I’ve personally noticed an increased interest in ‘what I do for a living’. I’ve been working from home for several years now but I’ve never has so many people at once ask me to show them how to make money from home.

There are other posts here on the blog about starting your own online home business(i.e. as an affiliate marketer or creating your own product or service) but this post is really about work from home and telecommuting ‘job’ opportunities. These days ‘working from home’ falls into many categories and there are more options then ever before.

For example, there are now many companies that hire you either as an employee or independent contractor, pay you an hourly rate while you work from home, in most cases on your own schedule. I’ll list several of these for you in a moment.

Telecommuting and web work jobs seem to be on the rise. Whether this is in spite of the economic downturn or it is due to the the increasing unemployment rate pushing more people into freelancing positions while they look for other work is a question up for debate.

oDesk, a popular and high quality freelance site, said job posts on oDesk were up *120%* in Quarter 4 of 2008 compared with Q4 2007.  They posted on their blog some stats showing the skills with the highest growth rates in 2008 Blogging seems to dominate as a tech growth area in 2008.  Demand for Wordpress designers has increased by more than 4 times. Demand for freelance writers, a good portion of which are online or blog related, more than tripled.

Whether someone is laid off completely or the economy has caused a reduction in hours or commissions, if you have skills such as customer service, writing, data entry, computer and tech related, consulting, even cooking… there are ways to get some extra cash working from home.

I did some research and put together a list on some of the best ways to earn some extra cash from home and some of the best companies that are hiring right now.

1.  Get Paid for Writing or Blogging

You don’t have to publish a bestseller to get paid for your love of writing. Content is King online and there are many companies and blogs that are in constant need for fresh quality content.  Here are just a few:

Constant-content.com – They buy unique articles, tutorials, and purchase all types of content for your magazines and websites. They offer opportunities for freelance article writers, blog writers, review writers. They even buy videos and photography.

Payperpost.com – Get paid for blogging. Write about web sites, products, services, and companies and earn cash for providing your opinion and valuable feedback to advertisers.

AssociatedContent.com – Another site where you can be a content producer and get pad to write and submit content. Content can be in the form of text, videos, audios and slideshows.

Helium.com – a knowledge co-operative where  writers are also  editors who read and rate every article on the site. Write, Get Published, Get Paid!

oDesk Writing Jobs

eLance Writing Jobs

2. Customer service or technical support representative

Alpine Access - this company plans to hire 1,200 new employees in the first three months of 2009.  Besides offering the flexibility to work from home, Alpine Access, a virtual call center, provides health-care benefits, 401K, flexible work schedules and opportunities to grow. Each worker is an actual company employee with regular work hours and assignments.

1800flowers.com- If you have a phone headset, a way with people and, hopefully, a love of flowers, consider working for the long-established 1-800-FLOWERS. The company expects to hire temporary, full-time customer service representatives this year. It even promises competitive hourly rates plus a bonus at the end of the temporary assignment.

Aetna - From nurses to contract negotiators to account managers, Aetna is a nationwide company with a variety of telework-friendly jobs to offer. Whether you are medically savvy or are simply good with people on the phone, you could find a position with this reputable company that offers benefits and a possibility of a bonus.

Arise -  offers opportunities for work in technical support, sales, and customer service with some of the most exciting companies in America.  They offer the certification courses you need to become an Arise Certified Professional, which signifies that you have the basic skills and knowledge to be a customer interaction specialist.  As an employee of  Virtual Services Corporation, once you are certified as an Arise Certified Professional, you choose which clients to serve, when you work, and how many hours each week to work.

3. Virtual Assistants

A virtual assistant is a professional office administrative assistant who can work from anywhere.

HireMyMom.com -  a Web-based job service designed especially for professional working mothers. One of the most popular positions HireMyMom.com is a virtual assistant. You provide the skills. They provide the clients.

You’ll also find multiple Virtual Assistant Job posting on the Simply Hired job board.

4. Typing and Transcription

Workingsolutions.com – If you are a fast and accurate typist, you might be interested in a contract position as a transcriptionist. This is someone who types down information from a audio or video recording, live reading, or conversation. Established in 1996, Working Solutions hires independent contract agents for various transcription and customer service assignments. You can earn up to $30 an hour if you have the right skill-set and experience.

Here are 2 other transcription sites to explore.

www.tigerfish.com
www.speak-write.com

5. Work From Home Teaching

Sylvan Online – If you have experience teaching but aren’t interested in managing an entire classroom or have lost your teaching job due to cutbacks and layoffs, Sylvan Online may work for you. It’s a Web-based tutoring service that seeks certified teachers to tutor various subjects and levels. Job requirements include a current teaching certificate, a Windows-based PC and high-speed Internet access. Sylvan offers paid training on-line and opportunities range from 8 to 29 hours per week.

Language Lab: Language Lab lets at-home students visit “English Town,” a virtual city where teachers help them learn English as a second language. Language Lab is looking to hire more English teachers. The company also plans to hire actors and part-time customer service reps.

