The RatRaceRebellion.com Blog

BusinessWeek Interviews Staffcentrix' Chris Durst on Freelancing

Chris did an interview on freelancing with BusinessWeek's Karen Klein, published today at BusinessWeek.com (via podcast). The interview covered a wide range of freelancing topics, including freelancing from home, websites where freelancing gigs can be found, the importance of specializing, tips on pricing services, etc.

As Chris mentions, freelancing is a good way to explore self-employment and decide whether it fits your needs, as projects can be taken on at a varying pace -- frequently, occasionally, or from time to time.

Freelancing also permits people to supplement their income from other sources, or shore up family finances when a partner is laid off or put on reduced hours.

LiveOps IPO Would Put Telework on the Map, Kick Homeshoring into High Gear

LiveOps, a leader in the distributed-workforce movement, has been mentioned lately as a possible IPO candidate. If the company does go public, the surrounding media coverage would put telework on the national marquee, and probably kick the homeshoring movement (home-based customer service agents) into high gear as well.

What makes LiveOps a "Poster Company" for telework? Among other factors, it has 20,000+ independent home-based customer-contact agents, supplies a virtual contact-center platform to other companies, and recently launched LiveWork, a marketplace for companies to find on-demand virtual teams of experts.

LiveOps has already brought much-needed "Silicon Valley sizzle" to the telework model. It's venture-capital funded, brought in Maynard Webb as CEO (Webb had been COO at eBay), and has $100M-plus in annual revenues.

Of course, I'd love to see telework and homeshoring get the attention they deserve. Telework is one of the few comprehensive solutions to global warming, as it not only reduces commuting / cars / etc., but cements "local living," as well. (For the "Bible" on the benefits of local living, see Bill McKibben's book, Deep Economy.) The more interesting business question, however, is, What would LiveOps do with its public-company capital? (Stock is wonderful currency, too, especially in a muscular market, which we may have when this recession is over.) 

If the IPO goes forward, and assuming it does well (no guarantees, of course, but the company doesn't lack for shrewd guidance), we advocates of telework and greener living will have plenty to report on and, I hope, celebrate, too.

Alpine Access Seeks 400 Bilingual Home Agents in Next Four Months

Virtual call center Alpine Access announced yesterday that it seeks to hire 400 bilingual home agents by year's end. Candidates should speak English and Spanish or English and Chinese (Mandarin or Cantonese).

According to the company's press release,

Ideal candidates are bi-lingual self-starters desiring home-based employment. Alpine Access customer care professionals have strong educational backgrounds, previous customer service experience, the ability to problem solve and empathize with customers and good computer skills. Financial services experience and/or soft collection skills are a plus for bi-lingual applicants. Employees must have their own computer, high speed Internet, a dedicated landline telephone, a corded headset and a quiet workspace.

Like Convergys, Cloud 10, and some other virtual call centers, Alpine Access hires agents as employees rather than independent contractors. (For details on the difference, see my blog post, "The Exceptions to the Rule, 'Never Pay for a Job.'")

For Alpine Access' press release announcing the openings, go here.

To compare Alpine Access to 85 other hirers of home-based agents, including wages and other details, see our chart here. 

"Online Teaching May Be Better," says NY Times

The NY Times ran an interesting piece today, covering an independent report for the Education Dept. showing that online education was more effective than face-to-face teaching. (Some of the courses were K-12, though most involved college students and other adults.)

The report reviewed 99 studies comparing online and in-class results for the same courses. "The analysis...found that, on average, students doing some or all of the course online would rank in the 59th percentile in tested performance, compared with the average classroom student scoring in the 50th percentile."

The dean of Arizona State University's Online and Extended Campus program is interviewed briefly in the piece, and attributes some of the growth in online learning to social networking, and students helping each other.

K-12 online classes are also increasing. Most recently, the Newnan (Ga.) Times-Herald reported today that Georgia's "largest public school" is the Georgia Virtual Academy, which "has 4,000 students enrolled from 163 of the state's school districts from kindergarten to eighth grade." The school is run by Virginia-based K12 Inc.

The kicker, when school districts are struggling for funding? According to the article, the online school saves 60% on the cost of traditional classrooms.

If you're interested in teaching online, the best book we've seen so far is Danielle Babb and Jim Mirabella's

Make Money Teaching Online: How to Land Your First Academic Job, Build Credibility, and Earn a Six-Figure Salary

Lionbridge Seeks Internet Search Consultants

Lionbridge emailed us this morning that they're actively seeking part-time Internet Search Consultants (to rate Web search results).

Excerpting from their email:

-----

We are looking for creative thinkers who enjoy browsing the internet and would like to express their opinion on the quality and content of what is currently out there on the web. You will be provided with guidelines and scoring criteria on how best to evaluate an internet search result.

You will have the flexibility and freedom to work from your own home, working your own hours, depending on availability of tasks (10-20 hours per week). Payment will be based on completion of the agreed upon tasks or engagements within the specified time period.   

Requirements:
*Fluency in written and verbal English.
*Preferred level of education/certification - Bachelor's Degree (or equivalent)
*Access to and use of a broadband internet connection and associated computer and software to perform the work, all provided at your own expense
*Experience in use of web browsers to navigate and interact with a variety of content
*Time Management Skills
*Proficient with Microsoft Office applications
*A legal resident of the United States for the last 5 consecutive years.
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For details, click here. To see Lionbridge's "Application Wizard" (to apply for a position), click here.

