Alan Lim asked:
There are four effective strategies that any online job applicant could use to successfully find and secure home based data entry jobs. It could do you more good to observe some or all of those schemes.
Searching and applying for any home based jobs could be daunting and exhilarating. However, you should never ever let such a task bring you down. It is logically wise and appealing to be able to earn income while staying at home. This is the modern age of employment. This is an era of home-based and online jobs.
How could you effectively and successfully find and take such home-based work? There are useful and functional strategies that could work to your advantage. Here are four of the most reliable and proven effective.
Be Proactive By Directly Contacting Small Businesses
Do not focus your eyes on major and giant firms that are possibly offering or requiring data entry online jobs. More than 20 million microenterprises or smaller businesses are operating globally. Such minor firms are almost all outsourcing home based data entry jobs to individuals and professionals from all around the world.
Learn to identify the possibly high-growth companies from this vast and large group. You could find out which of the firms could soon require numerous online administrative jobs. It is important that you directly establish contacts with such small companies.
Put Up A Personal Website
Most applicants to any data entry home-based work have a mistaken assumption that a cover letter and a résumé are the only necessary tools needed to apply for any such online job. This could be true in many cases, but nowadays, businesses impose heavy bearing to the edge of a basic or personal online site.
Your own basic website could provide prospective data entry employers a real sense of exactly who you are. Most employers also prefer applicants with online sites than those without necessary internet experience. Personalize your website and make it more effective by taking care of the content and uploading photos and videos.
Keep An Eye On Regional Or Local Market
Home based data entry jobs sector is undeniably global. As such, many online job applicants focus on available positions and job vacancies at major global companies. Have you ever thought that smaller businesses in your locality or community could pose more and better such job positions and requirements?
Regional and local companies that are in growth mode could serve as excellent sources of online and home-based administrative jobs. Focusing on such could help you prevent or mitigate trust issues that are often arising in ‘telework’ opportunities.
Never Overlook Former Employers
You could consider contacting any of your former employers to ask if they have current home based data entry jobs that are available to online employees and job applicants. Doing so could effectively help you ensure getting an online data entry home-based work.
Thus, always remember not to burn bridges even with ex-employers. It is a long and winding road and nobody knows when you would bump with each other again.
Elaine Currie asked:
Being a stay at home mom used to mean just that: the mom stayed at home and looked after the family. The traditional set up of having one breadwinner and one homemaker is no more than a fantasy for the majority of families; nowadays, the average family cannot survive on one income. The stay at home mom looking for work is not doing so because she needs an interest to keep her occupied at home; she is looking for work because the family needs the extra money for ordinary everyday living costs.
There are many advantages for mothers who work at home. The obvious advantage is being at home to take care of the children. Some others are:
Fewer expenses. Working at home means mothers don’t have to pay childcare fees, save money formerly spent on commuting and save money on clothes because they don’t need a “work wardrobe”.
Shorter hours. Having a home based job means there will be no time wasted on getting dressed up for work, and commuting there and back every day.
Some women are able to reach an agreement with their employer to adapt an existing job, so that it can be done from home. This sort of arrangement is ideally suitable for all sorts of virtual assistance posts.
Mothers working at home for an existing employer have the extra advantages bestowed by continuity. A mother with a new baby has enough to do without having the added task of looking for work. Turning existing employment into a home based job means there will be little or no retraining required in order to carry on working.
Adapting a job with an existing employer into a work at home job is the ideal solution for moms who want to work at home. Unfortunately, not all jobs are suitable for transfer to a home based environment and some employers are not prepared to negotiate an arrangement to accommodate their employee.
Andy Lax asked:
Like a moment captured in time, I remember leaving work on my 25th birthday, heading for the train to whisk me to my sanctuary: my home base. En route towards the subway station, I peered at all the magazines in a newsstand. After a long, exhausting, anxiety-provoking day, I decided to take a few moments, gather myself, collect my composure, and read – one of my favorite diversions.
My eye immediately caught sight of a plethora of money-making, small business, and home-based business opportunity magazines. They beckoned me closer, promising that I, too, could escape the rat race if I followed the secret blueprints included within the magazines’ contents. Moreover, according to so many magazine authors, the transformation from workplace peon to entrepreneurial magnate could readily occur without too much work and at breathtaking speed.
I never envisioned that I was a home-based business opportunity seeker. But perhaps it was fate (in my 20′s, I believed that fate was responsible for everything!) that led me to these myriad opportunities, guiding me in a direction away from Corporate America to my favorite place in the world, my home.
The thought of working at home, serving as my own boss, was tantamount to winning a lottery – freedom from demanding bosses, gossipy coworkers, long commutes, capped salaries, etc. I was going to do everything in my power so that I could head towards the seemingly greener pastures of self-employment. With inexhaustible determination, I was going to empower myself — to become my own boss, to pull my own strings. This was the birthday present that I was going to give myself!