6. Computer Skills

If you have web design, programming, marketing, seo, IT and networking then  freelance sites like Elance and Odesk can match you up with clients who need your services.

Side Note: oDesk also has career openings within their company http://www.odesk.com/w/careers

7. Be An Online Juror

Yea- this one was new to me…

Instead of spending time watching the courtroom programs on TV, try making some pocket money while determining verdicts as an online juror. Lawyers deciding whether or not to accept a case or looking for preliminary feedback on cases they’re currently handling use various websites as a cost-effective tool for research and focus groups before heading into a real courtroom.

Sites include
www.ejury.com
www.onlineverdict.com
www.trialpractice.com

8. Cooking Consultant

Think you’re the next Top Chef? That might qualify you to become a home-based consultant for Chefsline.com , which provides live, professional advice to anyone who needs help with cooking or baking. Chef consultants must excel at cooking, teaching, and customer service, and must be available to take calls for a minimum of eight hours per week during afternoon and evening hours. A culinary degree is preferred, but not required.

9. Internships

This is not really a true work from home job but internships, especially with web startups, can really open some doors and get you some valuable experience and contacts.

Conotes _ If you’re just starting out and want to get your foot in the door with some great web startups, head on over to http://conotes.com/

Twitter is Hiring! Twitter, a well known privately funded start up offers an internship.  They also offer competitive salaries and full benefits, including health, dental, vacation, 401k, and stock options. You would  be joining a unique group of experienced folks who are doing their best work to create something great.

On a sidenote: For companies and business owners looking to hire interns, Conotes also has a free listing service for internships.

Another free resource that includes many many ideas for starting an online home business, download a copy of my book Escaping Your 9 to 5 here.

If you know of any work from home job resources, other companies hiring, or have some experience in any of the job categories or companies above, please share them in comments.

This post from:

Top Work From Home Jobs and Internships – Companies Hiring Now

Yes, it is true that you have to spend the remainder of the hours you have left after work to work on your business part time. But that does NOT mean that you will adopt a part time or half-hearted mentality towards your business.

Imagine this analogy…

Let’s assume that an airplane takes off at 150MPH. You will need to ‘drive’ at a certain speed before the plane develops enough speed to take off. Do you think the plane will be able to fly itself off the ground if you are only traveling at a 100MPH? Of course not! It will not take off even if you are flying at 140MPH!

Starting an online business is just like this. You will need to work at a certain momentum before you:

• Develop the necessary knowledge to build your business (you can’t really ‘drive’ far if you are constantly locked in 2^nd gear).

• You need to show others that you are committed enough before they are ready to take you seriously. This applies to customers, clients and potential business partners.

• You need to build your reputation strong enough because it will lessen your promotion work – the speed of trust between you and your customers is very crucial.

Your commitment to Online Success is the key to finding it. Commit to enjoying the journey. Someday in hindsight you will realize the journey itself produced your life’s dreams. The ups and downs are just brush strokes on your life’s work.

The Internet is a place that is filled with endless possibilities. It is very easy to find a business model that makes money for anyone as long as they put in the effort to learn and work hard.

All that it takes is that you believe in yourself and believe that you will be able to free yourself from the shackles of your 9-5 job and you will be able to find the means to achieve it. Break through your mental barriers. The only thing that is holding us back is ourselves.

Expect Success,

Rhonda

This is an except from one of the chapters of my book, Escaping Your 9 to 5.

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Working Part Time with A Full Time Mentality

Many people are giving up the old 9 to 5 routines, killing their day jobs and making money online. But for every person who does make that decision to start an online business of one type or another, many more are giving it up to get back the security they gave up in the 9 to 5 world. This is because they found out they could not do everything that is required by themselves. They needed help and that is where a lot of freelancers are now finding their niches.

Working on the Internet certainly does have its perks, but this also puts you directly in the driver’s seat. You are that person who needs to set your own hours, your schedule, your goals and then stay on track. You are your own boss, calling your own shots.

It’s very easy to get sidetracked while working on the Internet. Many Internet veterans will tell you that  everything and everyone seems to be trying to distract you and demand your time, all at once and almost every single moment.

Starting a freelance business online is a very good idea if you have something unique to offer others where they can save time by outsourcing to you. Time is really that valuable working online.

With hundreds of thousands of individuals wrapped up with their affiliate marketing and network marketing ventures, many people tend to forget about all the niche opportunities that open up as a result of Internet marketing campaigns that never seem to end.

In a nutshell, Internet marketing is the largest area online that people are gravitating to in order to make their fortunes. Many try and many die in the attempt to become Internet marketers but success can and does happen regularly for those who can manage and outsource tasks effectively. There are several reasons for this, all of which can provide you with ample opportunity for you to offer your unique services to others who are trying to make their time constraints and budgets work efficiently. In the process, many freelancers have founded their businesses prosper and explode by offering business solutions to those who really need your set skills.

