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Ideas for online jobs to earn money from home with your computer
Despite the recession, there are still
thousands of small businesses out there that need help with everything
from book-keeping to telephone answering. Just be pro-active when
you're looking for work.
Call and write to potential customers,
show samples of your work, work cheap, work on spec. Go the extra
mile when you are starting to build up a client base and you'll
find that each new customer gets a little bit easier to acquire!
Accountancy,
Book-keeping and Administration
Well, book-keeping really - if you're a qualified accountant,
the world (or at least that part of it that wants help with its
tax ) will beat a path to your door. If you're not an accountant
but have a head for figures and are well-organised, you could
consider offering your services as a book-keeper or administrator.
There are millions of small businesses and sole traders who need
a hand with the 'books' . This can range from keeping basic accounts
through to dealing with VAT returns, payroll, invoicing and credit
control. You'll find that most of the work can be done from home
although you'll usually have to visit your customers physically
from time to time to collect and deliver paperwork.
Book-keeping can be ideal if you need to work around school hours
and holidays as it's something that you can generally arrange
to suit yourself and your employer. Courses are available on-line
and also many local authorities run evening classes on the subject
at a reasonable cost.
There are also a number of software packages such as Sage
which can speed the job up greatly and which come with full instructions
and optional training packages. For word-processing, spreadsheets
and databases, you can get free software at openoffice.org,
this does pretty much the same job as some of the more expensive
branded software such as Excel and is fully compatible so for
example you can open a clients excel spreadsheet in openoffice
Calc and work on it then save it back into an Excel format to
return to the client.
Administration is another service that's often required by small
businesses - taking phone calls, dealing with customer queries
and mail and filing can all be done on an hourly or part-time
basis but you'll usually be employed at the customers premises
unless you are working as a virtual
assistant. Find work by contacting businesses directly or
contact your local chamber of commerce.
Chat line operator
If
you have a sense of humour, are over 18 and don't mind adult talk
over the phone then you could earn ten to fifteen pounds an hour.
You need to sign up with a provider and be prepared to log on
for upwards of 10-20 hours per week. You take calls from men who
ring up for a chat to the operators premium rate numbers, they
are then routed through to your home phone. The chat line company
charges customers for calling a premium rate number and pays the
chat line operator an hourly rate for the time spent 'chatting'.
As with anything related to earning from home, there are a lot
of scams out there so be extra careful of anyone that asks for
money up front as 'set up' or 'registration' fees. It's also important
that you research the company you are thinking of working for
as tales abound of delayed payments and deductions. Most popular
hours for this type of work are late evening to early hours of
the morning so it can fit well around a day job or child care.
You need to be a very unfazed type of person to do this work on
a regular basis as it can often be stressful and unpleasant.
There are higher paying options of chat line jobs doing much
the same kind of thing but with a webcam...you get the picture.
If you don't fancy this but would like to work on the phone from
home try homeshoring
or if you have the gift of the gab, you could look at some other
kind of chatline service such as fortune telling or tarot readings.
Copywriting
There are millions of web sites out there that need content.
If you can string a sentence together and write interesting and
literate prose, you can earn a living writing text for sites.
If you have in-depth knowledge on a subject, then so much the
better. Contact web sites directly or create your own website
and advertise on it. Find out more at :copywriting.com
. See also writing articles.
CV (resumé) Writing
More in-demand than ever with the current gloom in the jobs market,
many people need help with preparing a CV. Even applicants for
high-level jobs can have problems with preparing a CV and covering
letter, especially if they've been out of the job market for a
while. You'll need to set up a web site and post some examples
of your work.
Services you could consider offering are: writing CV's from scratch
based on a questionaire, writing CV's from scratch based on either
personal or telephone interviews or 'tidying up' existing CV's
which clients email you or submit via your website. Check out
the competition for pricing and other ways of adding value.
Dating Agency
It's simpler than ever to start a dating agency but with all
the major players online, you need to add that certain something.
Can you introduce people within a geographical area or with particular
interests and hobbies?
People
run dating agencies for all sorts from Pagans and Wiccans to the
very overweight. You can find templates and customizable sites
for dating websites online which you can then customise to appeal
to your potential customers.
The hardest part of starting a dating agency was always getting
started as there has to be a minimum 'pool' of clients before
you can introduce them to each other, but it's now possible to
sign up with online providers and receive access to hundreds of
possible dates for your clients.
Dating agencies have had some bad press from the point of view
of both members and potential affiliates/resellers so it's important
that you do the research before you start and, in particular try
to check out as many reviews as possible.
In particular look out for sites which don't delete old or expired
profiles as this is a sure way of annoying your members.
E-Books
You can either write your own, you can purchase packages of e-books
which you can re-sell or you can sell someone else's ebooks as
an affiliate. Subjects which sell well are health and diet, starting
a business, and making money at home. Self-help and motivational
books are another big seller. Ebooks sell best as an extension
of a website on related subjects. For example if you are running
a site on keeping fit, then books on subjects such as relaxation,
stress busting, healthy eating etc could sell well.
Host the book on your own site to make the most money - it's
not too difficult to integrate your payment and download options
using a service like paypal. If you don't want to do this then
there are sites like clickbank
who will host your ebook and handle downloads and payment for
a small fee.
Recession-proof income
Many of the ideas on the above list are recession-proof. CV writers
find themselves busy when there is a lot of redundancy
and high levels of unemployment. The credit crunch can also mean
that opportunities for home workers and freelancers increase as
businesses seek to reduce fixed overheads and farm out work.
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