Lauri emailed me about a work-from-home idea she’s done before which I thought some of you might be interested in. She wrote:
I’m a single mom, working full-time, but I did this job
before I had my baby and now when I can get a sitter for a couple of hours
during the week.I work for a company that operates a virtual call
center. There are several popular companies to contract with, the one I
have the most experience with is LiveOps.
I take inbound direct response calls (there are some outbound lines, but no one starts there). Basically, it’s people calling to order
something they saw on TV or in a magazine. Here are some of the details:Requirements:
- A dedicated landline (no voicemail, caller ID, etc. on the line, bare
bones)–I write off the $30 a month for a landline I use as a business expense on my income taxes since I don’t use this line for anything else.- A phone with a headset, no wireless–mine is a Plantronics
all-in-one phone and headset that cost about $75 (there are cheaper ones
out there). This also was another business expense that was a tax write-off.- A computer with broadband (certain system requirements, but not too stringent)
- $30 for a background check once hired.
The work:You are an independent contractor making at least $0.25 per talk
minute (there are bonuses available at times as well). Shifts are available
24 hours a day, 7 days a week. There are no guarantees of talk time per 30 minute
shift but calls usually at least trickle in and increase over time as
you build stats with different products after successful calls.To stay
active you must take at least one call per 42 days. So it’s something
you can schedule yourself as much or as little as you like. Lots of
stay-at-home mom’s do the job from what I see on their inter-company
forums. And work will be picking up with the busy holiday season
coming.Honestly, I find it pretty easy–you just follow the scripts
that pop for whatever product the person is calling you for. Follow the
script, be friendly, rinse, repeat. And I love the extra money.There are a few other companies out there besides LiveOps that do this as well. I
worked for ACD Direct, who take calls for NPR and PBS pledge drives. It
was great work, but I couldn’t meet their minimum requirements after
having my son.
I’d love to hear from the rest of you if you have experience working with LiveOps or a similar opportunity. Tell us how it worked or works for you and what advice or helpful tips you’d have for other moms who are interested in getting started with something like this.
**Note: If you work from home and would be interested in sharing your story to be an inspiration to other women, please email me with a brief paragraph or two telling me about yourself and how you are earning an income from home.**