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Phone Interview Tips for Work at Home Jobs

December 14, 2010 By Jen Leave a Comment

dreamstimefree 982540 Phone Interview Tips for Work at Home Jobs

Last week we discussed Egg Hunting While Working Online from Home, so it is only logical to go to the next step if your applications are successful: the phone interview.

Whether you are you are a work at home agent looking to become and employee, an independent contractor, or freelancer; there is a chance that you will at some point need to do a phone interview.

Many of the same concepts of doing an in person interview apply to doing a phone interview. I recently did a phone interview for an independent contractor position, so I compiled a list of tips that helped me:

  1. Be prompt. Your interview likely has a busy schedule and quite a few interviews to do; being prompt will start you on the right foot.
  2. If you have call waiting turn it off! My business line has no features, and if you are interviewing for call center work it is a must to have plain old telephone service (POTS) with no features on your line.
  3. Do not eat or drink during your interview. You can imagine how bad it sounds to be talking to someone who is chewing throughout a telephone conversation  (this includes gum!). Although you should keep a glass or bottle of water on hand in case your throat gets a little dry.
  4. If you have children, make sure you schedule your interview during school hours (if they are school aged, and not homeschooling), or enlist the help of a friend, relative, or babysitter (if they are younger or being homeschooled).


  5. Smile. It is true, a smile does project over the telephone, and it will give your interviewer a positive image of you. This is essential if you are interviewing for any call center position for customer service or sales.
  6. Use the person’s title (Mr., Mrs., Ms. etc.). This shows respect. You should only use their first name if they ask you to.
  7. Always use appropriate language and grammar. Just don’t over think it, you should sound natural and not mechanical, and you will want to be thinking of your answers not whether or not you are ending on a proposition. And under no circumstances should you use profanity, this is never appropriate!
  8. If your interviewer is late, remain polite. This has happened to me before, but you must remember that the interviewer has a busy schedule with many interviews to conduct. So be understanding if they are late.

When interviewing for any work at home position, the interviewer will likely ask you quiet a few questions about your home office setup; be honest with your answers. The questions may range from whether you have a home office that is has a closing door and is free from distractions, to what operating system you have on your computer.

Many work at home companies and freelance projects have a list of home office requirements and work requirements listed on their site or project listing. Do your homework before doing your interview.

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Why Direct Sales Marketing is Making a Comeback

November 2, 2010 By Jen 1 Comment

dreamstimefree 1242636 Why Direct Sales Marketing is Making a Comeback

In the old days of direct sales marketing, you used to have to network and sell with people that you knew or strangers that were local to you. The internet has changed all of that.

Now it is easier than ever to make your own website, use Facebook, and Twitter to up your direct sales marketing efforts. It is the perfect way to generate more business than was previously possible!

The Internet, Wave of the Direct Marketing Revolution

Think about it, the internet is open 24 hours a day and it allows you to do business the world over! Very exciting for anyone doing direct sales marketing!

Direct sales companies like Avon even help you set up your own website as an eRepresentative! Direct sales companies that do not offer the option to help you set up your own site will probably be okay with you setting up your own website, just be sure to contact someone from your upline to make sure.

Direct Sales Marketing and Online Parties

Most experienced direct sales agents will tell you that the most success that they have is through sales parties. For many direct sales companies will advise you to do this.

But you wanted a home based internet business opportunity! You didn’t want to be going out to stranger’s houses showing them products that they might not buy. Again with the internet this has changed! Now you can get your own secure chat room and host your own online direct sales parties!

You can guide your guest to your website and show them products, and there are plenty of online party games to play as well (such as a scavenger hunt on your website or a product word scramble game).

Direct Sales Marketing for a Good Cause

Direct sales companies such as Avon and their support of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, Mary Kay’s commitment to ending domestic violence, and Tupperware’s support of the Boy’s and Girl’s Club (both of America and Canada) are a just a few of the good causes that you can reach out and support with your direct sales marketing efforts.

You may not be aware that your fellow representatives are not getting the word out about a certain aspect of your business (such as charitable donations).  And with all of the tools mentioned above it makes it easier for you to get the word out and make some sales for a good cause as well. And doesn’t it feel great to be able to make some money and to support a good cause!

Resources for Direct Sales:

http://theworkathomeagent.net/the-big-list-of-work-at-home-companies/direct-sales-jobs/

http://dsa.org/

http://www.directsalesparty.com/index.html

http://www.ehow.com/how_2130833_have-online-direct-sales-party.html

http://www.mydswa.org/

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Call Center Confidential

October 22, 2010 By Jen Leave a Comment

Call Center Confidential

dreamstimefree 631845 199x300 Call Center Confidential

Call center companies represent the most successful enterprise for stay at home jobs. There are call center companies hiring telecommuters everyday. The positions range from sales support (people who are ordering a product from a catalog, a website, or a brochure) to a technical support (a customer who needs help setting up a router or has computer issues).

