Jobs to do Working from Home

Work you can do while working at Home (mostly)!

Julie C Farmer

Copyright Š 2015 Julie C Farmer All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, sorted in any retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior written permission of the copyright holder for which an application should be addressed in the first instance to the publisher. No liability shall be attached to the author, the copyright holder or the publishers for loss or damage to any nature suffered as a result of or reliance on the reproduction of any of the contents of this publication or any errors or omissions in its contents Designed by Julie C Farmer, Julie Farmer Publishing Printed in the UK by Julie C Farmer. info@juliefarmer.co.uk Julie C Farmer Publishing Brunel House Volunteer Way Faringdon Oxfordshire SN7 7YR Tel: 0845 859 1720 www.juliefarmer.co.uk ISBN: 978-0-9571095-3-7

DEDICATION I would like to dedicate this book to anyone who knows they can do better, who want to do better and is starting to look at their life to do better.

Good luck, I wish you luck and finally I salute you.

Julie Farmer

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Jobs you can do while Working at Home

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Jobs you can do while Working at Home

CONTENTS COMPUTERS Virus Clearing.............................................................20 Computer Health Checks...........................................22 I.T. Support.................................................................23 Gadget Control...........................................................24 Basic Website Setup...................................................25 Software Testing.........................................................26 Domestic Services Domestic Employment...............................................28 Moving Services.........................................................29 Booking Hotels...........................................................30 Organising drivers or taxis.........................................31 Taking the kids to school............................................32 Travel and Holiday Booking........................................33 Party Planning for Children........................................34 Working Events Wedding Planning......................................................36 Events Preparation.....................................................37 Event Management....................................................38 Diary Management....................................................40 Concierge Services.....................................................42 Sending Flowers.........................................................43 Date Reminders.........................................................44 Shopping....................................................................45 Holiday Research........................................................46 Finance Book Keeping.............................................................48 Credit Control.............................................................49 3

Jobs you can do while Working at Home

Payroll........................................................................50 Bank Reconciliation....................................................51 In the Office Internet Research.......................................................54 Taking telephone calls................................................55 Typing.........................................................................56 PA (Persona Assistant)...............................................57 Time Management.....................................................58 Becoming a Secretary................................................59 Telephone Redirection...............................................60 Scanning documents..................................................61 Printing.......................................................................62 Document Binding.....................................................63 Proof Reading.............................................................64 Document Templates.................................................65 PowerPoint Presentations..........................................66 CVs..............................................................................67 Data Entry..................................................................68 Email Management....................................................69 Job Descriptions.........................................................70 Client Relations..........................................................71 Address Labels...........................................................72 Customer Relationship Management Creation.........73 Business Card Creation..............................................74 Graphic Design...........................................................75 Creating Invoices........................................................76 Creating Quotes for Clients........................................77 Virtual Reception.......................................................78 Arranging Sales Appointments..................................79 Sales Calls for Clients.................................................80 Spreadsheet Creation................................................81 Laminating.................................................................82 Letter Writing.............................................................83 4

Jobs you can do while Working at Home

Project Management.................................................84 Sales Representative..................................................85 Fax Service.................................................................86 Photo Copying............................................................87 HR and Recruitment...................................................88 Minute Taking............................................................89 Desktop Publishing (DTP)...........................................90 Presentations.............................................................91 General Research.......................................................92 Data Cleansing...........................................................93 Confirmation of Appointments..................................94 Editorial Copywriting.................................................95 Lifestyle Management...............................................96 Newsletters................................................................97 Booking Meeting Rooms............................................98 Email Setup................................................................99 Word Training...........................................................100 Excel Training...........................................................101 Filing.........................................................................102 Photo Modification..................................................103 Website Maintenance..............................................104 Advertising Jobs and CV Selection...........................105 Basic Graphic Design................................................106 Return Emails and Calls............................................107 Directions.................................................................108 Cleaning...................................................................109 Stationary Control....................................................110 Stock Control............................................................111 Delivery....................................................................112 Shredding.................................................................113 Tidying Office...........................................................114 Archiving..................................................................115 Putting up Flat Pack Furniture.................................116 Updating Computer Programmes............................117 5

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Coaching..................................................................118 Social Media Social Media Campaigning.......................................120 Website Design........................................................121 Blog Design..............................................................122 Blog Posts.................................................................123 Twitter Management...............................................124 Facebook Setup........................................................125 LinkedIn Setup.........................................................126 Blog Setup................................................................127 Ghost Writing...........................................................128 eBay.........................................................................129

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Jobs you can do while Working at Home

Introduction This book has been written to help anyone who would like to work from home, but don’t really know where to start. You know you certainly have the time, you have the need and the space required to work from home but you are not sure if you have the skills required. You are not sure if you have to start a new career and teach yourself a whole new set of skills or utilise the skills and abilities you already have.

