11 Online Telecommute Tutor Opportunities

I just recently saw an article on a work at home job I really hadn't thought about: online tutoring or E-tutoring. If you're an expert in a certain subject or a former teacher, this might be a great opportunity. Tutors interact with their students via email, online chat, or message board. Classes or tutoring sessions are scheduled in advance. Best of all, you can generally work as many or as few hours as you like if the work is available. Some tips:

Be prepared with a lesson plan before the tutoring session.
Be encouraging, and use your student's name in the tutoring session.
Observe the student, and try to identify areas that he or she needs to work on.
Be patient, and keep in mind that younger students often type slowly.
Show concern about the student's success. Praise them for their successes.

Some of the tutoring services currently online who hire telecommuters are:

eHill
eSylvan
A-1 Tutor
Berlitz
Brainfuse
KidSpan
Smart Thinking
Tutor.com
My Tutor 24
Aim for A Tutoring
Homework Tutoring

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Setting Up Your Home Office for Maximum Productivity

One of the most important, yet often overlooked, aspects of working at home is setting up an office that increases productivity. You can't do your best work on the kitchen table, surrounded by household clutter. Here are some tips I've gathered on making your home office space a place you'll enjoy working:

1. Set your home office up away from the busiest area of your home. If you have children, you'll probably need a dedicated space, because if you are in view of your children, they will demand your attention. It's best for them to understand that when Mommy's in her office, she is working, and only to be disturbed in the event of an emergency. Of course, this advice is meant for older children, who don't need constant supervision. Make sure you spell out exactly what qualifies as an emergency. Because for children, not being able to find a shoe is an emergency.
2. Try to set up your office in a room with a window. Everyone needs a break now and then. And it's relaxing to look outside at a tree, the birds, flowers. You get the idea. If you don't have a room with a window, decorate your office with cheery pictures and things you love. Personalize it. You will want to come there and work more.
3. Arrange things in your office so they are easy to locate and easy to access. A bulletin board with pushpins is a great and quick way to remind yourself of something you don't want to forget. Have paper, ink, staplers, pens, pencils, Post-its close by. Place a bookcase close by for books that you may need for your work. Try to pick up after yourself every day, so that your office doesn't become cluttered. It's hard to work in a messy environment. You will lose thing, and you will not be as productive.
   
4. If you must have a phone close by (your children are away or in school), then by all means, have it close by. But when possible, leave the phone outside the office. It will be a an easy excuse to stop working. But mostly, it's difficult to be productive when there are constant interruptions.
   

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A Great Site for Testing Your Typing Skills

As a continuation of my earlier post on transcription, here's a great site for testing your typing skills. It's at TypingMaster Online. Don't get discouraged if your typing speed is slow at first. Just keep working on it.

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Tips Getting Started in Transcription from Home

Transcription is a career which has, in the last couple of years, become a job that can easily be done from home. Thanks to the Internet, high-speed cable, and DSL, this job, which used to require a commute to an office, no longer does. If you have a computer, Microsoft Word, high-speed Internet access, or DSL, and can type 65 words-per-minute, all you need is a pair of headphones, a foot pedal, and the software to play downloaded files.

There are several different types of transcription, and depending on your education and background, you may be better suited for one than another. Medical transcription is the type of transcription most people have heard about. Medical transcriptionists transcribe doctor's office notes, hospital records, and other medical related audio.

Legal transcriptionists transcribe court depositions, legal pleadings, interviews, and letters. Transcriptionists specializing in business transcribe conference calls, meeting minutes, and interviews. Finally, general transcriptionists transcribe just about anything, including focus groups, interviews, conference calls, podcasts, and radio shows.

Those interested in medical transcription will probably have to attend a school for medical transcription. There are several excellent ones that offer online classes and certification. It's probably best to have some background in law to do legal transcription, and a familiarity with business terms is helpful for business transcription. And while you can't specifically train for general transcription, your typing skills should be up to speed, and you should have a pretty strong grasp of grammar and spelling.

Pay varies widely among companies. But don't sell yourself short. Transcription isn't simply typing. It involves lots of research, editing, and proofreading skills. Difficult audio (audio with foreign speakers or lots of background noise) takes longer to transcribe than good audio. Transcriptionists just starting out may be willing to take lower paying jobs to get their feet wet.

But once you're no longer new to the profession, don't sell yourself short. Do an excellent job, and expect to get paid a fair wage for your work. The following is a list of companies that hire transcriptionists. I found this on the transcription message board at WAHM.com, a great site for those interested in home employment. Some require experience. Some are willing to work with newbies. Good luck and good typing!

SpeakWrite
The Transcription Company
Tigerfish
Ubiqus
NetTranscripts
TASK Document Services
Morningside Partners
Neal R. Gross
Cyberdictate
Wordz Xpressed
Cambridge Transcription

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Great Money Saving Strategy and Coupon Site

Just saw this site this morning and had to throw it in. This woman lives in North Carolina, and she's a couponing guru. She has hundreds of great tips on her site for saving the money you work so hard to make. http://www.smartspendingresources.com/articles.html

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Every Mom Should Have the Opportunity to Work at Home

The purpose of this blog is to get the word out. Whether you want to work at home so you can be with your children, or you just like the idea of wearing your pajamas all day, it is quite possible to find a job where you can work from the comfort of your own home. I know. I began working from home ten years ago, when I still had three children at home. We needed the extra money, and I needed something to do while the kids were in school.

My marriage was rocky at the time, and I knew there was a real possibility I would have to leave and go out on my own with the kids at some point in the future. So I began my own Internet business. I started small, and built it up slowly. Before long, I was contributing half of the household income.

I'm sad to say I was right about my marriage. Four and a half years ago, my children and I were forced to leave our home and start over. We moved from a three-story, 3,000-square foot house in a great neighborhood to a small brick ranch on a less than desirable street. And I'm not going to lie to you. It's been four and a half years of hell. But it's getting better. And through all this, I've worked at home, so that I could be available to my children during school, after school, and on weekends.

I made the difficult decision to give up my Internet business a year and a half ago, and went in a completely different direction. The business I was in became less and less profitable due to market forces. I was making less and less money for more and more work. I finally pulled the plug. It was the right decision. It took me a few months to find the right job - again, working online - but I love what I do now, and there's much less stress.

And that's what I hope to share. If you enjoy working outside the house, then by all means, do what makes you a happy, healthy person. But if it's your dream to work at home, for whatever reason, make it a reality. It can be done. I've done it for the last ten years. In this blog, I hope to share information I find about work at home opportunities, new business ideas, and tips on making money and saving money. I'm proud to be a work at home mom. I believe I'm part of something bigger. I'm a part of a new revolution, a Mom Revolution.

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