Virtual Thoughts

It has been a very frustrating week for me. Why? because I got two inconsiderate clients who haven’t paid yet.

I can’t understand why people treat their online workers like S.H.I.T!!! If we are working in their office, most likely our compensation are always on time, but what do they do to virtual workers? Let them sweat it out for payments. No matter how many emails you sent to inform them that their monthly payment is due, they just ignore it, worst thing is, you keep receiving emails with instructions on your work.

One virtual colleague of mine complained to me the other day. Her employer pays her every end of the month, she would want payment every two weeks, but it’s an inconvenience for her employer so he rather pay her on a monthly basis, and that is fine if he pays on time, the thing is he doesn’t. So what happens? she is late on her payment for the room and board and the landlady has asked her very politely to leave because she is always late!

Why can’t these virtual employers be more considerate? You expect a certain quality of the work rendered by your virtual workers, isn’t it common courtesy to pay on time? What if your virtual worker is the breadwinner of the family? Is she going to tell her kids or other family members to hold on eating for a while because Y.O.U haven’t paid?

What these virtual employers don’t realize is that they have all the advantage already on getting home based worker, let me count it off:

1. home based workers or virtual workers are cheaper than actual worker, everybody knows that.

2. home based workers are paid on a monthly basis or every two weeks, the thing is it’s always late payment. If you get a big call center, you have to prompt on your payment.

3. Big call centers request for revolving funds, home based call center operator has to have own funds to pay their workers.

4. If the employer is late in payment, the home based worker cannot do anything unless they want to let go of the project. With big call center, try not paying and see if they won’t sue you.

5. There is no holiday for home based worker except for Christmas and New Year. One absent because you’re sick or something, the virtual employer would want to deduct your compensation. With office workers, at least they have two weeks off vacation with pay, plus sick leave and maternity leave all with P.A.Y.

6. Home based workers are expected to work harder because you are home based.

So please virtual employers P.A.Y. On T.I.M.E.

I think I should implement a rule that for every late payment there would be a fine or a day off for us, sounds much better instead of me hounding them with emails.

Somebody once said that ” I want to work at home so I can be with my kids, discipline them and raise them”. I forgot who said that, or was it me???? I must be insane at the time I said it, because really my kids are driving me crazy!

Truthfully, I really, really love my kids. Nothing in this world can complete my life but them. I have added several pounds to my once 118 pound body and yet, no regrets, if I have the choice to do it again, I will. BUT, raising kids isn’t an easy task, it is giving me lots of gray hairs. Imagine two boys, quarreling every few seconds ” he pushed me first”, “he kicked me first”, ” he bit me first”, ” he scratched me first”, etc., etc., etc., the list of complaints is endless. They are only sweet and adorable when asleep.

But one of the biggest benefits of working at home is that I get to be financially independent. And this is what I would like to stress out to stay at home parents.

I have been working online for four years already, and I will continue to work online even when the kids are grown up. Why? Because aside from the fact that I am earning, I am also learning and growing. Technology will never cease to amaze me. There is so much going on in the internet for individuals to learn. If I am working in a corporate office, I may not be able to learn what I have learned so far.

But we have to admit that working at home may not be for everybody. Some people cannot stand social isolation. Working at home is very lonely, you cook, you mind the kids, you wash, you do household chores and then you work online. Nobody chat with, laugh with or joke around, except when your husband comes home at night.

The bottom line is, raising kids takes approximately 10 - 12 years of their lives. At thirteen, they are teenagers already and may not depend so much on mommy to bathe them, feed them or play with them. The growing up years are very precious and I wouldn’t want to miss that. It amuses me the way my sons speak like me, or the way they imitate me when I am angry at them or scolding them.

So if you don’t want to miss your kids’ precious growing up years and you also want to be able to generate income for yourself, plus you crave for self-growth, then working online is a good choice.

Gone are the days when people submit their resumes personally to companies or snail mail them. Nowadays, a lot of companies are accepting resumes via emails. A lot of companies looking to outsource do also check the resume post section of job sites like Craigslist, Yahoo, Monster and a lot of other job sites for potential candidates to contact, this gives job seekers a greater chance of exposure.

There are however certain protocol to follow when posting your resume, so please be guided accordingly.
1. Please do not capitalize or bold all words and letters in your resume and cover letter. I have came across several resumes in this form which is very irritating to the eyes and irritating to read too. It also denotes a disrespectful and obnoxious personality. In the virtual world, capitalizing or bolding all words is akin to shouting, so make note of this.

2. Please post your resume in the appropriate place. There is always a section for resume posting. Do not post your resume in pages for job posting. For sure, it will be harder for companies to find your resume. Besides, posting your resumes in inappropriate places bespeak of your character like unable to follow rules and instructions. How will you be a trusted and efficient virtual worker if you cannot abide by site’s simple rules and regulations? If I were a company looking for a virtual employee, for sure I will not consider you.

3. Make sure your resume is original. The reason why I am stating this is because I have found some people copying my resume. I am not saying that I have a brilliant resume, but while browsing through Craigslist Philippines resumes, I found several person’s resume much like my own, and note my resume was posted way earlier than theirs.

It is very important to create a professional and dignified online presence, and having a professional and dignified resume is a start of showing off your virtual character.

A few days ago, I was able to talk to my sister who works as a nurse practitioner in the States. I was inquiring about possible online opportunities for Medical Transcriptionist as I have a virtual friend who is looking for more Medical Transcription projects.

The bad news is she says, there is now a software that is being used by their medical facility company. With this software, they can just enter the medical data and with just one click, the transcription is produced. The software is programmed for Medical Transcription, so there is no need for a Medical Transcriptionist plus the medical facility gets to save a lot a of pay outs for medical transcriptions.

This is a sad news for Medical Transcriptioners and work-at-home moms indeed. One possible online job taken away by the invention of new software. What new software will be invented next, I wonder? If there are going to be Robots in the future to replace works done by humans, what will happen to the rest of the global working population then? All laid off except for the ones in the Medical Field ( you can’t get a Robot to diagnose diseases, or can you? ), I can imagine the dialogue now:

“I’m sorry Jose, but I have bought a Robot to do administrative tasks for me, so I have to let you go.”

One good thing about virtual is you get the chance to meet a lot of nice and inspiring people which ordinarily you wouldn’t have a chance to meet because of geographical reason.

A few months ago, I had the great pleasure of meeting virtually a very inspiring man by the name of David Newby. In case you haven’t heard of him, he is a financial consultant and a wealth coach. He is also the author of the national best selling book “Why didn’t Anyone Teach me This?”.

A friend of mine in CA recommended his book. It is simple yet informative and highly refreshing. There are a lot of advices which are really simple and easy to use and which a lot of us are ignorant about. In case you are wondering what all these advices are, then let me tell you, most of them are financial advices which the author himself have experienced and which were quite expensive experiences too. What amazes me is that he has been through the darkest time of a man’s life ( that is being BROKE! ), and yet, he was able to take hold of his finances, make a turnaround and retired at a young age of 32! And note, he drives a Lamborghini too!

All I can say is, for anyone who is interested in how to improve their financial status, how to get a grip of their financial expenses and how to prepare for their retirement nest egg, this is the book to read. What is great is that he also holds coaching and consultation calls, which my friend is an active participant. My friend is just so grateful about meeting him and getting financial advices from him. The nice thing when I converse with my friend is that I get to hear all the financial advices by David Newby.

Incidentally I have included links to his websites in my Blogroll. Try to check out Financial Planning 202 and David Newby’s Prosperity Power System, who knows, you may be retiring sooner than you think.