Out and Proud

At long last, months of waiting and planning, it was finally launched. MyFemme magazine. The first lesbian magazine in the Philippines. Though I have been involved, during the time that we were still collaborating ideas for it, I never saw the media kit. We were joking that it was just a hobby for “poks” (as my partner calls her).

We arrived early, we were asked to help with the preparations for the party. Since we came from Paranaque, our arrival was just an hour before the party started.

I was not disappointed, the party was packed, my friends were there. I even gave free tequila shots just to encourage people to dance.

Looking forward to the next issue and that means thinking of what to contribute for the magazine then.

Setting up a Mini-Call Center of your own

It’s sad that I had to finish the project with Armando (his name sounds like those of Mexican telenovelas). He was a good employer. I just didn’t have that much time.

It was fun though. I was my own mini-call-center. It was my first home-based project. The project inspired me to venture on the idea of setting a home-based call center. None of that PABX phones.

Things to do:
1. Get a Skype account with a phone number attached. You can have the calls forwarded to it.
2. Find a chat support service, there are several for free and I used IntelliliveHelp. Offer the link to you client. You can use this link to different websites since you can track which website is the incoming chat coming from. Also, it can track the visitors of the site.

That is simple customer service for an inbound account. Phone and Chat. Emails will need to be provided by the client as it is their domain. If you get one then just forward them to you Gmail account and you can reply using the given address.

It’s best to create your website to be more business like. Prospective clients will know that you are serious with the project and your home-based business.

Set-up is quick and easy. You just have to put your heart in it.

Psychotherapist Emails

I was able to get another project. This time I need to create a database of Psychotherapists in Washington. I am having more logged in time at ODesk and this means that I will be earning a few more. I am still trying to get a few more but with a higher hourly rate. It may take a while but I am determined that I will be able to get it.

I am still waiting for another one who interviewed me last week. It also requires 6 hours a day. I’ll be working most of the time during the day to be able to accommodate the online work I have. Most of the data entry and blog writing will be done when I am at the office. I know that this will work out, because it has to.

Gay City Guide

My being included in the gay and lesbian community has it’s advantages. I was hired to write a gay city guide. Though I am still in their trial period, I hope my few logged hours will be paid.

I was asked to write a city guide for London, Phuket and San Diego. Much to my surprise I did not know that Phuket was a popular place for the gay community.

I submitted the 3 city guides. I just wish that I will be able to pass their trial period to have the full list of 40 cities since they are not paying per city but by the hour.

I really need to get this online job rolling. Bills are piling up.

True Customer Services

Because I want to make a career out of the online jobs, I decided to take it a step further. I am trying to put together a free website from DoodleKit. I might change this when I am able to get another job from ODesk. I saw a website that cost PHP60.00 per month. Hopefully, I get other projects. I think it’s easier to create website if it has the ready made tools since I am not well versed with HTML and all that.

I am promoting the service that I can provide through the DoodleKit website. Mostly customer service since that has been my line of work for years. I am hoping that I will be able to generate clients and just work from home. I really feel that working from home will be easier and less expensive. The more projects you get the more income you have and you can increase your rate. My starting rate is really low. I am just charging $1.39/hr and 10% of it goes to ODesk. My take home pay is $1.25 an hour.

On the website of True Customer Services, it has different packages for services that our needed. I am happy that I am able to add a few things in there like Live Chat and a Contact Us box.

I really want this to work out because this can be an additional income for us. There are so many bills to pay and we want most of them to be paid by this year or at least to lessen them.

I’ll keep looking for what is out there for me in the online job market.

Online Jobs

At first I thought that online jobs are a joke. Why would anyone hire someone so far and expect to get paid? I expected online jobs to be work from someone you know to be sure that you will be paid. At least that is what i first thought.

When I needed additional source of income, I tried to apply for online jobs. It took months before I hired. And this was my fault. I stopped looking for online work and did not take seriously the cover letters I sent.

I created an account with ODesk. It is an online staffing marketplace. There Buyers and Providers. Basically, the Buyers are the employers and the Providers are the employee. When a job or project is posted by the buyer, the providers apply. Applications are sent through a cover letter and a bid for an hourly rate or fixed rate for the project.

The projects posted are of a wide ranger, any job that you can find in the classified ads and more.
The interviews can be done by phone, instant messenger or VoIP.

There is a selection of payment methods and they use a system that you needs to be downloaded to counts the working hours of the hired employee.

It works well enough. I have yet to receive my Debit card to make sure that the payment for what I am doing will be sent there.

I see this as a very small contact center. My own contact center. I hope it works out well for me.