Carnegie Mellon U. Creates Online Courses for Community Colleges

Chris and I were pleased to read recently that Carnegie Mellon U. has been building online courses for community colleges, reported in the Chronicle of Higher Education. The piece adds that CMU has already provided courses in such subjects as biology and statistics to about 300 classrooms globally. (How about a class on telework?)

Many universities and community colleges are expanding their online curricula -- not hard to see why, as traffic conditions worsen, broadband and related applications spread, and younger demographics routinely substitute keyboards for face-to-face interaction. (Texting at the dinner table, anyone?)

On the public-school side, there's at least one compelling reason why students should take courses online, rather than in-the-brick-box -- school buses. According to Wikipedia, "About 440,000 public school buses travel more than 4 billion miles and daily transport 25 million children to and from schools and school-related activities in the U.S. every year."

SERC, the State Environmental Resource Center, counts 600,000 buses, and adds, more importantly, that over 99% run on diesel fuel. Getting these smudge pots off the roads -- and letting kids sleep in, and spend more time at home and in their neighborhoods, and less time in traffic -- would be a wonderful thing. (Fortunately, online middle and high school courses are in growth mode, too, though acceleration is needed.)

The only puzzle piece missing is federal and state subsidies for parents to stay home with their kids, and help with the teaching (and parenting). With the money we'd save on roads, and school construction and maintenance, and the untold trillions we're going to spend combating global warming in the coming years, subsidies for at-home parents would be a pittance. And the icing on the cake? It would encourage "local living" -- a key to environmental healing. (For more on the importance of local living, see Bill McKibben's Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future.)

    

Idapted Actively Seeking Home-Based English Language Instructors

Idapted notified us recently that they're actively recruiting part-time English Language Instructors. In a nutshell, Instructors help Asia-based students learn conversational English. (Instructor training provided; no teaching experience required.)

Quoting from Idapted's note:

POSITION DETAILS:
If you are a native English speaker, speak clearly, enjoy being on the phone, have an open mind and interested in other cultures, you can be part of the team.

Idapted is looking for people genuinely interested in meeting and helping people around the globe, intrinsically driven by teaching (prior experience is a plus but not necessary), able to use MS Windows and have good typing skills.

By being part of the team you will be able to:
- Work from your home
- Be self-employed
- Have flexibility to set your own hours to work
- Decide your own income

If you have a PC and a High Speed internet connection at home, join us now and be the one to shape the future of language training.
-------

For more, see Idapted's website, including their FAQ page, here.

"Alpine Access to Hire 100 Agents in Wyoming in Coming Year"

The Wyoming Business Council reported yesterday that virtual call center Alpine Access would be hiring approximately 100 home-based agents state-wide in the coming year. According to the announcement, "[Wyoming's] Workforce Development Training Fund will help the company fund employee training in Wyoming."

The announcement goes on to say that the company will initially create 50 positions in areas of WY with broadband, "then expand throughout the state."

Some call centers hire agents as independent contractors and others as employees. Alpine Access falls into the second category. The difference is significant, as it often determines such factors as the hourly pay rate, whether training will be paid or will be an expense of the agent, the availability of benefits, etc. (For more on the difference, see my post here. To compare Alpine Access to 85+ other companies who hire home-based agents, see our chart here.)

Chris and I applaud Alpine Access' decision to create home-based jobs in Wyoming. We are longstanding advocates of bringing telework to rural and agricultural areas. Creating home-based positions in these regions brings all sorts of benefits. Among them, it lets people work where they live, brings income to the community, helps reduce rootless suburban migration and "sprawl and crawl," fosters community cohesion and "local living," protects smaller farms and ranches, reduces or eliminates commuting, etc.

For the WY Business Council announcement, click here.

For Alpine Access' website, click here.   

 

I Want a Motorized Ice Cream Cone

I stopped by Carl Honore's blog this morning to see how the Slow Movement is going (Carl is the author of two excellent books on our overpaced, overstressed lifestyles, In Praise of Slowness and Under Pressure, both of which we reviewed in the Rat Race Rebellion Telework Bulletin), and I came across a wonderful invention, the Motorized Ice Cream Cone.

At a time when so many of us are looking proudly Rubenesque (myself included), I like the notion of a mechanical cone that turns the ice cream for you, and lets you lick it by merely sticking out your tongue. (For more, click here.) It reminds me of the many conversations I've had with the managers of movie theaters, as I try vainly to get them to install ear hooks on the big tubs of popcorn, so we can just tilt our heads back to eat while we watch the movie. 

But what I'd really like to see is a gigantic engine installed under Northern Virginia, where I live. This titanic motor (solar-powered, to be Green) would turn the Capital Beltway -- including all of its permanently-jammed traffic -- slowly in an alternating counter-clockwise, then clockwise direction.

Thus, those of us who live inside the Beltway (whose inner loop runs clockwise) and those who live outside the Beltway (whose outer loop runs counter-clockwise), admiring the traffic as we so often do from our apartment balconies and living room windows, could once again have the illusion of forward movement.  

Family Blog Alert - Chris Durst on CNN Today to Discuss "Kid Webnapping"

Chris was on CNN with Kyra Phillips this afternoon to discuss image / photo theft from family blogs, following the story of the Mass. mom who discovered her child's photo in an adoption ad on Craigslist.

(The bogus ad had claimed that the child was available for adoption in Cameroon, and solicited $300 for "more information" on the child. In fact, the child was not up for adoption at all, but his photo had been stolen from the Mass. family's blog.)

To see the interview -- including a great tool to find whether your own online photos have been stolen -- click here.