Blue Zebra is hiring experienced telemarketers to join their home-based telemarketing team. The pay is $15-$25 dollars an hour to start, with an increase after an initial probationary period. View the job listing to apply here.
Friday, February 22, 2008
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Make money with your camera - a fun independent contractor job
There's a growing need for contract workers to go to places and take photos of places for "cirtual tours" for busy realtors. I came across this job ad today and although it's by no means a full-time income, a virtual assistant or other freelance professional might make some spare money by being on hand.
Here's another company that hires people to take photographs for virtual tours.
Outsourcing (offshoring) as a political issue...
Apparently the Democratic candidates know that outsourcing jobs overseas is a hot topic in middle America. India has taken notice of Hillary Clinton's newfound vocal opposition to offshore outsourcing, although I couldn't find any American press coverage. I will assume that India is paying attention because it will, of course, affect their economy as well.
Here's what was said in recent rallies:
Barack Obama: "We've got to stop giving tax breaks to companies that are shipping jobs overseas and invest those tax breaks in companies that are investing here in the
Team Double Click is Hiring for Several Work at Home Positions
Team Double-Click® is looking for qualified candidates for the following positions:
Real Estate Virtual Administrative Assistant - Experienced Only
Real Estate Virtual Assistant Familiar with the Asheville, NC area
Cold Caller Located in United States or Canada
Cold Caller Located in the United Kingdom
Experienced Cold Caller/Real Estate Virtual Assistant Experienced with Top Producer
Real Estate Virtual Assistant Experienced with Relay Transaction Management System
Marketing Assistant
Public Relations Virtual Assistant
Please visit the website for detailed job descriptions. If you would like to be considered, are interested, motivated, and have a great attitude, please apply today by visiting our website at www.teamdoubleclick.com. Click on the “I want to work” button and you will be taken through the interview process.
Convergys is Closing Call Centers in Canada
The recent changes in the economy, specifically the US to Canadian dollar, are hitting Canadian call centers pretty hard. Convergys, a company that has standard brick and mortar call centers in Canada, and across the world, is now considering closing several of its Canadian call centers. It could be the first in a line of call center closings in Canada, as US companies can't afford to spend the money with the plummet of the US dollar.
Convergys also employs home-based agents in the US and other locations, but it remains unknown if they plan on replacing some of the Canadian jobs with virtual call centers.
Work from Home - or Anywhere
If you're a freelancer or other telecommuter who is responsible for your own technology, there's a great article from Inc Magazine on different technologies to use for collaboration, maintaining computer security, and accessing your work from remote locations. Sometimes telecommuters just don't even think about all of the aspects we need to cover to work from home, so even if these services are out of your price range, you may see that there is a solution or two that you need to investigate further to beef up your technology.
LiveOps is hiring
LiveOps is currently hiring agents for the following positions:
Inbound Sales
Casual Dining Orders (Food delivery) - These positions are primarily working Friday, Saturday, and Sunday
Bilingual Agents
Financial Services & Insurance Industry Positions
Visit the website to learn more about becoming an independent contractor with LiveOps and their current requirements.
Homeshoring Employer Alpine Access Awarded Above and Beyond Award
From TMCNet.com:
"Home agent call center service provider Alpine Access today announced that it has been honored with the “Above and Beyond” award from the National Committee for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR).
"Home agent call center service provider Alpine Access today announced that it has been honored with the “Above and Beyond” award from the National Committee for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR).
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Home Jobs for Moms - A Guide to Choosing The Right Opportunity For Stay at Home Mothers
When you are considering working from home, there is a set of decisions that must be made before anything. First, you need to know if you really have the skills and equipment to work from home. Then, you need to decide how you can put those skills to work - either through a telecommuting employer or your own business venture. There are many opportunities for working mothers to explore, especially online. Becoming a successful work from home mom is dependent on your research. Finding the right match for your skills, income expectations, and equipment is vital for a successful work from home venture.
Sometimes the best place to start a work from home career is where your last career ended. If you have done customer service in the past, there are a ton of virtual call centers such as LiveOps, West at Home, and Alpine Access that hire experienced customer service professionals and people with retail experience. When you work as a customer service agent from your home, you just need a reliable Internet connection and a working phone. Do you have experience in the hospitality industry? Some companies hire virtual concierges to schedule tasks for busy executives. Companies that hire home-based telemarketers are often looking for new workers and pay an hourly rate, with flexible schedules.
