Telecommuting: Bringing the Work Back Home

The Industrial Revolution brought people out of cottage industries and into the public workplace. Years of long commutes back and forth to work and the stresses of dealing with heavy traffic and with strange office politics have left much of the workforce in search of a well-deserved break. Many people have discovered a path back to their cottages. They are the telecommuters.

In recent history, technology has opened a door of opportunity to employees that allows them to work from home. These employees are evolving into telecommuters. Modern communications technology and a drastic improvement in computer capabilities now allow workers to perform their jobs from home instead of requiring them to commute to and from the workplace.  In years past, if someone wasn't working from home, it meant that they didn't have a home and they were typically labeled a nomad. As time went by and people began congregating in centralized locations to perform their work duties, the idea of working from home became synonymous with being a nomad. It was even rumored that a person working from their home would likely wander from job to job. In present times, it seems that history is repeating itself and workers are making their way back home. (Whitford, 44)

A telecommuter, or "distance worker", as they are often called, is an employee who opens a channel between their place of work and their home to conduct business away from the office. (Wiscombe, 18) This channel may be a telephone line with a modem, a cable line with a broadband modem, or even a T1 line. Using this channel, an employee gains access to files on their computer and other company resources including, but not limited to, internal company servers and mainframes. Some businesses even offer a connection to their servers through a secure website on the Internet. There are many other contributors to the increase in telecommuting. Rick Howell, the vice president of human resources for The Heathman Group, a Portland Oregon based chain of hotels and restaurants, says, "The Internet has certainly helped speed things along, but there are many other forces driving the trend toward telecommuting. Email is a big factor and cell phones, laptops, fax machines, and wide area networks play a big part, too." (Whitford, 44)

How to Write Articles while on Vacation

Just because you go on vacation, you don't have to forfeit valuable writing time. Prepare wisely so that you will always have the appropriate writing tools available when inspiration sets in.

Make the most of your tiem away from work. Vacation is a time for relaxation and for doing as little as possible. When your mind is at rest and free from distractions, you can put it to good use by thinking of ideas to write about. How often do you find yourself thinking of great article topics, but you are unprepared and have no viable means to develop them into complete articles? Prepare yourself to write while on vacation or simply away from home by taking along equipment that will allow you to record your thoughts in a format that is easy to convert and upload to your preferred content resource web site.

Buy a laptop or netbook PC. Lower priced laptops and netbooks have made mobile computing accessible to a larger segment of the population. Many professionals need a full-featured laptop in order to conduct business while away from the office, but writers who simply want to record their thoughts at a moment's notice, should consider a lower cost netbook. The netbook fills the need for mobile word processing without imposing a huge expense. If you are fortunate enough to have a laptop or a netbook, you should have no trouble creating quality content on-the-go. Wireless Internet access makes online publishing convenient because you don't have to wait until you get home to make your work available to the world.

Don't leave home without a means to record your thoughts. If a laptop or netbook is out of your price range, consider purchasing a lightly used PDA, like a Palm Pilot or an HP iPAQ mobile computer from an online auction. Portable keyboards are available which are compatible with PDA's. It is even possible to type entire articles using a stylus and on-screen keyboard. That's precisely how this article was written. While it is a labor of love and quite tedious, it will be easier to transfer at a later time than a hand-written document.

Use whatever means you have at your disposal to record your ideas. When no digital solution is available, you may find yourself using an old-fashioned method: pencil or pen and paper. If you think ahead, you can make even this format easier to transfer to the web. Hand-write the article using only printed letters, not cursive and try to write as clearly as possible. If you scan this page later using a scanner with OCR (object character recognition), then you may be able to convert it to a digital document with only minor corrections, thus saving you a lot of time and typing.


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How to Avoid a Job Interview Scam

When you really need a job, it’s easy to overlook things that would normally alert you to a scam. Here are some tips that may help you identify a fake job interview.

Send out resumes and cover letters to potential employers with job listings matching your area of expertise. Keep a list of the ones you contact and record the date. Follow up with them to improve your chances of acquiring an interview. Be wary of employers who you have not previously had contact with who call or email a job offer or interview.

Do adequate research on any employer before you go on the interview. Determine their location, what type of business they are, and what type of services they offer. Inquire with the Better Business Bureau and see it they have registered complaints. Ask friends if anyone is familiar with the company.

If everything checks out, agree to the interview and go prepared with copies of your resume, cover letter, and a list of references. When you arrive, look closely at the property. Is it in a safe area? Do they have security guards or cameras? Do they look well-established? Only enter the building with the bare necessities and leave most personal belongings at home. Turn off your mobile phone or pager before entering as well.

