Way back in 2006, whew, two years IS a long time, technologically homeshoring burst on the work at home scene with much promise.

According to this article, “when the offshoring debate was in full fury, the director of vendor relations at 1-800-FLOWERS.com ran a pilot project to see if the company should be taking advantage of the new labor arbitrage.”

With the calls routed to an India based call center, the project was less than a success.

Why?

Florists often double as condolence therapists, interior design coaches, and relationship strategists. The call center employees were difficult to understand. Management was afraid that the company would lose sales.

Yet today, homesourcing, the art of outsourcing call center work to home-based US workers, has matured into a viable enterprise for work at home moms. There are literally thousands of opportunities that are available right now for home-based workers.

One source of call center processing is Craigslist. Find your city / state, then search for the key phrases, “homesourcing”, “call center”, etc.

But, be careful. Do your diligence. Never agree to any offer asking for an up-front monetary investment. Such terms are almost often “scammy” in nature.

search for : homesourcing, outsourcing call center

We are a Los Angeles based retained search firm that has, in the past, created top quality articles for deployment to our clients and contacts and for publication as well.

Our goal is to establish a long term relationship with a ghostwriter that will be capable of taking our initial research and insight and building the complete article with little additional direction.

The ideal writer will have experience in business with management-level expertise, knowledge of best practices (in HR/recruiting are a plus!) and a strong desire to create valuable content.

The length of each new article is expected to be roughly 1,500 words.

For information about our company and to see past articles that we’ve written please feel free to visit www.jpa-consulting.com.

Please provide hourly/project based salary requirements with cover letter and resume.

Contact:
Max Lang

* Location: Santa Monica
* Compensation: TBD
* Telecommuting is ok.

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It’s the 21st century and the workplace has changed.

Telecommuting, teleworking, virtual teams and a host of other “idioms” have become mainstream terms for large, medium and even small business management.

Many of us who work virtually tend to limit our connections to voice, email, video conference, web forums and web meetings. For the baby boomer generation, these are the technologies we know best, what we’re comfortable with, and what works for us.

But, for the younger workers, particularly the Gen-Y populace, virtual teams are moving beyond mere video conferencing into an era of “social networking“.

Per Wikipedia,

A social network is a social structure made of nodes (which are generally individuals or organizations) that are tied by one or more specific types of interdependency, such as values, visions, idea, financial exchange, friends, kinship, dislike, conflict, trade, web links, sexual relations, disease transmission (epidemiology), or airline routes. The resulting structures are often very complex.

The best known virtual communities (also known as e-communities or online communities) are MySpace and Facebook. How they are now used in the business environment is the subject of several recent articles

Business finds a place on MySpace

Why Social Networking Can Mean Serious Business for Your Virtual Teams

with surely more to come.

Stay tuned.

search for : Telecommuting, virtual teams

International US-based translation service seeks several free-lance copy-editors cum proofreaders for the editing/proofreading of English translations of French source documents, and French translations of English source documents.

At this time, the search is limited to the English ? French pair of languages. Suitable candidates must have i) native fluency in the target language; ii) advanced proficiency in the source language (reading and comprehension); iii) a minimum of 5 years of demonstrated experience in copy-editing and/or proofreading; iv) excellent general education (preferably backed by a college or graduate degree) such as needed to grasp quickly written material on a wide range of topics; and v) excellent writing ability such as acquired by formal studies and/or extensive reading.

The company is also interested in reviewing applications by retired editors/copy-editors with appropriate experience, which would be desirous to remain active in their field after retirement.

Most documents to be edited broadly relate to the general area of economic development, and constitute most of the time interesting reading for the right person.

Key tasks include:
Coy-editing: checking texts for grammar, consistency (abbreviations, capitulations, etc.), structuring (headings, tables, creating table of content, etc.), writing quality and flow;
Proofreading: accuracy of translation against (original) source document, internal referencing (page numbers, etc.)
Remuneration is competitive.

Please forward your CV and copy-editing samples if you are interested( 1 or 2 pages). We look forward to hear from you.

Have a wonderful day.

* Location: worldwide
* Compensation: .3cents ($)
* Telecommuting is ok.

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Saturday’s research, blogging articles that will help you

1. attract and retain readership,

2. make you money online.

We’re looking for a seasoned advertising copywriter who wants to do it all again.
If you can turn your ideas into cutting memorable ads, we?ll give you that opportunity. We?re looking for an experienced advertising copywriter who has done consumer, pharmaceutical, or business to business advertising copy in print and possibly radio.

