1. News
Welcome to the latest issue of the Homeworking Ideas newsletter, the monthly
publication which gives you all the latest news from the UK on ways of earning
money from home.
Scams
The Office of Fair Trading has recently announced the launch of Scam Awareness month
- a campaign to alert the public to deceptive and fraudulent mass marketed scams.
You can read about the warning signs and download their leaflet "How to recognise
a scam" from http://www.oft.gov.uk/consumer/scams/default.htm You'll also find
details of ongoing scams and can report any scams you've come across.
What I hadn't realised until now is that the "Stop Now" orders introduced to prevent such scams relate only to consumer fraud whereas most homeworking scams are considered to relate to small businesses and self-employed people as the work offered is not employment. Now I know why these scams never go away! The Federation of Small Businesses is calling for the definition of consumer to be widened to include small businesses and the self-employed so we'll have to wait and see. In the meantime they are urging anyone affected not to suffer in silence but to make sure everybody knows about it to protect others.
They've also been busy in America recently. Recently the Federal Trade Commission, the Department of Justice (DOJ), the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), and law enforcement agencies from 14 U.S. states have taken action against more than 200 operators of Work-at-Home and other business fraud schemes. For more info on the enforcement actions, you can read the full article at http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2005/02/bizoppflop.htmSurveys
I've had a request from Ciao, the online review and survey site who are particularly
looking for people from Newcastle and Scotland, and young mums everywhere to add to
their survey panel. If you haven't yet signed up, you can join at
http://www.homeworkinguk.com/ciao.htm
New U.S Service
Although the Internet is a global resource, it can sometimes be hard to do business
because you live outside the U.S? I've lost count of the number of times I've been
interested in products that are only shipped to U.S addresses or opportunities
that only pay U.S residents. Now Mail4Warriors have created a business service
designed specifically to get around this problem. Services include:
- A physical street address in the United States
- Mail forwarded directly to you
- Money transferred from PayPal® directly to you
- A fully legal US corporation
- A bank account at a US bank
- A US phone number that rings in your home or office
- A US 800 number for orders or customer service
A small annual membership fee gets you a physical street address to use and pays to send you an email each time they receive any mail for you. It even includes your first shipment fee, up to 1lb in weight and you can save up your mail and have it sent in batches to save further on postage. You then pay individually for any other services you need. Full details are available from http://www.homeworkinguk.com/mail4.htm
2. Featured Publication
Paperless Copywriting
Unless you are lucky enough to find an employer who offers home based work,
earning from home will almost certainly involve marketing - be it the products
you are promoting or your own services. It doesn't matter how wonderful your
products and services are; if you can't communicate this to your target market,
and convince them to leap at your offer, then your chances of success are greatly
reduced. Judging by many of the e-mails I receive, websites I'm asked to review
and mailshots I receive, this is a skill that does not come naturally.
This month's recommendation then is a necessity to just about everyone.
"Paperless Copywriting" is a collection of training modules comprising
eBooks, reports and other resources that the author, William Chen has himself
used and personally recommends to create just such a demand. The modules are as
follows:
Altogether you get 16 products for just £15, and that includes full reprint rights. Full details are available from http://www.homeworkinguk.com/copywriting.htm
3. Featured Business Resource
WebHosting
In the past I've recommended various web hosting packages I've used but from your
feedback it appears many of you are just looking for a very basic hosting service
with prices to match. This month I think I've found the ideal solution. B-One are
a European company offering packages from just €1.25 (about 90p) a month. Despite
the price you still get 125MB webspace, unlimited e-mail accounts (webmail and
POP/STMP options), spam and virus filters, statistics and support for ASP, PHP4,
MySQL. You even get a free voucher for €50 (approx. £30) advertising with
Google adwords. As far as I can see the only limitation is the absence of telephone
support, but you do get free e-mail support. Take a look at the their package
at http://www.homeworkinguk.com/bone.htm
Unlike some of the other hosting services I've recommended, this hosting package doesn't include any software so for a limited period only I'm offering a free copy of each of the following products:
- "How To Build Html" - 18 chapters teaching the ins and outs of web page html. Lots of good advice for both new and experienced website designers. Usually retails at $20. Details can be found at http://www.homeworkinguk.com/buildhtml
- "SoftwarePak's Html Editor" - For creating and editing webpages and auction html. Usually retails at $34.97. Details available from http://www.homeworkinguk.com/editorsite
- "How to Create A Website In 5 Days" - Usually retails at $9.95. Full details available from http://www.homeworkinguk.com/salespage
Just send me an e-mail to let me know when you've ordered your web package and I'll send you the relevant download links. If you don't require webhosting but you'd still like copies of these products, I'm making them available to subscribers only for just £9.95. You can order online at http://www.homeworkinguk.com/htmlpack.htm
4. Featured Freebies
This month I've got details of two new sites giving you the chance to win cash and
prizes.
Fruitillion
Visitors to Fruitillion, a virtual fruit machine are given free chances to win
free games or cash prizes from £250 or even “pull a million” in return for viewing
an advertiser’s website or performing a web search. You can also earn further
credits to play the game by completing short consumer surveys. Visit
http://www.homeworkinguk.com/fruit.htm to sign up and get your first 5 free plays.
Prizetag
PrizeTag is a free to enter competition site based on the classic TV game show
"the price is right". All you have to do is to correctly guess the pence value
of each and every prize for a chance to win up to £1,000,000. Play daily by visiting
http://www.homeworkinguk.com/prizetag.htm
5. Request for help - Hackney Residents
from Frances Holliss, Researcher, Cities Institute, London Metropolitan University
Do you work at home?
I am a university researcher, researching the buildings in which people both live and work. At the moment, although at least a quarter of the population of the United Kingdom works at home for at least part of the week, most housing is not designed with this in mind. My research is aimed at showing how people use their homes as workplaces, and the impact their work has on the spaces they and their families live in, with the aim of changing housing design to accommodate home-based work.
I am aware that it is important for many people who work at home to remain ‘invisible’, for a variety of reasons. However, this invisibility makes it difficult to make changes to the way housing is designed. I am looking for 150 people working from home in the London Borough of Hackney, from all walks of life, who would be prepared to talk to me about how they work at home, the spaces they use and the impact their work has on their homes.
If you work at home, your participation would be appreciated. Any information will be treated as confidential, and your participation can be completely anonymous if required. It will not take up a great deal of time, it will just involve a brief conversation about your work and how you use the spaces you live and work in. I would also like to take a few measurements of your home, so I can make diagrams of how you use your spaces.
If you might be prepared to take part and would like to discuss this, please contact me:
Frances Holliss, Researcher, Cities Institute, London Metropolitan University
f.holliss@londonmet.ac.uk
0207 275 8696
I hope you've found something of interest this month. I'll speak to you again next month.
Lynne O'Connor
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