For programmer Ivan Bowman a trip to the boss’s office would be an 800 mile jaunt from his home office in Nova Scotia to Ontario. So he sends an avatar instead.

His virtual self is tall and lanky, sometimes compared to a coat rack. But it gives him a presence at the office, and keeps communication flowing–a crucial consideration when you work from home, out of sight and potentially out of mind.

There are a growing number of online employment services that either specialize in telecommuting or have a special telecommuting section. But watch out, some of them are nothing more than scams.

Everything may seem like it’s on the up and up–reasonable salaries, professional website, even a warning to watch out for scams–but when we looked closely we spied something fishy going on.

Our first clue was that the website required you to pay to register. Now what sense does that make? If the site is in the business of finding good employees they can rent to employers, why would the block the road to success with a toll booth?

Other sites don’t charge to join or register, but they do charge a fee to cover their ‘administrative costs’. That’s total bull. All businesses have administrative costs, and those are paid by customers (employers) not employees. Remember, a temp agency charges employers for your work, say $25/hour, and they pay you, say $20/hr. That $5 an hour difference is supposed to cover their costs and also a bit more–that’s called profit.

Our second clue something wasn’t right with some sites was that they charge you before they even look at your resume. If they were serious about getting you work doncha think they’d might be interested in what you can do, even to the extent of testing you on things you claim you can do? ‘Real’ temp agencies certainly do. Temp agencies are very interested in qualified folks because their income depends on an on-going relationship with their clients, your potential employers. If they hire incompetent people their customers will be unhappy and look elsewhere.

The smoking gun clue, though, was the fact that these sites charge employers, their customers, a fee to register. Why would an employer pay a penny before they knew the company had qualified candidates for their job openings?

But don’t get the wrong idea, just because a site doesn’t charge a fee to join doesn’t mean it’s not a scam. The safest bet is to be sure you don’t pay a penny to get a job. Honest employers are happy to pay recruiting and training costs.

If you’re a computer guru and really know what makes a computer tick, if you have good communication skills and enjoy helping people, there may be a full- or part-time work at home job waiting for you at SupportSpace.com.

People who telecommute have no way to earn a living if their computer is on the blink, and company tech support often can’t (or won’t) help. For many baby-boomers and seniors, computer technology just isn’t easy to deal with. SupportSpace responded to that need with a unique approach: all their techs work from home. And you can too if you have what it takes. If you’re an exceptional techie, and can make a disappointed customer with a fried hard-drive thrilled they called you, read on. A college degree isn’t required, but you do have to be at least 18.

You’ll have to go through an initial interview and a thorough check on your background. Then you’ll take a technical skills test. What they’re looking for are competent, experienced techs, so don’t expect them to provide technical training. They will, however, provide training for their online tools so you know how to let the world know you’re open for business, how to take calls, how to download remote desktop software, and how to use proprietary and commercially available tools to solve problems. They also provide webinars and encourage interaction among their techs, which offers the opportunity to learn from others.

Perhaps the most attractive aspect of working as a remote tech is that your schedule can be whatever you want it to be. Need some extra money? Then work some extra hours. Are you a college student and need to study for finals? Work fewer hours–or even not at all if you want to go out with the gang afterwards and blow off some steam. This kind of work makes a great second job, too, because you can schedule around the demands of your primary job.

When you’re ready to work you simply log into the SupportSpace online workbench, and when customers call you’re shown as available. Log off, and you’ve effectively put out the cat, pulled down the shade, and locked the door on your shop.

Tech support problems cover the range of issues, systems, and equipment that people use; but you don’t have to be an expert in everything. You can promote your special talents to deal with Windows XP and Vista, system tune-ups, Microsoft Office, Internet Explorer, e-mail, backups, networking issues, security, printers and other hardware, virus prevention or removal, digital cameras, MP3 players, video and webcams, and malware/spyware removal.

SupportSpace gets 25% of what you bill, but you set your own rates. Full time, hard charging techs with plenty of experience and good repeat customer ratio can average $30-$40 an hour take-home, although $18-$20 per hour is more typical. (Keep in mind these are clock hours, not billable hours. You might be logged in and available, but not working with a customer. You might advertise a $75 per hour rate, but only work an average of 20 minutes an hour.)

Another nice aspect of remote tech support work is that you don’t need any special equipment or tools. SupportSpace provides online diagnostic tools, and if you’re a geek, you already have everything else you’ll need.

