Archive for January, 2009
Top Sites for a Telecommute Job
When you’re searching for a telecommute job, don’t overlook http://www.craigslist.org This is probably one of the best places to look for a telecommute job, because Craigslist is so easy to navigate, and it’s one of the top sites on the internet. There are a few ways to approach a search on Craigslist.
- In the left-hand search box, type in “telecommute” or “telecommute is ok”, then click jobs from the drop down box just under the search box.
- Repeat this, but click on gigs.
- Or instead of using the search box, you can click on the heading “jobs” or “gigs” from the center of the page. When the next page appears, click in the box labeled “telecommute”. This will filter telecommute jobs for you.
- Repeat the search in major cities besides your own area. Read each posting carefully to make sure the employer doesn’t require you to report in person at least some of the time if it’s not a local company.
- You can limit your search to a particular type of job by clicking on that category.
If you’re serious about finding a telecommute job, Craigslist is a site you should visit daily.
Another way to approach finding this type of job is to visit sites such as http://www.careerbuilder.com and http://www.monster.com and putting “telecommute” in the keyword search.
When you answer an ad for a telecommute job, unfortunately a lot of them are scams. Keep in mind that anyone that asks for money does not have a job to offer you. You don’t have to pay for a job. Also remember that the desire for a telecommute job is very common and you will have a ton of competition. You may not even hear back from some of the places you apply, because the job posters are overwhelmed with the response they receive. Don’t get discouraged. A lot of competition doesn’t mean you can’t succeed. If you are persistent and keep looking, you will eventually find a telecommute job.
Information Overload
Information overload is one of the most crippling problems for people who work at home from their computer. There is so much to do and learn. Everywhere you turn, there are new ebooks to read, blogs to follow, forum discussions to participate in, audios and videos to listen to. You subscribe to the newsletters of a dozen gurus. The next thing you know, it seems like you’re running in place, putting forth a ton of energy but never really making progress.
One of the keys to successful self-employment is productive use of time. Working at home means no one is looking over your shoulder. You don’t have to punch a time clock, so no one notices if you work two hours a day or twelve. But if you’re putting in a full day, or even if you’re working two or three hours a day around a full-time job, what do you have to show for the time you are putting in?
If you clearly know what you’re trying to accomplish, it’s easier not to get sidetracked. Each night before you go to bed, make a clear plan of what you are going to accomplish the next day. Put 3-5 things on your to do list and make sure those things get done. They may be adding an entry to your blog, writing a chapter in an ebook, sending out a newsletter, doing keyword research, working on an adwords campaign or learning something that you don’t yet know how to do (read an ebook or watch a video on a specific topic). Set a time limit for how much time you will spend on each task.
To further bring things into focus, you need to decrease the ton of information that is coming at you. Unsubscribe from newsletters that you never get around to reading. Turn off the TV. Complete one or more items from your “to do” list before side-tracking yourself with reading emails. In fact, for most people, a time limit has to be set for reading emails than for any other area.
Do what you can with each day. The more you plan ahead to take charge of your own time, the less information overload will sidetrack you and distract you from where you’re trying to go.
Why Do So Many New Businesses Fail?
Why do so many new businesses fail? Many people start new businesses - particularly online businesses - with a lot of drive and hope, but only a small fraction of people who start online businesses actually succeed.
Here are some of the reasons so many online businesses fail. A lot of these reasons apply to any type of small business.
- Failure to plan. Business success is not something that just happens. It’s something you have to make happen. The way to make it happen is to make a plan with specific steps. Your plan has to include a strategy for making your business grow. For example, if you start your own website, you have to make a plan for getting traffic to your website. This may include free methods and paid methods or both. Above all, it must include paying attention to what’s working and what’s not working. Your plan needs to include getting a handle on what you’re doing with your time, because in business, time is money.
- Lack of action. Many people talk about starting an internet business. They purchase ebooks, software and other products. They read ebooks, watch videos, listen to audios. But they never get started. They never set up a marketing campaign to promote a particular project, or they never get started writing their ebook, even though that’s what they mean to do. This ties in with #1: what do you plan to accomplish today or this week or this month? What deadlines do you have for completing what you’re starting?