This book has been targeted at those who are looking to become self-employed. However many of the suggestions in this book can be used by full time employees to start a secondary business or job working from home.

It has to be one of the toughest questions anyone has to ask themselves when they want to start a business working from home:   

What will I do?

What Skills do I have What can I offer paying clients?

To be honest, the list could be endless; you just have to use your imagination and then find ways around any task you are 7

Jobs you can do while Working at Home

asked to do. If however you come from and office/admin back-ground I have listed 101 tasks that you could think about.

This book is going to work on the understanding that you have or are about to start your business and you would like to know what services and skills you can offer.

I am in no way telling you that you have to have the skills mentioned here to work from home, but they will certainly help you when you are deciding which service you could offer a possible client.

In addition, I am not recommending that you start a business from home as there are a number of other factors that you need to take into account. For example what are the legal implications of running a business from your home, what type of business are you going to set up and your tax implications. I am also not going to advise you on what fee you should charge your clients. This book will give you some ideas about what you can do at home.

So, who am I to tell you these things?

My name is Julie Farmer and in 2002 I set up my own Virtual Assistant Company in Oxfordshire, United Kingdom (myPA Virtual Services and myPA Business Limited www.mypavirtualservices.com).

Having started on my own with a borrowed laptop and mobile phone, I now employ a number of people who work with me and we cover a wide range of administrative and secretarial services for a wide variety of clients.

We are in a world of technology and communication is the 8

Jobs you can do while Working at Home

key to almost every business solution. It is now possible to talk to someone who lives half way around the world via your computer, send files as email attachments and even view and work on documents remotely.

The skills and services of a talented virtual worker are in high demand and they can work with anyone, anywhere at any time. This is a relatively new way of working and an extremely fulfilling career.

This is not to say that some professions have not taken advantage of virtual work for many years, just think about a solicitor, an accountant or any other profession of this kind.

It is only now, with the birth of the internet that many moreeople are able to use this vital tool to create our own businesses. The internet and a home computer have made the work place smaller, more local (you can’t get more local than your living room) and accessible to those with a vision and determination to succeed.

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Jobs you can do while Working at Home

Employer, Employee, Self Employed, Worker Just for clarity, I would like to give you the following brief interpretations of some of the headings I have used in this book and what I mean by those interpretations.

Employer

Someone who offers you a job and will pay you for the work you have completed.

An employer will be responsible for paying taxes and deducting taxes from an employee’s wages.

Someone who offers work on a daily, weekly, monthly, yearly or project basis that has a predefined start and end date.

The employer will tell you what they require but may have little or no control over how you reach the end result.

Employee

Someone who works for the Employer doing a number of tasks that have been set by the Employer. The Employer controls the work the employee does and the times they work.

Self Employed

Someone who takes care of their own taxes and who looks for work from a number of different employers on a daily, weekly, monthly, yearly or project basis.

They will report back to the employer once 11

Jobs you can do while Working at Home

a job has been completed. The employer will have no control over how the Self Employed person plans their day or the hours they work.

Being self-employed also means that you have the ability to refuse to undertake a job/task for an employer.

Why would Employers want home workers?

There are a number of reasons that an employer may be looking to outsource some of their work to individuals that are working from home. The main advantage of course is cost. Often, it is cheaper to employ someone on a contract or project basis, than to hire them as an employee as the employer will be subjected to various Taxes and Health and Safety Legislation. This is not to say that an employer doesn’t have a duty of care to their employees or contractors.

Listed below are some of the advantages and disadvantages of employers employing home/contactors to work from their home.

Employers advantages 



Employee retention – working from home can keep valued employees within a business, especially working parents or those employees with older parents to look after.

Hidden Talent – socially awkward, house bound people may prefer to work from the safety of their home.

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Jobs you can do while Working at Home

   

Efficiency – with fewer interruptions people are able to concentrate on the task at hand and will not get distracted.

Employee motivation – Employees will be able to create a balanced work life and home life that will reduce stress and sickness levels.

