Are you interested in a job that allows flexible hours but doesn’t require you to invest in costly “getting started” programs, inventorying products, recruiting a “downline,” or sinking your hard-earned cash into one of the many “get rich quick scams” populating the Internet these days. Then, take a look into the business of “homesourcing.” Also known as “homeshoring,” homesourcing is the transfer of service employment from traditional offices to home-based locations that are outfitted with the required facilities including telephone, Internet connectivity, etc. Consider it the combination of outsourcing and telecommuting. According to researching firm IDC, homesourcing opportunities are expanding by about 20% a year and are on track to explode.
Companies are feverishly looking for ways to cut labor costs and many employees like you are looking to apply their skills outside of a traditional office setting. As a result, these go-between companies are popping up to screen prospective employees and connect them with employers with some handling monitoring and billing. Up to just recently, homesourcing companies have focused mainly on staffing call centers where workers handle help-desk inquiries and other customer service issues, but now many are beginning to broaden their scope to find jobs for those skilled in areas such as software programming, technical writing, graphic design and more.
Advantages of Homesourcing
Why is homesourcing on the rise? Because of the many advantages it affords the employer and employee including-
- Promoting worker loyalty and stability. Homesourced workers often need to work from home or strongly prefer to work from home. They appreciate the opportunity, and as a result can be very loyal.
- Reducing costs for the employer as homesourced workers often provide their own telephone equipment and computer systems. Employer also saves on cost of office space.
- Using homesourced workers that are local to the area where they are calling minimizes the difficulty that is sometimes encountered from regional accents, rates of speech, and other cultural differences.
- Providing potential tax advantages for the worker using part of their home for business purposes.
Homesourcing Firms
Following are a list of some of the more popular and established homesourcing companies -
- Alpine Access Headquartered in Golden, Colorado; started in 1998.
- Arise Virtual Solutions Formerly WillowCSN, headquartered in Miami, Florida; started in 1997.
- LiveOps Headquarted in Palo Alto, California; started in 2000.
- oDesk Headquartered in Sunnyvale, California; started in 2003.
- VIPdesk Formerly Capital Concierge, headquartered in Alexandria, VA; started in 1987.
- West Corp Headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska; started in 1986.
- Working Solutions Headquartered in Plano, Texas; started in 1996
Let us know about your experiences with these homesourcing firms or any others with which you have worked by commenting below. And please let me know if this was a helpful article in your search for legitimate work at home opportunities.
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January 28th, 2008 at 11:25 am
I love that we are hearing more and more about home shoring!! And that employers are seeing the advantages of it. There are too many of us moms right here in the U.S. willing and capable of doing this work. I actually found a site that lists these type of jobs. Its called http://www.needlestackjobs.com. They seemed to be pretty professional jobs, too.
February 5th, 2008 at 11:36 am
Would love to have our site added to your blog if at all possible, we offer both call center agent opportunities that are home-based as well as home-based concierge positions. Thanks!
February 6th, 2008 at 5:37 pm
Hey, I’m an affiliate marketer and this program sounds exciting. Do you know if they provide recruiting fees to non-members? Thanks.
February 8th, 2008 at 4:40 pm
have you ever heard of MedQuist,i am considering a change in career status and they hire medical transcription’s and coders and there training for a lot of these positions come through career step,or women who are already trained in these fields. i was wondering if you had any feedback about them.
February 9th, 2008 at 9:15 am
Sharon,
I haven’t heard about MedQuist. I just checked their website and they appear to be a legitimate company. Ask them to talk to others who are doing what you want to do…they shouldn’t have any problem with that. And good luck!
Susan
February 16th, 2008 at 8:31 am
Hi there,
My wife decided that she wanted to work from home so now I have the job of building her website. I have to say I haven’t heard of Medquist before but is doesn’t look bad at all.
Thanks
February 17th, 2008 at 11:58 pm
This sounds like an opportunity worth testing. I think it may have great potentical
February 18th, 2008 at 12:01 am
This is a very good list of companies. I have heard of most of them. I run a virtual office and am finding no shortage of clients. The demand for our kind of work is definately on the rise. There is also another side to this. The virtual workers need to be sure and do a professional job so as not to give the rest of us a bad name. I do hear that from a client occasionally that the last Va they tried to work with didn’t do a very good job for one reason or another.
February 18th, 2008 at 6:18 am
What a fabulous idea. As more and more mums prefer to work from home, any company offering outsourcing is simply wonderful. Not only is it advantageous for stay at home younger mums, but is also great for many women over forty years who may have been out of the workforce for some time yet wish to utilise their skills once more. This age group still have so much to offer potential employers.
February 25th, 2008 at 7:53 pm
Does anybody know a good site to post jobs? We currently have a part-time home based position available for a proofreader / QC and am not sure how to go about finding someone reliable and professional.
