Working At Home - Virtual Call Center LiveOps Part 1

I have pursued and searched for many work at home jobs and ideas.  It sure is difficult to weed through all the junk and scams!  I had heard about quite a few legitimate companies on Good Morning America a year and a half ago.  I looked into some of these companies at the time but did not pursue the call center positions or anything that had to do with being on the phone because of having babies in the house.

Times have changed!  I have not only been re-looking at all of the possibilities out there but I am not excluding anything.  I have applied to a few companies that are virtual call centers that you work out of your home.  Some of them you are an employee and some of them you are a sub-contractor.  I have heard back from one of them LiveOps, and I am taking the plunge into the virtual call center world!

To read more about all the companies I have looked into for the virtual call center positions click here.

I thought I would let you know how the application process is going and how the job is going to turn out, to see if this is a work at home opportunity that may work for your family. 

The process so far:

1)  Fill out their online application.

2)  I received an email stating that they were offering me an opportunity to work for them with my own business.  Within that email was more detailed information about the company, contract agreement and the requirements again for what I was needing in a home office.  (You can see there requirements by visiting their website, http://www.liveops.com/become-agent/index.html.)

3)  Make the decision if I am going to start my own business with LiveOps or not.

4)  Yes I am doing it - order background check through a third party company of their choice, cost $50.

5)  Mail in contract agreement and other paperwork from the email.

6)  Set up 2nd phone line specifically for the virtual call center calls.  My phone provider is charging me just under $30 a month for this phone line.  This will be my only extra ongoing monthly expense that our household does not already have. (ex: internet already using)

7)  I did have to buy a new phone that is corded and a hands free headset both of these together cost about $45.  (This is a bit of an investment in my opinion with the cost of the background check to get going with a virtual call center company but I have figured the beginning costs will be paid for within 8-12 hours of work.  It is worth it to our family to have a for sure source of income coming in if I put in the work.)

8)  I am now waiting for an email from LiveOps, which will be sent within 72 hours of them receiving my signed contract agreement.

9)  Once I receive the email with my login information I will then have 30 days to complete their certifications which they say can be completed within one week.

So far so good I am on track to get started before baby number three joins us at the end on March.  You may think I am crazy to be starting this now, ok maybe I am, but one of the great bonuses in my mind is the flexibility with this company.  You will be able to schedule yourself for their 1/2 hour blocks of time as long as you do two blocks of time (2 - 1/2 hours time slots) within a 42 day period.  Yes that is it for the minimum.  I plan to work a schedule that will work with my family of about 2-3 hrs in the evening after my husband is home from work for about 2-3 days a week.  I believe putting in a more consistent schedule will route more calls my way and up the hourly rate.  They pay .25 a minute that you are on the phone.  There are incentives which I will let you know about when I know about them.

That is all that has been going on in the process of starting to work at home with LiveOps, so until my email with the login information comes, happy work at home job hunting!

You may remember back in the beginning of January I was excited about our family locking in at 4.625% for refinancing.  We finally have gotten an appraisal for that refinancing but we have run into a problem......

We know the economy is bad right now but I didn't realize in our area how bad it was.  So the appraisal came back not 10,000 under, not 20,000 under, not even 30,000 under the assessed value but $40,000 under our assessed value for our home.  Ouch!  Well I guess for now we are kissing that unbelievable good rate good-bye.

Getting an appraisal like that is quite the blow when we were not necessarily planning in staying in our house for long term (we may be now - we need to wait for the value to go back up).  Let's look on the bright side, my husband still has his job, and we have our health.  New baby coming at the end of March and God is providing for our needs.

My new advice for refinancing, make sure to look into what the market is doing around you before you fork out $300 for an appraisal that may hurt you in the short and long run.  Ask your loan officer if apprasials are coming in where people are needing them.  I do hope your family is holding on in these tough times and remember God is your strength in times of need and at all the times!