The Reality of Working at HomeWritten by Kimberly Hargis
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board and read what other people who do this type of work have to say and ask them questions you might have. Also, buy training tapes to listen to before paying for classes to see if you are kind of person who can listen to them all day and type what you hear (given that an MT school will obviously teach you necessary vocabulary and formatting styles, etc.). Personally, I found that I could barely understand half of what doctors. They talk very fast, some have foreign accents, and/or there were high levels of background noise (maybe doctor was dictating while driving). I wish I had done my homework before I had paid for at-home course that I took. Now I have a $300.00 MT certificate and a $250.00 transcription machine sitting in a box somewhere in my garage. Facts to remember: Be sure you really have time job requires and desire to do this type of work, check out MT schools that interest you by asking about school on MT message boards to see who else has gone to these schools, and check with BBB to see if there have been any complaints made about schools that were left unresolved. Q. I know HTML and made my own web site. Does this mean I can be a Webmaster at home? A. Probably not when it comes to jobs found through Internet job searches. Even if you know HTML, can make frames, tables, can create your own graphics, and use copy and paste JavaScript, you probably will not find a web page design job just by doing a regular Internet job search. I can write HTML freehand without an editor and am competent at many other web-page-related skills. I have sent out over 1,000 resumes and have not even gotten one honest reply. Three years ago I finally realized that if you really want to work at home doing web page design, then you need to have at least a two-year of college degree. This is not to say there are no honest HTML at-home jobs for simple skills like routine updates to web sites, but bear in mind that for every job available for doing HTML out there, there are thousands of people applying for it. I can't even imagine number of resumes that are sent daily for jobs listed for HTML skills! My best advice is either go to college and get a degree in CGI, DHTML, Flash, ASP, VB Script, Java Script, Flash, Database Interface, Oracle, and SQL server (to name a few different skills and language codes) or try to develop a clientele of small business owners, local to your area, who need simple web sites and can't afford expensive "professionals." Many of small businesses would love to have web site, but either have no idea where to start, believe it costs too much money, or that they have to sell their product online (which they don't). They can use web page for advertising, promote sales, or offer printable coupons. The best way to get this type of work is ask your friends to tell any small business owners they know about your services. In your town has a local newspaper or newsletter, consider placing an ad. Fact to remember: If you all know is HTML, then either get a degree so that you can apply to online jobs or hand out business cards to friends and local small business to create a local clientele. Q. I can make postcards, greeting cards, and write verses using my home publishing programs. Can I use these skills to get an at-home job? A. This can be done on a freelance basis at home. There are books that offer lists of companies that might buy your work. You can visit your local library or book store to get Writer's Market 2001: 8000 Editors Who Buy What You Write and/or Artists & Graphic Designer's Market 2001: Where & How to Sell Your Illustration, Fine Art, Graphic Design & Cartoons. Now you are probably asking, "So what do you do at home?" I make my money using affiliate programs. Affiliate program are online stores that pay you per click, lead, or sale by placing banner and/or products on your web page. I, by no means, make enough money to pay bills, but it is a nice little income to buy extras my family needs. To learn more about affiliate programs and web page designing visit http://momsbreak.com/webmasters.html There are jobs out there for at-home workers. However, no one is actually going to find you a job unless you have a marketable skill. You must know what it is you can do, and then you must find market for it. If you are looking for more ideas and suggestions about working at home, please visit http://www.janktheproofer.com/ArticleIndex.htm Good Luck with your pursuit of a work-at-home job!
Kimberly Hargis. Help support a work-at-home mom by buying your birthday and baby shower supplies at "They Grow Up Too Fast Birthdays & Baby Showers" at http://birthdays.momsbreak.com or just stop by and check out my free printable invitations, card, calendars, games and more.
| | What's REALLY Required To Start An Online Home Business?Written by Gerald Shaw
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What's important is that you have a plan to stick to, a business model to work from and a good idea on how you're going to get there. It's common sense. 8) Products or services to sell. These can either be your own, or an existing product line that plugs in well into your own business model. You should give your website model a theme (for instance, golf) and then you may find that other sites exist that can supply products you require for your own website. Alternatively, your website may be geared towards another sales vehicle (such as advertising revenue) which will require your own unique plan for success. 9) Your own domain name. You can get a domain for approx. $11 from Joker.com now and hooked up to a web hosting company for less than $20 a month. Why would you put your own professionalism in jeopardy for sake of less than 200 bucks a year? Even if you don't use your website as a direct sales vehicle, it'll provide you with a new professional foundation needed to effectively start your business. 10) Money. I won't lie to you, you're not going to get anywhere without at least some investment. It may not have to be a lot (depending on your business model). I started with $500 and now can produce that back every single day online. But joining a free affiliate program with your free URL won't get you anywhere. Just like a "real world" business, there are certain overhead costs that just can't be avoided. 11) Common sense. It's amazing how many people seem to lack this. They join a free affiliate program, grab a free website and promote on search engines and newsgroups... using spam and FFA links, then wonder why they're not yet rich. Here truth: The Internet is a communication's medium and nothing more. The rules of good business practice still apply, only difference is that economy has changed and introduced potential for much greater success through ease and cost efficiency of customer reach and ability to use technology in a big, big way. You still need to think and act like a business. This one point, unless fully grasped, causes most failure. 12) Contacts. As you go down route of success you'll network with many people and develop contacts in industry. If it wasn't for a small group of people I was fortunate to meet along way, I wouldn't have made so many profitable business alliances. Network, network, network! Once known, your name will be said with respect. There you go, my "12 points of success". Of course there are MANY individual sub-topics (which is what makes Internet marketing so huge) like good website design, right marketing knowledge, ability to put technology to use, etc. But it's up to you to learn these aspects. With desire to succeed, constant motivation and willingness to learn, you're limited only by your own mind. Success awaits, you just have to know how to grab it.
Want to hear something crazy? The author of this article, Gerald Shaw, turned his crack-pot marketing skepticism into a $200K per year venture! Learn how for free by contacting him directly: mailto:garyAGME@GetResponse.com
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