Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Be a ChaCha guide!

ChaCha is the new big thing in search engines and I'm sure eventually it will catch on! They have only been around since September of '06 but have blown up in size really quickly.

ChaCha is a search engine where you have the choice to do the searching yourself or have a search "guide" do the searching for you.

As a ChaCha guide you communicate with customers through an instant messenging type of chat and find out exactly what they are looking for and then you find it for them. It's easy! If you know how to search the web efficiently, you can be a guide!

There are a few stipulations for being a ChaCha guide: you must be 18 years old and be a resident of the United States. You must also have good customer service skills as you have to know how to deal with sometimes rude customers or "info seekers" as they are called.

I have worked as a ChaCha guide since October 2006 and have been paid many times and can tell you that they are definitely legit! As far as pay goes, you first go through some training searches that are unpaid. Once you make it to "pro" status you are then paid $5.00 per search hour. You can pick your own keywords and then train on those keywords to become "pro" and then a "master". You are also paid to train other guides on their keywords. Once you reach "master" status you are given "invites" that you can use to invite other people to become a guide. Once they become a guide and start earning money you also earn a commission percentage of what they make, so it's almost like getting free money if you can get a good network of guides underneath you!

To get paid you must sign up with an internet bank through ChaCha and this bank will send you a debit card. On your profile you will be able to see how much money you have made so far and whenever you are ready to be paid all you have to do is push the "pay me now" button and the money will be on your debit card for you to use in a store or get money out of an ATM with!

The only way to become a ChaCha guide is to get an "invite" from a current guide. I currently have a few invites left if anyone is interested. You can email me at: tatteredsoul77@aol.com and tell me why you think you would be a good ChaCha guide! If I think you will be a good candidate I will send you an invite!

Thursday, February 22, 2007

How about a Texting Operator?

Are you asking yourself, what the heck is a texting operator? Most people do when they hear those words! Not many people know about the texting industry but it's a great way to earn money and it is currently my main work at home job at this point in time.

Let me explain what texting is. Most texting companies are located in the UK. They advertise as a texting chat line where people can chat with others through texting. As a texting op. you are literally paid to chat! Most companies give you a pre-made profile and you chat to customers or "punters" as if you were the person in this profile. Your goal is to keep the punter texting back as they are paying to text you and that is how you earn money! A lot of texting is adult oriented but there are companies who also do non-adult and tarot reading.

All companies work differently. Some require that you work a minimum amount of hours per week. Some have a schedule or "rota" that you use to schedule yourself to work in advance while others allow you to come and go as you please. The great thing about texting is that most companies allow you to pick your own hours each week! If you have an appointment coming up you can schedule aruond that. Most companies pay per text message that you send out, however a few pay per hour and some also offer bonuses if you keep a high retention level.

The problem with texting jobs is that they sometimes take awhile to get into as most companies have a very long waiting list.

You can find company listings on various forums and message boards. I've recently come across a yahoo group called Work at home people. If you do some research you should be able to find other forums that provide information on the texting industry.

My advice when applying is to apply to every company you come across. Tell them a bit about yourself and be honest with them by telling them that you don't currently have any texting experience but are interested in getting into the industry. You can also dress it up a bit by telling them how long you have been using the internet and various chatrooms/instant messenger programs and what sort of creativity you may have. When you email them, ask them to please place you on their waiting list for when they might have upcoming positions available. Also, you will want to email them every 2-3 weeks just to make sure that your name is on their waiting list and to keep your name fresh in their heads!

Friday, February 16, 2007

Where to start?

A lot of people are leary of work at home jobs and I can't blame them. There are so many scams out there trying to steal money out of innocent people's pockets and it's hard to know which ones are legit and which ones aren't. That's why I have decided to start this blog. I have tried and tested many work at home jobs. Some have paid, some haven't. I'm going to tell you which ones worked for me and which ones didn't!

My first word of advice: DO NOT pay to work! There are hundreds of advertisements in newspapers and magazines promising that you can make $1,000.00 a week just for stuffing papers into envelopes or putting little toys together. It sounds great, doesn't it? Have you ever called about any of these jobs? I have! The first thing they tell you is that you have to send them X amount of dollars to get your "starter kit". That should stop you right in your tracks. No job should ever ask you for money to work for them! If you went to a face to face interview and they told you if you gave them $50.00 they would hire you, wouldn't you be a little bit suspicious? Exactly! Any job that wants you to pay them money up front is a big fat scam!

