In today’s tough economic times, finding legitimate work from home opportunities can be difficult. Plenty of websites guarantee work from home jobs or ways to make money from home, but the truth of the matter is that most are scams. Finding legitimate work from home jobs begins with finding a reputable source. Here are four ways in which you can find work from home opportunities:

1. Your current employer- If you are already working for a company and have established a solid reputation and repore, then you may be able to permanently say good bye to your morning commute. Telecommuting is becoming an attractive option for both employers and employees alike because of its time and money saving advantages. Present your boss with a thorough telecommuting plan of your own that focuses on the benefits to the company, and working at home may be your new gig.

2.Search engines- Entering terms such as “work from home”, “telecommuting”, “freelance”, and “1099″ (refers to the tax form that independent contractors file to report yearly earnings) into almost any browser will yield you a wide assortment of work from home job opportunities from large corporations to small “mom and pop” businesses. Use your discretion and consumer agencies to verify the legitimacy of jobs listed on sites of this nature, the Better Business Bureau and public forums are two good places to start.

3. Craigslist- You can literally find almost anything on Craigslist and this includes work from home opportunities. Simply choose “Dallas” under the US cities category (or whatever city you’d like to select), choose the job category that interests you, and select “telecommute” in the gray search box. It’s important to note that some jobs are not advertised as being work from home or telecommuting positions but list under their descriptions that “telecommuting is OK”, so if you see a job you’re interested in make sure you pay close attention to the entire job description. You should also use discretion when applying for any jobs on Craigslist since practically anyone can post an ad there.

4. Work from home websites- Although there are many WAH websites that are scams or require payment to view jobs (which I highly discourage), there are also legitimate websites that offer job leads on a daily or weekly basis. No matter what kind of WAH opportunity you’re interested in there is almost certainly a website that you can use to find a position that is right for you and I’ll provide you with a list of them next time.