The RatRaceRebellion.com Blog

LiveOps' LiveWork Opens "Cloudsourcing" Opportunities for Freelancers

Silicon Valley-based LiveOps, a main player in the homeshoring movement (home-based call center agents), has launched LiveWork, offering freelancers and clients a new place (currently in beta) to do large-scale business. LiveOps says it expects the site to be out of beta in Q3 or Q4 of this year. 

LiveWork differs conceptually from Elance, oDesk and others in its emphasis on larger team-oriented projects as opposed to the one-on-one contracts that often characterize freelance marketplaces online.

The idea is that, via the site, freelance teams of any size -- into the thousands, for example -- can materialize quickly to handle business process outsourcing (BPO) projects, themselves of unlimited dimensions. LiveOps, LiveWork and others refer to this as "cloudsourcing" (a play on "crowdsourcing"), which essentially means -- when referring to work -- taking projects of any size to the infinite freelance resources of the Net (the "cloud").

Have a look for yourself here.

 

Arise Seeks Mac Owners as Home-Based Agents

Arise, a company in the homeshoring (home-based call center agents) trend, is recruiting Mac owners for sales and customer-service positions (primarily sales).

Like LiveOps, VIPdesk and others, Arise engages agents as independent contractors and home-business owners rather than employees.

For more, go to Arise's recruiting notice here. 

For 85+ additional screened employers of home-based agents, see our chart here.

VIPdesk Seeks 100 Work-at-Home Customer Service Reps

VIPdesk notified us recently that they're seeking up to 100 customer service reps (aka Brand Ambassadors) with a sales orientation. Weekday and Sunday availability a must.

Like LiveOps, Arise, and others, VIPdesk engages its agents as independent contractors rather than employees. What does this mean? Well, the differences in detail would require a separate post, but in a nutshell, there are pros and cons to each status.

For example, independent contractors in the general marketplace may often receive higher pay (with performance-based incentives, for example), but are provided no health insurance or similar benefits, and may have to pay for their training.

On the other hand, companies who hire employees are trending away from meaningful medical insurance and 401(k) contributions, though training may be paid.

Some employees may feel that, netting it all out, receiving a lower pay rate is too much of a sacrifice for their status. Conclusion? It depends on your own unique circumstances, goals and temperament.

For more on VIPdesk's Brand Ambassador positions, click here.

To compare companies who hire home-based agents, including wage and other information, see our chart here.

For IRS guidance for independent contactors (self-employment), click here.