Experienced in childcare or teaching? There's a growing demand for online tutors with the right qualifications and patience to teach kids online. If none of the above seem to fit, there's always a chance to use your skills to form your own administrative assistant business. Virtual assistants are becoming widely accepted as an essential member of the virtual workforce -- and they can easily branch into new areas once they've grown a small list of clients. Usually, you need to have proficient internet skills and a comprehensive knowledge of word processing programs, as well as the ability to make and take calls from home.
If you want to start your own business, the opportunities are endless - but it will take some work and dedication. You can start with a direct sales company and sell products from an established brand to friends and neighbors. You'll be working on commission, however, so you'll need to plan your budget accordingly.
Another option for starting your own business is offering a local business such as daycare, personal assistants, or pet walking. All of these will require that you leave the house from time to time, but they can help you generate income. Just be sure to check the licensing requirements in your state before you make a decision.
If you're more of a mompreneur than anything, you may want to start an online business. Ebay stores and other retail prospects are always a good choice for moms, and there are many websites such as Work at Home Mom (WAHM.com) that have offer support and guidance for online ventures. Just make sure that you do your homework and don't get caught up in any scams pr pyramid schemes - they seem to run rampant on the internet. Many stay at home moms have found a home in the internet marketing community by directing web traffic to a website and then recommending certain products and services.
Decide first what type of job you'd like to do and then work from there. You don't have to limit yourself to one source of work from home income. Many moms take part-time telecommuting jobs while they work on building a business of their own. Don't limit yourself to what you know, take time to explore your options. Make sure you find an online community for support that you can turn to for new ideas, job leads, and guidance. There are a ton of successful work at home moms out there that love to share their expertise.
A few good forums to check into:
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Working from Home in the News
Here's a link to a great news clip out of Norfolk talking about a ton of work at home scams. it explains in a nutshell why survey scams, medical processing, and stuffing envelope companies are all similar scams that prey on unwitting consumers. They also spotlight Working Solutions as a legitimate work from home employer. Check it out.
Monday, February 18, 2008
Work from Home Computer Geeks Wanted
I came across MinuteFix today - a company that will soon be providing IT-related support to consumers remotely. They are currently in beta, which makes it a great time to jump on the bandwagon. Sign up for an early invitation to become a Certified MinuteFix Technician by visiting the website and filling out the form. It looks like their technical requirements aren't terribly stringent.
Homeshoring Company Affiliated Computer Services acquires German company
BPO (Businss Process Outsourcing) services provider Affiliated Computer Services is acquiring SDS Business Services from Waterland Private Equity Investments for approximately $67m. SDS will continue to be managed by its existing executive team, and will add approximately 160 employees to ACS's Europe workforce.
Details (admittedly, boring details aimed at stockholders) are here... But the bottom line is, if you are looking for work for virtual call center job in Europe, try after the deal closes in March. ACS hires people to work from home around the world.
Team Double Click expands services to nonprofit sector
If you haven't heard of Team Double Click, they are one of the largest companies employing virtual assistants in the world. They place administrative professionals with businesses and handle the contracts and logistics. They also employ virtual personnel to handle customer service calls, answering services, and do telemarketing from home.
Team Double Click's virtual assistants go through a rigorous screening and testing process before receiving work, and they currently have a pool of over 34,000 trained professionals to choose from.
Hopefully, by expanding their virtual services to a new industry, more of those professionals will be able to get work from them, and work from home.
Esurance and Working Solutions in the News
There's a nice writeup in the Argus Leader Media - News today about how Esurance is employing people is Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Esurance currently employs 100 employees that work from home, and their shift schedules are self-designed.
They also speak with Nedra Harris, of Working Solutions, about the homeshoring model and the companies that aren't quite ready to adapt to the virtual call center model.
Check it out more about working from home in South Dakota here.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
American Kidney Fund Pickup is Hiring Work from Home Telemarketers in Georgia
AKF Pickup is currently hiring people to schedule pickups from home in the Atlanta area. They don't pay per hour - rather, they pay per scheduled pickup. They provide you with all the information and training and pay $2.50 per scheduled pickup of donated goods. They DO pay via direct deposit an provide all training, call lists, and scripts .
Visit their website to apply.
APAC is hiring work from home customer service in Green Bay, Wisconsin
APAC Customer Service is hiring for both their on-site call center and work from home positions in Green Bay, Wisconsin. They are a W-2 employer and offer benefits after a certain probationary period. You can find out more about the company and current openings here.
