Virtual call center VIPdesk recently notified us of a new recruiting drive for home-based "Brand Ambassadors." Brand Ambassadors handle incoming customer calls, with some sales involved.
For details, see http://www.vipdesk.com/connectrecruiting/?RID=RRR.
Beginning March 3rd, Chris and I will host a free series of one-hour Webinars on working from home. Drawn from workshops we've developed for the US Department of State and the Armed Forces, the Webinars will help you find that job, project or niche you've been seeking, and avoid the con artists.
With a 54-to-1 scam ratio in online job ads, you won't want to miss the March 3 Webinar, "How to Spot and Avoid Work at Home Scams," from 12PM-1PM, US Eastern.
(If you're unfamiliar with Webinars, don't worry; they're simple. Just log on to a web page, and we show you the subject matter on your computer screen, while you're with us on a conference call. We use FreeConferenceCall.com. Your only cost is long-distance charges, if any.)
To reserve your spot now, go to https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/657014736.
We'll look forward to "meeting" you March 3rd!
We first interviewed expert translator and author Corinne McKay in May 2006. Since many people have foreign language skills, but aren't sure how to go into home-based translation, we touched base with Corinne recently for an update.
I'll let Corinne reintroduce herself in her own words.
"I am an ATA-certified French to English translator, still based in Boulder, Colorado. The focus of my translation business is on legal, corporate communications and international development translations for law firms, international development organizations and translation companies. In addition to working as a translator, I teach classes for people who want to become translators, serve as the President of the Colorado Translators Association (http://www.cta-web.org), and published the book 'How to Succeed as a Freelance Translator' in 2006."
(For more on Corinne, see her website at http://www.translatewrite.com, or her blog, "Thoughts on Translation," at http://www.thoughtsontranslation.com.)
RRR: Just to recap, how did you get started in freelance translating, and who were your top entrepreneurial role models?
CORINNE McKAY: I taught high school French for 8 years, then after my daughter was born, I decided to find a work-from-home job where I could use French. My first day as a freelancer, I opened up the Yellow Pages to "Translators and Interpreters" and started making phone calls, then over the course of my first year I cold-contacted over 400 potential clients, plus joined two translators associations and a local freelancers group. I'd say my best role models were other people in the local freelancers group; people who had thriving businesses, loved their work and made their own decisions.
RRR: Here in the US, with increased immigration more and more people are bilingual. How would you recommend that people with good foreign language skills get started as home-based translators?
CORINNE McKAY: For beginners, some type of credential or experience is really useful. Translation certificate programs are becoming more popular, and New York University even offers one online. Translator certification, offered through the American Translators Association (http://www.atanet.org) is helpful too, although not a must-have. Finding a mentor who's established in the business is another excellent option. Freelance business management is also essential, something I cover in my book, "How to Succeed as a Freelance Translator."
After that, it's time to find some clients! Cold-contacting and networking are the keys here. Beginners should become active in associations (such as local chapters of the ATA) for translators, and for freelancers in general. Contact every translation company in your area and ask for an interview; find translation companies on the web and apply through their websites; contact businesses who work in countries where your languages are spoken; set a goal of contacting at least 500 potential clients during your first year in business. Use Web 2.0 tools like LinkedIn or your own blog to help you connect with prospective clients: offer to answer their questions about translation and you're instantly the expert!
RRR: What range of income can freelance translators expect to earn during their first few years of work, and after they've gained experience, in exchange for how many hours per week of work? Has the recession impacted the flow of work?
CORINNE McKAY: Fortunately, the translation industry doesn't seem to have been hit by the worldwide economic downturn as of yet; many translators have even seen an increase in their workload. Definitely plan on a startup phase of six months to a year, during which you will be marketing yourself assertively. The average full-time freelance translator in the US earns a bit over $60,000 a year; a figure that I would say is very achievable if you have excellent translation and business management skills and market yourself in the right places. More and more translators are earning six-figure incomes (see my blog for a post entitled "Secrets of Six-Figure Translators") and even for someone working part-time on a flexible schedule, I think that income of $25,000-$40,000 is quite realistic.
RRR: What are your favorite "Dos and Don'ts" for aspiring freelance translators?
CORINNE McKAY:
Do:
-Set up a professional-looking website. Focus on something clean-looking and informative and prominently state your language pair(s).
-Meet as many other translators as you can. Learn from them and build their trust so that they will refer clients to you. Even if you live in a remote area or move around a lot, get involved online by joining LinkedIn groups or participating in forums on sites like ProZ.com or TranslatorsCafe.com.
-Offer a range of services: of course translation, but maybe you can also help clients save time and money by reviewing their foreign-language documents and determining which ones need to be translated, or by summarizing documents so that the client can get a general idea of their content.
Don't:
-Accept too little return for too little marketing effort. Aim to contact 500 clients during your first year in business; cast a wide net and apply to a variety of corporations and translation companies in your source and target language countries.
Let the current economic news get you down. Remember, people don't start speaking another language just because money is tight; market yourself as a money and time saver, not as a money pit.
RRR: Where can people go to learn more about becoming a freelance translator?
CORINNE McKAY:
- The American Translators Association (http://www.atanet.org) administers translator certification in the U.S. and is the main professional association for US-based translators.
