Work at Home ~ Is it possible?

I have had a few people e-mail or comment and ask about my new job. It was not that long ago I was tweeting and joked about how I needed a work at home job to support my fabric habit ~ really if you have not seen my fabric stash yet then you need to because I need a 12 step program according to Aaron). While it started as a joke, a twitter friend (@HulaHoopingMom) replied that she works at home and makes some decent money and if I wanted more info DM her.

After a few DM’s I realized she was serious and I thought about how nice it would be to (1) be able to earn some mad $$$ or extra money for Christmas or vacation or anything else that crossed my mind (2) be able to make my own hours ~ so that I only work while the kids are asleep (3) be able to work 20 hours a week or more if I wanted and so many more reasons. Aaron and I started talking about if this would be something that would work for me, I e-mailed more than one question to my friend which she happily answered. We finally decided that I would jump, this would be a good opportunity for me if in reality it was as my friend was telling me.

So what am I doing? I am a Certified Professional for Arise. “Founded in 1997, Arise Virtual Solutions Inc. is the world’s leading provider of virtual business services for brands seeking to improve business results through their sales and service channels. We customize and deliver high-quality voice, e-mail, and chat customer service, technical support, and sales through a network of entrepreneurial, self-incorporated home-based Arise Certified Professionals (ACPs) in the United States and the United Kingdom/Ireland.” There are so many companies/businesses that you deal with every day who use Arise so it is very highly likely that you have been in touch with an Arise Certified Professional in some of your business dealings. I know I had and didn’t even know it!

How does it work? Well you sign up to become an Arise certified Professional and the 1st step is to fill out the application and submit your information for a background check (this part was so funny to me as I have had so many background checks in the last 3 years). The background check cost me $10 maybe $15 it has been a few months. Once all of that was approved I was able to take the course that makes it so that I can ask to work with certain clients. That course is typically $100 but once you pass step one there are various monthly specials that cover part of that cost and give you a voucher for later (the voucher is worth it). When I signed up, I took the class for $45 and received a $75 voucher. The class is an online class so you take it at your pace and when it is over you take a test (which you only have two tries to pass after those two tries you have to wait 90 days to try again) and you are qualified to ask to work with certain clients, such as major department stores, the mouse, the HUGE fruit company, a neighborhood rx and so many more (I cannot list the names publicly but if you e-mail me I can tell you the exact companies).

When you get to this point, test passed and looking for a client to work for you will see the options that are available at that time (you will have to fill out what amounts to a resume on your skills). You view what they call opportunities and get to see what that specific clients are not only going to require of you (I have yet to see one that does not require at least a few weekend hours and I have only seen one client that is a 24/7 client…) but how much the course you will take to work (this is where the $75 voucher comes in handy ~ some classes are less than that some are more). You can also see the class schedule, which is important as I have yet to see a client that allows for a missed class (though I know there are some exceptions). You want to make sure you will be available for all the classes and none of the classes are on the weekend, at least none that I have seen yet. They give you all the details for everything and you make the choices.

Also, three things you should know (1) to work with Arise you have to have your own corporation or work with one that is already set up. I did not set a corporation up yet and chose to work with the corporation my friend is working with and I LOVE working with them. If you want I would hook you up with her! (this corp provided me with a w-9 so I am not 100% self employed but we will see how that works on my first paycheck next month) and (2) you have to have a computer that meets their requirements ~ if you are a techie that could be a problem as I had to have a computer with Windows XP on it, that said my teacher for my current class indicated they are very shortly going to be supporting Windows 7 32 bit….and may be able to work with it now. They also work with Macs but I am not up on all that lingo so you would have to look up what is supported there. I will also say that for the most part I have been able to use the two computers we own my laptop with Vista and Aaron’s desktop with XP and (3) you will need a land line ~ it only has to be local which costs me $16 a month. There are a few small things as well if you want to hear about them e-mail me.

As with any job there are aspects that I am not fond of but for the most part I am VERY happy with this so far. Ask me again in a few months, but for now I will be doing customer service on the phone and e-mails for one client who has 24/7 hours. I love that I am the one dealing with my kids while they are awake, I can take them places, home school them and be there for them. We are able to do family things on the weekend and I can still get my hours in after we are home and the kids are in bed and because most companies are Sunday to Saturday weeks with a little planning I can have a weekend off and not miss a beat or put in that I am on vacation (you can take vacations). I am making extra money (more than I ever expected) to do whatever Aaron and I choose (we did decide that so much of each paycheck is my mad money and I can do with that as I please….)! Heck I may be able to make it so we can pay for a family vacation BEFORE we go on vacation, not to mention I can buy fabric and not feel like I am taking money from the electric bill (which I was not but since I didn’t make any money it was hard to not feel that way!)

Please feel free to ask me ANY questions and I will answer as many as I can! I made zero for writing this post I just wanted to respond to everything at once….

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