Long Overdue Post

This blog has been left idle for a long time. It's been almost a month since my last post. What can I say? I've been quite busy the past few weeks and that's busy in a good way.

Work has been coming in sporadically the last few weeks which means that work is there one day, then no work for a few days. That's much better than no work at all. My schedule has been crazy because I drop almost anything I'm doing as soon as I get emails that work is available for the taking, and blogging is almost always the first that gets dropped.

Aside from that, I am also fortunate enough to land another Work-at-home job. Yep, another WAHJ for me. I know I am EXTREMELY LUCKY. A lot of people are getting laid off from their jobs and a lot more couldn't find any so I am really thankful that I have not only the privilege to work at home but to find a job during these difficult economic times.

I have a few topics I really want to blog about in this blog but because of my crazy schedule lately, I haven't been able to do so. I am hoping to do that in the coming days...fingers crossed, again. I just wish I know how to manage my time more efficiently. In the meantime, let me just say...

Hopeful...

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...that this week will bring in some work as far as my coding is concerned. It's been weeks since we had some work from any of the companies I work for. For a while there, I thought we won't be affected much by the economic meltdown [yeah right] because we were getting so much work but it suddenly stopped! Oh well, I guess no one will be spared by it, eh?

It's a holiday today [I think] because it's President's Day so we may not hear from work until tomorrow. Still, I am hoping that we'd get some work one way or another.

This is the biggest downside of being a WAHM. We are ICs or independent contractors so we get paid only if we work. It bites but that's the way it is. Thankfully my family does not rely on the money I make with my work-at-home jobs or we will be in big trouble.

Anyway, here's hoping that work will come in as soon as possible to keep us busy for the months to come. Wishful thinking? Probably...but it's free to make a wish, right?

LiveOps...

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LiveOps is one of the first companies that offers work-at-home jobs I came across with. It was in 2002 when I started looking for one and LiveOps came highly recommended by a lot of people in the chat board I frequent to.

So what is LiveOps? It's a virtual call center that hires work at home agents to take inbound calls from customers who may want order some products they either saw on TV or some kind of a brochure.

I applied for them and another virtual call center called Work At Home Agent. I made to both, which means I passed the modules that they want their agents to go through before they're hired. I even went through the 'mock-up' calls where a trainer would pretend as a customer. But...I didn't have the nerve to actually take 'live calls'. When I got hired by a coding company, I decided to turn my back on my 'almost' work-at-home job.

Anyway, just recently I read somewhere that LiveOps is being sued by some of its agents. I came across the Class Action Lawsuit against the company in the same chat board I found it.

Here's an excerpt from the Class Action Lawsuit:

The Plaintiffs allege that they and other similarly situated Home Agents (1) were improperly classified as "independent contractors" by LiveOps, Inc., (2) that LiveOps, Inc. controlled most, if not all, major aspects of the Home Agent's job, (3) that they were not paid for any training time associated with the job at LiveOps, Inc., (4) that they worked many hours without receiving the equivalent of the federal minimum wage, and, (5) that they worked more than 40 hours during some weeks and was not paid the federally required overtime rate of pay. The Plaintiffs allege that by not paying them correctly, LiveOps, Inc. violated the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1939, 29 U.S.C. §216(b).

Test and Online Scoring....

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Online scoring is another work-at-home job that I have done myself. It's a seasonal job though. I have only worked for one company but there is another I know that hires online scorers but I'm sure there are more out there that probably do that.

The job is very easy. But I find it really boring. Scorers log on to their system and work on students' answers on some kind of a standardized test. Simple huh? Yes, it is but like I said it can be boring because it is monotonous and it's a good sleep inducer. LOL!

Usually, the cycle only lasts for about a month or a little over a month. The pay is better than a lot of other jobs, work-at-home or even those that are done outside the home. If only it's offered the whole year-round, I'd probably be doing this even if it bores me to tears.

WAHM Job Part III

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It took a while before I was able to update this blog. It was just a busy few weeks for me that is why. I have been blogging a lot and doing my other work as well...which is known as Coding. It's not as busy as it was a few years ago but I'm just glad that I am able to make a few bucks here and there. Anyway, this brings me to the next WAH job that I have been doing for a few years now...about 5 years.

So what is Coding? It's basically Data Entry....and it's one of the most sought after jobs in the work-at-home or telecommuting industry. A lot of people can probably do this but not everyone can get into it because of stiff competition. If anything, luck is usually what's needed to get ones foot in the "Coding industry" door.

So how did I get in? Luck like I said. When I started looking for a work-at-home job, I applied to almost all of the coding companies. I even got scammed once....yes, just once. I fell for those "pay a one-time $15 Fee for Training Materials" scams that are all over the net. I though just like any other job seekers out there are thinking. It's only $15 so it's not a lot money...but can you imagine if at least 5 people fall for it a day? That would be $75 a day and there's a big chance that most of these people won't bother get their money back because....yes, it's only $15. Not me though...as soon as I got the so called 'training materials', I knew right away that it's a scam. What did I do? I filed a dispute with PayPal and thankfully, they refunded my money.

Okay before I get any further, let me explain first what's in the 'training material' first. Usually, this training material would come in an email as an attachment. It's about 20 pages [possibly even more] of instructions...on how to convince other to pay $15 or even more for that same 'training material'. Yes, it's recycled over and over and over again. I bet that same material is still in existence up until today...and there are still a lot of innocent people desperate for a work-at-home job who are falling for it.

Back to Coding and how I got into it. Like I mentioned luck was on my side. You see a big coding company, originally called as Onsite but is now known as Onsite3, did massive hiring back in 2002. Since I had an active application with them, I was one of those they called. I took the test and passed...the rest is history as they say.

After getting hired by Onsite3, it was easier to get in the other companies. Most of the other companies require experience that's why. Right now I work for 2 other companies aside from Onsite3. One is very new while the other has been in business for a while and have been bought out recently. I am not listing their names simply because they don't have any opening right now. One company I used to work for is called Cypher but they ceased operation at the end of October 2007 unfortunately. There are others that also closed down.

Right now it's been very slow in the Coding industry. The new company hasn't had work for the last few weeks while Onsite3 releases small projects every now and then. Only one has been having work for the last couple of weeks.

That's about it. Maybe one day I will be able to post here when one of the companies I'm working is hiring.

Jewelry Making...

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... as a home-based business? Why not, right? A lot of people are into jewelry so it can be a good business.

I am not much of an artist but from what I have read, even those like me who do not have even a single drop of creativity in my blood can actually pull it off.

I have not tried it but if work stays this slow much longer, I may just give it a shot. I almost tried one before but I got busy with my other jobs.

It's the one where the company will send you a kit to make some crosses then send them back for approval. If they pass the inspection, you get paid for the ones you finished. But some made more money by buying the kit and selling the necklaces in fairs or friends.

Not sure what happened to the company already since I have not heard about it in a while. From what I read before, some did not get paid but some are still doing it. So it's worth checking out...it maybe one way to make some extra bucks to pay for some gasoline at least.