Transcript www.cew.wisc.edu

Helping Clients To Have Work At Home
Careers
Helen LaVan, PhD, LPC, NBCC
Professor of Management
DePaul University
1 E. Jackson Blvd.
Chicago, IL
312-362-8539
[email protected]
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Factors Affecting the Decision
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Factors
 Relevant possessed or acquirable
skills
 Possibility of financial investment,
resources during start-up
 Per cent of work week the work at
home is
 Per cent of time work is done at home
 Home based business start up,
franchise or other opportunity
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Rationale for Working At Home
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Rationale for Working at Home
 Personal
 Physical—accommodate persons differentially
abled--obese, M.S., blind
 Psychological--ADD, bipolar, conduct disordered
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Family—child care, elder care
Financial need
Financial resources, supplements
Geographical
Homebound for other reasons
 Coordinate with on-line education
 Option for the unemployed?
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Statistics
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Statistics
 In May 2004, 20.7 million persons usually
did some work at home as part of their
primary job, the Bureau of Labor Statistics
of the U.S. Department of Labor reported
today. These workers, who reported
working at home at least once per week,
accounted for about 15 percent of total
nonagricultural employment in May 2004,
essentially the same percentage as in May
2001.
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Statistics
 Work at home business annual revenue as
a whole for work at home ventures is $427
Billion, that's more than General Motors,
Ford, and Chrysler put togetherEntreprenuer Magazine.
 Also 70% of work at home business
ventures last over a three year period
compared to 29% of the other business
start ups, according to The Home Based
Business Institute.
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Percent of At Home Workers
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/homey.nr0.htm
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Statistics
 Work at home entrepreneurs number
in the millions and it is reported that
every 11 seconds someone starts a
home based business that allows
them to work at home. Also 20% of
work at home businesses gross
between 100k and 500k per year. Money Magazine.
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Finding Opportunities
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Finding Opportunities
http://www.whydowork.com/jobs.php
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Finding Opportunities
http://www.indeed.com/jobs?as_and=work+at+home&as_phr=&as_any=&as_not=&
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as_ttl=&as_cmp=&jt=all&st=&salary=&radius=25&l=chicago&fromage=7&limit=10&
sort=
Finding Opportunities
http://www.simplyhired.com/a/jobs/list/q-work+at+home/l-60601
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Finding Opportunities
 - Free starter kit from QuickCash
from Craigslist
 - Free starter kit from EarnCash
fast with Google
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My Favorite Opportunities
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On-line teaching
Customer service
Credit and collections
Manufacturers’ rep
Free lance media—
writing
IT developers
Executive recruiters
Business development
Accountant and tax
services
 Consulting
 Personal trainer
 Schedulers
Cleaning
Home repair
Home inspection
 Data entry
 Rebate processing
 Loan processing
Not all opportunities are 100 % at home. Some can require workers
to do actual services booked by the at home worker.
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Associations to Help
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Home Business Institute
http://homebusinessinstitute.net/
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Home Based Working Moms
http://www.hbwm.com/
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Issues
Match for work content
Avoiding Scams
Setting and Collecting Fees
Safety Issues
Insurance issues—Health, Pensions and
Property
 Psychological Issues
 Taxes
 Deductions
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Internet Resources
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West Corp. (west.com), with 15,000 home agents, is
undergoing "rapid expansion," says Dan Hicks, a senior vice
president. LiveOps.com, which claims to have 20,000 home
agents working at least a few hours a week, plans to bring
on several thousand more this year, says Jon Temple,
president, world-wide operations. Arise.com, with 8,000
home-business owners as agents, plans to add 4,000 more
by year end, says Angie Selden, chief executive.
AlpineAccess.com, with 7,500 home agents, will hire 2,500
more people by December, says CEO Christopher
Carrington. Executives at Convergys.com, with 1,000 home
agents, and VIPDesk.com, with 300, also say they're
expanding. WorkingSolutions.com claims 4,000 active
agents and plans to hire as many as 600 more by
December. In a new twist, a few of these companies,
including West, are making home agents permanent
employees with access to group benefits. Convergys and
Alpine Access subsidize the benefits.
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Internet Resources
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If you like the idea of being a "virtual assistant" -- a jack-of-alltrades who performs online many of the same services as an
administrative aide in a brick-and-mortar office -TeamDoubleClick.com offers links to clients. Pay is typically $10 to
$20 an hour for taking calls, booking events or travel or other
tasks. But entry barriers are high; some 80% of the site's 300 to
500 weekly applicants fail mandatory entry tests on typing,
computer and phone skills. And only 10% of the site's 49,000 VAs
are working, says co-founder Gayle Buske.
