In yesterday’s post, we discussed the importance of knowing what kind of work at home job you’re looking for and we even offered you a quiz to help you get started. We also offered you a few tips for how to search for work at home jobs for moms online. If you are just tuning in, we encourage you go read part one of this series before going any further.

Now, continuing where we left off, here are a few more ways that you can find work at home jobs for moms on your own:

Going Direct

If you have an idea of the exact type of work at home job that you’re looking for, consider making a list of companies that may offer telecommute positions. Often, you’ll find that companies don’t advertise jobs in classified ads, but list them on their company website instead. Visit their sites regularly and check their ‘careers’ or ‘jobs’ sections while keeping an eye out for possible work at home positions.

Job Aggregators

Of course, checking job boards, like Monster or HotJobs is a good idea, too. However, this can be a time consuming task if going one by one to large job sites. Instead, try sites that aggregate results from these and make it a part of your daily routine to check them out. Some of the ones that we like are Indeed.com or SimplyHired.com, but there are a ton of others that you can explore during your search.

Social Networking

Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and others can be a great source for job searches. Not only can you network with other home workers, but opportunities for work at home jobs for moms are often posted or mentioned on these sites.

Our Friends

We have a growing list of other work at home mom sites listed in our sidebar. After you’ve checked our job listings and read through any news that we’ve updated, you may want to take a gander at some of our friend’s sites to see what’s new there. By networking and staying up to date on what’s going on in the work at home mom community, you will not only make strong contacts, but you will also be led to other opportunities for working at home.

A Work at Home Job or a Home-Based Business?

After looking for employers who hire employees to work at home, you’ll undoubtedly run across home-based business opportunities. Perhaps it’s time to reassess what it is that you’d like to do. Unless you’re working for a commission, having an employer means that you’re guaranteed a wage for the time that you spend working. Owning your own home-based business, however, doesn’t guarantee you a salary, but there is the unlimited income potential, as well as the freedom and flexibility to do what you want, when you want. Often, there’s an investment involved in owning your own business, but there are a ton of opportunities out there.

Whether you decide on a work at home job or a small business opportunity, knowing how to find what you’re looking for is crucial. Continue to visit the Work at Home Mom Center for information and resources that you can use while you’re looking for a gig and even after you’ve secured one. We’ll always do our best to offer you tips, advice and leads to help make your work at home mom experience the best that it can be.

So, tell us, what’s your best method of finding work at home jobs for moms?

As you can tell by our job listings, legitimate work at home jobs for moms (and others!) do exist. If you’re determined to join this growing workforce, you’re going to have to know how to find work at home jobs on your own. Sure, we’ll continue to help by directing you to available jobs, but we also want you to know how to sniff opportunities out, as well.

Assess Your Skills and Strengths

To begin with, it helps to know what it is that you want to do. What kind of work have you done in the past? What special skills do you have? Where do your interests lie? Are you looking for full-time work, part-time work or are you just interested in working when the mood strikes? How much money do you need to earn? Ask yourself all of these questions in order to formulate an idea about what kind of work you’d like to do from home. If you find that you’re struggling with an answer, try taking this work at home quiz and see what you come up with.

Do You Need Special Training?

Perhaps you’re not interested in performing the same duties that you’re experienced in and are looking for a career change. For instance, you may have once worked as a secretary, but you’re now interested in a medical transcription career for which you’ll need additional training. Now is the time to broaden your horizons and set new goals to attain the education you need for the career you want. If you need further job training, it’s better not to put it off until later, but dive in and start studying now. A lot of courses can be completed online or during the evening hours so as not to disrupt your current schedule too terribly. Making a small sacrifice to obtain quality job training today can definitely create a stronger future for you and your family.

Where Are the Jobs?

Work at home jobs for moms are all around you. When searching, of course most people start locally. Your local newspaper, as well as online classifieds, such as CraigsList, is a good place to start. Don’t stop there, however. Since you’re working at home, it’s not necessary for you to limit yourself to local searches. Your employer can literally be on the other side of the world, so you should think in terms of searching globally.

