The Demise of My Writing dream

Well once again I have been disappointed in my dream of writing even half time.

Ever since I was in high school, my dream was to be a writer. Unfortunately, writers are paid cheaply or for free. So I had to pursue other more practical jobs. Over all I had an interesting life with much learning experience.

And now that technology has improved by millions, I am again presented a chance to pursue my writing dream thru blogs. It is the latest “in” thing and I really like it that is why I am maintaining my own blog. Unfortunately this seems to be the only thing I am able to afford right now. All other writing jobs I have applied for are just too cheap, it cannot even afford to pay for my DSL line.

I wonder what these people are thinking. Number 1, writers have to do research; number 2, writers have to spend time to think how to come up with a cohesive and coherant article or post of even 100 words; number 3, hey people you are tapping into our brains and putting our writings in your website. This means you are earning..some earning a lot and you are paying us peanuts.

I wonder what these people are thinking, no wonder we haven’t had a modern Shakespeare for years cause nobody wants to die a pauper now. So I guess for now, writing still remains a dream to me and from what I can see it is not taking off anytime soon.

Virtually Over-Qualified???

I recently had the pleasure of chatting with the assistant of a website owner. I was inquiring about my job application as I haven’t heard from them for a week already. Much to my surprise, he told me that although I was a good candidate, the problem is they think I am over-qualified for the job. For a moment I was at lost for anything to say. I never really think of myself as over-qualified even for a simple job of data entry. As long as the pay is good, hey, I am willing to take any job that fits my resume.

One thing people have to remember when you are working online is, there is no one over qualified to do the job. Under-qualified, yes, because if the requirement is for you to know DreamWeaver or Corel or website design, but you do not know anything about it, then it means you are not qualified for the job.

But if the job is just simple data entry, then for a humble AB-MassCommunication graduate like me, I think I am able to handle it. I wouldn’t be too arrogant to think of myself as over-qualified for the job simply because I am working at home. Whatever online job I can find is good enough for me. As long as it means I can work and be with my children whole day, then it is a good job and nothing over-qualified about it.

Virtually yours 3,

A few other thoughts came into my mind after posting Virtually yours two. There are still some online jobs that I have forgotten to mention.

1. Ad posting. This is fairly an easy job and doesn’t need any college diploma or experience. You will be asked to post ads in websites that offer free ad posting. Examples are realtors who wish to post their available units for rent or for sell. Included in the ad posting will be uploading pictures of the unit or house they are selling. Also there are companies who wish to promote their services, so they hire someone to post ad. Actually, this is an easy job, except if you are asked to post like 50 ads in the morning and 50 ads in the evening. Boy!! It took me the whole morning to post those 50 ads for a realtor, and the whole afternoon to post another 50 ads in time for 8pm.

2. Forum Moderator. Well, this is a fun job from the looks of it, but take note, you have to do a lot of research and reading. Naturally, you don’t want to come out foolish and stupid right? As forum moderator, you should be able to know your subject very well else you will create more confusion. And of course, a forum moderator should always be objective, eloquent and knowledgeable.

3. Website seeders. This a a fairly easy job to do but time consuming. A lot of new start up websites usually hire a few people to enter into their site’s databases list of product goods if their site is about products. I once work for an adult website listing all names and details of escorts I could find worldwide.

4. Forums seeders. If there are website seeders then there are forum’s seeders. Newly formed forums, message board or chatrooms usually hire several people to create topics and interact online. This is so to build up forum posting and attract more chatters or members.

Well I have so far listed 16 online jobs for anyone who is interested to work online. Remember even when you are working online, you still have to upgrade yourself in order to be competitive.

Virtually yours two,

This post is entitled Virtually yours two, because I had an earlier post in June entitled virtually yours,. Since I am working virtual, from time to time I may share something for my co-virtual employees, thus virtually yours two for I expect there will be a three, four and five.

To continue with my earlier post, what then are the possible online jobs for anyone who wishes to work online?

1. Intermediary for companies or sourcing for them. A lot of companies are looking for people who could act as intermediary for them due to language barrier, cost cutting and distance. A lot of companies in the US and Europe who do not wish to establish an office in Asia hires virtual employees to work for them. These virtual employees are the ones looking for products or raw matertials for the US firm, purchase the needed products, monitor the shipment and do other various purchasing and sourcing for these companies.

2. Back office support. There are a lot of small to medium size companies and even some big companies who wants to oursource their back office needs due to a number of reasons. So they hire somebody to do their data entry and various admin tasks which could be done online. These companies have the prerogative to hire someone local but working at home or outsource the job globally.

3. Website promotion and website marketing or online promotion and online marketing. This kind of job really needs someone with the proper SEO experience and exposure, although this is a kind of job that can done virtually. One virtual employer of mine hired me to do website promotion without any experience because he has specific instructions for me to do. In short, I was guided by him so it didn’t matter to him whether I had experience or not as long as I know my way around the net. I shall be forever grateful to him for giving me the chance to work in this kind of job and exposing me to the works of website promotion.

4. Research. This is a hard to find job because there are many people vying for this kind of job. As my friend Ken says, research are hard to come by jobs because it is costing money instead of earning money for the company.

