Business Opportunities Weblog

September 18, 2007 by Rich Whittle | 3 Comments

CNNMoney.com:

Economic news out last week pointed to a weakening trend in job growth. With tightening credit standards and a stagnant housing market and worries about a recession on the horizon, you may be thinking about padding up that bank account a little. We’ll tell you how to make a little extra income at home.

1. Get the right environment. Most work at home jobs will require a high-speed Internet connection. You will also need a dedicated phone line and a quiet place to work.

2. Think customer service. There’s a growing number of call center jobs that are outsourced to third party companies that then hire home-based workers to call or order.

Alpine Access is a company that handles calls for retailers like J. Crew and 1-800-Flowers, using over 7,000 home-based agents. Agents can earn about $15 an hour. Here are some other companies that hire virtual call agents: liveops.com and repsforrent.com.

3. Be a virtual assistant. A lot of small business owners need personal assistants, so they’re hiring people from remote locations to do administrative work. As a virtual assistant you’ll be responsible for arranging schedules, planning events and coordinating travel and word processing.

Virtual assistants generally make from $20-$55 an hour. Fees are higher for legal research, public relations work, or corporate consulting. To look into opportunities in this field, check out Staffcentrix. You can also go to the International Virtual Assistants Association at IVAA.org.

Photo by MSDesigns.

In Technology, Telecommuting, Work at Home | 3 Comments