Internet Search

When searching online for work at home jobs for moms, try the following search terms:

“work from home”

“own computer”

“telecommute position”

“freelancer needed”

Of course, there are all sorts of variations that you can search, which are particular to your needs. However, notice that each search term above is nestled between quotes. The reason for this is that doing so tells the search engine that you only want to see results with those exact phrases.

If you find that you are receiving results that you do not want, try adding a minus sign before the words that you do not want to appear in your results.

Example:

“work from home” –surveys

With this example, you will receive results containing your requested keywords, “work from home”, but those that include the word “surveys” will automatically be omitted.

If you are using Google for your search, you can narrow your search even further simply by clicking the ‘options’ link at the top of your search results. Among the options listed on the menu, you can narrow your results down to the latest or to a specific timeframe that you’d like to see results from.

Tomorrow, we’ll delve a little deeper into tips to help you find work at home jobs for moms. For now, though, spend some time applying what you’ve learned today and see what you discover. Be sure to bookmark this site and add us to your RSS feed so that you don’t miss future updates or work at home job listings.

Click here for Finding a Work at Home Job – Part 2

Childcare continues to be one of the largest barriers work at home moms struggle to overcome. While many of you may think this is a non-issue since moms are at home anyway, it is a major issue for moms with very young children. How do you find quiet time to work when your toddler insists on singing Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! at the top of her lungs? Or when an inquisitive little one insists on talking your ears off for hours on end? While every mother longs to be there for her child, which is part of the reason she opts to work at home, the fact is that she still needs time to focus her energy on work. To these moms we ask, “Have you ever considered a babysitting co-op?”

What is a Babysitting Co-op?

If the concept sounds foreign to you, don’t worry you’re not alone. A babysitting co-op is comprised of parents who agree to exchange babysitting responsibilities within the group. Such gives members a one-stop shop for babysitting, which is always available, dependable and, most of all, affordable…because it’s free!

Specifically, How Does a Babysitting Co-op Work?

When members sit for one another, points are earned. In turn, when members need a sitter, they spend their points by offering them to another member who does the actual sitting. While there is a time investment involved and this is not full-time childcare, it is a way for work at home moms to create quiet work hours or to get out of the house for appointments without having to pay high babysitting costs.

Members meet at regular intervals to handle the business of the co-op, as well as to socialize. In this way, familiarity is bred and members do not feel as though they are leaving their children with strangers. Lifelong friendships and support systems often grow out of babysitting co-ops.

How to Start Your Own Work at Home Mom Babysitting Co-op

All you need is one or more other work at home moms who are interested in forming a co-op. Of course, the more the merrier, but we don’t want you to feel like you need twenty other moms to get started. Even if you don’t know other work at home moms (or moms that may have a need to join the co-op for other reasons), don’t sweat it, because you can always recruit others in your area using the methods detailed in The Smart Mom’s Baby-Sitting Co-op Handbook, which can be found in the Work at Home Mom Center Bookstore.

Never Pay for Babysitting Again

Let’s face it, working at home is as challenging as it is rewarding. Childcare can be expensive and, at least in part, defeats the purpose of why you chose to work at home in the first place. Being the superwoman that you are, you’d like to do it all, but it’s just not possible. Even though you have the luxury of defining your own schedule, no one ever said that your kids would automatically cooperate with it. When you’re on a tight deadline and work simply must be done, why not let the kids play for a while with the children of another co-op member while you handle your business? Journey on over to the bookstore now and pick up The Smart Mom’s Baby-Sitting Co-op Handbook and never pay for babysitting again!

What does your workspace look like?

Does it inspire you to be productive?

Is it well-organized?

Are you comfortable in it?

All of these questions, and more, are what you need to ask yourself in order to get the most from your designated space (and you should definitely have a “designated space”!). Even if you only work from home part time, it’s important that your home office is one where you can produce and effectively grow your output.

If you feel as though you’re struggling in this area, then we invite you to take a look at Maggie Shoonmaker’s article on ways to Design and Organize a Great Home Office over at the Daily Camera website.