The Right Start to Finding Legit Work From Home

If you are not yet a work at home agent and you want to get legit work from home, having a call center job can be a step in the right direction. I had very little work at home experience when I started posting my application at various call center companies. I was contracted within a month of applying (from the time I applied until I got contracted I was taking tests with them and getting incorporated).

Apply Yourself!

The hardest part of landing stay at home jobs is the application process. Sure it’s hard to find legit work from home, but once you have found it and applied it can take a long time to hear back (if you hear back at all!). Call center companies are inundated every day with applications. Which is where my next piece of advice comes in: apply, apply, apply! Do not put all of your eggs in one basket! I don’t say this to discourage you, I believe that those who want to will be able to eventually find stay at home jobs. So don’t be discouraged! I am just saying that you should diversify your application portfolio.

Call Center Company Employee vs. Independent Contractor


All call center companies are different, some hire only employees from certain states others only contract with independent contractors. As a work from home mom I prefer to work for call center companies as an independent contractor, even though most call center companies offer benefits to full time employees. Being an independent contractor generally means more flexibility in your schedule. This can also present risks for getting less hours of work than what you need.

Call Center Companies: Not All Phone and Games

Okay that was a terrible pun. A few call center companies hire for non-phone jobs, such as data entry work from home and chat operators (not all chat jobs are in the adult industry!). Speaking from experience, chat jobs can be difficult. You can be in the middle of three or four conversations each with a different problem that they need a solution to and each with a time limit. Customers can get pretty impatient when you aren’t on the phone with them explaining that you are looking for the solution to there problem or the product that they are looking for.

Explore Your Options

There are many call center companies out there that hire on a fairly regular basis. As stated before you should apply and keep on applying until you get something. If you land a position as an independent contractor you might need to get one or two stay at home jobs to get a steady flow of work and income.

Or…

Maybe you thought that you would like being an independent contractor, but you start realizing that the benefits of being an employee are more important. Or a certain call center company is offering a better client base to work with.
Do not be discouraged in your pursuit to becoming a work at home agent! It is something that requires perseverance and patience.

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Using Craigslist to Find Work From Home Careers

October 5, 2010 By Jen 1 Comment

As more and more people are going online to find work from home careers and with the increasing popularity of Craigslist, it only makes sense to search Craigslist for work from home careers!
But Craigslist is known for scams, and work from home careers can be hard to search for; which is why I love this video from Mr. Humble!

How To Use Craigslist Effectively! from Mr Humble on Vimeo.

Helpful links to go with this video:

Crazed List

Firefox

Google Reader

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What You Need To Know About Being a Virtual Office Assistant

September 27, 2010 By Jen 1 Comment

dreamstimefree 952696 300x225 What You Need To Know About Being a Virtual Office Assistant

Virtual assistance is a booming industry. The virtual office assistant industry is known to have it’s beginnings back in 1995, meaning that the industry is still fairly young and there is plenty of opportunity for work from home careers to continue growing.

What is a Virtual Office Assistant?

Virtual office assistants are independent contractors that choose where they work (mostly from a home office, and many clients will prefer this for different security reasons), and typically will work for multiple clients. They perform tasks that can range from administrative, creative (such as writing), and technical (web design, IT support, etc). Virtual assistants use technology like phone, email, instant message, or fax to do their business.

The Cold Hard Truth About Being a Virtual Office Assistant

But before you give your boss two weeks notice to start your virtual office assistant firm you should be aware that it isn’t going to be a cake job. Many startup virtual office assistant firms are averaging working 14 – 18 hours a day. This job can call for odd hours of operation since most clients are in different time zones.
And most clients want to hire a virtual office assistant to save money (because most virtual assistants are independent contractors they pay their own taxes, pay for their own equipment, training, healthcare, etc.). In other words: don’t get into this expecting to get benefits; it is rare in this industry.

The Good News About Becoming a Virtual Office Assistant

You didn’t think I was going to leave you hanging with bad news did you? Anyway, like I said at the beginning of this post: Virtual assistance is a booming industry. There are several industries that commonly hire virtual assistants: real estate, financial services, accounting and legal. You may also find individuals (insurance agents website owners, graphic designers, etc.) that need assistance. The sky is the limit.
And the key to not letting your work become a drudgery? First do something that you know. You will be up all night panicking about taking that job with a law firm if you know nothing about the work that is involved. If you know what is needed to do real estate clerical work then you will have a much easier (and less stressful) time doing your job.
Second, do something you love. Let’s face it, you won’t always love your job, but if you love it 80% of the time it will make up for the other 20% of the time in the long run. If you love your work you won’t have nearly as much trouble sending out an email for the CPA down the road at 5 am or making that 8 pm call for your local insurance company.