Is Amerisave a legitimate work from home employer? Or a scam?
I thought I would bring this up, since Amerisave tends to advertise a LOT on the various employment websites. And we've been updating our spreadsheets today.
We chose not to list them in our homeshoring employment directory because we don't really like the way the word their ads and don't feel that they are exactly honest about Amerisave - it's more of a business opportunity than a job. The positions we've investigated are actually commission-based - they're not salaried jobs, you're not paid a base. And yes, if you qualify (after earning a certain amount) you can qualify for benefits.
We're not saying you can't earn money working for them, we just don't feel comfortable with commission-only jobs as a viable career option. Maybe somebody who works for Amerisave can step up to the plate? If you're out there, let us know.
Convergys, homeshoring employer, is hiring in Omaha, Nebraska
Just a heads-up, Convergys is hiring and advertising on Monster.com
I didn't notice this before, but apparently they hire employees age 16 and up - so this could actually be a good opportunity for a younger person or college student to work from home as well.
Right now, they are specifically hiring in Nebraska. They have other positions as well, but the one in Nebraska seems to be an immediate need. Click here to apply.
Telephone Outsourcing
Here's a cute clip from a Youtuber who's obviously tired of calling customer service and getting somebody overseas. She must feel strongly enough about it - she created a video. (It's Sunday, watch it, have a little fun. )
Guest Article: How To Use Outsourcing And Virtual Assistants With These 3 Main Areas Of Business
This guest article by Diane Barnum is meant for businesses - but if you are interested in virtual assistant work, you'll find her to be a knowledgeable lady about how businesses are utilizing virtual assistants to save money and time.
Guest Article: How To Use Outsourcing And Virtual Assistants With These 3 Main Areas Of Business
By: Diana Barnum
The contracting of Virtual Assistants (VA) is the next big step for allowing businesses to cut costs while operating in an efficient manner. And companies like Moving Ahead Communications are bringing affordable outsourcing through their Virtual Assistant Plus programs, changing the face of outsourcing as we know it.
A Virtual Assistant provides any combination of tasks including administrative, technical and
even creative services to their clients, acting as an independent contractor. They work from their own offices, cutting out the costs of office space, operations costs and employment taxes, all of which usually fall to the responsibility of the employer. However, this type of outsourcing allows businesses to reduce expenses and redirect certain tasks to Virtual Assistant so that key employees can focus of vital responsibilities.
Research
Research is a vital aspect of marketing and valuable time can be wasted within a company by employees who do not have the training and skills to conduct efficient research or who are tasked with multiple duties where research is a fraction of their responsibilities. By outsourcing a Virtual Assistant to utilize research tools such as those offered by eBay, and Best Sellers at Amazon.com, and do nothing but research, a company can maximize its efficiency and stay ahead of the game.
Google Adwords and Adsense tools can be outsourced to a Virtual Assistant which means that there are no distractions stemming from other responsibilities. With this type of focus, a company can get very timely information on their market, what people are searching for and what they want to buy. When the VA delivers the information in real time, companies can get a jump on the competition. In marketing, timing is everything. It is imperative that a company receive up to the minute information on their target market, what is moving and what is losing ground. An employee who is torn between research and a dozen other tasks can not give this vital assignment the time and attention that is needs to keep the company at top notch competitive status.
Product Creation
While research tells a company how to fulfill the 4 P's of marketing, Product, Price, Place (distribution) and Promotion, the product is what generates the profit. Many products can be constructed by Virtual Assistants. Videos and EBooks are two prime examples of products that a business can outsource the majority of the creation process. Virtual assistants can even offer a service or a product on demand where specs are provided. For instance, an eBook company can take requests from clients. The company can then turn around and contract the Virtual Assistant to write the eBook to spec.
Other products may not necessarily be sold for profit, but may be use to attract customers and drive traffic to the company so that they will be exposed to the actual product. Autoresponders and various website visitor freebie give-aways like free eBooks can also fall into the category of products even though they will not directly contribute to the company's profit margin. Ecourses are another popular product that can be a free offering from the company or one of its products used for profit.
