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fishnbuddy 06-20-2008 01:13 PM

Do you work at home?
 
Hi, My neuro demon is MS and even tho Im ambulatory I am permanently disabled. My ms just doesnt allow me to join the work force anymore so Im on ss disability which is no where enough to survive, not with this runaway economy.

So Im interested in knowing how some of my fellow "homebounbers" are getting along! What do you do for an extra income if any. Iv'e been doing a few things on line and even tho the extra small income is thankful I would like other ideas.

I went and set myself up with a home office and thought about a home call center, but as a result of my financial disaster my credit has gone down the toilet and you need good credit to work for those companies, so call centers is out, what else is there? Any suggestions?

My wife and I tried setting up an ebay store (she makes nice bead jewelry)
but we didnt understand how to get people to see the store, it went un-noticed and turned into money going out instead of in.

Any ideas/suggestions?
Don
<:{{{><

tkrik 06-20-2008 01:39 PM

Don - I work a little from home as a medical transcriptionist to supplement the SSDI. For me it works out great.

I have a friend who wanted to work from home as she wanted to be there for her kids. She became a virtual juror. There are many places that hire people to review cases and give their opinions as if they were on the jury. The lawyers in turn use that information to "win" their case.

In my own opinion, I think that this is an upcoming trend and could prove to be fairly lucrative. You can google virtual juror and see what comes up. In the meantime, I will search for the article that had this information and websites that I gave to my friend and PM them to you.

Chemar 06-20-2008 01:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fishnbuddy (Post 305684)

My wife and I tried setting up an ebay store (she makes nice bead jewelry)
but we didnt understand how to get people to see the store, it went un-noticed and turned into money going out instead of in.

Any ideas/suggestions?
Don
<:{{{><

Don, you may also want to check out www.etsy.com re selling artisan made jewelry. I have some friends who do very well there :)

ps all handmade things appear to sell well there!

Koala77 06-21-2008 08:27 PM

Even though I live in Australia I'm anxiuosly waiting to see what other suggestions come forth in this thread.

My DH has started home delivering store catalogues but there's an awful lot of walking involved with that which I can't do, and he shouldn't be doing either. Hubby has a spinal condition and is probably going to have surgery later in the year, and at the moment all this walking is just making his back worse. All for the grand total of 1-2 cents per catalogue, depending on the store, and as he delivers to around 1,000 houses per week, he earns $25-$30 weekly.

I would like something I could use the computer for, but at this stage the only things I've heard of are not the sort of thing I would do, like sending out SPAM. I'll be waiting to read about any other suggestions.

fishnbuddy 06-22-2008 11:30 AM

Well I did sign up to that on line juror thing, lets see what happens. I remember hearing about it and then forgot all about it (part of ms). The site says expect about 1 pwr week and each takes about 45 min and it pays 5 to 10 dollars per case, but to be honest I hope I get more then that because Im here just on the computer all day anyway. Thanks for the tip!

Don
<:{{{><

fishnbuddy 06-22-2008 11:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Koala77 (Post 306606)
Even though I live in Australia I'm anxiuosly waiting to see what other suggestions come forth in this thread.

My DH has started home delivering store catalogues but there's an awful lot of walking involved with that which I can't do, and he shouldn't be doing either. Hubby has a spinal condition and is probably going to have surgery later in the year, and at the moment all this walking is just making his back worse. All for the grand total of 1-2 cents per catalogue, depending on the store, and as he delivers to around 1,000 houses per week, he earns $25-$30 weekly.

I would like something I could use the computer for, but at this stage the only things I've heard of are not the sort of thing I would do, like sending out SPAM. I'll be waiting to read about any other suggestions.

PM me for my sites but I dont thing they work for downunder.
<:{{{><

Chemar 06-24-2008 11:48 AM

fishnbuddy, have you looked into things like proof reading for publishers (someone mentioned that one I forget where now:o) and also I believe there are doctors and others who look for people to do computer records etc for them. not sure if any qualifications needed. there is so much one can do online nowdays if computer work is doable.

this is a really good topic, :) as many here need a way to either supplement income or earn a living while being challenged with illness or disability.