May 12th, 2008 at 9:08 am
I just came across your site, nice info. Thanks from a work at home daddy.
http://www.myworkathomedaddy.com
May 16th, 2008 at 2:19 am
Can you consider home staging as homesourcing? Actually, I’ve started home staging as a hobby or pastime especially when everyone is out to the office and at school and i do a lot of arranging and re-arranging things around the house. Just six months ago, I’ve learned to turn it into my own “money-making machine” & it’s doing really great! I have a contact with a real estate investor who calls me up whenever he needs me to stage a house he’s putting up for sale. In my own point of view, I could say it’s homesourcing. what do you think? by the way, I live in California and California home staging businesses are flourishing! Thanks!
May 20th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
VipDesk has been offering me “opportunities” but everytime I go to the site for further testing, the site does nothing but blows up and gives out errors. I am starting to think this is a) a scam or b) not well run. I really am uncomfortable giving out my information for the background check. If this is a scam, I want to know now.
May 20th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
CJ – VIP is very much a legitimate company with legitimate opportunities. Give them a call and explain the issue you’re having…In these days of multiple browsers, multiple generations. multiple operating systems, there’s probably a reason that it’s happening. Watch later today…we’ll be posting an interview from VIPdesk’s CEO.
Susan
May 22nd, 2008 at 12:10 pm
Hello All,
Because of my health, and the fact that I have spent the majority of my life in fastfood and conveinience store jobs, I am needing a change in employment; quickly. I do not want to go on disability; nor do I want to be confined to a wheelchair for the rest of my life. I need to get some employment where I can stay at home, and work on my health issues.
I am dependable, fast paced, a quick study, and have valuable learned skills in: writing, presentations, and public speaking.
I currently am working on my degree, at the age of 39, and only have two years left to go.
Can someone please offer me some more suggestions; as far as work? I need something where I can at least be off of my feet and not straining my back. Please.
Dawn
May 29th, 2008 at 4:22 pm
I have started over 30 online businesses over the last 10 years and have learned a great deal from my experience. I have written a short blog about my experience along with some tips that I have found to be essential to starting a successful business online. You can read my blog here: http://startasuccessfulbusinessonline.blogspot.com
June 4th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
I worked for VIPDesk, and they are great. The only reason I am not working now is due to internal technical issues with my ISP. I definitely recommend them.
June 6th, 2008 at 2:24 am
can anyone help me. I am a single parent – been fired for my first time after being the acc of a company. I am terrified of starting a virtual assistant business from my house, and everywhere I look everyone wants me to buy something to “teach me how” I have no other joice but to do a business from my home, however I don’t know anyone here (took a plane, one suitcase, a car seat and my son) and landed on on Hawaii. I am overwhelmed by all the info….any suggestions? I have 15 years accounting experience, and admin assistance, and believe it or not a creative side since i had my son (who can resist sidewalk chalk) Please help – I just need to know where to go for the best info- or if someone could mentor even better.
June 6th, 2008 at 9:28 am
Take a look at our latest post about starting a home business using Craigslist (http://blog.wwork.com/2008/wom.....raigslist/). This should get you started. As a virtual assistant/accountant, you don’t have to be local…but you could start with searching Craigslist.org for your region. Also, join elance.com and start searching for opportunities where people are looking for your skills.
June 9th, 2008 at 7:16 am
Hi There
A very informative post. I wish there were more sites like this on the net giving excellent information. As more and more people look to work at home, then sites like this are needed to help people from falling in to the scam trap
June 26th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
This site makes me feel that I am not alone. I have been an accomplished Professional business woman my entire life. After completing 20 years as Management in the retail Industry, then moving to where there was no retail opportunity, created a Luxury Magazine self-taught Publisher I was successful for 24 years. Then my Mother needed my help, and care. I stopped my magazine and then created a custom Confections and Gift business in my home . My big client was a .builder/developer and this is now an affected industry in Florida. I would like to continue home work, I hope I can find something to earn sufficient money. Creativity is my strength and gift. Again, great site!
July 10th, 2008 at 10:46 pm
I am a mother seeking to find a job that will allow me to become employed and work from my home right now I am unemployed and I desperately need a job all help that is put into helping me to find a job will be gratefully appreciated if you have any futher questions feel free to send me an e-mail and I will respond back thank you very much Ruth Ogba,
August 2nd, 2008 at 1:07 am
Have you come across the site http://secret-edge.com, its supposed to be able to delivery huge amounts of traffic, and I wondered if you have used it and if so with what results
many thanks steve
August 2nd, 2008 at 7:25 am
No, Steve. I haven’t heard about Secret Edge. Sorry, can’t give you any advice on it.