Forms of Data Entry

When I was starting out, that is starting to look for online jobs, I thought that Data Entry would be the easiest thing to do. I mean, I don’t have much experience working online, I am not a technical gal, so what else is there available for a novice like me?

But to my surprise, data entry like VA comes in many forms too.

To an accountant, data entry would possibly be entering invoices and billings in Quickbooks. Now if you don’t know Quickbooks and if the accountant is too busy to train you, then just lost a potential job.

For real estate property management firms, data entry may be creating monthly spreadsheets for various expenses and for reports to the unit owners, or keeping track of tenants.

An individual entrepreneur may need somebody to do data entry like entering information into an excel spreadsheet. The thing is, before entering anything, you have to do a lot of researching and reading first in order to get the correct information to enter.

Companies may require you to call other companies to confirm the information in their file. Now if you are shy or your english may have a heavy regional accent, calling could be a problem, because the companies you are calling may become suspicious. Others require you to use Excel to keep track of expenditures or sales report.
Still other data entry jobs are to do with excel spreadsheets and numbers. If you are not an expert on Excel Spreadsheet, again, this could be a problem if you are asked to create one with automatic calculations.

So the next time you apply for a data entry job, ask first what kind of data entry is involve. It may be more complicated than what you know or you just may be lucky that it is something you are an expert with.

Almost Got Scammed! by Harris Black aka Martin Feldman

Almost everyday, I checked out Craigslist for any new job postings. One is to see if there are new work opportunities and the other is to check what other tasks people are outsourcing. The second reason for checking Craigslist is so I can update and upgrade myself. It doesn’t pay to be a stick in the mud. All of us has to keep up with the ever changing time and technology.

I was checking through the ads in Bangalore when I found an online job that I really like, which is answering emails. The owner of the ad said that he gets around 500-1,000 emails a day and need someone to help him answer all the emails. So I applied for the job. I got a response that very day. But then, I was a little suspicious because the response was a scripted one. Usually, the business or individuals who responds to the job ads reply in a more personal manner.

The name of the CEO is Martin Feldman and his website is www.careerexperts.org.

He gave me a series of email responses, four different emails to be exact. Based on the email he gave me, he is a recruiter and has been operating for 15 years already in North America. My question is, if he is a recruiter in North America, then why is he based in Asia as he told me? Another question is, if he has a list of the jobs available, then why is his site promoting writing resume? This doesn’t fit at all. I sent him 2 emails asking him if there are really jobs for the job applicants. I didn’t receive an answer for that.

My job was to post in various cities in Craigslist, and then reply back to the emails I have received with the first document. Then when the job applicants reply again, I am to send another scripted email. This all sound very fishy to me.

So what I did, I googled his name and viola, it’s confirmed, he is a scam artist. His real name is Harris Black and you can read all about him in http://www.harrisblackwatch.com/

Well I am glad that after four years of working online, I am not so naive after all. I must admit that I got scammed several times when I was starting out and thank God, I was able to find out info about this guy so I do not help him scam other people.

Dream or Reality?

Last January 26, 2008 I had the opportunity to speak with a potential very nice client. Everything went well with our talk, and the price rate was very reasonable. He was looking to hire one of my call center agent. So on January 28, 2008, we had another round of call and this time he was able to talk to his assigned agent, did a little interview with her and welcomed her on board. After that, we talked again and he informed me that he will start training her on Wednesday, which is January 3o so that she can start working Feb. 4, 2008.

A weird thing happened after that, we didn’t hear from him. We called him up, and got his voicemail, I sent him numerous emails and got no reply, which is very unlike him. Up to this moment, I am still trying to contact him.

Did something happen to him? I wonder….maybe he met an accident? Because it is impossible for him not to be in touch. Maybe he changed his mind about using our services? I don’t think so, because he told me he need seven people and I provided one of the seven call center agents. If he doesn’t want to use our services, he would have said something.

Out conversation and email exchange couldn’t be just a dream for me cause my agent was able to talk to him too. What do you think happened to him??