For us, starting to sell the personal "bric a brac" :D and the antiques and collectibles we ourselves inherited or enjoyed collecting along the way, has been the way to at least get by since my husband and youngest son had major health changes impact their lives late 90s. It would be a real blessing if we too could find a few more things to add in and have a bit left over instead of month to monthing it the way our kind of retail sales are in this current economy:rolleyes:

dizzie lizzy 06-25-2008 02:23 PM

This all has my entrepreneurial brain in high gear. Maybe once I have a Dx I'll start a work at home agency for all of us.

Koala77 06-26-2008 12:14 AM

I was surfing the Net today, and found "Get Paid for Participating in Online Surveys". Has anyone ever tried this?

JustWeave 06-26-2008 09:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Koala77 (Post 309757)
I was surfing the Net today, and found "Get Paid for Participating in Online Surveys". Has anyone ever tried this?

Not yet, but I am giving it very serious thought.

dizzie lizzy 06-26-2008 02:56 PM

Been There, Done That
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Koala77 (Post 309757)
I was surfing the Net today, and found "Get Paid for Participating in Online Surveys". Has anyone ever tried this?

Yes, I tried that when I was acting professionally and it doesn't ever really pan out. At least that was my experience. Most sites do one of 2 things. 1. You sign up and then they tell you there is a monthly membership fee for the right to be considered to take their surveys and won't guarantee that you even make your membership fee back. or 2. The compensation is in the form of either sweepstakes entries or points to redeem from their catalogue of useless crap. I do 2 that fall in the latter category just for fun. The catalogue has allowed me to give several extra X-mas gifts for nothing but it's mostly magazine subscriptions, travel mugs, posters and stuff.

There are some transcription agencies that I did some genuine work with but you never know when they're going to call with a job and you will end up working long hours to meet each deadline.

Hope that helps.

Koala77 06-26-2008 06:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dizzie lizzy (Post 310126)
.. Hope that helps.


Yes thank you Dizzie Lizzy, it did help.

Surveys no longer sound like what I'm looking for. We definitely need income and not just gifts.

I appreciate you posting the information, but I'm afraid it's back to the drawing board for me. :(

FaithS 06-26-2008 06:58 PM

Here's a link that I read about once. http://www.nticentral.org/

I didn't try it, because, at the time, I was not sure that I was disabled enough.

However, I am currently in the process of applying for SSDI. If I am approved, I may look into it.

~ Faith

who moi 06-27-2008 05:38 PM

hi Don and everyone else.

I wonder if I may butt in in here.

I work at home right now. But it is by luck. I did a lot of other things for many years and then decided to work at home.

I do a couple things at home now.

1) I day trade with the stock market. But that is very risky. If you have someone that can and is willing to teach you. You can make quite a bit of money, actually. But one has to have patience and study the market and need about $25,000.00 to be able to day trade. Hopefully more.

Day trading means that you trade on a daily basis and do NOT hold on to any stocks. So, if you time it right, you can trade about 5-6 times a day (if you know how) but some trade all day long. (I am NOT suggesting this to anyone. This is a very risky thing to do...)

2) I design things. I learnd AutoCAD a few years back and ended up substituting for a while at the local college and then it turned into a business.

with AutoCAD, you can design anything, from landscape to custom homes to jewelries to workout machines to, well, the universe. It's a vector based type of program so it is very powerful and almost every thing is CAD based these days. Furnitures, cars, blah blah blah

Dubai, that blooming eco-center in the middle east was so short on CAD operators that they were taking in secondary guys and paying them 6 figure salaries for 6 months job.

If you want to, do a search on Dubai.