Do not give the interviewer any personal information during the interview, like your social security number, or any bank information. You name, phone number, address, and then the standard list of past-experience type questions should be the only things they ask you. If you do not want to answer a question, politely refuse. It is your right. You may fear missing out on possible employment, but you don't want to give someone too much information until you know they are legitimate. Pay close attention to the requirements versus the compensation package that they offer. Does it seem like a good match or does it seem a little far fetched? Also be very cautious if they seem too eager to give you the job with minimal questions or interview time. If this happens, do not agree right then. Tell them that you would like to think it over and that you will contact them very soon with a decision. Ultimately, you want to find the perfect job, but you should never get so desperate that you leave yourself open to a scam.


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How to Make Money Risk-Free Online Without Spending Your Own

I am going to share with you several easy ways that I have made money online over the last few months. They are all easy to do and best of all, they're all FREE. Not a scam or a sales pitch. I don't want anything from you other than your attention for a few minutes. Money will never exchange hands between us unless you buy something from me on EBAY.

After having tried and failed to make money using advertised systems and even setting up a website with paid links and spending more than I made, I decided that I wanted to make just a little money; something for my troubles. It didn't have to be a lot. I just didn't want to have to pay anything to do it and I wanted to do something simple. Using this advice won't cost you anything other than your time.

Set up a free checking account at your local bank using whatever their minimum deposit is. This should preferably be a new account that doesn't contain your life savings. It will be used, for starters, to set up a PayPal account and then later it will be used to hold the money you make. That money can then be withdrawn as cash or transferred to another account for safekeeping. Set up a free email account and then set up a free PayPal account. PayPal will require you to have a checking account (your free one) and you have to verify your account by confirming two small deposits that PayPal will make to you.

Sign up with a trusted online survey website and complete surveys for money. Now, find several of your friends who want to make money too. Have them set up free email accounts and then refer them to the same survey websites. Use your best judgment and don't give away too much personal information to any website unless you trust them. Keep in mind that when you do reach your payout point, there may be a waiting period from the end of the current month before they issue your check. This is normally done for security purposes and it is a little inconvenient, but it's free money.

Join an online auction website and sell random items throughout your house that are taking up space and that you no longer need. Some examples of things that sell very easily are video games and systems, DVD's, die cast model cars (very popular!), and books. There are usually fees involved when you sell things online, but I've found that if you regularly pay off your auction account using your PayPal account, you will stay fairly well ahead and never spend any money out of your checking account. Just be sure to leave enough money in your PayPal account to cover these fees. If you do not have enough money in your PayPal account to cover the fees, it will be withdrawn from your checking account.

Another useful online tool are online classified ads, which are comparable to the classified section of the newspaper. The major difference is that most of these online classifieds do not charge you to list items for sale! Do you have some exercise equipment or furniture that you want to get rid of? Why not make some money from it and have someone else take it away for you? You can also find items on these classified ad websites that people are giving away for free! All you have to do is contact them and go pick it up. What are you going to do with all this free stuff? Well, remember that online auction account that you set up? Sell these items for profit. Friends and family are also good resources for free things. Offer to help them clean out their storage areas and get rid of old junk. You'd be surprised how much of that "old junk" is very valuable to someone in another part of the world.

True, using these methods will not make you rich overnight and I don't expect to be featured in any financial magazines any time soon, but these ideas do help to make some money. For example, using the ideas mentioned above, I've made over $600 in just a little over a month. Granted, you and I may not have the same type of personal possessions to sell, but yours may be worth much more than mine. One last tip, set up an account on eHow.com, write articles like this one, and share your success and your ideas with other people. If your article becomes popular, eHow will pay you. I hope these tips are helpful to you and that they make you as much money as they have for me!


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How to Avoid Online Money Making Scams

Opportunity presents itself around every corner on the Internet for the average person to become a millionaire overnight. I have spent some time and money "investing" in some of these opportunities and I want to help you avoid spending money on something that will offer you no return.

The first thing to consider when reading an article about making money online is, does the article sound believable? Does it sound legal? Does the program or system that you are buying into produce anything tangible or of any real worth to anyone? Does it offer a guarantee or trial period?

If everything seems to be legitimate at first glance, then it's time to do some investigating. Does the website offer contact information? Is there a phone number listed? If so, call the number and try to speak to a living human being. If you can't get through to anybody now, imagine how hard it will be to get a refund later if needed.

Visit the Better Business Bureau's website (www.bbb.com) and search for the website address (url) for the company that you are considering paying for services. Are they registered? If so, do they have any complaints against them? Do a whois lookup on the domain name. (ex. makelotsofmoneyovernight.com) Web sites like register.com are useful in performing a whois lookup. What name is the website registered under? If you search on this name, what information can you find online? If you find other web sites associated with the original website, search for them with the Better Business Bureau as well.

If you decide to make a purchase from a website, check to see if the "check out" page is on a secure server. If you are using Internet Explorer, look for the yellow lock symbol at the bottom of your web browser. Also be sure the web address begins with "https". When making a purchase, use a credit card rather than a debit card. Credit card companies usually cover fraudulent spending if someone obtains unauthorized access to your account.


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