The View From My Office

What do you need to get started working from home? Part 3

Let's talk phones and headsets. There are a lot of choices these days when it comes to your phone carrier. Digital, analog, VOIP, cable, etc. Your choice in phone service can impact which companies you can perform services for. Choose wisely.

Many work at home call center positions will require a dedicated landline free of any additional services such as call-waiting. Now before you start thinking you need to install a whole new phone line, think about your options. If you currently have a landline, you might be able to have that number assigned to your cell phone or an IP phone service such as Vonage and just establish a new phone number on your currently installed line. This will most likely be the economical solution. Also, when obtaining a new phone line, think hard about what you say to the phone company. Using the words 'business line' will cost more. Trust me on this.

You will need a good headset. There are a number of different headsets available. I prefer a cordless headset which allows me to walk throughout my home without missing a call. Think carefully about your phone usage when making your selection. Be sure to choose a noise-canceling headset. I am partial to Plantronics.

What do you need to get started working from home? Part 2

You've made the decision to work from home. You might be working as an employee, and independent contractor, or you might be self-employed. In any event there are certain things you should have in place to ensure success.

In an ideal world, you will have a home office. We all know we don't exist in an ideal world. If we did, I would have won the lottery last weekend and be on my way to Key West. So let's be realistic. You need a space to work. Hopefully this can be some sort of permanent space so you aren't setting up and cleaning up each day. I know some people who work in a walk-in closet. Do what you can to make this happen. If you can stay out of your kitchen, your waist line and family will thank you.

Background noise can literally be a career killer. Barking dogs, meowing cats, and crying children scream un-professionalism. Along the same vein, police sirens and school buses aren't much help. Think about the location of your work space and the ambient noise. Also have a contingency plan. The company I work for allows dogs in the office (pretty awesome company). As such, I am always ready to explain we have a dog-friendly workplace if either of my pups should happen to bark while I am working form home.

Your choice in phone is extremely important. Even if you are doing transcription or bookkeeping, there is a good chance you will have to speak with people via phone. Think this through. You are on the phone, speaking with a customer, typing information into the computer. How many hands do you have free? Um, none. You need a headset and a phone which is compatible. Not only that, you need to make sure that headset is comfortable because you might be wearing it for 8 hours a day.

Ok - that's a few things to think about. Tomorrow I will give you some headset recommendations.

Free Website Builder for non-technical people

DevHub is a free website builder, hosting, publishing platform and content editor. It is quick and easy and anyone can do it. DevHub even provides free hosting. You can literally have a website up and running in less than 10 minutes.

DevHub provides an initial 10 free websites to each user. As you develop your sites, adding content and pages, move free websites will become available to you. Most of the content sections are monetized. Building websites is done easily by dragging and dropping various modules onto the page.

Check it out. With a very small time investment, you could be making some extra money each month.

Work from home opportunities

Over the next few days I will be posting links to companies which are believed to hire home-based workers.

Disclaimer: It is important to note I cannot vouch for these companies. It is not possible for me to check out each potential opportunity. Do your due dilligence before signing up for any program.

O'Currance Teleservices, www.ocurrance.com (Utah)
onpoint@home – www.onpointathome.com
RepsForRent, www.repsforrent.com
Secure Call Management, www.sciathome.com
Service 800, www.service800.com
Sterling Testing Systems, www.Sterlingtesting.com
Support Freaks, www.supportfreaks.com
Teletech - https://teletech.com
Thor, www.thor24.com
Time Communications, www.timecommunication.com (St Paul, MN)
Unlimited Conferencing, www.unlimitedconferencing.com
Ver-A-Fast Corporation, www.Verafast.com
VIPdesk, www.Vipdesk.com
VoiceLog, www.Voicelog.com
West at Home, www.Workathomeagents.com
Willow, www.Willowcsn.com
Working Solutions, www.Workingsol.com
XAct Telesolutions, www.Xactservices.com

Companies Hiring Home Workers

Over the next few days I will be posting links to companies which are believed to hire home-based workers.

Disclaimer: It is important to note I cannot vouch for these companies. It is not possible for me to check out each potential opportunity. Do your due dilligence before signing up for any program.

