Work From Home As An Online Tutor

October 16, 2008 · Filed Under WFH · 3 Comments 

If you have a talent for explaining academic subjects to children than you might enjoy working from home as an online tutor.   As an online tutor you will work one on one with students, helping them in a particular subject.  You need to be well versed in the subject you are teaching. You will need to be able to explain concepts to students, and help them to understand the subject. All the sites I looked at required you to be able to communicate well in English, and to have a high speed interent connection.

There are many different ways to find work as an online tutor.  I think most people would prefer to work with an established company.  These companies have tools to help you as an online tutor, such as online whiteboard programs.  They also take care of all the billing and paperwork needed.  Unfortunately, none of the companies I found stated how much they pay, but judging from what they are charging students, my guess is that pay is in the $8 to $12 an hour range. All the companies I looked at paid their tutors as independent contractors.  That means there are no benefits and you are responsible for paying your taxes.

Tutor.com seems to be the leader in online tutoring. They require that you live and are legal to work in either the United States or Canada.  You must also be a college graduate, or be currently enrolled in an accredited US or Canada college degree program.  You must pass an education and criminal background check. You can work from 5 to 30 hours per week. Mostly during the hours of 4pm to 11pm Eastern time Sunday through Thursday.

Tutorvista.com does not have a country requirement. They are active in both the US and UK markets, so English is required. They offer 24/7 availability so there are more potential hours available for work.  To work for tutorvista.com requires a masters degree in the subject you are teaching, plus some teaching experience. They also require that you work at least 4 hours per day.

AimforA offers tutoring to students in North America, Europe, and Australia, offering a large range of teaching opportunities.  The require excellent verbal and writing skills in English and a bachelors degree and teaching experience in the subject you would like to teach.

If you prefer to work on your own, BuddySchool.com is an interesting alternative. They are more of a matching service.  You register for a free account, set up your profile and availability, and then students will be able to sign up with you for a session.   You set your prices and BuddySchool takes care of the invoicing.  Right now it is completly free to use BuddySchool, both for students and tutors. They have a rating system for both students and tutors. Anyone can sign up as a tutor at BuddySchool, however, there is heavy competition in popular subjects. Some tutors are as low as $5 per hour, and in fact I saw some tutors who were free.

I did find a few services that offered online tutoring jobs, but charged a membership fee.  I did not review them because there are plenty of options that do not require any fees at all. Many of these fee based job services just give you information you can find out on your own for free.  In general, you should not need to pay to apply for a job.

Do you work as an online tutor?  Do you work for a company or are you offering your own service?  Please leave a comment and let us know about your experience!

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3.7 (1 person)

Work From Home as a Call Center Representative

September 8, 2008 · Filed Under WFH · 3 Comments 

With the advances in technology many companies are moving away from large call centers, and outsourcing their call centers…to home. There are many legitimate opportunities to work from home as a call center rep. Most call center representatives answer calls from customers wanting to place an order. If you have technical skills you might be placed as a technical support person, where you will be helping customers with support issues. There are also opportunities for people with financial and insurance backgrounds.

Pros
Like all work from home positions you have the benefit of no commute costs. Because you will never need to meet with clients in person you will also not need to spend any money on special clothing or dry cleaning. With most call center companies you have the flexibility to choose when you want to work. Also, many call center companies will hire you as an employee, not an independent contractor, so you have a guaranteed hourly wage, no matter how many calls you take.

Cons
You must provide all your own equipment. Including a computer with high speed internet access, a dedicated corded phone, (No cell phones or portable phones)and a hands free headset with noise canceling microphone. This is not a good position for parents who need to take care of children, because you are required to have a work space that is quiet with no noise from children or pets. The companies don’t want their customers to know that you are working from home!

What to Look For
Before you are hired make sure you know whether you will be working as an employee, or as an independent contractor. As an employee, you will be guaranteed a minimum hourly wage, and taxes will be withheld from your paychecks. Some companies also offer benefits for their work from home employees.
As an independent contractor you will be paid based on the number of calls that you take. It is possible that you will commit to a shift and recieve very few calls. You will be responsible for paying your own taxes. However, as an independent contractor you have your own business, and it is easier to deduct the expenses of working from home. Depending on the number of hours you work you may be able to deduct some or all of your internet and computer costs. Please consult with a tax advisor about your particular situation.

Requirements
The companies I looked at all had the following requirements:

  • You need to be a United States legal resident and speak English
  • You need to be at least 18 years old
  • You need to have a high school diploma or GED
  • You will need a tax ID number
  • You will need to pass a background check

Fees
The companies I looked at did not require any fees to apply for a position. However, all of them required you to pay for a background check after you were offered a position. The cost for the background check varied widely, anywhere from $35 to over $100, depending on the type of calls you will be taking.

How Much Can You Make as a Call Center Rep?
Working as an employee, it looked like the starting pay was anywhere from $8 to $12 per hour, with opportunities for bonuses for working during certain hours, or for exceptional performance. The companies that hired independent contractors reported around the same potential income.

Working from home as a call center representative looks like a opportunity for someone who can dedicate a block of time with no distractions. This may make it difficult for parents with small children, as you would need to arrange for childcare. The pay is actually pretty good for this type of work, and without the costs of working outside the home makes it a very attractive work at home opportunity.

Here are a few companies that I found.
With Convergys you are hired as an employee. They offer paid training and a full range of benefits.