the good thing about CAD is also that you can design it right at your own home, then email it to your clients. Voila, it's done. Of course, setting up a paypal or e-merchant account is very helpful in getting paid right away. :)

~~~~~~~~~~

I guess what my question is that if you or anybody would be willing to learn a new skill to work at home. Or are you just looking for something to do that you already know. I think the internet is a big untapped market.

If you are still thinking about ebay. My personal opinion is that ebay as a company is not in great shape. They are not what we would call a TRUST worthy brand. I do want to say that there are those that have been very successful with ebay. And thumbs up to them. But maybe you'd want to try something else. And my opinion with ebay once again, is just my personal opinion...

Instead, look into amazon.com which has established themselves to be very trust worthy and they have e-partners that might be able to help you drive traffic. You can become an amazon partnered merchant.

If you have a website, there is something called "traffic blazer"

it is designed to put your site on the search engine whenever you would insert "keywords"

for example, if I was type in "beads" your company will be listed in the search engine. Although the pricing and such determines your placing of visibility.

But it is listed in all the major search engines like google, yahoo, ask jeeves, etc.

here is some info on it

https://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/traff...2001av&ci=9046

I am not sure if anyone here would be willing to learn a new skill such as CAD. But it is really fun and you can learn it at home.

And the possibilities are endless. I am not trying to sell CAD. When I was teaching, whenever a student would learn CAD and tell me that their lives have been changed. It was always a good feeling.

Now, the generic CAD (autoCAD) is very expensive. But there are other versions available once you've learn the generic form.

I guess what I am trying to say is that if you or anyone has a skill, try to promote it as much as possible. Ask around and see if any of your friends have a website, ask them if you can link yours to theirs. Let them link it back to yours. Check out traffic blazer for traffic and searches.

but if you are interested in learning a new skill. I think CAD has great potential...

forget what I say about day trading. It was a stupid idea to even mention that in the first place...

I hope it works out for everyone.

(To Don)Since you like fishing, maybe you can look into something about selling fishing gears or fishing devices based on your expertise? If you are interested in learning CAD, maybe you can even design your own fishing gears and such?


Good luck to all

tkrik 07-03-2008 09:19 AM

Moi - I actually have been thinking of taking a CAD class this coming fall. I love doing design work but, as you said, everything is CAD now and hand drawings don't cut it anymore. :(

Entrepreneur . com has tons of information on starting businesses, work from home options, etc. You can choose things that interest you. They tell you about start up costs, etc. I did research on work from home options for me and came up with all sorts of things.

Some of the things were real simple too. Like sending out cards for corporations. Fill out the envelope, put a stamp on it, and bring it to the post office. How simple is that. But many busy executives need this done for them.

If anything, this site will get you thinking about ideas and things that you can do.

Again, I do medical transcription from home. For me, it is not necessarily lucrative as I can't sit for any length of time (some days only 10 min at a time and then I have to get up). However, I have friends that are also in the field who are doing quite well. There is training involved.

Medical record coding is another option. This is applying codes to information in a medical record for billing purposes and to maximize the $$ on the bill to the insurance. Training is involved as it's pretty detailed work and you need to know all the codes. More and more physician's offices, clinics, and hospitals are having people do this from home. It is an upcoming trend and at this point, there are very few good coders out there.

who moi 07-03-2008 12:25 PM

dear Pawket Protay Ector. LOLOL :D

I have seen some of your wonderful work and I think CAD will help benefit you. If I can be of ANY help, please do not hesitate to ask. I don't know everything about it, nobody does, but I can help with whatever I can...

sharing knowledge and passion is part of what life is about and I am always eager to learn. OK, getting ahead of myself here. LOL

medical transcription/record coding is very important and I think you might be onto something there. Da wife is a nurse and they are just way too busy and short staffed. A really good medical transcriptor/coder is really important and in high demand.

I hope it continues to work out well for you. :)


Quote:

Originally Posted by tkrik (Post 314829)
Moi - I actually have been thinking of taking a CAD class this coming fall. I love doing design work but, as you said, everything is CAD now and hand drawings don't cut it anymore. :(

Entrepreneur . com has tons of information on starting businesses, work from home options, etc. You can choose things that interest you. They tell you about start up costs, etc. I did research on work from home options for me and came up with all sorts of things.

Some of the things were real simple too. Like sending out cards for corporations. Fill out the envelope, put a stamp on it, and bring it to the post office. How simple is that. But many busy executives need this done for them.

If anything, this site will get you thinking about ideas and things that you can do.