Sales & Marketing
A product can be top of the line, something that everyone needs or wants, but it does no good if no one ever sees it - if there is no promotion. A Virtual Assistant can be outsourced to conduct various aspects of the marketing process such as design and create websites, set up and manage affiliate programs, conduct the company's online campaign and do various other sales and marketing tasks. Article marketing and blogging are both very popular and very effective methods of marketing. The Virtual Assistant can focus all energies on the marketing process, attending to details that may normally be ignored or missed by employees who are tasked with a variety of responsibilities.
The Virtual Assistant can focus solely on driving relevant traffic to the company's website and can draw interested eyes to the product. They can help to increase the company's website ranking in the search engines. They can perform many duties including direct sales and sales calls. There are many options for promotion like ezines and newsletters, do social networking and email campaigns. The experts at Moving Ahead Communications can devise a plan for any business and any form of marketing campaign.
By outsourcing vital tasks to Virtual Assistants, businesses can delegate non core operations to experts that exist outside of the business. Moving Ahead Communications is breaking ground in providing businesses of any size a one stop shop for outsourcing through Virtual Assistants. From administrative duties, press releases, copywriting and marketing, to web content, auto responders and other tasks, Moving Ahead Communications meets the needs of businesses where it counts and they allow those businesses to utilize outsourcing and Virtual Assistants through three primary areas of business, research, product creation and sales and marketing, thus cutting costs and increasing efficiency and production.
West at Home releases environmental impact statistics for telecommuters
Admittedly, it's self-serving, but at the same time, frighteningly clear - West at Home employs several thousand work at home call center agents. And they're really helping the envirnment. According to Fox Business News, West's home-based employees prevented an estimated 17,000 metric tons of air pollution from reaching the earth's atmosphere in 2007. West at Home agents also reduced gasoline consumption by more than 2 million gallons and saved approximately $22.9 million in commuting expenses.
When you think about the thousands of people NOT telecommuting, it's a scary thought. Telecommuting drastically reduces our carbon footprint. And it makes a lot of people happier. And it saves gas...
I would love to see more statistics like this from other homeshoring companies.
Hiring a Virtual Assistant - the work, the need, and the business
Hiring a virtual assistant is fast becoming a need for the busy entrepreneur, small business owner and person on the run. With the advent of new technologies and ways of doing business, the VA is here to help you on your way.
Virtual assistants are independent entrepreneurs who work remotely and use technology to deliver services to clients globally. Most work from their home offices and receive their project instructions by phone, fax, e-mail or even instant message. Many virtual assistants offer secretarial services, marketing, graphic and Web design, IT support or even translations are becoming more common.
Clients are most likely to hire virtual assistants to save money. Virtual assistants pay for their own equipment, taxes, training, healthcare and insurance. Industries most often hiring virtual assistants include the real estate, insurance, financial services, accounting, legal, engineering and large corporations as well as small business owners to reduce financial constraints while building a business.
Clients benefit from:
* No Overhead
* Minimal investment
* No long term commitment
* No multiple vendors
* No hidden costs
* No hiring and payroll headaches
Working virtually is especially powerful for many reasons:
Giving work to a Virtual Assistant gives back time and space for an abundance of other things, which may include:
* Growing a business
* Doing just the work you love
* Spending more time with family and friends
* More balance in life
Virtual Assistants will manage all the services that your business requires. Some of the more common services offered are:
* Business and Personal Services
- Word Processing
- Photography
- Desktop Publishing
- Ad Campaign Management
- Personal Assistance - errands, scheduling, reminders
- Database Management
- Corporate and Personal Travel Services
- Corporate Event and Party Planning
- Copywriting - News articles, blog, press releases
- Promotion Products search
- PowerPoint Presentations
- PDF Conversions
- Consulting - Home Based Business
* Design and Site Marketing
- Link Building Campaigns
- URL submissions
- News Articles/Blogs
- Web Design and Marketing
- Website Page Content
- Commercial Photography Services
- Photo Enhancing and animation
* Other Services
- Mapping Services - Digitizing, GIS (Geographical
- Information Systems) and AutoCad
Work at Home Reservations Agents - a Growing Trend
How many times have you wished that there was a work at home opportunity for an entry-level office job applicant? Do you daydream about the time you would save each day if you didn't have to make that commute to work? Do you wish you didn’t have to dress up to attend that lame morning “pep talk” during your first cup of coffee?
You’re in luck – the times are changing. Many men and women across the country have changed career paths – and their lives, by cashing in on the latest trend in the travel and tourism industry – homeshoring. For reservation agents that work-at-home, the commute is simply moving from one room to another to start their day. It’s happening on a regular basis in the time (and sometimes cash) strapped travel and tourism industry, and most of these companies provide local training before their employees take their virtual jobs home.