We?ve been doing highly creative recruitment advertising for over 30 years and we?re looking for a solid advertising copywriter with a lively mind and cutting approach. We want to bring the flair of what you?ve done in the past to our recruitment advertising.

You must be able to work from your home in Hawaii and you must have a high speed Internet connection. We?re located in New York City and we would like to work with a copywriter who is comfortable working remotely. Please email samples (that can be viewed on a PC) of the best print ads you?ve done with resume to: cd@mcfrank.com:

* Location: Remote
* Compensation: hourly/project based
* Telecommuting is ok.

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Microsoft’s Business Contact Manager will certainly increase in both popularity and usage with the firm’s recent announcement that it will offer Microsoft Outlook 2007 with Business Contact Manager as a standalone product.

Business Contact Manager (BCM) adds customer resource management (CRM) features to Outlook. Long-time users of Outlook already know that the package lets us manage contacts, e-mail, a calendar, and tasks.

Business Contact Manager extends those capabilities to add accounts, business contacts, and business opportunities (such as sales) to your Outlook data. These items appear under their own Business Contact Manager branch in the folder list. Since you are comfortable using Outlook, you can start tracking your business items with the same level of comfort.

Another great benefit of using Business Contact Manager is that it gives you the means to easily integrate all information about a customer account in one place. You can easily link e-mail, contacts, notes, documents, and other items related to an account and view and manage those items from a single point. The result is the capability to organize all account data in one location, quickly find information, and improve customer response. Read more »

Do you have an entertainment, fashion, celebrity or urban culture blog with a Google page rank greater than 2? Canada Blog Friends needs your help.

We are currently searching the nation for the best blogs - and paying top dollar for links.

* Location: Canada wide
* Compensation: TBD
* Telecommuting is ok.

Read more »

According to Wikipedia, “Workers’ compensation (colloquially known as workers’ comp in North American English or compo in Australia) provides insurance to cover medical care and compensation for employees who are injured in the course of employment, in exchange for mandatory relinquishment of the employee’s right to sue his or her employer for the tort of negligence. ”

While those of us who work from home and also self-employed are not covered by an employer’s workers’ comp policy, others who read this blog telecommute or work at home while employed by a company or corporation.

But, even though covered by the policy, do workers’ compensation benefits extend to those who work predominately outside the normal office or factory environment?

That question is currently being addressed in the state of Tennessee, as well as other locales around the world.

With thousands of Tennesseans engaged in telecommuting, companies and insurers are working to get legislation introduced that would prohibit or minimize employer liability to those employees.

It’s a battle that could grow intense, pitting businesses and insurance companies against labor groups over the complications that can arise out of new workplace trends. Read more »

search for : work from home, self-employed, workers’ comp, telecommute

Professional that has an upcoming (and very unique) project to begin working on is in need of an individual to translate the content from English to Spanish once it’s complete. YOU NEED TO LIVE IN THE METRO ATLANTA AREA.

Because of the nature of this project, you will be asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement. It is a relatively small project (i.e 10-20 pages max) but one that will require excellent translation that reads well. There will be a second person (that is bilingual) to read over it and provide feedback. If you are a native of a Spanish-speaking country, please indicate which one because there are slight differences in words/terminology used among people that are in Spain versus Mexico, Puerto Rico, Ecuador and other countries.

This is perfect for a college student looking to make some extra cash or stay-at-home parent. When it’s time for you to start the project, please be available to come into the office to complete it on a weekday evening (anytime between 4-7 p.m.) or on a Saturday morning or afternoon. The turnaround time shouldn’t take more than an hour or hour and half max to complete because it’s not a large project. Planning, and other work on the project will begin on this Friday and should be ready (based upon the time it takes to select and screen the right candidate) for you to translate by the end of next week. Based on how this project goes, this could lead into an ongoing business relationship where more work will be given to you on a when-needed, as-needed basis.

* Location: Gwinnett
* Compensation: $0.05 per word for total word count of document OR $100.00 flat fee
* This is a part-time job.

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In 2006, more than 12 million U.S. employees worked from a remote location at least one day a month, up from 7.6 million in 2004, according to the latest report from WorldatWork. Toss in self-employed individuals, and the number of work at home employees rises to nearly 29 million, or about 20% of the workforce.