5. Sending emails. Although you can use mail merge for mass emailing, yet there are some sites or companies that require sending individualized emails. One example is site requesting for a link. If you are going to request for a link, you cannot do mass emailing because obviously each website has different URLs, aside from this, you have to specify in your email the website page you wish to request for a link.

6. Online customer support. This is one tough job!! Either you are going to answer calls or reply the company’s emails. You have to be well rounded with the company and its’ policies in order to be efficient. Most importantly, you got to have the guts to face the customers live or by print.

7. Data Entry. This I think is the simplest job. You just have to have a good eyesight to do the job. Like research, this is one tough job to find because there are also millions work at home moms looking for data entry jobs.

8. Writing. This is one job where the demand is higher than the supply. It is not because there is a lack of writers, but it is because the pay is sadly lacking.

9. Virtual Assistant. The job becomes easier once you and your employer get to know each other’s intricacies. Although with this job you have to be always on your toes because your tasks are more on real time and not offline work.

10. Virtual Call Center. A lot of small to medium sized companies are also outsourcing their call center needs. One reason is cost cutting, of course they don’t have any monthly overhead cost. Second, no benefits to pay and third, they cannot afford the big time call center companies. So instead they hire someone to be their call center. The job title is fancy and easy but wait till you are there and you would know how tough the job is. As I told one client of mine, all agents start out very sweet and end up as tough as nails.

11. Sales. This is not like telemarketing in the sense, some companies hire people from different places to be their sales agent. Thus you are selling something physically to your own area but still working virtual. So let’s say the company’s product is VOIP phone, you are then hired to sell wholesale this product to your local stores. So you may based in Europe or Asia but the company you are doing the sales for is based in US. So once you have orders, they will just ship the orders to you and you then distribute it to your customers.

12. TELEMARKETING. This one beats all the jobs combined. Guts is only one essential element for this job. You got to have patience, diligence, knowledge, contacts and a lot more to stomach this job. I have done telemarketing for a web conferencing product for three months and I just gave up. When it comes to business and selling, personalized kind is far more efficient than phone.

There are still a lot of other online or virtual jobs available. You just have to know where and how to find it. Of course having a great resume helps, but most importantly, you have to show honesty and sincerity in your job application. A little tenacity along the way also helps. I got my first and second jobs by being tenacious .

Be careful with Work at Home ads…

Just like every mom who wants to work online, I started out being enthusiastic with every Work at Home ads I found. Well, I was new to the field and thus gullible. Needless to say, I was scammed thrice, thank God only thrice because I know of some people who were scammed a lot of times.

One company was Soho, based in Malaysia. I even called up the company in Malaysia and was able to talk to the owner Dr. Lim. I paid $100.00 as earnest money, well, what they gave me was a couple of ads to post that includes the ad that found me. I was given a name of my manager, but then I have never heard from my manager even once to say hi and welcome aboard or something.

The other company was Clerical Gear, which had quite a number of ad typists. I paid almost $60.00 for the job. What I found confusing was that the ads they gave us to enter into websites are ads still looking for typists. At first, the members were enthusiastic about the company since they were able to get payment. But later on, when a lot of ad typists were added, they pay was slow in coming in until it reached a point wherein the whole thing was shut down. A lot of the typists weren’t paid in the end. Up till today I cannot figure out how companies like this earns money. They give you a couple of ads to post. The ads are basically with the same thoughts, but different lines. It invites people to join as ad typist, but once you join, you will discover that you are posting the same ads. It is a scam!!!

Then there was Michelle’s work at home services. This one, I can say I was really stupid. I have read a lot of complaints about this company and the unethical way they went around with their business practice. But then I chose to trust the person who recruited me. Like me, she was a work at home mom. She said that she had received real work like typing for companies and she had been paid too. So I thought that I would go and trust somebody with first hand experience. In fairness to my recruiter, she was really given work and she was also paid. But after several assignments, there wasn’t any assignments anymore and the last paycheck wasn’t even delivered.

So I read and read and read and learn. Real online jobs from real company doesn’t ask you to pay anything!!…This is something every person who wants to work online must know. If a company asks you to pay for a certain work, then forget it!! I have worked for more than 6 companies already, all contractual and NONE of them ask me to pay anything!!! Instead I get paid for all the work I have done.

So to anyone who is interested to work online, read first before you jump. Read about the reviews on the company. Just type in google box the name of the company and you will find a list of related articles or topics regarding the company. Two years ago, the most popular site was perfectjustice or something along that line. Later on, because of lacked of support and finance I guess, the website was shut down. But now I know there are lots of websites with reviews or posted complaints, therefore if you get scammed, it is not out of ignorance but laziness.

Beware of ads that says, you can earn $300-500 per week; how much you earn depends on you; no experience necessary ( most employers want an experienced employee, they don’t want to waste so much time teaching you elementary things except for the company’s rules and regulations ); high school graduates ( most of these legitimate companies require college graduates although there are some that is ok with high school graduates if the work is very simple ), most specially when you reply to an ad and receive notifications that you have to pay a certain fee, then forget it. Remember, you don’t have to pay to get work. There are lot of companies that is looking for a virtual worker to do various stuff and they are not asking for anything except diligence, minimal supervision and quality work. Also, be careful with companies that are commission based. There are a lot of complications involved, unless of course you know the company personally or it is a reputable company.

One thing anyone looking for an online job should remember: If something is too good to be true, then it is too good to be true.