Companies that hire homeshoring workers in these industries provide a full course of paid training. If you're looking for a work-at-home opportunity, and have a home office complete with computer, Internet connection, and a second phone line, then you may be able to find employment as a reservation agent with airlines such as Jet Blue, American Airlines, Continental Airlines, or hotel chains such as Outrigger Hotels, Marriot Global Reservations, or Fairmont Hotels and Resorts.
JetBlue’s virtual opportunities set the homeshoring trend.
Jet Blue, who started their work-at-home program during the company's infancy, quickly saw a 25% increase in productivity once employees were allowed to work from home. It is for this reason the company continues to hire work-at-home reservation agents today and why so many other companies are following their example.
In an effort to control the costs of operating traditional call centers, many US-based companies have created programs that allow employees to work-at-home instead. As a result, fewer jobs are being outsourced to countries like India and Mexico. Because most US customers would rather speak to someone whose native language is English, these companies feel they are providing better customer service in addition to providing jobs to those in the US. It’s also easier for them to schedule people during peak hours when the weather’s bad – an essential component for an industry whose reputation is at stake during the holiday season.
Currently, there are about 112,000 people working from home as customer service representatives (reservation agents, telesales, insurance agents, etc.). By 2010, this number is expected to increase to about 330,000.
Jet Blue Airlines is a success story because the company has always relied on work-at-home employees to help Jet Blue customers book reservations and answer their questions or complaints about flights and airline policies. Based in Salt Lake City, Utah, Jet Blue Airlines employs over 1,200 reservation agents who work locally.
In fact, many of the companies who hire people to work from home expect them to work locally so they can be contacted quickly to work extra shifts or to cover shift changes. Some companies even provide additional space in their home offices for employees to complete their shift if employees are having technical difficulties with home office equipment.
Looking for an opportunity as a virtual reservation agent?
To become a virtual agent, you may need to have prior customer service experience or you may receive on-the-job training in a nearby facility. Depending on the company, you may have the option to work part-time or full-time, you may have to work weekends and holidays, and you may be asked to cover additional shifts when necessary.
When researching possible virtual opportunities, finding companies that are within driving distance is important because many companies require that you be able to commute for on-site training. Paid training is usually provided. Keep in mind that you may be responsible for finding your own health benefits, however, as some companies do not provide health coverage for those who work from home.
Job duties vary based on the services provided by the company, but for many virtual reservation agent opportunities, you should be able to research flights, hotel room availability, make recommendations to customers about travel, quote accurate prices, input reservation data, send verifications, and answer most questions or address complaints that customers have.
The income level you can earn for most of these virtual opportunities will vary based on company criteria. Most jobs start between $7.50-$10.00 with salary differentials given on weekends and holidays. All paid employees reap the benefits of the travel industry, such as free and discounted travel, as well as qualify for standard benefits after a certain probationary period.
Although salaries tend to be on the lower end of the spectrum, home based reservations agents save, on average, up to $4000.00 on their commuting expenses alone. Not sure you can take a salary cut? Add up the cost savings of wardrobe, daycare, and eating out for lunch – and you’ll see there’s a lot more take home pay in the home-based reservation agent model. And don’t forget that you can often write off your job-related expenses in your taxes.
In the end, most employees find working from home, especially in a job that can be stressful at times, allows them to remain focused, relaxed, and gives them more time to spend with family or to pursue other interests.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Telecommuting is good for people & the places they work
A recent (late 2007) study published in the Journal of Applied Psychology that shows clear facts about the benefits of telecommuting. Pennsylvania State University conducted an extensive review of 46 studies on the subject featuring 12,883 employees.
They found that telecommuting helps staff and employers in the following ways:
1. Telecommuters feel more in control of their time and environment.
2. Increased work-life balance that allos more time for family roles.
3. Better supervisor-staff relationships. This one may be surprising to some - Supervisors who have less opportunity may contact them more and have longer and better quality conversations. Staff that works from home may also seek the supervisor out to update him or her regularly.
4. Less stress and more job satisfaction. Nixing the commute and ditching the culture and politics of the regular office world makes workers happier.
5. Increased loyalty and employee retention. Being happier makes employees more loyal.
6. Increased productivity. Because employees are more loyal, they want to do a good job.
Read more about the study on telecommuting here.
