Is it really this hard?

[jessika27]

I'm new to all of this and getting very frustrated. I've never had such a hard time trying to find work. I know I have all the resources I could possibly ask for on the internet, yet only seem to find those that require some sort of payment. Because I am so new to this, I'm not willing to pay a fee just yet. What if I don't like it or its just not for me? Then I have lost out on the fee just to decide to go about finding a job out of the home. I know nothing comes easy in this world but does it have to be THIS hard? Also, the sites I find that don't require anything are looking for people that have experience. I can't get experience if nobody will hire me! Should I keep looking or give up?

[jessika27]

sorry but just came up w/ another question.

Is there such a thing as a work at home job that requires no investment/fee/charge? I guess thats the first question I need answered before I even start looking again!

[Debbi]

Hi Jessika,

Of course there are jobs out there that require no start up costs. In fact, nearly any job that requires you to make an investment is all about selling: Avon, Melaluca, Mary Kay, etc. I'm not knocking those jobs; if you are a good sales person, those are EXCELLENT ways to make money. I'm not a sales person, unfortunately. But I do believe that one of our forum members makes a very nice living doing Tupperware - you might want to talk to her.

At any rate, if you want to work from home, you need to get organized. You need a resume that states your skills and WHY you can do everything you know how to do from home. Since you haven't worked from home before, you're going to have to have a plan set because many people who routinely employee at home workers will want to know why they should hire you when you don't have that type of experience. Working from home is completely different from an office environment. Forgive me for pointing out the obvious, but it is hard to explain to someone who hasn't worked from home exactly how challenging it is. There are many days when I would rather get a glass of chai tea and ignore the phone calls, emails and Instant messages I get from the people I work for, but if I do, I won't keep those jobs. A person who works from home must be more reliable than the regular office person, especially when you're just starting out. Where is your office located? Do you have a phone line that you can make phone calls from? Do you have a DSL or Cable internet connection (a must if you're working from home)? When do you plan to be available to work? Where will your children be? Things like this have to be considered when you're just starting out.

Once you have your action plan, you need to have some idea of how you want to present yourself. When I first started, I made a resume with all of my skills and I wrote a detailed cover letter that told people why I could do a much better job for them if they hired me vs. a traditional employee. I sent this resume via fax and email to people who were looking for basic admin. help. I got a few leads and it helped me work on my presentation. I learned quickly that I had to be solidly certain of my ability to work from home, otherwise, I couldn't possible portray it to someone else.

So, you have your resume, you have worked out your plan, and you're ready to go. You can try almost any job site and look for work using keywords such as 'freelance, contract work, contract jobs' and other similar terms. Search on 'jobs' in your browser and you'll find a ton of job sites: monster.com, jobs.com, careerbuilder.com. I believe most if not all of these sites can be used to find jobs without any fee.

Now that freelance/work from home positions are becoming more common, most people who employee freelance people on a steady basis use the freelance job sites, not the regular job sites. These sites include:

elance.com
contractedwork.com
freelanceworkexchange.com
guru.com

All of these are excellent. I've had memberships at these sites for almost 5 years now, although I did let my elance.com subscription go 2 years ago because I simply had too much work to do. I couldn't begin to take on another assignment. I am planning on joining again this summer.

They all cost money to join. You pay your fee and you bid on projects. You win some and you lose some. That's just the way it is in this market for the most part. Also, I get a lot of my jobs from referrals, and I've gotten 2 by looking around at freelancemom.com. It is a wonderful source of gigs, ideas, and much more. I would highly recommend looking around some more.

In short, this isn't an easy profession to break into and unless you know someone who is a work at home professional, you are going to have to either do a lot of searching on the internet for freelance/work from home gigs, or you should look into elance.com, or one of the others. If you do good work, elance.com is a wonderful source of income. I know a person who got a 3 month subscription and was landing projects like crazy, many of them repeat projects from the same people (which is ideally, what you're looking for). It takes time to establish yourself. I would suggest that you spend the money for elance.com instead of surfing the web. You're going to be further ahead in the long run.

Best of luck to you,
Debbi

[jessika27]

Thank you Debbi, your suggestions have helped motivate me to move on and give this a harder try. I know I can do it. I'm also not a sales person. I'm more the data entry/assistant type. Well, i'm off to re-evaluate my resume and make it more "work at home" friendly. Right not its ideal for the usual office job.

[Debbi]

That's great news, Jessika. Best of luck!

d

[bfig]

Yeah! Thanks for posting this information. I just joined the forum and I was very fustrated trying to find work at home. I have a variety of talent. I put a website www.sweetalicious.com but it is not generating any money. I stopped working because my children needed someone to be home when they came from school to help them and keep them up on there homework. Also, I forgot to mention that jobs in my area are 37 miles away. I have been a bookkeeper, admin. assistant, executive secretary, data transcriber and now a website designer. I hope I can find something to do from home also because my finances are starting to suffer. :(

[Debbi]

Hello,

Your website, www.sweetalicious.com, is down, so I can't really look at it and give any suggestions. Really, you have to just keep plugging along - attitude is everything. Get one job and do an excellent job at it. Maybe take less than what you're worth - the customer is likely to keep you around if you over deliver and are extremely friendly (just ask Lori for stories on that )

Working freelance is frustrating - there isn't any doubt. And it doesn't go away. That's just the way it is and it isn't for everyone. If you don't like to be rejected, don't freelance. I know that sounds harsh, but it's a fact. There are a lot of people competing for the same jobs; not to mention the overseas market. But if you keep at it, you will succeed. It's just like finding a 'real' job, only you have to sell yourself without meeting the person IN PERSON.