Financial benefits - savings on office space, computer software (in some instances) and reduced utility bills.

Convenience – Employees can be locate throughout the country and near to sales areas or clients premises.

Employers Disadvantages The major disadvantage for employers letting staff/contractors work from home is trust. Trusting that they are doing the task at hand, that they understand what the task is and that they will complete the task in the allotted time frame. 

 



Performance – Without careful thought on how to manage workers at home there could be difficulty in managing home workers which could result in the quality of their work detreating.

Cost of working from home - Costs of training and providing suitable equipment at each employees home.

Employee development – There could be an issue of maintaining employees development and upgrading skills; or dealing with issues a particular employee may face with time wasted trying to find a solution alone instead of collaborating with colleagues.

Loss of Intellectual Property – Company policies, data and clients could be taken without the company knowing.

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Jobs you can do while Working at Home

  

Communication Issues – Working from home could increase feelings of employee isolation.

Decreased employee morale - it can be difficult to maintain staff morale when employees are working at different locations.

Not all jobs suit home working – Not all jobs suite working from home so there could be some resentment from those who do not have the ability to work from home.

For the rest of this book, we will be referring to employee and self-employed as Worker.

Workers Advantages There are a number of advantages for someone to work from home. The major advantage is that the worker has control over what they are doing and when they are doing the job/task. The worker also has the ability to refuse to work for an employee or conduct a particular task for that employee.   

Save petrol money – you can save money on the daily commute into the office.

Save money – As simple as it sounds, you could save up to £1000 on lunches when working from home.

You don’t have to buy as many work clothes.

Set your hours – you can set your own working hours as long as the job/task has been completed by 14

Jobs you can do while Working at Home





the redefined date and time.

Work life/Home life balance Get some housework done during the day. Pick up the kids from school, having the ability to organise doctors, dentist appointments. Be there for the important family events.

No Distractions - No co-workers to distract you by chatting, the phone or any other irritation that could prevent you from completing your job/task.

Disadvantages The major disadvantage for workers working from home is isolation and trust from their employees that the job/task is being completed. 



 

Distractions – It is very easy to become distracted by household work, TV, family and friends. When working from home the worker needs to understand that the time they have set aside for the job/task belongs to the employer and therefore they are on their time and not their own.

Staying Focused – It can become very difficult to stay focused on a job/task if you get stuck or confused. There is no one to talk to about the issue and the worker can start to feel devalued or the job/task no longer has any value.

Always at Work – The worker can feel that no matter where they go in the house they are always at work.

Feelings of isolation - no colleagues to interact with and email/instant messenger communications are just not quite the same as the ‘real thing’

One final point that needs to be made and made very clearly.

If you work from home or take on a task/project from an 15

Jobs you can do while Working at Home

employer the employer has bought a certain amount of your time and that time belongs to them. It is not yours to do as you please, you have a task to be completed.

How you organise that time is up to you. If you work better at 11 o’clock at night then that is your right to start a task/project at that time. But from 11pm to when you finish belongs entirely to the employer. This means that you are professional, you put your best foot forward and get on the task/project at hand and do NOT spend the time in front of the television half-heartedly undertaking the task/project.

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On the following pages is a list of possible tasks/projects you can do if you decide to work from home and become a home worker.

This list is not exhaustive and you will be able to think of a number of additional tasks/projects.

Regional and national variations on tasks/projects will also apply.

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Jobs you can do while Working at Home

COMPUTERS and computing

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Jobs you can do while Working at Home

Virus Clearing Most computers from time to time will have a computer virus or an infection of some kind. Unfortunately with the numerous attachments and websites we all visit, it is inevitable. Frequently the only time we know a computer has been infected is when a virus scan has been undertaken or the computer starts to run extremely slow or starts to do unexpected functions.

As a worker you can easily offer a Virus Cleaning service.

You will need to have a good understanding of computers and how software packages can communicate with each other.

In addition to removing a virus you could also install Virus software packages on to your client’s computers. If your clients have servers or an elaborate computer system you will need to know how the system has been installed.

In order to provide this service you will need to supply the appropriate software to remove any and all viruses and have the knowledge to know what you are looking for.

If you need additional training or want to offer this service in conjunction with an IT company you could enter into a Joint Venture with your local IT company.