Many newer telecommuters wonder if they can qualify for a home-office deduction. The first basic test is if you use the space regularly and exclusively for business. But “exclusively” doesn’t necessarily mean an entire room.

Instead, business deductions are based on the percentage of your home that is used for business. So if your office occupies 10% of your home, you could deduct 10% of your household expenses, including utility bills, insurance, maintenance, property taxes and mortgage interest, plus any direct costs such as painting the walls. Read more »

search for : self-employed, work at home employee, telecommuters

Data360 is looking to hire an individual to manage the blogging program for its website, www.data360.org.

Candidate should have a passion for data, analysis, charting and current events. Responsibilities will include a) searching the internet for interesting data, charts and graphs, b) managing 3-5 offshore individuals who will load the data onto the site, c) writing summary analysis of graphs and data and d) discussing and deciding with the other members of the Data360 what data will be published.

This is a part-time position, approximately 5 to 10 hours per week, intended for someone currently going to college in the Bay Area. Most of the work can be completed remotely. Selected individual will be expected to visit our downtown San Francisco offices at least once every two weeks.

Interested individuals should send a resume and cover letter to Julie Cooper at julie@websterpacific.com.

* Compensation: $20 / hour minimum
* Telecommuting is ok.
* This is a part-time job.

Read more »

Escaping the nine to five drudgery, the daily commute, nosy co-workers and pushy bosses all sound wonderful but just how do you achieve these lofty goals. And, at the same time, gain a sense of worth, helping other with their problems.

As strange as it may seem, using your decorating skills, along with utilizing you sense of order may make you a great “home stager” and entice others to pay you for that service.

Home staging combines decorating techniques with business and real estate strategies so stagers can use decorating skills to help owners sell their homes in record time for record profits, a service especially needed in this slow real estate market.

Several books exist on the topic. Shown here is maybe the best in that this large in-depth manual teaches pertinent tactics and strategies so anyone can succeed who puts forth the effort. Printed in limited quantities, it has just been updated and sprinkled with generous photos.

To fill the void for promotional aids and tools (such as slideshows, scripts, postcards, websites, personal videos, furniture moving tools and so forth), there are plenty of details and links on what else to consider getting and why they will help readers build a strong, viable home staging business.

search for : Home staging, slow real estate market

Our firm is looking for a technical writer to help design and produce product and training documentation for an established software project planning application. Documentation will be delivered in both manual and on-line formats. Ideally the candidate would work out of our Boulogne Billancourt (Paris, France) office but some remote work is possible. Work hours can be flexible based on the candidate’s availability. This is an international company so most documentation will be produced in English and then translated into other languages, although there is the possibility of producing documents first in French.

Responsibilities and duties
? Learn the project planning application in order to analyse documentation needs.
? Design and update product training manuals, user guides, administration guides, user case studies, white papers and other customer oriented document using Microsoft Word and HTML based tools.
? Work with Engineering, Quality Assurance, and Support to review and edit documentation work.
? Work with Marketing to edit and update customer oriented documentation on the company Knowledge Center.

Qualifications and requirements
? Experience with MS Word and Adobe Acrobat.
? Familiarity with HTML or HTML editing tools is a plus.
? Experience with the MS Windows operating system. UNIX system experience is a plus.
? Excellent written communication skills; able to convey complex concepts concisely and clearly to a variety of audiences.
? Familiarity with project planning tools like MS project is a plus.
? Excellent verbal communications skills; able to work with all departments (including Development, Marketing, Support, and executive management) and understand how their goals affect documentation.
? Self-starter able to proactively resolve issues and move project ahead in a dynamic start-up environment.
? Desire to work in a fast paced, international company where English is the common language in the workplace.

This is an excellent position for some one who wishes to work part time or wishes to gain experience in the technical writing field working for an established company.

* Location: Paris, France
* Compensation: We pay French market contract rates
* Telecommuting is ok.

Read more »

Telecommuting or working from home is a flexible work arrangement that enables an employee to work away from the employer’s location, all or part of the time. Telecommuting can be challenging, depending upon the employee and the employer.

Some employees separate work and personal lives successfully. Others may require the separation a work location offers. Generally, independent, self-starters will succeed while telecommuting.

Many books exist on the subject of telecommuting, shown here is one of the best. This book recognizes telecommuting?s pitfalls and shows how to avoid them. It advocates topics that will not just allow you to become a good telecommuter, but a power telecommuter who accomplishes more, communicates better, and stays effective and visible when virtual.

search for : Telecommuting, working from home