Work at Home Mama

Archive for the ‘Working at Home’ Category

Last week boss C ended my weekly assigment on writing recaps of soap operas. It was assigned to me last June and I’ve gotten used to it already. My Fridays and Saturday morning are usually spent working on the weekly summary of each. You’ll find me glued to my laptop, ear phones hooked on my ears because I’m viewing the episodes either on youtube or pinoychannel.tv while doing the summary…cramming.

This morning, nakakapanibago. I slept late but I wasn’t doing anything and for the first time in two months, I woke up late on a Saturday

I’m starting to miss my recaps

I feel so sorry for this blog. I got so busy from my online and offline life that I got this neglected.

Poor Blog.

To make up for my shortcomings, I changed it’s too corporate layout into an eye-friendly one. I’ll also be updating this because I need another outlet whenever I feel so down. As if I don’t have enough ^_^

Notice my header? It now says “Work at Home Mama. my life will begin at 30. i mean it.”

Would you believe that I’m already suffering from mid-life crisis at this age? Amazing.

So what have I been doing the past months? Well, first off I got so busy with my daughter’s schooling. She entered the big school this year and being with her consumes half of my day. Second, I opened my online bakeshop, PH Bakehouse because I’ve been wanting to offer cupcakes in Cavite. I’ll also be reopening my online shop Posh Baby Philippines which offers couture clothes for kids. I stopped working in oDesk for now because I can no longer commit that much time for my employers but I still write for POC and some paid post sites like PayU2Blog, Blog4Reviews, Sponsored Reviews, Social Spark, Linkworth and many others.

Until next time. Babush ^_^

Every elections, the teachers of government schools  all have to spend long working hours in precincts, bear the complaints of voters, ballot watchers and candidates alike, some risk their lives to protect the ballot boxes – all for a measly salary which is oftentimes late.

Not long after the May 2010 elections, these hard working teachers were once again braving the streets of the Philippines, under the scorching heat of the sun and 37.5 degree celsius temperature. This time they’re working for the National Statistics Office, counting the Philippines in figures.

I remember last week, we were having breakfast when two women knocked on our door. They were carrying folders with IDs I did not recognize. “Census po ma’am” they said. I did not let them in, of course! and I was even apprehensive in entertaining them at first. Why should I not be when budol-budol is very rampant in Cavite? The fact that my husband was inside the house and was listening to us made me decide to answer their questions.

It was a 3-minute interview if I’m not mistaken and yes, it was done UNDER THE HEAT OF THE SUN.

I didn’t have any idea that they were teachers until I heard the news from the television last night.

Yes, they are indeed teachers.

The National Statistics Office expects them to meet their quota of 340 households from May 17 to June 11, 2010. Failure to do so could mean that they cannot receive the  full payment of P11,500.

HOW HARSH considering all the inconveniences each teacher has to go through each workday.

1. Heatstroke – need I say more? With this unbearable heat, will NSO provide extra allowance for their water consumption during working hours? Is NSO caring enough to provide iced towels for these teachers?
2. Security Conscious Homeowners – why would I talk to strangers anyway? Did NSO or DepEd disseminate information about these surveys? They should have done it on national television weeks before the surveys were conducted to INFORM the people of their plans.  They should have coordinated with the local authorities BEFORE the survey period. Busy with the elections? Using the national elections is one very lame excuse! And because people were not informed, so were their dogs.
3. Dogs – There were reports about teachers bitten by dogs. The government will sure shoulder the expenses, hello PhilHealth! But will they shoulder the expenses should these teachers suffer from post traumatic stress disorder after the dog bite? Of course not.
4. Poor compensation – C’mon. Why not pay them the full P11,500 even if they not meet the 340 quota? Don’t these teachers deserve more? and why can’t these government offices hire contract-based employees to do this job and let the teachers rest so they’re ready for the incoming opening of classes? I’m still making sense here, right? If others can hire contract-based employees, why can’t our government?

These teachers are overworked, unappreciated and underpaid.