Again, I do medical transcription from home. For me, it is not necessarily lucrative as I can't sit for any length of time (some days only 10 min at a time and then I have to get up). However, I have friends that are also in the field who are doing quite well. There is training involved.

Medical record coding is another option. This is applying codes to information in a medical record for billing purposes and to maximize the $$ on the bill to the insurance. Training is involved as it's pretty detailed work and you need to know all the codes. More and more physician's offices, clinics, and hospitals are having people do this from home. It is an upcoming trend and at this point, there are very few good coders out there.


Koala77 07-04-2008 09:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tkrik (Post 314829)

Again, I do medical transcription from home. For me, it is not necessarily lucrative as I can't sit for any length of time (some days only 10 min at a time and then I have to get up). However, I have friends that are also in the field who are doing quite well. There is training involved.

Medical record coding is another option. This is applying codes to information in a medical record for billing purposes and to maximize the $$ on the bill to the insurance. Training is involved as it's pretty detailed work and you need to know all the codes. More and more physician's offices, clinics, and hospitals are having people do this from home. It is an upcoming trend and at this point, there are very few good coders out there.

I am wondering as a nurse who has only just retired so still up with all the jargon, whether I would be able to do transcribing for similar companies to those you work for, even though I live in Oz. The language differences would not be a problem as I only have to reprogram my spell check from British to American English.

Medical record coding is another option for me, as I have done a little of it in the past 2 years, so again still up with current stuff. My problem would be the difference in codes from one country to another.

How would I find out the names of comanies that take on transcribers etc? Is anyone willing to share...(by PM if necessary)?

I'm not prepared to wager any more of the money we have in our retirement fund on the stock exchange Moi. We did float DH's retirement funds and lost many thousands, so my retirement funds are all that we have now.

Already in the past few months the stock exchange has taken a nose dive, so my money has also depreciated rather rapidly. To gamble more now would be stupid.

I'm still looking for something I can do from home, and the computer seems to be my best option.

Any and all information would be gracefully received.

tkrik 07-05-2008 02:04 PM

Hi Koala - I'll do some checking for you to find out which companies outsource to those overseas. I know there are a few and the 1st one that comes to mind is MedQuist but I haven't checked in to them in a while and don't know if they do anything overseas. Also, try googling "transcription services in Australia." You will get all sorts of companies coming up. Check some of them out.

Interestingly, the transcribing software that we use is made by a company in Australia. The download was free as are the updates. I also purchase my equipment from them and they have great products.

Since you have done some coding before as well as being in the health care industry for so long it will be easier for you to get in to. Talk with people you used to work with as well as small physician's offices in your area. Let them know your expertise. Working in the field previously really helps. I am sure you have developed relationships with many of the doctors and their staff in your area (or at least nearby). It is a great way to start networking and get a feel for what is out there.

Most hospitals in the states, require one to work at their facility for at least 6 months to a year before allowing them to start working from home. I am not sure if that would be the same in Australia but it is something that you would need to think about 1st.

Transcribing for dr offices is far easier than hospitals. Working for the hospitals, they prioritize the reports and you never know what you are going to get. You can't specialize as you can working for private facilities such as clinics, dr offices, even vets. For me, I did general work for a bit and have since "specialized" in orthopedics and rehabilitation. I love it! To think that ER nursing was the thing for me years ago and now I really love the ortho/rehab stuff.

What type of nursing did you do and are you still interested in that area? If so, go for it. Typing things that are interesting to you makes a huge difference. Place networking calls to those specialities and just see what happens.

Let me know if I can help in any way.

tkrik 07-05-2008 02:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by who moi (Post 314953)
dear Pawket Protay Ector. LOLOL :D

I have seen some of your wonderful work and I think CAD will help benefit you. If I can be of ANY help, please do not hesitate to ask. I don't know everything about it, nobody does, but I can help with whatever I can...

sharing knowledge and passion is part of what life is about and I am always eager to learn. OK, getting ahead of myself here. LOL

medical transcription/record coding is very important and I think you might be onto something there. Da wife is a nurse and they are just way too busy and short staffed. A really good medical transcriptor/coder is really important and in high demand.

I hope it continues to work out well for you. :)

I guess I will have to get that pocket protector, more mechanical pencils which I love any way, geeky glasses, and a slide ruler. LOL. Wait a minute, I am sure the instructor wouldn't even know how to use a slide ruler. LOL. They would think it is some ancient kind of thing like the abacus. LOL.