For many who are starting out on a tight budget, it may not be feasible to shop for new furnishings for a home office, but we suggest that you regularly check with your local Freecycle, as well as with CraigsList (including their freebie section) for items that you can pick up for free, or at a very low cost, to decorate your home office. At this time of year, especially, a lot of college students are preparing to break for the summer and need to get rid of dorm and apartment furnishings fast. From one of these, you may be able to secure a great deal on a used desk, chair or any number of other needed office furnishings.

The bottom line is that a dedicated office space is simply a MUST for all work at home moms. Even if you’re working at the kitchen table for now, be sure that everything that you need is within reach, thoughtfully organized and that it is physically comfortable.

In reading articles about medical transcription, speech recognition technology is frequently mentioned as a game changer. This is important news for anyone considering a career as a medical transcriptionist. While traditional training hasn’t always included this technology, due to a changing landscape within the industry, it is highly recommended that newcomers are aware of this and select a medical transcription course that includes speech recognition.

What is Medical Transcription?

Very simply put, each time a doctor sees a patient, she must record notes on what transpired during the visit. More often than not, doctors dictate this information into an audio device and rely on a transcriber to turn it into a written report, which is then attached to the patient’s medical file.

Taking this a step further, medical transcription editors are part of a specialized niche who edit and make any necessary corrections to reports generated by speech recognition software. In essence, those trained in speech recognition technology are trained for two careers. They are not only trained to become medical transcriptionists, but they receive specialized training as editors, as well.

What is Speech Recognition Technology?

In medical transcription, speech recognition technology (also referred to as voice recognition) is the software used for dictating notes that are automatically transcribed into written reports. Much like similar technologies used for word processing, a person merely needs to speak words into a device and the same words are generated into written form via computer. While some may believe that this new technology may make it unnecessary to hire someone trained in medical transcription, speech recognition editors are still needed to manually correct and edit errors within this process.

What Does a Shift in Technology Mean to Transcriptionists?

In order to maintain marketability, it’s important to be educated on the latest software used in an industry and to find a way to work in tandem with it. For medical transcription, speech recognition software is gaining in popularity. It is, therefore, highly recommended that individuals considering a career in this industry be aware of its importance and seek schools offering medical transcription speech recognition training in order to access transcription editing work.

Where Can I Learn More About Medical Transcription Training?

While online medical transcription courses and traditional brick and mortar training locations in this field abound, prospective students must be diligent in seeking out the training course that is right for them. A few tips to consider when doing so include:

• Making sure that the course you select has a good rating with the Better Business Bureau
• Assuring that the course selected meets the high standards of the Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity (AHDI)
• Determine whether or not the course specifically offers medical transcription speech recognition training
• Does the course fit your lifestyle? For example, some will require months of in-person training in a classroom setting, while others may offer online training and support, which may be a better fit for a busy lifestyle

Is Medical Transcription a Lucrative Work at Home Career?

It certainly can be! Some lay estimations are that as many as 75% of all medical transcription reporters work from home, but the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that 36% of transcriptionists work in hospitals, while another 23% work in doctor’s offices. Their website also states that many transcriptionists work from home, which may account for the additional 41% of transcriptionists. The State University of New York Orange (SUNY Orange) website, which uses the Career Step online curriculum to train new students in medical transcription, touts that those who complete the course can expect to earn up to $40,000 per year working at home.

Once upon a time, medical transcription training was obtained either on the job or at an actual training location. Today, however, medical transcription speech recognition training can be obtained through home study courses, which allow students to learn at their own pace while preparing for a new career. The BLS further reports a good outlook for growth and future employment within the field.

As far as we can tell, in order to enter a career in medical transcription, speech recognition technology fluency is not yet mandatory. However, in a stable field with a growing future, if a new technology trend is developing why would anyone opt for a training program that doesn’t include it? If this career interests you, keep this in mind and choose wisely!

Applying for a work at home job is a little different than applying for traditional employment. For one, a face-to-face interview is rare and, therefore, your resume and work history will have to speak loud and clear about who you are and what you can do. Also, there are a few tools that aren’t must-haves in the real world, but are top list items if you plan to work in the virtual world.

A few of these include:

An email address – While most people have one of these, a dedicated email address for professional use is helpful. Having a separate address gives you the option of having a professional presence (which sounds more professional, SuperSoccerMom at xyz dot com or ProfessionalServices at xyz dot com?). Further, a dedicated email address helps you keep your business and personal correspondence completely separate. While you can purchase your own domain with a personal email address, free ones like Gmail or Yahoo work just as well as long as they’re kept separate from your personal account.

