Many people wish they could, but only a few people actually know how to work from home. Jobs from home can be about as convenient as full or part time work gets. After all, most offices won't let you come to work in your pajamas. Work at home jobs are available for all kinds of different talents: you can find writing, tutoring, baking, and even simple typing jobs at home, among other things. If you'd like to know how to work from the comfort of home, this guide may help you get started.

Find Your Skill Set

Before you begin working from home, you need to know what you're good at that could earn you money. Are you a seamstress or a baker? A writer or editor? Maybe you're a programmer or graphics artist? Work at home jobs are available for all kinds of talents. Decide what kind of work you'd like to do from home in order to begin the process.

Decide How You'll Work

Depending on the talents you have, you may want to be either a freelancer or else open your own business. Freelance work is readily available for graphics artists, writers, editors, programmers and other people who can accomplish jobs solely through the internet. If you're providing baked goods or clothing instead, you may want to open your own business.

Secure Any Required Licenses

If you decide to open your own business, you'll need to make sure you stay out of trouble with the government and secure any business licenses you need. Your local Small Business Office can help you set up your business to make sure you have everything required.

Build a Portfolio

For freelancers and new business owners alike, it's vital to showcase your work in order to stand out from the other players in a competitive market. If you've decided to be a writer, create some writing samples of the work you can produce, and so on. If you provide physical goods, this can be a little more challenging, but high quality images of your products as well as customer testimonials (try giving away some products for free or for a discount in exchange for testimonials) can help you build an initial customer base.

How to Find Work

If you're a freelancer, you can begin looking for jobs and gigs through a number of online sites depending on what services you offer. An online search of "freelance [writing/programming/editing/etc.] jobs" can turn up plenty of websites for you to begin your search. Steer clear of any sites which promise jobs which sound too good to be true in exchange for your money. Most legitimate subscription sites (they do exist!) will give you a trial period so you can decide for yourself if a fee is worth it.

Some websites which are great resources for freelancers:

• FreelanceWritingGigs.com (for writers)
• FreelanceWriting.com (for writers and editors)
• AllGraphicDesign.com (for graphics artists)
• iFreelance.com, GetAFreelancer.com and Craigslist (for everyone)

You can also search for per-job work in your community by offering your services to local businesses. Make sure you have a portfolio of your work ready, as well as some good reasons why your work can benefit that business. (For example, writers can write SEO content to help drive traffic to business' websites, web designers can improve current websites, graphics artists can create print ads and so on.)

Advertise Yourself

Whether freelancing or opening your own business, you should begin with a website. Hiring a web designer to make a clean, functional and engaging website can help capture the attention of potential customers or clients. You should also consider SEO content to drive in as much traffic through search engines as possible. If you're selling a product, try opening accounts on sites like eBay or Etsy to further promote yourself. Also, consider taking out some pay-per-click ads on search engines or other websites if necessary.

It's possible to make a comfortable living in your pajamas - just keep these tips in mind to help you begin working from home.