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.**
My husband and I are both LiveOps agents. We really enjoy it and it’s a great supplement to our extra income. We are both agents certified for the Pizza Hut line, so we take Pizza orders. It’s easy and we get decent call volume.
I have been accepted to go through the background check process for LiveOps, but since I am paying for the checks, am I provided with the results of the checks? I sent an email asking this question, but the site declares that not all emails will be responded to. It took two hours to reach a live person at the company on the phone, and she told me that there are no people to take calls on agent questions; it is all done online. She told me there was another email address besides the one on the site, but the address she provided was the same one I sent. My status shows that I only have fifteen days to complete the checks, but I don’t want to pay for something and not have the results. I’m not worried about anything negative being in it, but fifty bucks is a lot of money for an unemployed, single mother with two, young children to care for. It also concerns me that there is no support outside of email that may or may not be replied to. Can anyone here who has worked for the company give me a little more insight? At least the BBB rating for them is good. Thank you.
Stephanie, I was wondering if you could give me some info about the transcription company you work for. I have been trying to find work in that area. I would really appreciate any help!
I just got an email about it and it said my background check would be $175 for LiveOps! What happened to 30 and 50 dollars???? That doesn’t sound right to me!
I have 10 yrs of telemarketing, sales and marketing background and am great on the phone. I have been applying to many of these work at home companies and am dissapointed that I have not been contacted back yet?
does anyone know of a way to get in, or what companies are easiest to get hired at?
I would like to get started asap.
Erin, if you’d like to get in touch with me, you can email me here: adayspent [at] gmail [dot] com
If you live in these states: Kansas, Missouri, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, you have some college and you have some corporate or business experience, you can apply with GoFluent. I’ve worked for the company for a while and it is a great opportunity. Hourly wages are very good. I basically work as an English trainer for people living overseas. My learners are business people with a good knowledge of the English language. We have conversations and lessons over the phone which helps the learners improve their grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation. It is a very pleasant job. You can email me at: hannah fontanna @ yahoo. com (without the spaces) if you have any questions.
I also work as a ChaCha guide, but I really don’t know if $4.00 an hour is worth my time 🙁
If you live in these states: Kansas, Missouri, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, you have some college and you have some corporate or business experience, you can apply with GoFluent. I’ve worked for the company for a while and it is a great opportunity. Hourly wages are very good. I basically work as an English trainer for people living overseas. My learners are business people with a good knowledge of the English language. We have conversations and lessons over the phone which helps the learners improve their grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation. It is a very pleasant job. You can email me at: hannah fontanna @ yahoo. com (without the spaces) if you have any questions.
I also work as a ChaCha guide, but I really don’t know if $4.00 an hour is worth my time 🙁
I have worked for West in the past (both in the physical call center and from home). If you’re interested in a JOB (and not an independent contractor), you can work for TeleReach. It’s an hourly rate making outbound telephone calls to businesses (never personal residences), so you need to be available during regular business hours (for whichever time zone you’re calling in). They offer benefits, too.
WEST: http://www.apply.westathome.com/
TELEREACH: http://www.telereachjobs.com/
For those of you who have worked answering calls for businesses like live ops can you please tell me if there is a way to have calls come in silently or quietly? I was thinking of applying to do calls at night when my family is asleep but would not want the phone ringing and waking them. Is there a way to do this?
For those of you who have worked answering calls for businesses like live ops can you please tell me if there is a way to have calls come in silently or quietly? I was thinking of applying to do calls at night when my family is asleep but would not want the phone ringing and waking them. Is there a way to do this?
THANK YOU for this topic! I have been a struggling SAHM of 3 for 2 years now. My DH works hard to support us and I babysit as much as I can, but I need some extra income. I haven’t been able to bring myself to WIC or any other assistance, (too much pride I guess 🙁 ) and want desperately to find something legit. I have been too worried about the scams out there to risk any of these work at home calling things before. I have been a regular reader of your blog and appreciate getting information from a source I trust. Thanks.
I worked for West for about a year. I enjoyed the flexible schedule, and my pay averaged about $12/hour. The reason I quit? I often received obscene phone calls. Before I started working for them, I had no idea that crazy men will often call the numbers they see on TV just to see if a woman answers the phone. . . and if she does, they can say some pretty nasty things. We weren’t required to do anything with these calls except say “Prank Call” and hang up immediately. But these guys were pretty familiar with the protocol, and they learned to say something offensive as soon as I picked up the phone. Most of the shifts I chose were late @ night, after my children had gone to bed. I simply couldn’t deal with hearing some predator say something nasty to me just before I went to sleep. I usually received at least one prank call every shift. I have two other friends who worked for West or other companies, and they had similar experiences. Has anyone else had similar experiences?
I used to work for Liveops but had to leave for a bit because my niece and nephew was over almost everyday during the summer and it was hard to schedule shfts with them here. Now that they are going back to school I am reapplying. I have to admit I missed the work. It is fairly easy and as long as you read the scripts word for word you will do great.
Barb
I also work for LiveOps. I have for well over two years. It is very legit and I would recommend this company. Yes, the background check has gone up to $50 but you will make that back just doing your training which is 30 calls I believe. There are alot of great wah forums . As mentioned, Wahm.com is one. workathomemafia.com , ratracerebellion.com and workplacelikehome.com are all excellent resources. You have to really be careful because there are alot of scams out this is a growing trend and more and more companies are hiring at home workers. Good luck everyone.
what is the general transcription company you work for?
Crystal, I would like to talk more about this with Laurie. Could you give her my email so I could ask her more questions about Liveops?