Where to start:

  1. You need to decide what kind of services that you will be able to offer. What experience do you have?
  2. What kind of clients will you handle? Only financial services or only legal services?
  3. Think about how much time that you can commit to starting a virtual office assistant business. Do you want to do this part time (it might be ideal to join an existing firm) or full time (maybe you want to build your own virtual office assistant firm)?
  4. Are their potential clients in your local area (this mainly applies if you are starting your own firm and have sufficient time to devote to the client)? Maybe the real estate firm downtown needs someone to do clerical work for them.
  5. Research just how in demand your particular field of service is (how many lawyers are looking for your skill set?).
  6. Who is your ideal client? How would you let them know about your services?
  7. If you are planning on doing this full time know how much money that you will need to get your firm up and running. How much money will you need to run the business successfully?
  8. Write up a business plan. Go back to it every couple of months (more often initially) and revise where needed.
  9. Assess your business equipment: can your computer handle the tasks that your ideal client needs you to perform?
  10. Do you need a business license or other legal docs? Get this in order before getting your first client. While you’re at it make sure you set up your business account at your bank if you are operating under a business name.
  11. And advertise. This doesn’t just mean writing a Yellow Pages ad or even a Google AdWords ad. Tell people what you are doing online and offline. You never know who you will meet that is looking for your services.

In the end you might want to join one of the professional organizations for virtual assistants like IVAA. You should also join a networking group of fellow virtual assistants. Being able to socialize and talk shop can have many benefits and help you brainstorm solutions to problems or questions that you might have along the way.

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Freelancing 101

September 17, 2010 By Jen 1 Comment

145976 mobile computing Freelancing 101

Looking for work from home careers can be tough work, sometimes it is as easy as thinking about what you are good at doing. Have you ever considered doing freelance work? Maybe you have a hobby or skill that has made you think to yourself, “what if I could get paid to do this all the time?” With the online revolution there has been a flood of opportunities for people to showcase their talents (and get paid to do it while working online from home!) as we have never seen before.

What is a Freelancer?

Freelancers are basically independent contractors with a particular set of skills that is usually professional in nature (graphic design, programming, writing, and even virtual assistance to a degree). They get to set their hourly rate and their own schedule.

What is Essential to Becoming a Freelancer?

First of all, make sure you really have the skills. There are many online skills assessment tests. As a matter of fact when you sign up for freelance marketplaces like oDesk, Livework, Guru, or vWorker; they have assessment tests that you can take to show that you have the chops for your chosen field.

The other biggest part of obtaining work as a freelancer is to have a good portfolio. Your portfolio should showcase recent work that you have done, and don’t be afraid to highlight work that you are especially proud of! What if you don’t have a portfolio yet? There is no time like the present to start building one! You can build your own website if you are freelancing as a graphic designer or programmer; you can start writing a blog if you are a writer. The idea is to get your work out there to be seen. And don’t be afraid to take a lower paying job to start so you can get some experience under your belt and on your resume.

How to Get an Interview as a Freelancer?

Okay, so by now we have established that you have the skills and the portfolio to back it up. Now how do you go about getting a paying project? For our purposes we will go to a freelance marketplace like the ones mentioned above: oDesk, Livework, Guru, and vWorker.

You will need to create a profile that isn’t vague about what you do or one that is filled with technical language. This is essential, especially if you are a programmer. A person looking to hire a programmer probably doesn’t know to much about programming to begin with, so you will want to highlight your portfolio so that they can see what you are talking about.

An important thing to realize is that most clients will not come looking for you in the online freelance marketplace. They will list their project and see who has applied for the project, so go out and apply.

If they like what they see in your profile they will likely contact you to setup and interview.

How to Interview as a Freelancer.

Once you have successfully managed to get an interview you will know what method with which the interview will be conducted. It will likely be over the phone, but there are some that will be conducted via email or instant messenger. Be sure to respond in a timely manner and to retain your professionalism.

Once your interview has been scheduled and you know what method will be used to conduct the interview be prepared; don’t schedule your interview for a time that you know that you will be busy or distracted. Give yourself at least an hour block of time so that you do not feel rushed. The nature of freelance work means that you will likely be working with clients in different time zones, so do try to be flexible.