MetLife sends their Indianapolis call center home
A new trend seems to be following call center closings - the call center closes, but the employees keep their jobs. MetLife, of Indianapolis, IN has closed the call center to save money. However, the are converting their call center jobs to virtual call center jobs. Which means, in the future, they will be hiring more people to work from home.
Cool, huh? You can read more about it in the IndyStar.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Is Work at Home Agent a Scam? (i.e. west at home)
Somebody emailed me about West at Home today, asking if it is a legitimate opportunity. Yes, it is just that - an opportunity. West hires independent contractors, not employees. West at Home Agents are paid per minute of talk time - some people are comfortable with that, while others aren't - if you're squeamish about a part time income, paid by the minute, then West may not be the opportunity for you.
Here's a bit of the information we've profiled on West from the Little White Ebook of Homeshoring Jobs:
West at Home / Work at Home Agent / West TeleServices
Scheduling: Depending on client projects that you work - some people work up to 100 hours a week. Available shifts are posted by West. It is up to the contractor to monitor the schedule and pick up hours they want to work.
Training/Experience: Training is unpaid and provided for every client project you work on.
Compensation: Pay rate is usually in "talk time", which means by the minute. The per minute rate can range from .17c to .30c a minute. A Full Time (30-40hr) contractor could expect to make $200-500 a week depending on call volume. West At Home employees are paid on a biweekly basis and Direct Deposit and/or Pay Card options are available immediately
Employment Page: http://apply.westathome.com/
Main Page: http://www.westathome.com
Yahoo Group for Agents: http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/WestWorkAtHomeAgents/
WAHM Forum for West: http://www.wahm.com/forum/forum_topics.asp?FID=84
Homeshoring Company Hiring in Raleigh, North Carolina
We just came across a call center that's based in North Carolina, and currently hiring.
RTI International plans to double the size of its Raleigh Call Center, adding nearly 600 employees.
Expanding the call center is necessary to handle interviewing requirements for the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS), which RTI is conducting for the U.S. Department of Education. The NPSAS work will entail more than 200,000 hours of interviewing and tracing over a six-month period.
The call center will contract about 600 additional temporary workers to fill all the additional interviewing seats, including 100 remote interviewers working from home via RTI's Virtual Call Center infrastructure.
"The call center's growth will give RTI extra capacity for taking on additional large interviewing projects in the future," Richard Heman-Ackah, RTI's director of Call Center Services.
If you're interested in applying with this company, visit Green Resources and scroll down to "Telephone Interviewers Click Here".
Work at Home and Easy Money Scams
We've set our Google alerts to send us daily information on working from home. Mostly, this floods our inbox with junk. Which is really not cool, but comes with the territory. I tend to burn the midnight oil when doing work for LittleWhiteEbook, so usually, around the time the clock strikes midnight, my inbox starts to flood.
"Make 5000 a week working from home"... "Work from home for just five minutes a day!" - these are the typical ads that get delivered to me. Mostly, the claims of easy money come with an earnings disclaimer - saying basically, if you're not smart/a hard worker/ dedicated, they can't guarantee you'll make anything. That's in the very find print at the bottom of a sales ad. That's so, if you buy their system, you'll feel bad/undedicated/or basically like a failure. (And they're betting on this so that you don't ask for a refund.)
Is there a such thing as easy money? Really?
Here's my take on it.
I live near the DMV here in Washington DC, and in the summer, a lot of men and women go up to the Giant grocery store, buy a cold 24 pack of water, and stake out a spot on a median strip. This is usually when they go sell it in the 90-some degree weather. Technically, you could call that easy money. But you still have to weather the heat and deal with the police if you don't have a vendor's license. The need is immediate, though, so these minipreneurs make some quick, easy cash, and then go home. They pay about 5.00 for each crate of water and then sell the water at two bucks a pop.
On the web, however, people take their time making decisions. Nobody will buy from you simply on request. You can't get website traffic without some sort of effort - either time or money. And in the end, you still have to offer something of value.
Nobody is going to pay you $5000.00 a week to "type simple ads". If they did, I would be typing for them right now instead of typing this blog. And so would the guys who write those sales letters. Trust me on this. Usually, these kinds of scams are Adwords and Adsense-related "systems" - but they don't tell you that until you've paid them some big bucks. Suddenly, that "work from home job" has become an Adwords "scheme".