Live Ops hires independent contractors. You are paid per minute of call time. They do not offer paid training.

Alpine Access hires reps as employees. They state their average rate of pay is $9 per hour. Certain jobs will pay more. They offer paid training and limited benefits after 3 months of working an average of at least 20 hours per week.

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4.0 (2 people)

Work From Home Blogging - Create a Blog

September 5, 2008 · Filed Under WFH, blog, blogging · 2 Comments 

Table of contents for Work From Home Blogging

  1. Work From Home Blogging - Create a Blog

This is the first in a series on how you can work from home blogging. There are many different ways to make money with your blog, and I will try to explore them all here! But, before you can start making money with blogging, you need to have a blog! So how do you start a blog?

1.Pick a topic or theme for your blog. Would you like to join the masses that blog about making money online? Or would you prefer to be one of the relatively few that blog about ancient Russian literature? Or maybe something in between! Whatever it is, make sure that it is a topic that you enjoy and that interests you. You will be spending a lot of time with it!

2. Select Hosting for Your Blog. You may be tempted to save money and go with free hosting from sites such as wordpress.com , or blogger.com. But don’t do it! You will soon find that free hosting sites may put limitations on your blog. Plus many paid posting sites do not accept blogs from free hosting sites.

Your own domain and hosting hosting aren’t really all that expensive. With a company like Hostgator you can get hosting for as little as $4.95 per month. Use the coupon code “green” and get another 20% off.

3. Select your domain name. For me, this is really the hardest part. Your domain name will set the tone for your whole blog. There is a lot of debate as to what makes the best domain name. Dot coms are the favorite, but getting a “good” name will be difficult.

If you want to get a domain really cheap, I suggest you go to the digital point forums. You can buy domains there on the aftermarket for as little as $1. You may not get the exact domain you want, but the price will be right!

If you would prefer a brand new domain, then I would suggest that you take advantage of the Go Daddy $6.95 .com Sale. I have all of my domains at GoDaddy and I love their customer service! They have plenty of online tutorials and if you need more help, support is just a quick phone call or email away. You can also buy hosting from GoDaddy and have your domains and hosting all in one place. Some people like it that way. Some people say it is best to have them separate. I like the convenience of having my domains and hosting all in one place.

4. Point your nameservers. If you buy your domain and hosting together than this may already be done for you. If not, all you are doing is telling your domain registrar where your blog is hosted. Your hosting company will tell you what to enter for your nameservers.

5. Install WordPress. There are other blogging platforms out there but I really like WordPress. I might even be considered a WordPress fanatic. Wordpress is easy to use, it is versatile, and because it is so popular, there are literally thousands of free plugins and themes you can use to customize your blog.

6. Start writing! You are going to need at least 10 posts before you can start marketing your blog. Make it a habit to write a post a day and in less than 2 weeks you will be ready for the next step, paid posting. I’ll cover that in the next part of this series on Working From Home Blogging. To make sure you don’t miss a post be sure to subscribe to the feed.

If you find all of this a little intimidating, and would like help in setting up your WordPress blog, then I have a deal for you. Just sign up for a hosting account at either Hostgator or Go Daddy using the links in this post. Then send me an email at maukat@gmail.com and I will get you all set up for FREE! Plus I”ll give you some consulting time via email or Google messenger and show you all the cool things you can do with your new WordPress Blog.

To get your free setup and consulting you must use my affiliate links when purchasing your hosting. It won’t cost you any more than if you went to the site directly. If you have any question feel free to send an email.

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3.1

Update on Working Out of The Office

August 10, 2008 · Filed Under WFH · Comment 

Still wanting a change of pace I took my trusty computer to my local library today.  The library was nice and quiet and even had a desk with power outlet where I could set up.  The desk had privacy panels so I didn’t need to worry about anyone snooping. That was all very positive.

On the downside, no food or drink allowed, so while my desk wasn’t sticky, I also couldn’t enjoy an iced mocha while working.  The location and privacy panels on the desk, plus the general nature of the public library made people watching out of the question.

However, with the quiet and lack of distractions I was very productive and got quite a bit done.  I will probably go back to the library the next time I need a change of pace.

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3.5

Getting Out of the Home Office

July 31, 2008 · Filed Under WFH · 3 Comments 

After weeks of working out of my home office, I thought it would be nice to get out and work from an internet cafe. So I toted my computer to the local coffee shop, bought my iced mocha, and set myself up to write and work on some other projects.

I think I like my home office better!

The table my computer is sitting on rocks back and forth as I type. Plus it is just a little sticky. There are a lot of flies here, and they keep landing on me, which makes it hard to focus on my writing.

Sitting at a table across from me is an old guy. He has been sleeping ever since I got here, at least I hope he is just sleeping! I would hate to think that I was typing away across from someone who had passed on.

But the worst is the guy sitting behind me. He hasn’t bought anything and he doesn’t have a computer. He isn’t reading or doing anything like that. He is just sitting. It feels like he is watching me. I hope I am wrong.

I have read from many bloggers that they like to go to public places to write their blog posts. That it helps to have a change of scenery. They like people watching and the goings on around them inspires creative blog posts.

I think I may be just the opposite. Between the flies and creepy people, I think I am happier in my own private little room. Looking out the window at my trees, on a desk that doesn’t rock. What about you? Where do you like to write from?

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3.5

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