Working online means long hours and hard work. Most marketers will put in 12-14 hour days trying to stay on top of all the demands. Exposure and generating tons of traffic are the main concerns. Traffic concerns will tie most affiliate and network marketers up from morning to night, trying to ensure that their campaigns are running smoothly and in a timely fashion. In the process, there are many hats that marketers must wear. From bookkeeping to web design and beyond, nobody can be an expert at everything. This is where you enter the picture.

Everyone has their own unique gifts and talents that can be capitalized on. Doing business on the Internet by providing services to others does not even have to be something very original. The first step is exploring what you can do better than the average person, then building a campaign around this to attract customers.

As an example, article marketing is a very large part of generating solid traffic through search engines and article submission sites. If you can write articles, then you are a few steps ahead of many Internet marketers that do not have this talent.

Starting a freelance business online is taking one step at a time, connecting the dots then proceeding from one small step to the next. Before you know it, you are that person who has turned your unique skills into something more than just a pipe dream for yourself and your family.

You’ll find more freelancing tips including a list of the most in demand freelance skills that thousands of busy online marketers are paying for right now here on eBusinessMagic.com

Ask any successful online marketer what they consider to be one of their keys to success. 9 out of 10 will tell you that ‘outsourcing’ certain aspects of their business to a freelancer is one of them. By uncovering your own hidden talent(s), you will position yourself for a nice slice of this rapidly growing outsourcing pie.

Expect Success!

Rhonda

This post from:

Finding Your Hidden Talents as a Freelancer and Getting Your Slice of the Online Outsourcing Pie

One bit of advice I always give clients that are searching for the right type of online business is to find your passion and get paid to do what you love. I stand behind that advice however there is another piece to this that many miss.

In your research, be sure it’s a something that people are willing to spend money on. Just because you love something does not necessarily make it a profitable online business model.

A few years ago, I personally discovered that one of the fastest ways to get started making money online is to make money freelancing.

Offer your services as a freelancer based on your current skills, experience and knowledge and earn money immediately by cashing in on your expertise! There are already thousands of other internet marketers looking to outsource certain aspects of their business to freelancers. It’s a ready market.

In my book, Escaping Your 9 to 5, I provide some suggestions and tips to help examine yourself and see what your best skills are.

Here is a list of some example skills you may be able to offer to others and make some extra money while you are first starting out creating your online business.

• Computer programmer
• Data entry/processor
• Editor/copyeditor
• Virtual Assistant
• Web designer
• Writer/Ghost writer
• Telemarketer
• Sales consultant
• Graphic designer
• Accountant/bookkeeper
• Article and press release writing and submission
• Search Engine Optimization
• Blog setup and maintenance
• PPC and Google Adwords setup and management
• Customer Service/Support
• Professional Voice Over
• Creating Flash Movies
• Creating Camtasia Video Tutorials

There are people right now that will gladly pay you to work from home and provide services or skills to them that you may already have. I’ve given a few common examples- but there are many many more.

Freelancing can easily be done online with the opportunity to reach clients from all over the world.

• You can provide freelancing services in your part/spare time until you are earning enough to quit your fill time job.

• You can use Freelancing as an as-needed means of supplementing your income as you develop your product and business model and improve your marketing strategies.

• Instead of trying to create a product or service, an ebook, an affiliate program or membership site you just might decide that YOU are the best product to sell online and make freelancing and selling yourself and skills is your ticket to financial freedom.

If you are looking to start making money online quickly- freelancing is a fantastic option. Getting started and taking action is the biggest obstacle that you’ll overcome so make the most of today.

Expect Success,

Rhonda

This post from:

The First Steps In Creating An Online Business Begins With You

‘eBusiness Profit Secrets’ , the 6 part mini course I have offered for many years now is no longer available. I’ve done my best to keep it updated but the internet and opportunities change so rapidly. So rather then do yet another update, I decided to write a brand new book with fresh information and strategies.

The new book is titled, ” Escaping Your 9 to 5″. It’s a comprehensive yet simple to understand guide to help online beginners get started on a part-time basis- with the goal to break away from their day job, fire their boss and go full time with their online business in no time.

This is not another book of useless free articles and websites. Full of unique content, tips and strategies that you can apply immediately. Over 90 pages!

I’ll be revealing business startup ideas most have never considered- but in my experience are the fastest ways to make money online as a beginner.

I give you 90 incredible pages filled with step-by-step “how-to” guidelines as well as secrets and tips.

I’ll explain the online jargon so you understand the basics I’ll expose my ‘Earn While You Learn’ strategy How to choose the online business model that’s right for you. How to immediately monetize skills you already bring to the table The 4 hour plan to fire your boss How To setup your sales funnel Fast Action Plan to your first website 12 of the most effective ways to get customers and much more If you can ‘walk and chew gum’ then you can follow the steps in this course! Get your copy now while it’s still FREE here: www.EscapingYour9to5.com

This post from:

How To Create An Online Business: Escaping Your 9 to 5 Guide