Work at home typing - what do I need to know?

Seek more "work at home" opportunities online - UK - USA

If you want to work at home typing there are a few things you need to be aware of. Firstly, most of the typing ads you see in the classifieds are scams and very few actually offer anything worth your while.

There are hundreds of companies claiming that you can earn up to $500 or more per week by typing adverts and various other documents for their clients. The ad tells you that the company will send you information and a starter pack if you fill out their form and send it with the registration fee. Once you have set yourself up you will be sent assignments. You will receive payment per assignment completed so you can work at your own pace and you don't have to be super-quick typist. They make it all sound very easy.

The problem is that more often than not this starter pack contains nothing more than a very long list of companies that 'may' be looking for a work at home typist. You are instructed to call each of the companies to find out if they are recruiting, at which point you are likely to discover that most of these companies don't even know they're on the list. It's certainly not worth a $65 registration fee and you could find most of these companies listed in a phone book.

You would be better off starting your own work at home typing business, all you would need it a computer with access to e-mail and a printer. This is more commonly known as word processing. The first step is to establish a target group or groups. These could be graduate law students, government agencies, foreign language students, scriptwriters or even fundraisers. Think about your neighbourhood and what sorts of businesses there are in the area that are likely to need to your services. You could even type people's resumes, manuscripts or business letters.

By finding your own niche in the market you stand a much better chance of attracting business and competing against rival word processing businesses. It will also make the work much more interesting and challenging.

Once you have decided on a target group you need to make them aware of your services. One of the best marketing strategies for this is direct mail. Write a very professional, brief but concise letter describing your services and what you could do for them. You need work hard marketing your new business to attract clients; writing a couple of letters and placing a couple of ads isn't going to be enough. You need to use every resource at your disposal to keep your business afloat by attracting and keeping clients.

To keep the clients coming back you have to make sure your work is up to scratch. It doesn't need to be super-quick but it does need to be correct and accurate. You will also need to be very professional about what you do. Print letter heads, package documents suitably, develop a filing system and set reasonable prices. It's a common mistake for people to set their prices too low in an attempt to compete but it's not good for business. Set your rates and stick to them.

© The Pink Fridge Online Magazine 2008 - Work at Home Typing