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Posts Tagged ‘Freelance Work’

For a stay at home mom finding the balance between earning an income and raising a family can be challenging and exhausting. This is where a virtual job can help you. If you are one of the millions of mothers who want to contribute to the family finances but do not want to give the raising of your children to childcare, then working in the virtual world can be a profitable solution to your dilemma. Home based positions in customer service, virtual assistants and telemarketers allow you to schedule your work time around your families activities.

What is Needed to Work from Home?

The requirements for working from home are quite simple when compared to outside work.

• You will need to be able to dedicate enough hours each day to complete the daily tasks that are required by the client.
• You may need to hire a babysitter or even consider daycare options so that you are not distracted during the set work hours.
• In many cases clients insist that you work in a quiet location without background noises in order for you to better serve their customers.
• You will need a computer with an Internet connection
• A dedicated phone line…not the one you use for family…one just for your business only.
• Other items might include a printer, fax machine, and or transcription equipment.

When applying for a virtual assistant position, ask what equipment the client requires. If the client is in your local area, they might require that you have on site training for a week to ten days in order to train on any special equipment and to learn the company’s customer service procedures.

What Types of Virtual Jobs Are Available?

Your job experiences and training will help you obtain a work at home position easier than you might think. Virtual secretarial jobs are best for those who have worked in a business setting, preferably business administration, typing, and other office skills. Your tasks will be much the same as if you are working directly at the company. Typing documents, transcription, monitoring emails, setting up meetings, event planning and maintaining the business calendar. Depending on the companies’ requirements you could also be asked to edit reports, create spreadsheets and/or update web pages.

You can start your own virtual assisting business or use one of the virtual assistant service available both online and off.

Customer Service Positions

In many cases work-from-home customer service positions require prior customer service experience. Excellent typing and data entry skills are necessary because you will be answering customer questions, taking reservations, and processing orders. Talking to customers easily and be able to problem solve quickly in order to maintain quality customer service are also necessary. If you enjoy helping others and are able to maintain a professional demeanor in any situation, this position may be for you.

Work At Home Telemarketing

Work At Home Telemarketing positions are best for those who feel comfortable speaking with others and selling goods and services over the phone then you are well suited to at-home telemarketing positions. While some companies prefer hiring employees that have sales or telemarketing experience, there are others who are willing to train the right people.

Other virtual positions include appointment setting, reservation services, concierge services, and help desk services.

Where to Find Virtual Jobs

There are many places where you can not only find but also advertise for virtual assistants. Online classified, both free and paid, job boards, company websites to name just a few. Ask former employers, former co-workers if you are thinking of starting your own service. Local newspaper ads, trade newspapers, join small business groups both offline and online in order to meet people who might be in need of your services. Talk to you friends about the services you offer.

Once you find a virtual position that you are interested in make sure you send a professional resume outlining your qualifications and services. Send the resume to the client via the mail or email whichever they prefer. Remember the competition for virtual positions is tough, do your research on the client, approach them in a professional manner and you should be able to attract a few potential employers in a very short time.

Do you want a real work from home job? The outsourcing industry is exploding with homeshoring employers that hire moms, dads, retirees, to take calls from home. Visit Little White Ebook for more information.

There is no place where the economy hasn’t hit our pocketbooks, our cost of living has increased and paychecks are not increasing to keep up with the cost of inflation. It is getting more and more difficult for the average person to make ends meet. Today more than ever people are looking for ways to make extra income just to pay for those daily living expenses. One of the ways some look to make extra cash is through contract work-especially those who have the skills that are needed in the creative and technical industry.

Contract work allows you to do the work that you have already been doing without the commute twice a day or juggling family schedules. This means that while you are working part time you will still be able to do the day to day chores you need to do…including a full time job if necessary, all within the comfort of your home during the times you are available. A lot of people are already using their creativity to explore new areas of income away from their day jobs. For instance, writers, photographers, web designers, graphic designers, artists; all explore ways to use their creativity to their advantage. Often times making more than they would at a day job. They have no set hours-only deadlines they have promised to their clients. Contract work will last as long as there is work to be done, once it is finished then you move on to the next project. How long you work, when you work, and how fast you work is all dictated by you

Those who do accept contract work do so on a work per project basis. The client will give the independent contractor a specific period of time to finish a project. Depending on the client and the job it could be a specific amount of time or when the final project is completed. The shorter the time period the higher the pay. It is up to the individual contractor to set how much time is needed to complete the project, collect a deposit, and secure a written contract from the client to insure full payment at the completion of the project. This freedom of scheduling your time for the project allows individuals to hold down a full time job as long as they want or need to. In some cases the individual will find that they have more work they can possibly handle, they then can make the decision to go full time on freelance work.

In the past decade it is becoming more common for individuals to do contract work while still holding a regular job-as long as the contract work does not compete with your current employer there should be no problem. Do not cross the ethical line between freelance/subcontracting and your regular job. Legally you could find yourself in a heap of legal trouble should this happen. The wise subcontractor looks for work outside his immediate area. Contract work opportunities are available nationwide-so shop around before you make the commitment.

The Internet has also given more freedom for the independent contractors in terms of time, resources, and variety of clients. Because it is easy to send files immediately over the web, do not be afraid to take advantage of all the freelance resources available on the web.