We are complaining of the poor educational system in the Philippines, yet we don’t know what our teachers has to go through just to make both ends meet. The Alliance of Concerned Teachers estimates that a teacher only receives a P9,939 gross monthly salary – no wonder that we always see some teachers selling knick-knacks during school hours.

It’s just sad that teachers has to go through all these. I just hope that the change of government officials will shed light on our teachers’ dark hole.

And I vehemently pray that the Filipino teachers are given the credit and compensation due to them before it’s too late.

Online selling was my main bread and butter a few years ago until I could no longer keep up with customer’s demands. Selling online is hard as ‘actual selling’ but the the advantages outweighs the disadvantages. (this will be discussed on a separate post)

Moving on, you can sell products in Multiply. Unlike before, selling is already LEGAL in multiply so you need not worry about being ‘deleted’.

To start with, you need to create a regular account:

Next, to mark yourself as seller, you have to click this button:

MARK YOURSELF AS SELLER

After that, you can now CUSTOMIZE your website by clicking your Home Page Tab (1.) and Customize My Site (2.):

After doing so, your page will now look like this:

Play with your site. You can remove unnecessary elements here that you do not need on your store. Basic elements are the following:

• Photos – where you upload the photos of your merchandize
• Blog – for your FAQs, updates, etc
• Guestbook – for customer feedback

Once your site is up, you can now start uploading photos of the things you want to sell AKA merchandize.

Your photos should contain the following to save you time from answering the questions of prospective buyers:

clothes / footwear

• Sizes available
• Colors available
• Brand (Filipinos are very conscious about brands)
• Flaws, if any.
• Authenticity (though I don’t encourage you to sell fakes. ’nuff said.)
• Price (This is very, very important. I, for one, hates asking for the price.)

food

• the quantity for each order
• description, of course!
• price

Your FAQ should contain the following:

• Terms of Sale – your selling/buying rules should answer the questions: do you accept haggling?, are you willing to sell outside the Philippines?, what will you do to non-paying buyers?, are you willing to reserve a product? if yes, what are your terms?, things like that.
• Shipping Info - details of shipping should be posted here, including, the courier you’ll be using and how much it will cost the buyer, how long will it take you to ship the items, if you’re willing to meet-up, insurance, etc.
• Payment Info - Indicate here if you are willing to accept Paypal, Bank Deposit or Gcash payments and how long are you going to wait for the payment before you relist the items.

Once you’re done building your site, INVITE FRIENDS and let your contacts grow. Join groups and post your updates there. The technique here is to have lots of contacts and promote your product in your groups.

but, but, but DO NOT SPAM if you don’t want to be deleted by your contacts.

Promote your products ONCE and believe me, if your products are unique or are reasonably priced, people will flock to your site in no time.

It’s very easy to sell in multiply because it’s FREE and the traffic is good so if you are a new seller and want to promote your products online, then Multiply is the perfect platform for you.

I am swamped with work that I can no longer afford to update all of my blogs. I have so many ideas in mind but I lost the energy and time to put it all into writing.

Worry not because I PROMISE (so help me God!) to update this blog this week and tackle the following post and read-worthy $$$ making topics.

1) Google Adsense

According to Google, AdSense is a fast and easy way for website publishers of all sizes to earn money by displaying targeted, unobtrusive Google ads on their websites. AdSense also allows you to provide Google search to your site users, while earning money by displaying Google ads on the search results pages.

2) Nuffnang

Nuffnang.com is Asia-Pacific’s first and leading blog advertising community.

4) PayU2Blog

Approved bloggers in PayU2Blog are enjoying the benefits of early payday and steady stream of work that’s why Bloggers Heart PayU2Blog!

and more!

Working from home brings so much comfort to those who want to make money at home. This is for people who dreads the rush-hour traffic jam everyday, the hassle of choosing clothes each morning, or simply for those who hates leaving home.

