Wanna Try Blogging??

So you want to try blogging. Great! Blogging can be a fun way to try to make some extra cash working at home. The first thing that you have to know is ........patience!! Unlike lots of other work at home jobs, you aren't going to be suddenly receiving paychecks from your blog, but with time you could possibly make big bucks off it. (I know at least twenty bloggers who are making a six-figure income just off their blogs ads.) The key is to keep making quality posts on your blog, no matter how discouraged you are.

Before you create a blog, you need to think of something YOU are interested in. A sucessful blog usually has at least a few new posts every week, so you should at least find something that you won't get bored writing about. For example:If you really enjoy hiking, then maybe you could make a blog about the places you are going to hike, and post interesting pictures and posts about them. You could also talk about the supplies that people need to go hiking, as well as interesting trails they could take. Never forget though, if you want people to read your blog, then it has to be interesting to them too!

Ok. Now that you've got a topic in mind, let's get started! The first thing that you will need for blogging is a platform. A platform is what you will host your blog on. The two best known platforms are Blogger and Wordpress. If you are a beginner blogger, then I recommend that you try Blogger first. It can be a lot easier to use when trying to customize your blog, as well as add posts. With wordpress, you are not allowed to use any javascript on your blog, which means no ads or cool money-making additions. The only way around this is if you host your Wordpress blog on your own server, which is not for the faint of heart. Because of this, we will mainly focus on Blogger in this post.

With Blogger, just go to their website and click the "Create Your Blog Now" arrow, and you will be on your way to having your own blog. On the blog set up page, you will see a few things the you will need to fill out. Your blog title needs to be something that clearly describes your blog, but also sounds interesting. The blog address is what people will type into their address bar to access your blog, so try to make it something that is short and memorable. Next, you will go to a page where you choose a template, which is basically a design pattern for your blog. Try to find something that is easy on the eye, and not too cluttered, or else your visitors will just go to a different blog. Don't worry if you have trouble deciding, since you will be able to change it later. Now it's time to start making some posts! You can start off by making a short post introducing your blog to visitors. Talk about walk you are planning to blog on. After typing, click the "Publish Post". Congratulations, you now have your own blog! Try to make a post at least once every other day, to keep visitors coming back. Next week, I'll talk about how you can get more visitors, and also how you can make money blogging. Until then, try to build up some content on your blog.

Happy Blogging! Don't Forget to Subscribe!!!

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Work at Home Company Sued!

Liveops has prevailed in the lawsuit! To read the article click here!

(Note: This post has received an update. To view it, either go to the main page, or click here.)

I was just looking though the news, and I noticed that Liveops, one of the best work at home phone order companies in my opinion, is being sued! According to Justia Federal District Court Filings & Dockets, Jeannette Gonzalez and Tammy Kerce are the plaintiffs. The lawsuit was filed on December 3, 2007. The presiding judge will be Judge Anthony A. Alaimo.

In addition, one of the plaintiffs of the Liveops lawsuit, Tammy Kerce, appears to also have filed a suit against West at Home, another call company. (Seems like someone's a little sue happy.)

According to the Houston Chronicle:
"two agents in Georgia contends they don't even earn the minimum wage when their training time and nonpaid downtime between calls are factored in. The two women argue they're employees — not independent contractors — and are entitled to minimum wage and overtime pay."

Though these women might be making some points, I think they are clearly off! The Fair Labor Standards act applies only to employees. When they signed up to work for Liveops, they signed a contract, and I clearly remember reading something similar to "I agree that I will be working as an independent contractor, and not a a paid employee. I agree that I will be paid on a case by case basis" (It sounded similar to that when I applied.)
Now, I understand that in some states, agents would be considered employees, even if they signed a contract saying that they are only independent contractors, but if these people hate the job so much, they should go work for someone else! This is how I think it is when you work at home!
Instead, it looks like they're making all of the rest of us agents look bad. I have no idea where they got the idea that they were employees. Liveops makes it clear even in their faq's that we are all independent contractors, though this is a fine line, if you look at how the IRS defines an independent contractor vs. an employee.

A while back, West at Home got in some trouble similar to this, and because of it they changed lots of their agents into employees with fixed pay. Now, I don't know about you, but I like being able to have no limit on how much money I make per hour!

These women need to get a day job at a physical workplace, and let people who enjoy what they are doing work at home!