There's no such thing as "easy money" - there's always some sort of work involved. Easy money can be had sitting in place, selling water - but you still have to buy the water, find a spot, and weather the heat. You probably have to defend your territory on that, too.
You can set up an online store but you (or somebody) still has to work at getting you some traffic.
Work always comes before money. That's a good thing to remember when you're searching for legitimate jobs online.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Psst... The Little White Ebook of Virtual Assistant / Admin Jobs
First of all, if you want to get an EXCLUSIVE great deal on BOTH The Little White Ebook of Homeshoring Jobs and The Little White Ebook of Virtual Admin Jobs in the next week, jump on our email list now.
If you are a member of the media or a blogger, and would like to review either ebook, email melissa at littlewhiteebook.com
And if you just want to see the super-secret sneak preview, with over 70 employers that hire work from home administrative professionals, download it below. You're the first to set eyes on it - and we're doing the final edit as I type this.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Free Virtual Career Training & Support for Military Spouses
There are a couple of great companies out there that provide support, services, and career matching for military spouses that want to work from home. While they primarily focus on helping miltary spouses learn to start their own virtual enterprises, the training they give is worth hundreds of dollars, and the support they give is priceless with their online communities.
VSS CyberOffice
Military Spouse Virtual Assistants
Home Base USA
We applaud these companies - please let us know if you hear of any more like them!
Monday, February 11, 2008
Little White Ebook Update - it's HUGE
The Little White Ebook of Homeshoring Jobs is now a HUGE 243 pages. And we've learned the alphabet as well, so all of the companies are in order :-) We've also moved the Canadian-only companies to a new section and created a section for companies that give preference to vets, military spouses, and persons with disabilities.
There are now 198 businesses listed in the Little White Ebook, and some major players are currently hiring - including Convergys and Alpine Access. Many of the companies tagged in red as "NEW" currently have openings so if you're still job-hunting, you may want to jump right to those pages.
Just a few names we've added to the Little White Ebook this update are: Dow Jones, Alaska Airlines, AccountNow, Ascend One, Esurance, and Hilton Reservations.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
First Call Marketing - a Scam?
Maybe not a scam - but a trick. The job is "making outbound calls to consumers interested in business opportunities." Be wary! There is no website for them, and they are based in Overland Park, Kansas... Just like NHCD...And Global Homesourcing.... Who we revealed as a scam here.
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Work at home scam reviewers wanted
Work at home scam? Or work at home opportunity?
If you're arriving at this blog to investigate an online company that claims you can make money from home, and you're interested in finding out if it's a scam - well, we can't afford to buy the product for you. And we're kinda busy with our own stuff....
But our friends at I've Tried That have a great offer for those that don't want to fork over any hard earned cash... They're offering to take up the cost in exchange for an honest review. And if it turns out that the company in question is NOT a scam, you can pay them back cuz you're making money.
See the post on investigating business opportunity scams here.
Monday, February 4, 2008
GlobalHomeshoring.com - scam?
We haven't added them to the book yet, but we wanted to let everyone know that this company has complaints from ex-employees as far away as India and as close to home as Kansas. It's actually a front for the National Health Care Discounts - which is pretty much a company that recruits people to sell "health discount plans". And they have a really lousy reputation on RipOff Report - including complaints about not getting paid and running off with people's money.
HomesourcingOffshoring clinical trials - welcome to 2008
It almost seems like an ethical nightmare when companies are considering offshoring so many vitally American business processes, such as when the Orlando Sentinel wanted to send our journalism overseas.
What about offshoring clinical trials? I am sure that there are many ethics involved in that one. I'm not a doctor, I'll admit, but I did once work in a company that marketed clinical research trials to American doctors. I signed a confidentiality on that one, but from my short-lived perspective, many pharmaceutical companies were, well, desperate to get doctors to test their products on patients. It wasn't pretty and I was relieved when that temporary assignment was over.
Does this scare anybody else? 10% of the trials listed at Clinicaltrials.org, out of the 50,000 of clinical trials currently underway - are being tried outside North America, typically in western Europe and Japan. On top of that, ClinicalTrials.org is the website that our government uses to do clinical testing. Creepy, anyone? There's a really long article about the trend of companies like GlaxoSmithKline transfer of clinical trials overseas at the Financial Times, but you have to register to get access to it. It's interesting to note that some big corporations don't see it as a problem - in fact, they may even see it as a solution to the prying eyes of the FDA and the regulations that slow down the drug approval process... Which they view as an unnecessary evil...