For someone just starting out, the only way to find jobs to apply for are the reputable markets:

elance.com
freelancworkexchange.com
guru.com
prosavvy.com

And check out Lori's gigs page (she does a lot of the research for you).

But remember, frustrating is normal and it's gonna happen. Best of luck

D :D

[Nellers]

Hi there! There are tons of legit jobs out there :) One website to try is www.craigslist.org and www.wahm.com/jobs.html I also have lots of telecommuting articles at:
http://www.ezinearticles.com/?expert=Nell_Taliercio
When looking for a job remember to never pay for a job and to use different keywords besides just work at home. Here are a few to use:

•Must have home office •1099 •IC or independent contractor •Virtual office and virtual •Remote contractor •Off-site •Freelance
*Telecommuting *Telecommute *Telecommuter •Must have DSL •Home-based •Home-based employee

[Mel]

Excellent tips. I can remember when I first started out. I went through a ton of emotions including being frustrated and scared because I had quit a good job to work from home (yes, I quit before I had a job--- I don't recommend doing this!) :wink:

There are lots of places out there that hire telecommuters and you don't have to pay a fee to find them. Actually I recommend you stay away from all pay for lead sites just because the majority of them are not worth it.

The main thing is to not give up. Yes, it's frustrating and sometimes depressing when you don't find work but it will happen eventually. It took me about 2 1/2 years to find legitimate work because I was looking in all the wrong places. But once I found a good resource, things started happening.

Good luck in your job hunting!

[Nellers]

Thanks for sharing, Mel! Those are great tips :D

[WahmJen]

Nell posted craigslist.org as a job site. I highly recommend this site.

Go here http://www.codinghorror.com/craigslist/
and it will pull up all cities. I just put in a space in the field and click on telecommute, then hit Submit.

Great way to pull up leads.

Also go to Careerbuilder.com, Monster.com and hotjobs.com
Search for like telecommute, must have dsl so you will try to weed out the scams.

HTH!

[Mel]

I didn't know that you could just use a space when searching from codinghorrors. I always put the letter A in the box. lol

I love searching craigslist but you do have to do your homework when researching the leads because people are getting pretty good at making their scams look like the real deal.

[Nellers]

I love searching craigslist but you do have to do your homework when researching the leads because people are getting pretty good at making their scams look like the real deal.

I agree! And thanks for the tip Jen and Mel! I had no idea you could put a space or just a letter. LOL

[Anonymous]

Hi,

Craiglist has disabled their nationwide search. Do we have to search by each city now? I am new to all of this--any tips? I have been applying to everything I can find, following all of the links that everyone says are good, but nothing still.

Also, in starting to find work as a VA, I have created my resume and cover letter and gone around town at different Insurance and Real Estate Companies (I have an extensive Insurance Background) to drop them off. I have had two people call me and want me to work from them, but full time and in their office, not from home. I have had good luck with people being impressed with my skills/background but how do I turn that around to working from home? I really need a job ASAP! Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you, Sheri Davis

[Lori]

Hi Sheri,

Definitely stick to your guns... The same thing happened to me with a client. I answered an ad they had for help. They wanted to hire me, but from their office.

I told them that I have my own business from home, and explained how in the long run it could really save them money to contract with me.

They called back about 6 months later and I work with them to this day :)

Not immediate work -- but maybe you'd have better luck in that regard.

Just be sure to open the door to any questions they might have about how to work with you remotely. It's a brand new concept to many businesses so they will automatically default to a traditional employee/boss relationship.

Good luck!

Lori



Also, in starting to find work as a VA, I have created my resume and cover letter and gone around town at different Insurance and Real Estate Companies (I have an extensive Insurance Background) to drop them off. I have had two people call me and want me to work from them, but full time and in their office, not from home. I have had good luck with people being impressed with my skills/background but how do I turn that around to working from home? I really need a job ASAP! Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you, Sheri Davis

[Anonymous]

Thank you for your help. At least I know I am not the only one hitting these brick walls!

[Anonymous]

wow, there were some great tips here! Thank you. I noticed the posts were a few months old and I'm hoping if I post I might get a current reply. Debbi, thank you for all of your tips in getting started. I have my resume up to date but it is just a regualr ole resume so I'm going to work on that today. Does anyone know if SOHO is a legit place to find work? I signed up and received a newsletter from them with all of these great jobs; it almost seems to good to be true. Also, wanted to ask about elance. Do us newbees actually have a chance of winning a bid over the more experienced VA's? Also, I wanted to pass along a place my brother in law works for called Willow Corp. You have to become incorporated and there are some start up costs but he's making money! You are basically a call center rep in your own home. I don't have the money to start up right now but it could be something in the future. Thanks again and I hope to talk to all of you more!
Lori