1-800-flowers.com - http://ww4.1800flowers.com/template.do?id=template8&page=9000#18
Accolade Support, www.accoladesupport.com/openings.html
ACD Direct, www.ACDdirect.com
Admission Consultants, www.admissionsconsultants.com
Alpine Access, www.AlpineAccess.com (Arizona, Colorado, Texas & Utah)
American Airlines, www.aa.com
Aquaricon - www.aquaricon.com
Arise - www.arise.com
ARO, www.callcenteroptions.com
ASI - http://www.employmentfromhome.net/
Baby to Bee, www.Babytobee.com (send resume to deena@babytobee.com) *Babytobee does not list thier employment opportunities on their website, but regularly recruits via classifed advertising* Just send them an email if you are interested.
Beyond Marketing Online, www.Beyondmarketingonline.com
BRG Research Services, www.brgathome.com/applyhome1.php
CCI – www.ccicompany.us/career1.aspx

Companies who hire home workers

Over the next few days I will be posting links to companies which are believed to hire home-based workers.

Disclaimer: It is important to note I cannot vouch for these companies. It is not possible for me to check out each potential opportunity. Do your due dilligence before signing up for any program.

Citrix, www.citrix.com
Cloud 10, www.cloud10.com
Connect2Agent, www.Connect2Agent.com
Convergys - http://www.convergysagentanywhere.com/convergys/HAP/HomeAgent.nsf/FAQ?OpenForm
Connect Plus, LLC, www.Connect-dataplus.com
Customer Loyalty Concepts, www.customloyal.com
eCallogy, www.ecallogy.com (Utah Only!)
ESM www.education-sales.net (Colorado Only)
Fonemed – www.fonemed.com - Registered Nurses only
GE - www.gecallcentercareers.com
Greene TeleServices (WA, DC only) www.gteleservices.com
Home Shopping Network - www.hsn.com/corp/jobs/default.aspx?pid=job&jn=006624
JetBlue Airways, www.jetblue.com (Utah )
LiveOps, www.liveops.com
MicahTek, Inc – www.MicahTek.com/jobs.html

Companies Hiring Home-based Workers

Over the next few days I will be posting links to companies which are believed to hire home-based workers.

Disclaimer: It is important to note I cannot vouch for these companies. It is not possible for me to check out each potential opportunity. Do your due dilligence before signing up for any program.

About www.About.com
Elance - www.elance.com
Just Answer - www.justanswer.com/expert.aspx
Kasamba Expert Advice www.Kasamba.com
Remote Work Management: http://www.remote-work.com/fx.remotework/scheme/default.aspx
SaveFinder - www.savefinder.com
LiveWork - www.LiveWork.com
ODesk - www.Odesk.com

 

Work at home scam

A few weeks ago, a friend called to tell me about a great opportunity making $50 an hour posting auction ads. I did not need to do any research, I already knew this was a scam. The hard part was explaining to my friend how I knew and what steps she should take in the future before falling for another scam.

It is challenging to find legitimate opportunities and in this economy the scams outweigh the honest work. You can do some research just by plugging the company name into a search engine. Unfortunately you might not get enough information without doing hours of reading and research.

One of the ways to do a quick legitimacy check is to search one of the many work at home forums. WorkPlaceLikeHome.com and RatRaceRebellion.com are just two of many. Look for forums with a lot of recent activity and many members. Do a search on the name of the opportunity before posting questions in the forum. Most likely others have already posted about it.

There are great work from home companies, you just have to be willing to do the work and research to find the right one for you.

Work from Home Employee or Independent Contractor

One of the tough decisions facing a person seeking a work from home job is the employee vs. independent contractor decision. Your employer might have made this decision for you long before you decided to work for them.  However it is important for you to be very aware of the good and the bad of both.

At my current position I started as a contractor and eventually transitioned to an employee. I'm fairly confident both my employer and myself would have preferred I stay a contractor forever but unfortunately the laws of the state I am employed in make that a challenge.

Why would I prefer to remain a contractor and fore go the benefits associated with employment? I truly enjoyed knowing I was in charge of my destiny and as a contractor had a lot more control over when and where I worked. Benefits were of little interest to me and the biggest downside to my contractor status was the lack of paid time off.

The tax considerations for an independent contractor are extensive and way beyond my ability to address here. What I can say is it is exceptionally vital to understand the implications and consult with appropriate accountants and or attorneys to be sure you are complying with the law and taking advantage of the tax deductions available to you.

New Work from Home Opportunity

If you are looking for a solid legitimate work at home opportunity, it would be worth your time to check out LiveWork. Developed by the same people behind LiveOps, LiveWork offers opportunities beyond the call center work LiveOps focuses on.  

People looking for work can create a profile and apply for various work available on the site. Businesses can post available work and can scan profiles of workers. This is a great way to dip your toe into self-employment if you are unsure you are ready to make a full-time commitment.