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Jobs you can do while Working at Home

Suggested Skill Requirements           

Good computer knowledge Accurate software Experience in Virus removal Past IT experience Understanding of Virus removal software Patience Understanding of how a server/home network systems operates Analytical and logical thinking Intellectual Curiosity Intellectual Creativity Critical thought and rational enquiry

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Jobs you can do while Working at Home

Computer Health Checks Using a computer for a long period of time will result in files becoming fragmented, malware unintentionally being installed on the computer and the register becoming damaged and infected with viruses.

If you have an understanding of computers you could provide a computer Health Check service. There are a number of computer programmes that can help you with this process.

It is advisable to only offer this service if you have had some IT experience in the past. You could team up with a computer support company and offer this service as a joint venture. This type of service can be quite time consuming and many IT companies are happy to outsource this type of service.

Suggested Skill Requirements          

Good computer knowledge Aware of the latest technologies Past IT experience is needed Logical Train of thought Analytical and logical thinking The ability to envision business situations Intellectual Curiosity Intellectual Creativity Critical thought and rational enquiry Good communications skills

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Jobs you can do while Working at Home

I.T. Support IT (Information Technology) Support is a very large subject and can range from fixing a computer with a hardware problem to sorting out a software problem.

To offer IT support you will need to have exceptional IT knowledge as it is extremely important that you know what you are doing and you have the experience to give the correct support, because you may not be able to reply on programmes to help you. You will need to rely on your skill and experience of past problems.

However, if you are and experienced software user of Word, Pages, Excel, Numbers, PowerPoint etc. you could off software support.

Suggested Skill Requirements 

Exceptional understanding of how a computer works – hardware and software  Being able to think on your feet  Past IT experience is needed  Knowledge of software packages  Analytical and logical thinking The ability to envision business situations  Intellectual Curiosity  Intellectual Creativity  Critical thought and rational enquiry  Communication Skills  Customer Rapport

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Jobs you can do while Working at Home

Gadget Control This may seem to be an odd service to offer your clients, but Gadgets are becoming part of business life - think about the iPhone, iPad, smartphones etc.

Clients love them to start with, but then they all need to talk to each other and then problems can occur. If you have an understanding of how all these devices work together then this would be an ideal service to offer your clients.

This service would also lead itself to giving seminars/workshops on how each of these devices could work together and how to set them up.

Suggested Skill Requirements           

Understanding of modern gadgets Computer knowledge Aware of the latest technologies Confidence Good communication skills with your client Patience Analytical and logical thinking The ability to envision business situations Intellectual Curiosity Critical thought and rational enquiry Up to date understanding of the new and advancing technologies/apps about to be released on the market

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Jobs you can do while Working at Home

Basic Website Setup This includes purchasing a domain name, web space, and the collecting information to include on the website.

You will also need to know if your client is prepared to pay for the website content and/or professional design. It would also be useful to know if your client is going to add content to their website themselves or ask you to update the website.

Creating simple or complex websites are perfect for home workers.

Suggested Skill Requirements           

Computer literate Basic knowledge of website setup and design processes Have an understanding of HTML, FavaScript etc Know which websites are free to set up and which are not Listening skills to understand your clients requirements Project Management Analytical and logical thinking The ability to envision business situations Intellectual Curiosity Intellectual Creativity Critical thought and rational enquiry

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Jobs you can do while Working at Home

Software Testing Software testing is also another service that any VA can undertake, get in contact with IT providers or software developers, and then following a strict rule or pattern of research, it is an excellent service. Computer and technology literate

Suggested Skill Requirements             

Following instructions Producing reports Analytical and logical thinking The ability to envision business situations Intellectual Curiosity Intellectual Creativity Critical thought and rational enquiry Intellectual integrity Thrust for Knowledge Love of mysteries and solution focused Planning Time Management Skills Effective Communications Sills

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Jobs you can do while Working at Home

Domestic Services and home services

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Jobs you can do while Working at Home

Domestic Employment There are many clients that may need you to help hire domestic staff. This service can be very lucrative as a one off project.

You will need to provide an address or email to receive CV, weed out the first round of unacceptable applicant and then present your client with a short list of candidates that you feel would be appropriate for your client’s needs.

A history of vetting staff would be an advantage in this task/project but not necessarily vital. I would suggest that employing and candidate interviews would be an advantage.

Suggested Skill Requirements          

Knowing what is right for the business owner A good judge of people Ability to talk to people and understand them quickly Ability to question and listen to candidates Excellent communication and customer service skills Exceptional sales and negotiation skills Confident and positive attitude A professional manner Good administrative skills Good organisational skills

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