Toward this end, I stayed up all night reading the five business opportunity magazines that I had purchased at the newsstand. There were so many home-based business opportunities to explore. The people who were disclosing the secrets of their success seemed so earnest and caring, so intelligent, perceptive and friendly. Surely they wanted the reader to join them in the good life. (Interestingly, it seemed as though every picture of such people revealed wealth beyond measure. Mansions, expensive cars, awe-inspiring surrounding landscape were staples of each image. And the smiling countenance of all connected me to the “benefactors.”)
If financial constraints were not a problem at the time, I would have purchased all the programs offered in all the magazines I had read. Still, I narrowed my selection down and purchased 10 of the deemed best home-based business opportunities available. $300 was a small price to pay for one’s freedom.
With credit card in hand, I called each company making small talk with each representative, wondering why they had not simply taken advantage of the wisdom provided by the information that was so accessible to them. Perhaps it was fine to work for someone – as long as the boss was not just a cog in a corporate wheel, but a truly inspirational and creative entrepreneur.
Nevertheless, my entrepreneurial path was already set and I would soon graduate from mere home-based business opportunity seeker to home-based business opportunity doer. Of course, I needed the coveted blueprints from my prudent purchases but they were due to arrive within a week. I could hardly wait!
Anticipatory excitement reached a feverish pitch and I remember racing to my room to open the first business opportunity package that was delivered. But in the mere course of 15 minutes, I knew that this program did not come with an accompanying blueprint for success. It seemed incomplete, poorly written and organized, and merely rehashed the benefits of multi-level marketing (MLM) – something that I had been exposed to (reluctantly) when I was in college. I was to promote their product, gaining direct commission, and then benefit from those I had signed under me when their promotion efforts were rewarded.
Feeling deflated and defeated, I subsequently compared the ad with the actual program. I thought if they invested half as much time to create a viable program as the creation of this clever ad, I might have found a means to an end: finding the Shangri-La of self-employment. Still, when I read the ad closer, it appeared that the purveyor of the program never indicated what the program entailed! The ad only pointed out what was not entailed.
The nine other packages followed suit – all providing useless information that would not propel me towards entrepreneurship. Upon reflection, closely examining the ads, the purveyors misled the reader, dissembled motives, embellished the potential profit, negated the work involved, etc. I suppose I received a $300 education as to how NOT to become your own boss. Actually, some of the companies honored their money back guarantee, so my cost was not as high. Still, I believed that the road to an entrepreneurial venture could be uncovered.
Years have passed and through the benefit of business and life experience, I can now offer the following important points to home-based opportunity seekers:
It is unreasonable to expect earning a considerable sum of money in a short duration of time. Yes, others have accomplished this feat but it is certainly the exception and not the rule. It takes time to build a business, including a home-based business.
It is similarly illogical for you to expect that hard work will not be a prerequisite for business success to be attained. There are many business owners who delegate responsibilities but not typically at the beginning stages of their business. I have heard many entrepreneurs mention that at the inception of their business, they worked 50-60 hours per week and longer. The “work smart and not hard” principle is not always easy to apply.
While the lure of an Internet home-based business is seductive, there is much competition. Be realistic in your goals but aspire towards greatness. You can succeed but understand the underpinnings of your business. You may have to learn about or contract with those with expertise in web design, shopping carts, gateways, merchant accounts, search engine optimization, marketing, etc. As your knowledge base grows about your field and about the online world of business in general, you will prosper.
The ability to market and even advertise your business rank among the most important factors to its long-term survival. Regardless of how great your product or service is, it is meaningless if potential customers do not know you exist. Realize that you have to gain marketing prowess for your business to flourish or be willing to pay someone who possesses marketing skill. You need to consider free and paid advertising sources as well.
As you assume the role of home-based business opportunity seeker, consider what type of business you want to own. Do you want to pursue multi-level marketing projects? Would you rather participate in drop shipping programs or affiliate marketing programs? Perhaps you can create your own product or offer a particular service. As you consider the all-important direction that you want to take, factor in your interests, hobbies, passion, experience, aptitude and even potential.
Reach out and find people that you trust where you can bounce ideas off each other. Certain business forums offer a wealth of information. Many members truly want to contribute, ensuring the success of others. You can even visit your local SCORE office – an organization designed to help new business owners, free of charge.
Do not believe everything that you read and embrace the “If it is too good to be true, it probably is” truism. Be wary of business opportunities that require an investment, do not have a money back guarantee, are vague with their business description, etc. You should know all parameters of a potential business. Let common sense prevail.
You don’t necessarily need to buy a designed program or follow in anyone else’s footsteps. We tell children to “Use your imagination.” We should follow suit.
As you engage in the research and preparation of the business, promise yourself that you will not forever remain a home-based business opportunity seeker. You will take action when the time is right! Indeed, success will never materialize if you remain on the complex and convoluted home-based business opportunities fence. Eventually, choose a direction and never look back!