Working from home is an answer to every mother’s wish, that is to be with their kids yet still earn and contribute to the household budget. For me, this is really a great opportunity since all I wanted to be is to become a hands-on mom to my little girl and earn at the same time. But what’s make it more special is I don’t have to see company big wigs everyday. Let’s accept it, bosses add STRESS to anyone’s corporate life and without them, employees can work better, right?

But despite all these benefits, working from home still has bad sides BUT the good news is, we can do something about this! Here they are:

1. No work stability. 
   Because there is no contract between you and your employer, there is a big risk of easily losing your job. This is a fact and you must accept this the moment you decide to work from home. A lot would maintain several jobs, just so they have a fall back when one employer quits, but this is not feasible to moms like me. You can’t have several jobs, maintain a household and have desirable work output at the same time. But of course this is feasible when you have a helper at home to do the household chores,  attend to your children’s needs, and do the errands. This is quite impossible for a yaya-less and help-less household like ours. And oftentimes several jobs brings so much money YET it drains all the energy in you, therefore, defeating the purpose of working from home. 
   I manage this by maintaining a good relationship with my employer. I only maintain one employer now and I’ve been working with him for 6 months now. He pays on time and communicates well, I, on the other hand, provide him with beyond outstanding output so our working relationship is okay. I just asked him to notify me ahead if he can no longer give me enough work, at least with that I have ample time to look for another employer.
2. No insurance, health cards, and government benefits such as Pag-Ibig, PhilHealth and SSS.
   Employers who hire people online veer away from government mandated benefits, so as workers, do not expect to receive these benefits.
   What I do is apply for individual or accounts and pay voluntarily. My husband is still in the corporate world so my daughter and I still benefit from his PhilHealth and Medicard. Now I am voluntarily paying my Pag-Ibig and SSS accounts.
3. No Social Life.
   This is true and sometimes working from home eats the best of me. A person needs to go out and be with his friends (unless one has no friends!) otherwise you’ll end up depressed. At some point working in an office is healthy because you can separate real life from work. Working from home is very stressful as you need to work and mind your home problems at the same time. So to avoid depression you need to go out once in a while. Visit the malls, drink some coffee, eat out, go to the park. The list is endless! The most important thing here is to get out once in a while and do something work unrelated. 
   I already developed friendship with several online friends, going out with them once in a while helps me keep my sanity.
4. You will become less and less conscious about time and self-discipline.
   Yes, this is true. Since you have no schedule to follow and no boss to see everyday, you are responsible to keep track of your time and your work. Some online bosses can be so time and deadline conscious so you have to fix your schedule to maintain their demands.
   What if you have a boss like mine who cares less of my schedule? All he asks of me is to complete the 40 hours each week? Great? Not really. Oftentimes I would get so relaxed and play games on FB that I lose track  of time. It takes a lot of discipline on the employee’s part if you want to succeed in working from home.
5. No Promotion.
   If you are promotion-driven then working from home is definitely not for you.
   But one good thing about working from home is that you can learn so much everyday. The web is a treasure chest of knowledge and you can make use of this to your advantage. Read and keep yourself updated. You may not be promoted by this BUT if you arm yourself with knowledge on technology, current events, and all – you are more than ready to face the world.
6. You’re doing what?
   This is the hardest part. Whenever someone asks me about my work, I always end up looking for the right term to make people understand. Sure almost everyone knows about the word INTERNET but not everyone knows that they can actually earn from it. Its hard to explain that the internet has more to offer than YM, emails and Farmville.
   The more I explain to people, the more confused they would become. Oh life! Oftentimes people would give me strange looks which is quite irritating! This has become a real life issue that I have to face everyday. People would think that I am up to no-good because I am JUST working from home. This is definitely not the case, I am jobless but definitely not worthless. I hope that people will start recognizing alternative ways to earn and start accepting the fact that in life, “kanya kanyang diskarte lang yan para mabuhay.”

This is just a short post on why Unionbank EON is the best choice when it comes to receiving and withdrawing Paypal funds. Here are the reasons:

1. You can use Unionbank EON to verify your Paypal Account. See related post.
2. Opening an EON Account in Unionbank requires only P350. No maintaining balance at all. Cool!
3. Withdrawal of funds from Paypal to your EON is FREE. No bank charges unlike most banks which charge P150 to P250 for every withdrawal.