To view the public records of the court filings visit this link:
http://dockets.justia.com/docket/court-gasdce/case_no-2:2007cv00148/case_id-42631/
-and-
http://dockets.justia.com/docket/court-gasdce/case_no-2:2007cv00081/case_id-41150/

To view the article the Houston Chronicle did on the case, visit this link:
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/sixel/5422587.html

To see a brochure made by the IRS on whether or not a person is an Employee, visit this link:
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p1779.pdf

(And, to me it looks like there is a fine line, but we are still Independent Contractors.)

Any of the names or personal information in this article are based on information obtained from public records, and may not be accurate.

For more information about Liveops, or to apply, follow the link below!
Liveops

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Women Diet Pills

You need a backup!

Many people I know who work at home with phone order processing have told me that they are currently only working for one company. This is definitely not the way to go! These companies are usually seasonal, and you will absolutely see an increase in earnings if you spend your time with different companies at different points of the year. Here's how my schedule is:

Liveops- Though you will usually receive many calls with Liveops no matter when you work, they still are slightly seasonal. The best time to be working with them is anytime from November to February. The reason for this is because before Christmas, many people will be buying the items they see on t.v. as gifts. You will probably get lots of orders on Electronics, kitchen appliances, Books, etc. After Christmas, and usually up to February, there is a huge amount of calls from everyone who ate too much during Christmas, and now want to order dieting or fitness programs!

West at Home- With West at Home, depending on which group you are in, you will probably see a solid influx of customers throughout the year. This is because this company takes orders for many of the shopping channels on t.v. I will usually use this company whenever there aren't seasonal options with other companies.

ACD Direct- Unlike many other call companies, ACD Direct deals with lots of Fundraising drives. There is usually one drive per quarter, and there can be lots of calls during this time. I will usually use them whenever a huge drive is going on, like with a big foundation or radio station.

Though there are many other companies that I think are great in this business, I have not used them enough to be able to say what they specialize in. If you have an idea, or would like more info on any of the companies I have listed please email me!

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Why I Dont ChaCha. (Part 2)

-This is the second part of the post on Why I don't ChaCha-

After seeing that I would be paid anywhere from six to ten dollars per hour with ChaCha, I immediately filled out their online application. After waiting two months, they finally sent me an email asking me to take their entry test. This consisted of three separate tests: an IQ test, a typing speed and accuracy test, and a test to see how quickly I was able to search for information. Thankfully, I passed all of the tests, and became a guide. That's when all of my good feelings towards ChaCha ended.
What I didn't know was that you aren't paid 6-10 dollars per hour, you're paid 6-10 per hour worked. This drastically reduces the pay that you would receive. You could spend five hours online, but only be able to get paid for one hour! Now, if you want some pocket change, then fine, apply to ChaCha. But if you want to make a solid amount, avoid Chacha, there are many better options.
Additionally, Chacha is still in Beta form. They still have some problems to fix. This has caused a lot of guides to be unhappy. One even started her own blog against Chacha:
http://blog.myspace.com/chachasucks
I have even heard of one guide who after working his way up to a master (one of the highest levels at Chacha. You start out as an apprentice.), and taking more than 4,000 searches, he was then demoted back down to Apprentice. I have also heard of guides being deactivated just before they were about to receive their pay, for no reason at all.
Many guides have complained that ChaCha does not care or listen to them. Some guides have even tried to form a boycott, and have no guides work for a day, so that Chacha would take notice. I have to admit, unlike my job at Liveops, I couldn't even find a link to contact ChaCha for guide support. (If there is a link, it must be very hard to find.) After all of this, I decided to quit my Chacha job, and just stick to my current Work at Home jobs. Some of you might like Chacha, but they definitely need to improve before I am willing to recommend them to anyone.

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Women Diet Pills

Why I don't ChaCha. (Part 1)

No, I'm not talking about the dance! Chacha.com is a new search engine that, unlike other search engines, has people who will perform your searches for you. These "helpers", called Guides, are all work at home people like you and me!

Here's how it works: First, a visitor types in a search, and decides to have a guide help them. Next, the guides see that someone needs help, and all try to be the first to help. Then, we guides find the sites that the visitors want, and give them the links.

According to the ChaCha website, you can be paid anywhere from 6 to 10 dollars per hour as a guide, which is great for working at home!

Now, I know you all are probably considering applying this very second, but wait!!!
(I'm dividing this post into two separate posts. Check back soon, or subscribe to see part two, before you apply!!)

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