How would it feel to choose your own hours? How nice would it be to decide who you work for? Do you wish you could abolish the 40 hour work-week once and for all? Ok I’ll stop there since it’s beginning to sound like an infomercial. But the reality is that there are countless ways you can make money from home. The work at home job I’ll describe in this post is a freelancer.

Many companies are changing the way they do business. No longer are brick and mortar offices needed like they once were. Many work related tasks can be accomplished remotely. Millions of Americans are currently working remotely as we speak (or as you write and as I write). They are replying to emails as a customer service representative. They are writing articles for bloggers. They are doing simple repetitive data entry tasks.

It’s easy to get started. There are sites like elance.com where employers set up tasks and freelancers can bid on jobs. The employer will either hire the one who can do the task the fastest, in the shortest time or can provide the best quality.

Employers are always looking to save money. If they hire someone who physically comes into the office every day, they will have to provide them with a computer computer and a company phone. The employee will be using the company’s resources like water, electricity and supplies. On top of that the employee will be allowed to take breaks, go on vacation, have sick days, etc. That employee also wants the boss to pay half of their income tax and even get health or retirement benefits. All of this comes out of the bosses pocket.

You can see how expensive it is for businesses to have employees. One such way that they’re cutting back on the people they hire in person is by hiring virtual freelance workers. With these types of employees, there are no benefits and no hourly fees. The company posts a task and the freelancer completes it for an agreed upon flat fee.