Check Unionbank’s website here.

But of course if maintaining multiple bank accounts makes you uncomfortable, you can still use your other bank accounts BUT you cannot use those cards to VERIFY your Paypal account. You will still need to verify it using a credit card.

A friend told me that the internet is a gold mine. Yes it truly is and I can attest to that. After almost a year of being stay-at-home I was already bored from chatting with friends. I was online 20 hours a day but I was earning nothing so I did what my friends do – plunge into Paid-to-Click (PTC) sites! Whoa! wrong move! It will take you eons of years to earn $ and will take you forever to meet the payout threshold. I felt so bad that I vowed not to register in any PTC site again. Next, I took surveys and all but I was spending more than I was earning. Just imagine my ballooning Meralco bill and SmartBro monthly dues, I knew right then and there that I’ve got to do something.

Monetizing Blogs
Then I started earning by monetizing my blogs. I am no writer but I love putting my thoughts on blogs and since I was into it, I said “why not, poknat?” Here are some companies who are giving me $$$ each month. They are reliable as I already received payments from them. Click the company name to register.

Blog Advertising Store

Blogsvertise

Social Spark

Link from Blog

Of course there’s a lot more like PayU2Blog who pays big time but I am so unsuccessful on it (domain issues – I only use free ones which they don’t allow).  Just keep on searching, because on my case my hands are already full just with oDesk and my blogging sideline and it’s already worth thanking the Lord for.

Working for Companies and Individuals
There are a lot of people in the world who are in need of services which vary from simple customer service task to project management and website maintenance. Companies and individuals based outside the Philippines are more than willing to pay you in $$$ for your services. Filipinos are very diligent, trustworthy and responsible – that’s why most foreigners look for us when they want something done.

The On Demand Global Workforce – oDesk

Get a Coder

Get a Freelancer

There is no perfect outsourcing company but on my case I am more comfortable working with companies or individuals from oDesk so I stick with them.

All of them pay via Paypal so better make an account first before rushing into work.

Before jumping into the work-at-home bandwagon you need to know that majority of clients will pay you via Paypal – the safest way of receiving and sending money worldwide. To know more about Paypal, click here.

One of the basic questions I got when it comes to Paypal was “Can I open a Paypal account even if I have no credit card?”

Of  course you can.

Credit card details are just used to verify your information. An unverified Paypal account will only allow you to receive Paypal funds but you cannot withdraw funds to your local bank. The transfer of Paypal to Paypal funds is only limited to $500 which is quite a hassle if you are already working and receiving funds often.

Now if you are like me who have no credit cards, then the best way is to apply for an EON Account in Unionbank.

Go to your nearest Unionbank and apply for one. Your card will be given to you within a week and only then you will be asked to pay the P350 Annual Fee. It requires no maintaining balance but to deposit at least Php250 is recommended since Paypal will charge your Eon card $1.95 upon verification.

Once verified, you are now capable of receiving and transferring unlimited Paypal funds to other Paypal accounts or withdraw to your local bank.

It is also recommended that you use this same EON bank account when you enroll a local bank in Paypal.

Why? Because there are no bank charges and it will only take 2-4 days for your money to appear in your EON account.

*****

Now that you already have a Paypal account and let’s say you already received Paypal funds from your clients. It’s payday!

You can now withdraw your Paypal funds to your local bank (Enroll your Unionbank EON first). The minimum amount is $10 by the way.

Click ‘withdraw funds to your bank account’ and choose Unionbank from your list of banks and click withdraw.

Work at Home Ph

See Paypal charges above.

It usually takes 24 hours for paypal to deposit your funds to your local bank (you will notice the word ‘COMPLETED’) on your transaction details BUT it doesn’t mean that your money is ready with withdrawal. It will take 2-4 days for your money to appear in your bank account.