There are so many online job opportunities out there and sometimes it can be a bit overwhelming not knowing where exactly to start. My suggestion is to find a few work at home forums and look around. A couple of my favorites are www.wahmzone.com www.wplh.com and www.wahm.com. (I will add a favorite links section to my blog for all of the links I mention in my posts.) These forums are full of people that do legit work from home. You can get information on all types of work at home opportunities and talk to these people to find out exactly how they work and what you need to do to get started! This way you know exactly what you are getting into before taking that first step!

My next post will introduce you to my main source of work at home income. It's something that not many people know about but can be great and flexible work for you to do from the comfort of your own home!

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

My 3 inspirations!





















These are the 3 biggest things that motivate me to work every day..my kids!

Saturday, February 10, 2007

Are you ready to work from home?

Before getting into specific work at home opportunities, I'm going to go over a few things to consider before you decide to pursue things further.

There are many different types of people who would like to find a legit way(s) to make money from the comfort of your home. Many of you are like me, a parent who wants to stay home with your children and not give up that quality time while still being able to contribute to the family finances. Some of you may not have a choice as is my case, considering the cost of transportation on top of not having family or friends to babysit your children and having to pay a hefty price out of your pocket for daycare. Working out of the home wouldn't even be profitable in my case as daycare for three toddlers would eat up any sort of paycheck I might make! Some of you might already have an out of home job but would like a way to earn some extra spending money on the side, while others of you might just choose to stay in the comfort of your home and make a decent income for yourself and your family! Whatever your situation may be, there are a few things to consider.

First, you need to make sure that you have some sort of reliable high speed internet access as most internet companies require high speed internet access to accomodate their website and applications. You also need good anti-virus software so that you dont have any unexpected crashes or slow downs.

Secondly, you need to consider your surroundings! If you are looking for some sort of telephone customer service work then you will need to make sure you have a nice quiet office to work in. Most tele-jobs require a quiet atmosphere without any screaming or crying kids in the background making you sound too unprofessional. If you are just looking for computer work online then ofcourse background noise doesn't make much of a difference.

Another thing to think about is your schedule. If you have kids or an out of home job then your time may be limited as to what hours you can work. You need to sit down and make up a sort of schedule mapping out what and how many hours you can work each day throughout the week, even weekends! Some work at home opportunities require a minimum amount of hours worked per week while others you can do on your own free will.

One of the biggest things to think about before going into any work at home job is YOU. Can you motivate yourself to get off of the couch or pull yourself away from housework to work every day? Do you need a boss standing over your shoulder telling you what to do? This is one of the biggest problems people face working from home. Some people just can't motivate themselves to work on their own. They are always thinking of other things that need done or that they would like to do besides working. Working from home is not for these type of people. It can be very comfortable working from home and it takes a lot of self motivation to work when you are at home.

Working from home can be a great opportunity. It can give you a great sense of accomplishment knowing that you are doing something for yourself and your family from your very own home. You can do so many things that you can't do at an out of home job. You can work in your pajama's, you can work with your baby in your lap, you don't have to worry about paying the high price of gasoline or going out in the freezing cold early in the morning. There are so many ups to working from home! I have been doing it for about a year and a half now and it really boosts my self esteem knowing that I am with my children every day but am also contributing to the finances of my family without having to depend on my husband to take care of everything. I love making my own money and money is my biggest motivation! Even on the days when I'm tired or sick or just don't feel like working I see the almighty big red dollar signs running through my head and know that when pay day comes it will all be worth it!

Thursday, February 8, 2007

Welcome to Crazed Mama's house!

Welcome everyone to Crazed Mama's first blog post! To introduce myself a little bit my name is Dea (pronounced "Dee"), I'm 29 years old from Ohio. I have 3 children under the age of 4 years old and have found it to be extremely hard to be able to work outside of the home due to transportation problems and lack of affordable childcare for 3 toddlers! I have done a lot of research for work at home jobs online and have tried many different areas. Some work, some don't. I have been working from home for almost a year and a half now and would love to share my knowledge with others who are looking for the same chance to be able to work at home!

Working at home can be great, especially if you have children. You can still take care of them, make their lunch, play with them and spend quality time with them yet still be able to earn some extra income to help with family finances. It's so nice to be able to work in my pajama's!

Even if you don't have children and you are just looking for some legit ways to make money from home or looking to make a little bit of extra income in your spare time I can give you some great idea's to get started.

You aren't going to get rich overnight from my work at home strategies but if done right they may supply you with some extra spending money or money for the electric bill!

I'm extremely busy between taking care of my children plus working various jobs from home so I'm not exactly sure how often I will be posting in this blog but I'm going to aim for at least once a week! Keep checking back for more!