Other sites serve as job boards. Sologig.com says a sizable
minority of the 8,000 screened free-lance opportunities it has
posted can be done from anywhere. A smaller site,
VirtualAssistants.com, offers access to screened postings for
$14.95 a month. And tJobs.com and teleworkrecruiting.com also
charge a fee for access to screened work-at-home postings, which
they collect from employers or elsewhere on the Web.
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Free Lance
http://www.sologig.com/Default.aspx?p=0&kw=%22National+Sales+Group%22+%
22sales+consultants%22+sales+or+marketing&c=&s=&dis=30
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Telecommute
http://tjobs.com/
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Telecommute
http://teleworkrecruiting.com
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Starting a Home Business Or Buying
a Franchise
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Ideas for a Home Business
http://www.ahbbo.com/ideas.html
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Myths
 You have to be a successful salesperson to
be successful
 Home based business aren't real businesses
 Home based businesses are cheap
 There’s no going back
 If you’re at home, you must not be working
 You can write off everything
 You can run around in your pajamas all day
long
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Franchise Locators
http://www.entrepreneur.com/franchise500/index.html
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Avoiding Scams
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Work At Home Scams
 Work-at-home scams have always been around. They
offer you a supposedly easy way to make loads of
money in just a little time from the privacy of your
own home, but they rarely ever turn out to be what
they claim to be. The Internet is no stranger to the
proliferation of scams, with employment schemes
ranking #6 according to the Consumer Protection
Agency. You need to be a smart consumer,
particularly when it comes to work-at- home
offerings. If anything says you must pay for
information or supplies to get started, my advice is to
run away fast.
Source: Rilyguide. http://www.rileyguide.com/scams.html#wah
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Work At Home Scams
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Information on Business Opportunities from the Federal Trade Commission
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Work-At-Home Schemes
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...no, not opportunities with them, but the latest information on their crackdown
on fraudulent work-at-home and other business opportunities. They also have
additional information on recognizing real opportunities and avoiding fraud at
http://www.ftc.gov/bizop/.
...this document from the Better Business Bureau's Consumer Information
Publication Series looks at the growing trend of people working from home,
alerting you to the many work-at-home scams which are robbing good people of
thousands of dollars. "Work-at-home businesses consistently generate the
most inquiries received by the Better Business Bureaus. Of complaints
received on the Better Business Bureau's on-line complaint service, 20%
relate to work-at-home schemes or business opportunity on-line
promotions." Please read this over before you sign on the dotted line or commit
any money to any work-at-home opportunity.
Work-at-Home Schemes
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...released in March 2001 by the Federal Trade Commission, this publication
discusses several of the more popular "work at home" scams, including Medical
Billing, Envelope Stuffing, and Assembly or Craft Work. It includes questions to
ask of any work-at-home program sponsors and where to file complaints. This
guide is available through the Federal Consumer Information Center (Pueblo,
Colorado), and many other good free helpful guides can be reviewed online here
along with links to many more resources.
Source: Rilyguide. http://www.rileyguide.com/scams.html#wah
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Work At Home Scams
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Medical billing: You send money for software to run a bill
collection service from your home. The scam artists promise
that the “market is wide open” and they have “lined up” clients
for you. In reality, you stand to lose your entire $2,000 to
$8,000 investment. The software is only an assortment of
forms and collection letters that anyone could design. The
names of companies they send you are not clients; they just
got names and addresses from the phone book.
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Envelope stuffing: This is the most common work-at-home
scam, says the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. You send money
and the “business” will send you information about earning
money by stuffing envelopes at home. What you actually get
are instructions to sell this scheme to others by placing ads in
newspapers to illegally entice new victims. You make nothing
unless you recruit others to work for you.
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Work At Home Scams
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Assemble or craft work: You send money for supplies to
assemble into products such as aprons, baby clothes, jewelry,
or Christmas decorations. Sometimes you must buy the
equipment from the promoter. You’re told that there is a ready
market for the products or that the company will buy the
products from you. Your items never meet “quality standards”
or you must sell the items yourself.
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Business Opportunities: You send money for information about
starting a business from your home. The details are vague but
the promises are big and include claims that “we will provide
all the training you need.” The fraudulent salespersons will
constantly try to sell you more information about special
“training and support systems” and “your personal coach.”
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