A PayPal account – While most traditional employers pay employees with a paycheck and a few pay by direct deposit, a good number of virtual employers pay via PayPal. A few are very strict in advertising that they will ONLY pay via PayPal and that having an account is mandatory. You’ll find that setting up a PayPal account is free, easy and its services are quite convenient. Your account can be linked to your regular bank account for an easy transfer of funds and you can even request a PayPal debit card in order to spend money directly from your PayPal account if you so desire.

A PC with high speed Internet access – While a few employers will hire MAC users, most require workers to have a PC and in all cases, employers prefer hiring those with a high speed Internet connection as opposed to dial-up.

Other optional tools you may want to consider are:

A tax identification number – It’s natural to feel uneasy about supplying your social security number on an online application. Internet fraud is not a figment of the imagination and to protect one’s self, it is advisable to apply for a tax identification number (also known as an Employee Identification Number or EIN) for free from the IRS website.

A corporate entity – While you can work as an individual employee, or a sole proprietor, you may want to consider creating and incorporating a company…particularly if you will be working as an independent contractor or running your own business (which we’ll discuss in further detail later). Such not only protects your privacy, but may place limits on your personal liability, your tax responsibilities and adds to your professional image. This can be costly, so if you cannot afford to do so right away, keep it in the back of your mind for now, gather information and educate yourself on what is available to you, and do keep it in mind for the future.

A dedicated business number or phone line – Call center jobs will require this, but even beyond these, it is a good idea to have a business line. If you will not be making a lot of outbound calls, you may want to consider a Skype line or, at the very least, getting a virtual phone number from GoogleVoice or another provider. Again, protecting your privacy is important, which is why we recommend virtual phones and numbers, which are virtually untraceable to a home address.

A mailbox – No, not the one that’s in front of your house or apartment, but a private mailbox through a commercial service. This can be a post office box or a box rented from a local commercial service where you’re offered a regular street address and assigned a box number. The latter is not automatically recognized as a mailbox and, while there’s nothing wrong with using a P.O. box (though some businesses will reject your use of one as a main address), a commercial mailbox can give you the luxury of a business address without having to pay rent on a commercial space.

Business cards – These are not mandatory, but if you’re doing business as a freelancer or running a small business, they certainly are good tools for networking efforts. We recommend that you take a look at Vista Print for free business cards (though you will need to pay for shipping and handling).

Social networking accounts – Again, not mandatory, but very helpful. Just as networking is important in a traditional workforce, it is also very important for virtual workers. You may already have personal Facebook, Twitter and other social networking accounts, and these may be fine to use for business, but opening accounts strictly for business use should also be considered. This way, you can keep in touch with employers, co-workers and clients without broadcasting your personal business to each. Working at home is also a very lonely job at times and having accounts where you can interact with others in your industry is very helpful.

Depending upon the type of employment you are seeking you may need more tools or you may need fewer. Still, it is a good idea to have all of these on deck before you venture into the world of virtual employment so that you won’t have to scramble to gather them later. Positioning yourself for business at the beginning of your journey prepares you for success in the future!

Whether you are self-employed or whether you work remotely for an employer, make no bones about it…working from home is WORK! Yes, in most cases, you can define your own schedule, work in your slippers and call your own shots. However, if you’re going to be successful in your work at home position, you are going to have to be disciplined and professional at all times. I can imagine most of you are nodding your heads in agreement as you read this. After all, you intend to earn a living and are smart enough to realize that you can’t do so without taking your position seriously. While you may know this, how receptive are others around you to this fact?

Nothing Kills Your Productivity Faster!

One of the more common complaints from work at home moms is the lack of respect others have for your time. Of course, people aren’t being intentionally rude. It’s just that they know that you are at home during the day and, not realizing that you’re still handling serious business, some figure that you are available for their needs. This can range from family members who demand your attention during working hours or friends who call during the day for idle chit-chat. Such distractions can murder productivity, so it’s important that you know how to lay them to rest before they arise.