- ProZ (http://www.proz.com) is a large translation job board and portal; it's not always the best source of work, but the information on the site is excellent.
- My website http://www.translatewrite.com and my blog http://www.thoughtsontranslation.com have free articles for freelance translators and information about my book and course for beginning and aspiring translators.
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Want to sell that quilt you sewed last month, when the snow was up to the rafters? Or that awesome graphic you drew in a fit of inspiration? Here’s how.
Home-Based Crafting Moves to the Net
In the old days, if you crafted something at home, your pool of prospective buyers was usually limited to your town or county, or at most your region. Flea markets and similar events might occasionally broaden your reach, but on the whole, "local" was the rule.
As with so many other forms of commerce, the rise of the Internet has transformed the marketplace for handicrafts of all kinds. Now, even an artisan in a remote village in Zimbabwe or Peru can sell his or her wares to customers internationally.
Move Over eBay
While eBay is still the Big Kahuna of online marketplaces, other websites have cropped up to help you sell everything from t-shirt art and clothing patterns to crosses and other items assembled from kits. (Home-based craft assembly includes many scams, so watch out. However, a few legitimate vendors do exist.)
Here's a sampling of websites that serve the home-based artisan. (For a more detailed list, including home-based craft assembly, click here.)
• ArtFire.com provides a marketplace for over 80 categories of handmade products, from "Bath & Beauty" to "Metal Craft," "Quilts" and "Woodworking."
• Etsy.com is one of the best-known marketplaces for handicrafts. The site launched in 2005 and already receives an estimated four million visitors monthly.
• YouCanMakeThis.com sells how-to eBooks written by crafters. Topics run the gamut, from boys' clothes to photography to woodworking.
Don't Forget Craft Shows, Fairs and Malls
While the Net has broadened the marketplace for crafts, traditional venues such as craft shows and fairs shouldn't be overlooked. They not only offer potential sales, they're a great opportunity to network with other crafters and build long-term relationships with buyers.
According to crafting expert Carrie Lee, a military spouse who has her own line of clothing and yarns at Etsy, "The most common questions to consider for craft fairs and shows are whether entry fees are required and whether you have to provide your own table for displays. If you would like to display at a craft mall you need to determine the percentage of your sales they keep, the amount of 'rent' charged for your space, and whether you have to set up your own displays or whether they set them up, etc."
For more on crafting, see Carrie Lee's Rat Race Rebellion expert page here.
IBM / India will be letting 15%-20% of its workforce work from home in the next 5-6 months, India's ITExaminer.com reported today.
The piece quotes IBM's Dravida Seetharam, Vice President-Government Programs, for the announcement:
"We would provide more communication and networking facilities to the employees. It would also be a good option of providing higher salary packages in compensation of the energy–savings done on their part."
Sounds good to us, Dravida. Will Big Blue go Big Green?
For the article, go here.
Sao Paulo must have terrible traffic. The commute there is said to be over 2.5 hours per day (vs. approximately 50 mins. in the US). But virtual call center Virtual Call is helping out, according to a Jan. 30 press release by Avaya Unified Communications. (Avaya provides communications solutions to virtual call centers and other remote-workforce clients.)
Per the press release, "Starting with 10 agents in 2007, [Virtual Call] is on track to reach 500 agents by December 2008."
For the Avaya press release, go here. (Virtual Call is mentioned on page 2.)
For US commute times from the US Census, go here.
The UK's Mirror reported recently that half of Britain's homemakers are now earning money from online work and projects. Or as the Daily Mail provocatively phrased it, "Britain’s mothers are turning into a nation of 'mousewives' - by using home computers to boost their household income during the recession."
Not sure we would have used the same nomenclature, but it's nice to see the tabloids picking up on the trend.
The articles cued off a Kodak poll of 3,000 UK moms, which revealed that over 13% were making money selling books, DVDs and other items on auction sites, and 4% were doing bookkeeping. Online market research, mystery shopping and typing also generated extra cash.
Notably, 22% of the moms felt that their sideline activities could be turned into a full-time job.
Here in the US, official up-to-date stats on home-based e-commerce are scarce (though they shouldn’t be; the Census and IRS sometimes kick out some figures), but perhaps the new administration's view of telework and greenness generally will spur the public servants to use their measuring sticks more often, and more thoroughly.
In any case, Chris and I expect home-based work of all kinds to continue to increase, even when the recession eases. If gas prices surge (not hard to imagine; they're already sloping upward again), the trend will accelerate.
For the Daily Mail piece – including the “Mousewives Top Ten Jobs” list – go here.
For the Mirror article, go here.
The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), a partnership of the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center, issued a special alert today warning the public against work-at-home scams.
"Victims are often hired to 'process payments,' 'transfer funds' or 'reship products,'" the alert noted. "These job scams involve the victims receiving and cashing fraudulent checks, transferring
illegally obtained funds for the criminals, or receiving stolen merchandise and shipping it to the criminals."
Here at Staffcentrix, our research indicates a 54-to-1 "scam ratio" in work-from-home job leads. In other words, for every 55 job leads on the Internet, only one is legitimate. With the recession and lay-offs, the scam ratio is surging, and jumped 30% from 2007 to 2008. (For more, including tips on how to spot scams, see my post of Dec. 27, 2008.)
For the IC3 alert, go here. To report a scam to IC3, go here.
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