Good transcriptionists and coders are in high demand. Although many physicians, hospitals, clinics are going towards the electronic medical record and voice recognition. However, with voice recognition it is not perfect and a really good transciptionist with awesome proofreading skills would do well in pursuing those using voice recognition. It is a branch off of the field that many have not even considered at this point. In fact, when I was at my PCP and he was talking about voice recognition and how transcriptionist would soon be out of jobs, I told him that with voice recognition it doesn't know when you are ending a sentence and if you say "period" or "question mark" or even "new paragraph" many of the softwares out there will actually type those words not the punctuation. Therefore, someone has to go in and listen to the dictation and proofread for the dr.

who moi 07-30-2008 11:58 AM

I just thought of something...

getting MicroSoft certified would/can help with home business.

I have tech specialist certification (but I haven't updated it in recent years :p) (used to be able to do it over the internet a few years ago).

now you have to take it at a center but you can study all of it at home and take a practice test at home.

Once you get certified, you can fix and trouble shoot most of the basic stuff and then just go to MS and ask for questions that you don't know.

That's how I got started with the home business then I took some CAD classes and ended up doing CAD.

with the certification, you are allowed to do remote assistance so you can trouble shoot others puter from your home if the clients let you. Anyways, that's enchiladas down the road.

The trick is to NOT let the certification scare you.

I knew very little about it 6 almost 7 years ago. I could do some DOS but my main puter was MAC.

yes, it took countless hours of frustrations to learn things...

BUT....once you've learn it, it can become advantageous to you if you like to have some sort of home business...pick up their puters and bring it to your house, or go to their house and I usually charge more for that. Or do it remote. If you are comfortable, you can have them drop it off at your house. I prefer not to do that though.
One of my partners at the time when we started this together, he would have people meet him at the nearby coffee shop. That worked pretty well.

anyways, just a thought...:)

I have beent weaning myself from the puter trouble shooting cause my cad business have taken off. And there is just too much new carp to learn on a daily basis about new puters. I haven't even really try to learn Vista yet...:thud:

I've kept some of my loyal customers when it comes to PC's but I don't take on new clients anymore. I might throw some your way if you guys like to do remote assistance. LOL

megveg 07-30-2008 03:15 PM

is it possible to be a vetrinary clinic medical coder? i think coding would be easy for me and they offer it at my school, so I could get a certification in that and do that as work while im working on my vet tech certification.

does this sound logical?

tkrik 07-30-2008 03:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by megveg (Post 335529)
is it possible to be a vetrinary clinic medical coder? i think coding would be easy for me and they offer it at my school, so I could get a certification in that and do that as work while im working on my vet tech certification.

does this sound logical?

Sounds logical to me. Try it out, see how it works, and let us know. That is pretty cool!

megveg 07-30-2008 05:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tkrik (Post 335538)
Sounds logical to me. Try it out, see how it works, and let us know. That is pretty cool!

I really have no idea where to start tho, I know my school offers it but it seems I have to do generic stuff then specialize? Im confused about it all but it seems like something im willing to do.

alisden 08-01-2008 03:53 AM

work from home
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by fishnbuddy (Post 305684)
Hi, My neuro demon is MS and even tho Im ambulatory I am permanently disabled. My ms just doesnt allow me to join the work force anymore so Im on ss disability which is no where enough to survive, not with this runaway economy.

So Im interested in knowing how some of my fellow "homebounbers" are getting along! What do you do for an extra income if any. Iv'e been doing a few things on line and even tho the extra small income is thankful I would like other ideas.

I went and set myself up with a home office and thought about a home call center, but as a result of my financial disaster my credit has gone down the toilet and you need good credit to work for those companies, so call centers is out, what else is there? Any suggestions?

My wife and I tried setting up an ebay store (she makes nice bead jewelry)
but we didnt understand how to get people to see the store, it went un-noticed and turned into money going out instead of in.

Any ideas/suggestions?
Don
<:{{{><

hi there my husband used to work from home before he got post concussion syndrome .He used to sell books on amazon and we used to make a good bit doing that so you could give that a try hope it works out for you

dizzie lizzy 09-16-2008 03:49 PM

Work from Home leads
 
I just found this and thought it might be useful to lots of people here.

http://msn.careerbuilder.com/custom/...ome1&GT1=23000

Vonn07 09-18-2008 08:23 PM

fishnbuddy ....

there is an EBAY bible ... I just got version 3 ... and it takes you step by step to set up your account, paypal ... etc ...

http://www.amazon.com/Official-eBay-...1787387&sr=8-1

hope this helps you get online and sell sell sell ...


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