The following are a few tips to help you avoid personal interruptions:

• Hold a family meeting about your work schedule and stress the importance of your solitude at this time

• Turn all personal instant messaging programs off when in official work capacity online

• Silence alerts for incoming text messages and IMs on your mobile phone

• If possible, silence your phone’s ringer OR create a voicemail message notifying callers that you are not available during work hours (ex: “…if you’re calling between the hours of 9a and 2p, I cannot answer because I am working, but your call will be returned when I am done.” However you decide to word your greeting, be sure to include the fact that you are working, so that personal callers will take the hint that calls during this time are purposely being ignored.)

• If possible, find a private area of your home where you can work in peace, without a lot of foot traffic and where you can “disappear” to during work hours

By employing a few of these, friends and loved ones will soon get the message that you are serious about your job. As you treat your work as a priority, others will too. Comments are open on this post for you to share some of your methods of avoiding unnecessary personal interruptions.

How do you do it?

How long did it take people to take the hint?

Deciding to work an 8-hour work day from home depends on your own goals, your work pace and your personal motivation. One of the benefits of working from home is that you can design your own schedule, which means that, as long as work is completed, there are no set rules for when or how this is done. While the 8-hour work day is what most full-time jobs consist of, this wasn’t always the case. Consider for a moment just how this schedule came to be.

The Birth of the 8-Hour Work Day

A little more than a century ago, full-time workers in the manufacturing industry worked an average of 100 hours per week. This, of course, is a far cry from an 8-hour work day full-time employees work today. Other workers, who weren’t employed by the manufacturing industry, still worked an average of 10 hours per day.

The shift in daily hours happened as Knights of Labor groups began to form all over the United States leading movements of general strikes in favor of better working conditions, as well as shorter days. After the market crash of 1873, unemployment rose dramatically and, at this same time, a decline in wages was also felt. It was believed that reducing to an 8-hour work day would help decrease unemployment by better distributing hours among more workers.

By 1886, the Knights of Labor’s membership had grown to more than 700,000 members nationwide and strikes in favor of shorter hours took on a new fervor. “Eight hours for work, eight hours for rest and eight hours for what you will” was a popular slogan of the growing 8-hour work day movement during the late 1800’s.

While several laborers were killed by police after scuffles broke out between strikers and those crossing strike lines, four more protesters were hanged to death after being convicted of a bombing at the Haymarket Square Rally in Chicago. Following these intense protests, which included bloodshed, nationwide, the 8-hour work day was finally born.

Your Personal Work at Home Schedule

As you can see from the history detailed above, an 8-hour work day was what workers felt they needed in order to survive a tough economic atmosphere, as well as to ensure balance between work, rest and personal time. In modern times, as employees work a variety of different days and shifts, and while more people are opting for self-employment, the traditional 8-hour work day may or may not work for everyone. Certainly, if you are self-employed or are able to design your own work at home schedule, these rules needn’t automatically apply to you.

Whether you opt for the standard 8-hour work day or whether you set different hours, when designing your schedule, here are a few things to consider:

• Approximately how many hours of work are needed to help you accomplish your personal and financial goals?

• What days and hours can you realistically work without interruptions or distractions?

• Must you perform all duties yourself, or can some of your work be outsourced in order to maximize your productivity? (In his book, the 4-Hour Work Week, author Timothy Ferriss gives great advice on outsourcing tasks while trimming hours and increasing productivity.)

• Will you work all of your hours at once or would it benefit you to organize your day in sections (e.g. Work Monday through Friday from 5a to 7a and again from 12p to 3p)?

• Will you work weekends?

• What days and hours are you NOT available for work? (Hint: be sure to allow room for family time, housework, appointments and personal errands, as well as for rest and relaxation)

Once you begin to earn money working at home, you will also want to consider whether the hours that you are working are justified by what you are earning.

A traditional 8-hour work day can be productive, but is not mandatory for success. Many who work from home do work fewer hours, while many others work far more! The bottom line is that this is your personal schedule and it does not have to look like anyone else’s. It should be based on your own realistic goals and expectations, as well as upon what you can actually manage while maintaining a comfortable personal and home life.