modifying his long standing advice.

I have always said I have never seen a work at home opportunity that actually works -- well now I have.

It may be the first advertised work at home opportunity 7 On Your Side has ever seen up close that is legit.

"Okay that's what I thought. There are one or two calls in cue," said Joyce Brodie from San Francisco.

Brodie loves her job. She is working in the travel business, while not traveling to work. She picks her hours and days, allowing her to work around family obligations, and then there are the perks.

"One thing, you don't have to get dressed, you don't have to go out and buy lunch, you save a lot of money on lunch. My car insurance is really low now," said Brodie.

And so is her gasoline bill. Sure, there have always been those legitimately working from home, but most of the promotions for that kind of work have been bogus.

"Now normally when I am working on a 'work-at-home' story, it is a scam," said 7 On Your Side's Michael Finney.

"If you have to pay for it, it is a scam," said Brodie.

Joyce is one of 76,000 customer service agents employed through Texas-based Working Solutions.

"We look for agents that have experience, education and a professional work ethic. We are trying to give these agents the ability to choose the hours they work and the projects they work, which really lives up their lifestyle," said Tim Houlne from Working Solutions.

Working Solutions pays 10 to $14 per hour and looks for workers that know a particular field, perhaps charity, travel or health care. They must also own a computer and have a dedicated phone line.

"There are so many work-at-home schemes and scams out there. Do you get confused for those people sometimes?" asked Finney.

"No, I think in the beginning there were questions early on, say 10 or 12 years ago, but if you look at those scams they almost always ask you for money up front and one thing we've never done is charge money up front for anything," said Houlne.

And Joyce backs him up on that.

"It sounds like a good deal," said Finney.

"It is a good deal. It is a good deal. You have to be pretty disciplined, though," said Brodie.

Joyce and her colleagues are not employees, but contractors. And if you think it sounds lonely, sitting all by yourself, you are wrong. They keep up with each other and company gossip in chat rooms.

The companies that hire Working Solutions do so, I'm told, most because of quality rather than cost.

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