Money Matters

Take a look at Jacks site if you want to stay on the cutting edge of Web2.0 and Search Engine Marketing.

Quality Garden Fountains - Outdoor & Indoor FountainsEveryone can appreciate the sound of flowing water and these folks have it all including inside fountains for your tabletop or wall, and garden fountains for your wall or center piece. The pleasant flow of water helps block background noise and enhance the tranquility and peace of your outdoor areas. Experience what a water fountain can do for your garden or home.

How is your job hunting going? Have you had problems finding legitimate jobs? I don't know if you've ever thought about using freelance websites to obtain work at home, but this should be something you look into. It might not be for you, but you never know until you try.

So what would the benefit be to using a freelance website to obtain per project work at home? The first and most obvious benefit is that you would be earning money to help pay your bills, but the less obvious benefit would be that you are gaining valuable work at home experience to put on your resume! There are many employers out there that would rather hire a telecommuter that has worked at home before and if you have no work at home experience on your resume, they may go with someone who does.

However, using a freelance website is a bit different. Many times the people posting the projects just want to use your services for a short time and for a specific project. They don't necessarily care if you've worked at home before. Therefore, it could be easier to get a couple projects like this under your belt and then you can place that job on your resume! It will look good to other potential long term employers to see that you have experience working for someone at home.

You might also be able to get projects that you don't have a lot of experience in, but want to do more of to build your resume up. If you want a full time job at home with a company, let's say transcribing, but they all want you to have experience transcribing, it could possibly be easier to get projects off a freelance websites and that way you can build your experience for the jobs you really want.

So this sounds great, right? What is the downside? I would have to say that the downside if two-fold. One, there are going to be others bidding on the same project, more then likely, so you still have competition and many times the winning bid seems to go to the person who is willing to work the cheapest. Not always the case, but it does happen. So you might not necessarily make what you'd like to.

The only other downside I personally see is that if you want the security of a full time paycheck, this might not be the way to get it. You are usually working on a project basis and then when that project is over you're done, but you need to remember all the positive reasons for trying this type of work…I choose to look on the bright side and I would rather have one project that paid me enough to cover a bill for the month then no projects and no money. Plus, you never know when you may end up with someone who wants to use you on a more part time to full time and/or exclusive basis. I have a client/friend who uses one of these freelance websites to post projects often, and she would be a great person to work for! I'm sure there are many more people like her posting projects that would be great people to work for.

There are many freelance websites out there. You can go to www.google.com and type in freelance websites or freelance job websites and I'm sure you will pull them up. The only two I've heard much about are www.elance.com and www.guru.com. Now as with anything, you need to make sure that the freelance website is legitimate and fully research how you will get paid and if there are any fees. Here is just some very basic information about elance and guru to help you get started:

eLance

Subscription fee's (in order to bid on projects)

There are different packages ranging from free to $30.00 per month

Transaction Fee

There is a fee of 8.75% commission on the invoiced project if you win the bid and the fee is called a "finders fee".

Payment

You can either be paid through eLances online billing and payment system or your regular client billing and payment process. A $10.00 fee applies for wire transfer withdrawals above one per month through their system.

Guru.com

Subscription Fee

Basic profile/membership is free

"Guru Profile/membership" will range from $29.95 to $99.95 per quarter.

Transaction Fees

It depends on what subscription plan you choose. You will need to read each plan at the Guru website to view this information.

Payment

You have to invoice the employer through Guru's billing systems. Guru will apparently be handling the funds and will send you payment via check, direct deposit, wire transfer, remit2india and paypal.

So as you can see, it can get a little confusing and there are plans in which you will have to pay a fee, but I would start out with the free subscription to get a feel for the website, for the projects posted and just to decide if this is something you would like to invest time and a little money into.

I want to be clear that you don't have to use freelance websites in order to get work at home. There are many job lead websites out there and lots of jobs for the taking, but this is just yet another way to start getting work at home experience and some money to pay the bills. Freelancing is 100% legitimate and many people have been doing this type of work for years. I know you have been preached at to not pay for a job, so how is this any different? This is more like paying to access a job lead database. There is nothing wrong with that and it is not a scam. My good friend, Pamela, owns a job lead website that is loaded with company websites and she charges a fee for you to access this. Freelance websites are much like this in the fact that they charge (for the better subscription plans) to connect you with possible employers/projects.

I would recommend having a look around for yourself, maybe ask some friends if they have ever used these freelance websites and get their personal opinion, but just remember this as an option to getting work at home jobs.

Nell Taliercio is the owner and founder of TelecommutingMoms.com

Get free eBook Now!

Resort Vacation Savings

One of the most appropriate aspects of outsourcing is the ability to employ industry experts for the completion of certain tasks. This becomes beneficial in situations where a business is faced with complex problems which are beyond the expertise of the in-house employees. Outsourcing gives the business the opportunity to outsource the task of figuring out the problem to a highly qualified candidate. Although the business may pay a sizable sum for the individual’s services this fee will likely be less than what it would have cost them to solve the problem with their in-house staff. The amount of time it would have taken coupled with the potential for costly mistakes makes it clear outsourcing is the right decision in this scenario.

Another time where tasks may be outsourced to an industry expert is when the business is faced with the task of performing more work than they are capable of managing in-house. During belligerent deadlines or unexpected delays, outsourcing can be used to complete projects according to unyielding deadlines.

Flexibility in Scheduling

Many businesses counterbalance the workload they take on based on the number of employees they have on staff capable of assisting in each individual task. However, outsourcing gives businesses the ability to consider accepting more work than their in-house employees are capable of completing. An example of when this is beneficial is when advisers are awarded more projects than they had anticipated and are suddenly in a situation where they're not able to meet their deadlines due to larger than anticipated workloads.

Another advantage to outsourcing is the ability to accept larger projects than usual. One of the most elementary factors often considered when awarding projects to consultants is the number of staff members who are available to work on the project. Clients evaluate this number with their project needs and schedule to determine whether or not they think the consultant is capable of completing the project promptly. Consultants who outsource components of their projects are effectively able to increase the amount of employees they can afford to have working on a particular project.

Reduced Operating Costs

Finally, outsourcing can help companies to produce higher quality work by enabling them to bring down their operating costs. Outsourcing can save companies a great deal of money because they often don't have to pay benefits like social security, workers’ compensation and Medicare to those who perform work on a contract basis. Additionally, those who perform the outsourced work typically do the work from their own office having in mind the company does not have to provide resources for the individual. Although these costs may seem trivial, they can really add up particularly if outsourcing is used on a regular basis.

Combined with the reduced operating costs, many companies find that productivity is increased through outsourcing. By outsourcing work to qualified individuals, the in-house employees are discharged of additional responsibilities and can focus exclusively on the tasks they were hired to perform. This is significant because without outsourcing these same employees might be charged with attempting to perform complicated tasks for which they're not decently trained or qualified. When this happens there is a significant decline in productivity as the employees take longer than necessary to complete the more complicated tasks and do not have time to complete the simpler tasks.