Thanks
I’m a Text Guide on ChaCha.com People text me questions, I look up the answer on the internet, and within a few minutes, I reply via computer what the answer is. If you net-savvy, this is the job for you. I do it when dd is sleeping or watching tv. There’s no set schedule. There’s not enough money in it to be a pt job, but VERY good for extra pocket money. If you want to sign up or look into it you can use me as your referral [email protected] I’d be happy to answer anyquestions or help you through it.
Lena~
If you take a call, and baby starts crying next to you, your contract will most likely be terminated. You have to have a quiet work environment. If baby takes a two hour nap, you could possibly work part of the time she naps. Or you could do early mornings or late nights, while she is asleep for the night. I mostly work before my kids awake.
Becky~
LiveOps release the 30 minute slots based on the call volume they THINK they will receive 5x per week. Three times on Thursday and twice on Friday. You would schedule the bulk of your slots during these times. BUT, you can grab open slots any time they are released, and you can alos log in at any time to receive calls. If your stats are high enough, you will get incoming calls, whether you are scheduled or not.
Hope this helps out a bit.
Carla 🙂
I currently make some extra money being a ChaCha guide. I answer people’s questions online, from home any time I’m free. You can work as few or as many hours you would like. You make 10-20 cents per answered question. Questions can be very simple and take less than a minute, or sometimes it takes longer depending on how fast you are at surfing the web. If anyone wants an invite to be a guide, you can use my email address on the referral spot: ricematslp at yahoo dot com. If anyone has any questions about ChaCha, just email me.
Thank you so much for posting this, I would love to know of other legitimate work at home companies that are hiring. I know the Lord wants me to be home with my children because I was led to leave my job. However, I really need to help supplement my husband’s income and soon! We are going to be really struggling within the next few weeks as our emergency funds are getting really low! I have looked into so many WAH jobs that are fradulent or just crazy. I know I also have my degree in Education and my background in special needs and counseling for a reason. I pray for something fitting for myself and my family soon!
My “something else” is general transcription. You can do this with no training and no equipment. General (as opposed to medical or legal) doesn’t require you to have knowledge of any specific subject matter. It can be anything from motivational speakers to Senate hearings. You can find more info about this on the major work-at-home sites.
I worked for West At Home and Cloud 10, both were great, West At Home is more flexible allowing you to pick your owns hours but the hours go fast. Cloud 10 was a set schedule but it was a regular hourly pay.
Check out http://www.wahm.com for a ton of call center type opportunites that are legit. This is not my site, it’s mostly just a community of moms, and the actual jobs can be found in the forums, but I found it to be very helpful when I didn’t have a job for 3 months. (Is it okay to post links on your comments Crystal?)
Alpine Access is another one that is legitimate.
I just filled everything out and Live Ops has just said that they are not able to use me right now and check back in 6 months. I am really bummed 🙁
I just filled everything out and Live Ops has just said that they are not able to use me right now and check back in 6 months. I am really bummed 🙁
How far ahead do you need to schedule? I ask because I’m a substitute teacher and I’d like to do something like this if I’m not called in to sub.
I would like to become a blogger can you give any ideas of where to goa nd what sites work best for this…. Thank you for your help
My friend has been doing Liveops for like a year…she likes it and it’s very legitimate!
I’m a Lopper! I’ve worked through LiveOps for a little over a year. I started last July, and made$5963 in 2007. So far this year, I am at $8217. I work very part time, as I homeschool my children and have a house and husband to take care of. So, yes, you can make money doing this. I average around $11/hr. I have made as much as $21/hr with the bonuses. I’ve NEVER made less than minimum wage at this job. I have a spreadsheet that averages everything out for me, and my average pay for the last pay period was $11.91/hr.
You work in 30 minute time slots. So, if you just have a half hour while the kids are watching a show, great! Or if you have all day off, then work as much as you want.
Your call volume depends on how you perform. If you aren’t doing a good job, the calls will not come to you. If you are doing a good job, you hardly have time to take a breath between calls. I like the performance based way of routing calls, because I have no one to blame but myself if I’m not making the money. That said, you are judged against the other call reps, so if they are doing GREAT, your stats may go down a hair. Then it’s just time to try harder!
And, I had a friend that applied, and he told me the background check fee had increased to $50. Not sure about that, just wanted to mention it…
Carla 🙂
Hello. Thank you again for your website. I read it several times a day. I am a mother of a 6 months old baby girl. My husband works very hard to make our lives better. But I fell like I need to do something to make it easier on him. At the same time I still would love to spend all my time with my baby. We don’t have any grandmas or babysitters(I don’t trust aybody with my baby). So here is my question about this kind of work. What if somebody calls me and while I am on the phone with the customer my baby starts crying right next to me? Are you suppossed to schedule the work when your baby usually sleeps? What if she still wakes up and starts crying? Again, babysitter is not an option. I wonder if anybody else has this question. Thank you.
LiveOps is something everyone has to do for their own before you make a judgement. But personally, its not worth the time. You schedule a 30 min shift, and half the time you never get calls. So its a complete waste and you come out making 0.50 for that 30 minutes!
I work for West (www.westathome.com) which is similar to Liveops except we are employees. With West you don’t have to pay for a background check, they pay for it. Both are good companies to work for to make some extra money.
Do you mind if I ask what the “something else” is? Is it a work from home job? I am desperately in need of finding a work at home job to earn a little extra money right now. We are very much in need of it.
Tutor.com (listed below) is also a great work at home opportunity! With the school year starting now is a good time to look into online tutoring as a way to earn an income. They require a Bachelor’s degree. You work at home – all online – and set your own hours. The pay is about $10 an hour. I worked for them briefly last year, before I found that I was making more money doing something else.