Keep in mind this kind of work depends on electricity and online access. That’s good news, and that’s bad news. The good news is you can do it from anywhere. If you decide to go to beach for the summer, you can take your laptop and work there. But the bad news is, if your ISP goes down or a hurricane puts out the lights you’re out of business.

Also remember that as a freelancer you won’t be paid for sick days, you won’t have a 401K, and you won’t have your taxes deducted. On the other hand you also won’t have an increasingly expensive and aggravating commute, or an ogre for a boss (unless you’re really hard to work with).

SupportSpace is the standout employer for work at home techs, from our research. Their business model has attracted the venture capital community, and their online approach is unique. Best Buy’s GeekSquad is the largest in the business, but theirs is a bricks and mortar, office-based culture. PlumChoice is an online competitor that “served 2.5 million transactions in 2007″ but they seem a bit embarrassed by their at-home workforce and asked not to be included in our upcoming book because of its title: Undress For Success.

To summarize then, working from home as a remote tech support specialist has the advantages of flexible scheduling and decent pay, but you’d better know your stuff and be prepared to watch out for yourself.

If you want the inside scoop visit TechComedy.com for a look at the funny, and sometimes aggravating, side of the business.

I’m working on a chapter about Medical Transcription for our forthcoming book about work at home jobs, Undress4Success. If the subtitle The Naked Truth About Working From Home was ever appropriate it’s here. There are oodles of nasty scams associated with the field, and the truth needs to be revealed.

Three-quarters of MTs work from home, and on the face of it, it seems like a job anyone with some typing skills could do. Trust me, it ain’t. But that doesn’t stop unscrupulous rip-off artists from preying on people who don’t know any better.

Several industry insiders have told us about one company they love to hate that they affectionately refer to as TransScam. Their concerns are backed up by website reports that describe a scam that goes something like this:

• You post your resume on one of the job sites such as monster.com and mention something about typing skills or anything to do with the medical profession.

• They send you an email saying how impressed they are with your background, and ask if you’d be willing to take a free medical transcription test. If you pass it, they say, they’ll pay for your training and guarantee you a work at home job. All you have to do is buy some piddly transcription software.

• You pass the test with flying colors, of course, and they rave about your potential. You’ll be rich!

• But you’re cautious, and ask if they’re legitimate. “Why of course, silly, we’re members of the Chamber of Commerce,” and email a logo. Now that is impressive, isn’t it?

• So you fork over 400 bucks for what turns out to be awful software, and they try to up-sell you on “professional” software and a foot pedal to make you more productive.

• But that stuff’s junk too, to so you ask for a refund.

• They say read the fine print, we don’t do refunds, have a nice day.

Still, if you have an affinity for language, are good at interpreting what you hear, can learn quickly, and can type about 100 words per minute you are a good candidate for a rewarding job as a medical transcriptionist. There are some very reputable schools, such as The Andrews School and CareerStep that in about six months can teach you what you need to know to make a go of it. And MTs are definitely in demand.

ANY school that you talk to should have the Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity (AHDI) approval. But even if they do, do your homework; some companies claim to have accreditation, but it’s only from a phony made-up outfit of their own. Rummage around the web, and see what people have to say about the school you’re considering. If you can’t do that, you probably shouldn’t be thinking about being an MT anyway.

There are other renditions of this theme in every industry, so if your interested in finding a work at home job, in telecommuting, or freelance work look before you leap. In fact, if you want, leave a comment here about a company you’re interested in and we’ll check ‘em out.

This is no surprise, but now we have numbers that prove Moms would rather work at home where they can be with the kids. CareerBuilder.com’s annual Mother’s Day survey finds 43% of working moms would take a pay cut to spend more time with their kids.

In fact, of the 43% of working moms who said they would take a pay cut if it meant they could spend more time with their kids, 34% said they would be willing to give up 10% or more of their salaries, according to the survey of 880 women, employed full-time, with children under the age of 18 living at home. More than 25 percent of working moms say they’re dissatisfied with their work/life balance too.

The good news for you, if you want to work from home, is that companies continue to experience a tighter labor market, so the importance of retaining star employees is requiring them to implement benefits that actually encourage workers to improve the balance between their professional and family lives.

From flexible work schedules to job sharing to telecommuting, company-wide work/life initiatives are becoming much more universal.