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Work From Home Online - What Are My Options?

If you recently quit your full-time job to be a stay-at-home mom or because you thought it was high time you pursued a not-so-well-paying passion, you're probably feeling the pinch from not having a fat pay cheque in your hands at the end of the month. Fret not....

In this digital age, you don't have to be present in the flesh in order to efficiently do your job and this is the simple thought behind Elance – the web's #1 freelance site as well as the top 1000 most visited website. With Elance, you may now actually have the best of all worlds – work from home online, earn a decent income and still get to do whatever else it is you want to do!

So What Is Elance?

Elance is a virtual jobs market, where Clients (your customers) and you (the Provider) meet. Clients who need pieces of work doing - from all kinds of writing and designing projects, to sales, marketing, management, translation, editing, even administrative projects - post their jobs online. You, the Provider, complete jobs for the Client and get paid.

Could working from home online get any simpler?

How Does This Work From Home Online Activity Work, Exactly?

Ok. We use Elance Providers to complete work for this website, so here's what we do:

We want a piece of work completed, usually an article written, a news item or administrative work, like writing to 1000 of our subscribers. We post the job on Elance and Providers (you, if you decide Elance is for you) bid to do the work

We review the bids and choose the best one, depositing the payment in Elance's escrow account for safekeeping (good for Providers)
The Provider (you) do the work
We release the funds and leave feedback

We often use Providers more than once - ones who completed an initial piece of work very well who we keep on the books. We also post jobs looking for new Providers when we want something a little different.

Here's how one of our Providers describes Elance:

Elance is a great way to work from home online. Work requirements are posted by individual employers as well as companies – at any given point there are at least 150-200 jobs available in a particular category (there are dozens of categories).

Elance allows you to create a 'profile' page where you get to do a chest-thumper of all your experience and achievements in your area of expertise. You may also attach samples of your work, so employers can see how good you are and contact you directly. However, the norm is to take a look at all the projects (and this could take more than a few minutes) and bid like crazy on anything you see as remotely suitable. At least for the first three months.

Most projects get many proposals and bids from potential service providers, so it all depends on how well you're able to convince the client that your skills and approach mean you're the best fit for that specific job. The job isn't always awarded to the lowest bid, although when you're a new provider on Elance you’ll find that it's a better way to get awarded a project.

Do a good job, get good feedback and before long you'll be able to charge a little more. With increased ratings, more and more people will want to hire you. You can become popular very quickly and earn a very good wage working from home online.

It's a bit like ebay - the better your service, the higher the feedback and the more people want to do business with you.

What Happens Once I Land The Job?

When you're picked for a job, you enter an agreement with the Client and set a deadline. You complete the work before or within the deadline and get paid. It's that simple.

Since your agreement happens through Elance, you don't have to worry about chasing your client down the street for your money. Elance is one of the most reliable work from home online opportunities you'll find. They do get a small commission on every job you complete, so you must keep that in mind while bidding and choose a price accordingly.

Why Choose Elance To Work From Home Online?

Well, like we discussed before, if the plan is to stay home or quit a full-time job and yet earn a steady and decent income online, Elance is your best bet. It's the most reliable, reputed and sought out website for those who wish to work from home online. What's more, you get to choose from literally hundreds of projects, decide your deadlines, name your price and bring in the money – all from the cosy corner of your home office.