And finally, make sure that you ask questions as well. Get detailed information on what the client is looking for; if they are looking for a writer make sure that you understand what you will be writing about, if they are looking for a graphic designer make sure that you understand exactly what they are looking to have designed. Do not take a job that pays well, but for which you are ill equipped. And be sure to clarify time line. If the client has a project that you can do, but they have a tight deadline that you will not be able to meet, ask if there is any flexibility. If not, do not take the job! Trust me, it is better to wait for something that you have the skills and times to get right! It will add good experience to your portfolio and rave reviews from satisfied clients. This will only increase work later on.

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Work From Home Careers – The Secret to Finding the Time to Get a Work From Home Career

September 10, 2010 By Jen 1 Comment

dreamstimefree 1033826 300x200 Work From Home Careers The Secret to Finding the Time to Get a Work From Home Career

Many people are looking to create work from home careers of their dreams, and many more are still working at a traditional job from 9-5. So how are you supposed to find the time to perform a work at home job search, either hunting down work at home leads or researching work at home companies, and still focus on the job that you do have?

The Best Trick in the Book for Time Management

And what is it? Creating rituals and schedules! I am talking about setting aside a block of time for yourself every day to do whatever task is going to get you closer to your goals. This could be researching work at home companies, following up on job leads, or even submitting applications!

You Don’t Have the Time You Say…

If you are in a real time crunch, like you have to rush out after work to pick up the kids from school and then rush home to make dinner every day, then you need to stop being so hard on yourself!

What do I mean by this? When we think about setting aside a block of time for an “extra curricular” activity, such as job searching when you have a job, you tend to think that this needs to be a solid 30 minute or hour block of time. Not so! Maybe you have an extra 15 minutes or so when you are getting our morning coffee, or a 10-minute reprieve before bedtime. There is no such thing as spending too little time on this! The point is that you do it, even if it is for only 15 minutes a day.

The Real Meaning of Time Management

Okay, so the final element that you must follow to truly obtain balance… When your time that you have set aside is up, it’s up! Shut down your computer, turn off your Smartphone, or whatever it is that you must do to truly unplug. This is crucial if you also have a family that you want to spend time with!

Think about it, if your son or daughter comes to your office while you are in the middle of making some real headway with your applications and you say “in a minute, Mommy is just about finished”, yet you never follow through… well that is going to make it harder for you to get some work time in the future because they know you do not mean it.

But if you set a timer, your child (or anyone else for that matter!) has measurable proof that you will hold true to your word and chances are they will give you the rest of the allotted time to finish your tasks.

Keeping a balanced life can be a challenge for anyone endeavoring to have work from home careers, but it is possible, and it will make for a more enriching life.

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Why Back to School is the Perfect Time to Start Work From Home Careers

August 20, 2010 By Jen Leave a Comment

82022707 8 Why Back to School is the Perfect Time to Start Work From Home Careers

Work From Home Careers are Perfect for Back to School

You have been home with your children throughout the summer taking the time to take them to places and to make the PB & J sandwiches throughout the summer. Now they are ready to go back to school and you suddenly have a lot of freed up time. What will you be doing with all of that free time on your hands?

You can always go back to work, but what about when your son or daughter comes home from school? Who will be there to take care of them, give them their after school snack, and to make sure that they start on their homework?

If the idea of having a stranger (anyone other than you) taking care of your child after school is not setting well with you, then now is the time to launch your work from home career!

Where to Start

Do you have previous working experience, but you have not had the time to flex those skills since you became a mommy? Then you should consider taking a class to sharpen your professional skills. There are many online classes (even some free ones!) that will grant you the flexibility to study during school hours and even research what type of job that you are aiming for. If you need more hands on learning techniques then register for a class at your local college.

When in Doubt Apply!

Even if you do not think that you have the necessary experience, or that your skills are too rusty, consider applying anyway! The worst that is going to happen is that they will say no. You would be surprised at how many people get started with their dream job (or a job needed to pay the bills) without “experience” just by applying. See my post on How to Become a Work at Home Agent with no Experience.

Independent Contractor vs. Employee

To be an independent contractor or employee, that is the question for many a work at home parent.

When you are an employee you will likely have an options for some form of benefits. You will also usually have some kind of set schedule.

When you are an independent contractor the only benefit that you get is more flexibility.

Weigh your options: which would be ideal for you and your family? In my personal situation my husband is a full time employee with health benefits and I want to be home with my daughter, so I usually go for independent contractor positions.

The best thing that you can do when you are considering starting your work at home career during the back to school season is to set your priorities. Setting your priorities will help you discover what your ideal job is, and from there you can setup up an action plan to obtain it.

pixel Why Back to School is the Perfect Time to Start Work From Home Careers

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