- Going in too many directions. Internet marketing has a huge learning curve, and you can’t learn everything in a day or a week. You need to pick a direction and go in it. You can only learn one thing at a time. Slow down. Learn one thing thoroughly, then move on.
If you are new to internet marketing, there is a ton of information coming at you on a daily basis. How do you stay focused? Learn more about information overload in my next post.
Keeping Good Business Records
Keeping good business records is an important part of owning a home business. You need to be able to document how much money is coming in and how much is going out for several reasons:
- You need a clear sense of whether your business is actually making a profit. It’s only by clearly seeing your business trends that you can make decisions such as whether to invest more, spend less, or change your strategy.
- You need to be able to document your income for tax purposes.
- Good business records will be required if you seek outside financing. The larger your business grows, the more documentation will be required by outside auditors and investor.
For many business owners, record keeping is one of the less pleasant aspects of running a business. But if you develop good habits of organization early in the game, you won’t find yourself digging through mountains of paperwork at tax time.
Here are some basic tips for keeping good business records:
- Open a separate checking account for your business and keep business transactions separate from personal transactions.
- Keep receipts and invoices in a folder labeled “Expenses”. Also create clear documentation of any cash transactions. Expenses included advertising, bank fees, licenses and permits and inventory.
- Document all income in a spreadsheet or a separate folder labeled “Income.” Track any cash or checks received as well as PayPal payments.
Spreadsheets are a great tool for documenting income versus expenses. Consult with a tax professional to find out what expenses should be tracked besides those listed above. Get in the habit of filing and recording transactions daily
Keeping good records is the only way you will know for sure whether your business is actually making a profit. Good habits developed early will ensure that you are able to stay on top of your business decisions at all times.
Do You Have An Entrepeneurial Mind?
Do you have an entrepreneurial mind and spirit? The word itself “entrepreneur” sounds like someone larger than life. An entrepreneur is basically someone who takes on a business venture and all the risks and responsibilities that go with it.
What characteristics are needed to become an entrepreneur?
Determination. You must decide that failure is not an option. A very large percentage of small businesses fail, usually because of lack of capital or lack of experience. Your decision to start a home business will require all the determination you can muster.
Hard work. The funny thing is most people who want to work at home hope to work less than 40 hours a week, but in the early years, very likely you will work well over 40 hours a week. The phone will ring at all hours; there will be problem after problem that needs to be solved and all of them need to be solved by you. You have to be committed to getting the job done, even in the middle of the night at first.
Resourcefulness. All the answers you are looking for won’t be revealed immediately. You will have to find creative solutions from time to time. Chances are there won’t be anyone there to tell you what to do.
Ability to plan ahead. Your business isn’t going to just happen. You have to plan how it’s going to happen. You have to look at what might go wrong and what you’ll do if it does. You have to look at what your competitors are doing and consider what you should be doing to remain competitive.
Stay positive. There will definitely be bumps in the road. You can’t give up at the first sign of trouble – or at the second or third sign either.
Faith in yourself. The fact that you have the drive and the desire to start your own business is a very good sign that you believe in yourself enough to get started. Stay in your own corner no matter what. Don’t question yourself and your abilities whenever you make a mistake. You will make mistakes. You are doing something you never did before.
That’s what makes you an entrepreneur.
Writing for Money
Job boards such as http://www.elance.com, http://www.guru.com and http://www.rentacoder.com are sites where jobs for freelancers are posted. There are several marketable skills in demand on these sites including web programming and design, translation, administrative support and sales and marketing.
One of the most in-demand skills at these sites is writing. If you enjoy writing and need money, there is no need for you to be a starving artist. All over the web, there are website owners hungry for people to help them fill their websites and blogs with content. They are searching for writers to outsource this work to.
If you have no experience, spend some time browsing websites and become familiar with the type of content that is typically displayed on websites. Remember that people online are scanning the web pages, not reading them. Content needs to be brief and to the point. Subheadings are helpful to break up large blocks of text.
Practice writing articles modeling them against articles that appear online. Web content is typically 300-600 words an article. A good place to review sample articles is http://www.ezinearticles.com.
