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guitarnan
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| Posted: Jan 24 2014 at 9:38am | IP Logged
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I do some focus groups - that does not take money for startup expenses, as long as you have access to a computer and telephone to get info about the groups and go through the screening process.
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Nancy in MD. Mom of ds (24) & dd (18); 31-year Navy wife, move coordinator and keeper of home fires. Writer and dance mom.
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SallyT
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| Posted: Jan 24 2014 at 10:46am | IP Logged
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Editing and proofreading, if you have even modest skills in that area, are a very no-overhead way to make some extra money. I tutor through Wyzant.com, about which I have mixed feelings, because the percentage they take out of your earnings is initially fairly significant, but on the other hand, their system makes advertising and networking for clients very easy, and it takes the burden of dealing with getting paid out of your hands, which is also valuable.
Anyway . . . all that to say that I have a couple of tutoring clients to whom I travel, and I like them and the work very much, but I'm gradually moving my business to more of an online, correspondence-based, editing/proofreading model, rather than strictly a teaching one. For example, I've just picked up a college-student client who needs someone to read her papers, proofread for surface mechanical issues, and help her to develop a more professional written voice via things like word choice. With her I work entirely by email -- she sends me a paper, I mark it up and offer thorough feedback, and email it back to her. I keep a log of my time and submit that as a "lesson" to the Wyzant system, which then sends me a check. The project I worked on yesterday for her took an hour, for which she's paying $30, which is my struggling-college-student discount from my usual $40/hour rate. I will get significantly less than that, thanks to Wyzant's cut -- BUT it's still a decent hourly wage. AND assuming I do good work, she'll send me papers all semester. AND it is my hope that she'll pass my name on to her friends!
I could do this independently and not have a company taking a cut of my earnings, but it is worth at least something to me to have this very effortless way of connecting with people to begin with. All my clients have been people who would never have known about me had I not been in that network. I've helped high-school students with college-application essays, worked on prep for the SAT essay portion . . . pretty much anything pertaining to English and writing. Again, my very strong preference is for work that I can do at home, on my own time (though usually the client is pretty anxious to get it back, so "on my own time" means a matter of a very few hours).
There's also a huge demand for math tutors.
It's free to sign up, easy to network. I'm not an absolute fan of Wyzant, and if you have a better way to find clients and keep all your earnings, I would go for it. But it is a good way to reach people outside your immediate area and has worked for me so far. I've found it to be far more successful and congenial and rewarding, in terms of money for time spent, than other at-home money-making ventures I've tried. It's a good fit for me, and it might be for someone else as well.
Sally
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MarilynW
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| Posted: Jan 24 2014 at 10:47am | IP Logged
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I would love to use this thread or start another one about how homeschooling moms can try and earn some income - entrepreneurship, job opportunities etc. I mentioned this on the cameras/photography thread. I did work from home and homeschool until #5 was born. But the job was with my former boss - who knew me. The work was familiar to me and my boss knew I was homeschooling and was happy to let me work around it. Sadly the company was bought out. I would love to find something like that - but it is harder when it is not with someone you know. I am trying to become more entrepreneurial and encourage my children to be so too.
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Marilyn
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MarilynW
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| Posted: Jan 24 2014 at 10:48am | IP Logged
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Sally - how do you find editing and proof-reading jobs?
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Marilyn
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MarilynW
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| Posted: Jan 24 2014 at 10:52am | IP Logged
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I was thinking of tutoring too. I have tutored writing to a lot of kids, held literature groups and public speaking groups in my home etc - but have never charged. I need to think about maybe charging. But a lot of people have helped me out as I started homeschooling, and I kind of want to pay it forward. But we also have to eat...(and pay dental bills.....sigh...)
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Marilyn
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Angie Mc
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| Posted: Jan 24 2014 at 11:05am | IP Logged
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Diana, have you considered working in social media? There are jobs available to help others run their social media marketing plans. I think you would be GREAT at online customer service!
Love,
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Angie Mc
Maimeo to Henry! Dave's wife, mom to Mrs. Devin+Michael Pope, Aiden 20,Ian 17,John Paul 11,Catherine (heaven 6/07)
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SallyT
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| Posted: Jan 24 2014 at 11:10am | IP Logged
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Marilyn, via Wyzant, currently.
Here's my profile.. My clients are all students of some stripe or another, generally high schoolers writing college-application essays or college students needing help with papers for their classes. So far I haven't done any professional-level editing (ie someone writing a book). I did have one person write me looking for a ghost writer, but after saying I was interested and would love to know more about the proposed project, I never heard back from them. I was sorry about that, because it sounded kind of fun. But you often don't know how serious someone is about wanting your services until you've had some communication.
All my clients, whether tutoring or editing clients, are people I contacted after seeing their request for a tutor/proofreader on the jobs board at Wyzant. I do get email notifications about jobs that might suit me, which is good because I'd never remember to check the board otherwise! I have applied for many more jobs than I've gotten, which is just the nature of things, but I have been happy with the clients I've worked with, and they seem to have been happy with me. I don't work much -- I see one 9th-grade boy one evening a week, and a senior in high school every other Saturday morning. Obviously I'd make a lot more money if I were tutoring constantly, but I don't have time to do that! So I keep it modest and low-key, and now am really going after online jobs rather than face-to-face tutoring situations.
Wyzant gets very mixed reviews in online forums -- there are lots of people who maintain that they're a scam, but thus far my experience with them has been positive. I get that they're a business, too, and I don't mind that they effectively charge me for advertising, money-management, communications, and other services -- though I wish it wasn't quite so much! Still, those services make my doing this work at all a lot more feasible, and I have not had to lay out money for them before earning anything. If I were doing this all on my own, I would have startup costs to recoup. And they have been very helpful and pleasant to work with when I've had questions. So . . . I recommend them cautiously, having researched them pretty thoroughly and seen that a number of people have negative stories to tell about them. Not been my experience at all so far, but I would not recommend them without also saying that.
One other thing I'd eventually like to do via Wyzant is offer some kind of online creative-writing class. They have a fairly nice platform for online tutoring, with webcam, audio, a whiteboard, and desktop sharing, and while I haven't experimented yet to see how many students I could accommodate through this medium, it seems pretty flexible and full of possibility. I'd have to plan the class first, and I haven't had time to do that! But I do have the technology . . . :) And it cost me nothing!
Sally
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SallyT
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| Posted: Jan 24 2014 at 11:17am | IP Logged
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And yes, I hear you about paying it forward. I'd be very willing to donate time to some struggling homeschooler whose shoes I've been in. As it is, I have a set rate ($40/hour), and my face-to-face clients seem more than happy to pay it, as have some of my online editing clients. This last client said up front that she was a student, and I initiated a conversation about negotiating an hourly rate, sensing that that might be the way to clinch the deal with her. Turns out it was! My impulse was to go, "Oh, honey, I'll do it for you for five dollars!" But really, it is work, and my time is worth something. And she did go looking for a professional, not a volunteer. So although I offered a lower rate, I don't think I really lowballed it. And she seems happy with that.
The bottom line is that I'm always willing to be flexible, because I want to help my clients, and I want them to continue to seek me out. So I set a rate that seems at least not to turn people off, and remain open to the need to negotiate something that's more reasonable for the other person.
Sally
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MarilynW
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| Posted: Jan 24 2014 at 11:46am | IP Logged
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Thanks Sally. I will check out your links later. Will be offline for a while.
Have some ideas to share too.
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Marilyn
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4Real Forums : Tea and Conversation
Topic: If you needed to make money....