Telecommuting in the state of Washington
There's an interesting blog entry with some responses from people that telecommute in North Kitsap, Washington. One of the respondants works from home for Alaska Airlines as a reservations specialist. Her name's Mary Crawford. She sings the benefits of working from home: reclaiming four hours of her day by not commuting, saving money on gas, and getting sleep back. Another woman works from home as a medical transcriptionist and names a few local companies that employ telecommuters. Apparently, there's a bill out in Seattle supporting a new telecommuting initiative. And a lot of local employers over there see the benefits already. Read the whole article on telecommuting in Washington State over here.
Homeshoring is the outsourcing of American Jobs, to Americans (or whatever country you live in)
In America right now, we're facing economic fears and the looming idea of a recession.
There's been a lot of talk about the outsourcing of American jobs by the media and the political world. When candidates talk about outsourcing, they are typically referring to offshoring, but not the outsourcing industry that employs Americans. How come there hasn't been any talk of homesourcing?
It's a legitimate question. We're thinking it could be sheer ignorance... Homeshoring seems to be talked about more on the web, mostly in terms of the capabilities of VOIP technology and social media. Homeshoring companies use forums, chat rooms, webinars, and some other "fancy" stuff to connect their employees to a job online.
If you think about it, it's really amazing and hard to imagine that this could be the future of call centers. It's a fantastic solution for turnover rates in the customer service industry - something that brings consumers to spend more money. Customer service workers that don't have to succumb to the strange dynamics of a call center are a lot less grumpy. If you've ever worked for a traditional call center, you'll know what I'm talking about.
I worked at a call center when I was 20 years old, in one of those "get in a line" cubicles, where you shared headsets with an anonymous night crew member. We had to have log out of our computers on timed bathroom breaks. We were monitored all the time. We got yelled at by people on the phone all day, and we did the best we could to fix their problems - or sell them something. And our company meetings? They handed out prizes --- which was pretty much the best part of the job. We were eligible for raffles if we bothered to show up for the monthly team meeting. People quit all the time, and moved on to another company that we heard didn't "suck as bad". Customer service is a stressful industry. (And for a while, I took 240+ calls a day, and won a prize for it... A piece of paper with my name... 5+ ratings... Whoo-hoo!)
The actual setup of a call center is demeaning, at least depending on the pay. No offense to the customer service industry - but sometimes you feel like a caged animal in a mill. I always had a cold or the flu, just like my coworkers due to the shared headsets. There was always leftover coffee in the breakroom from some other shift. (You'd forget that it had been sitting there for 8 hours.) The call center crew was an interesting mix of people - we all had different reasons for working there. For the younger ones of us, the pay was good. But the truth was that a lot of people had kids, and child support, and few skills...or someone in their family they had to care for. Some people were alcoholics. Some people had to go to school at night and work all day. We even had a few people that were in the US on school visas to learn IT skills - and take them home to Pakistan.
We all stayed because we needed the money. Many of us were miserable at work. And misery spread easily when raises were halted (yup, telecom industry recession) and work reviews meant nothing. We complained a lot to eachother in the bathrooms. We provided lousy service sometimes. I knew somebody who pretended that I was the supervisor so we didn't have to escalate calls and possibly get in trouble. We had a system to know if we were being monitored and we got away with a lot more. We were all also busy writing our resumes and praying to work for these new internet companies - AOL was hiring smart people who were stuck in cruddy jobs and paying a lot more money. Northern Virginia was booming with jobs that people had never heard of - "forum managers" and and some of us had skills enough to pursue them. The web industry was booming.
Well, now it seems the telecom industry has caught up with the internet. They have their own technology to improve relationships with customers and make more money for corporate America. They're employing people who need jobs -- and learning how to treat them well. Sure, the pay itsn't the greatest, but the rewards are sound. Telecommuting give people more time with their families, reduces CO2 emissions, and improves employee loyalty. Many people that work for companies like Alpine Access and LiveOps sing their praises. (And yes, others have some valid complaints...Such as the instability of getting paid per call, rather than per hour.)
Homeshoring is a real economic trend that our Presidential candidates should be embracing -- and creating ways to encourage. If larger companies continue to follow the trend, it will actually help our environment, help moms and dads spend time with their families, and give caregivers and the disabled some added relief. It keeps jobs in the US and puts money in people's pockets that don't always have the ability to make money.
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