Put together a small portfolio of articles on various topics such as money, health, parenting, self-improvement, etc. Most of these freelance sites will allow you to upload sample articles to your portfolio on their site. Better yet is if you have your own website to showcase your work along with contact information.
Most freelance job sites allow you to browse available jobs before becoming a member. You may need to bid on the low side to get your first jobs, but if you deliver quality content in a timely manner, you will quickly have more work than you know what to do with.
Be sure to network with other writers. One good place to start is http://www.wahm.com/forum/ . Look for the forum titled “Wahms who write.” Another good place to get information is to do a google search on freelance writing blogs. One freelance writing blog that also posts writing jobs is http://www.freelancewritinggigs.com/.
If you want to write for money, there is plenty of opportunity out there. Get started today.
What is a Virtual Assistant
The explosion of the internet has opened up dozens of possibilities for people who are computer literate. One of the best starting opportunities for someone who wants to work from home is to work as a virtual assistant.
According to Wikepedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_assistant) a virtual assistant is defined as:
“a business owner providing professional level administrative, technical or sometimes creative assistance to clients, usually to other independent entrepreneurs and solo and small business practices. Virtual assistants work from their own office, hence ‘virtual’, thus making it a fairly popular and growing profession.”
Wikepedia goes on to state that there are currently 5,000-8,000 virtual assistants in the world, and that a minimum of five years experience in an office setting as an administrative assistant, office manager, secretary or similar jobs is usually expected.
Some skills needed to become a virtual assistant are:
- Writing. A virtual assistant should have solid language and grammar skills.
- Organization. Exemplary organizational skills are needed to be able to keep projects in order.
- Good communication skills. You will find quickly that many clients expect you to be able to read their minds. Being able to keep channels of communication open is a necessary skill for VAs.
- Good internet skills. You have to be comfortable using the internet to succeed as a virtual assistant.
- Entrepreneurial spirit. Starting a virtual assistant business is exactly that: a business. You have to be willing to do the work, whatever that entails, from hustling work to juggling more than one client to keeping your business records straight. You have to be self-disciplined enough to get the work done and to set a schedule for yourself when no one is looking over your shoulder telling you when to show up for work or what to do.
- Marketing skills. You need to have or be willing to develop the ability to market yourself.
You can charge by the hour, the project or the page. You may be able to get started finding work on sites such as http://www.elance.com.
For more information on becoming a virtual assistant, visit the International Virtual Assistants Association at http://www.ivaa.org/ or the Virtual Assistant Networking Association at http://www.vanetworking.com/.
Spot a Work From Home Scam
How do you spot a work from home scam? Some people think that there is no such thing as a work at home job and that every job that claims it can be done as a telecommuter is a scam. Other people are less cautious and fall victim to one get rich quick scheme after another.
The first thing you need to keep in mind if you desperately want to work from home is if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. No one is going to pay you $5,000 a month to do surveys or to stuff envelopes. You won’t make six figures from your computer while you do nothing but sleep. Exaggerated claims such as this should put up a red flag and warn you to proceed with caution or look elsewhere.
Other red flags are:
Charging an upfront fee. You will never be charged an upfront fee for a legitimate telecommuter job. Home business opportunities may have a fee to get started, but if you are applying for a job that is advertised as a telecommuter position, there won’t be a fee.
The job description is vague. If you’re not sure what they’re looking for, it’s probably a scam.
The contact information is missing. This is a generalization that may be false, as some genuine companies will hide behind an anonymous P.O. Box on Craigslist to avoid being inundated with inquiries. But keep in mind that a company that represents itself only with a P.O. Box may be a scam.
So how can you protect yourself?
Protect yourself by doing plenty of research. Ask questions at the top forums such as http://www.warriorforum.com/forum/ or http://wahm.com/forum/ . You may not protect yourself from every scam this way, but you will hear a lot of genuine reviews, particularly of home business opportunities.
Another great resource is http://www.wahwatchdog.org/. By visiting this site, you can read reviews by people who have actually tried particular opportunities.
Visiting sites like this allows you to benefit from the mistakes of other people. It’s like getting free education!
But above all else, listen to your own instincts.