IS THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT ENTERING THE HOMESHORING ARENA?

In December of 2009 President Obama hosted the Jobs and Economic Growth forum on the grounds of the White House. This forum was attended by about 130 small business owners from all different areas of the job sector. The focus was a discussion on job creation and expanding the economy. During the session the President recognized the CEO of Arise Virtual Solutions, Angie Seldon. Her company has been the trail blazer of the Homeshoring Industry, and is the world’s leading provider of virtual agent business services. Here is a synopsis of Angie’s contribution to the forum:

“Facing the steepest revenue growth challenges in three generations, the Fortune 500 companies are seeking to boost their margins by expanding their outsourced workforce. As companies learn about the unique mix of cost savings and high quality service that the homeshoring model delivers, they see that lowering expenses and hiring Americans are no longer mutually exclusive goals. It was an honor to participate in the forum, and I’d like to thank President Obama and Chief Technology Officer Chopra for bringing homeshoring into the national conversation.”

Angie credited her company for creating thousands of call and sales jobs, bringing jobs back to the United States that have gone overseas in the last several years. She also stated that she had some very specific ideas about how we could foster more of this reverse job migration. The President promised to take a look at the homeshoring model.

Since the job forum two legislation, (one in the House and one in the Senate) were proposed in support of Homeshoring or as the government prefer to call it teleworking. The House Bill proposal would give Federal Workers the option to work from home. Last month however, the bill was defeated in the House….It fell short by 9 votes.

The argument opposing the bill is that it will cost the government 30 million dollars to implement. Advocates of the bill however made arguments that over time homeshoring will save tax payers over 30 million dollars. Here are some of the points that were cited in the support of the homeshoring bill:

- Reduced carbon emissions

- Improve Traffic emissions

- Maintain government operation when the downtown area is under grid lock

- Bolstering the Federal Workforce

Similar legislation awaits a vote in the Senate.

The proposal requires federal agencies to appoint telework managing officers to oversee new policies developed by each agency and the Office of Personnel Management. If employees’ jobs do not impact agency operations then they would be allowed to telework. The bills also prohibit workers who handle secure or classified materials or information or who perform tasks that cannot be performed remotely from teleworking.

According to the OPM of the 61 percent of federal workers who are eligible to telework only 5 percent do so regularly. John M. Berry, the agency's director, has devoted most of his tenure to convincing lawmakers and other skeptics that in order to retain and recruit potential federal hires telework options may be the answer.

There are plans in progress to reintroduce the homeshoring bill in the house in the near future.

Do you think the Federal Government should take this path? What are your thoughts? If you are interested in learning more about Legitimate Homeshoring jobs the eBook an inside job is a valuable information guide.  You can check it out here!

How to Survive As A Virtual Assistant Agent

Congratulations! You have done it! You are now your own boss working from the comfort of your own home. Now that you have taken the plunge to become a virtual agent I can hear you asking yourself these questions: Do I have what it takes to make this work? What tools am I missing to be successful? Where do I get these tools? Don't panic! You have the tools. In fact you have been preparing your self and gaining job related experience with every job you ever did. Your commitment is to now harvest all these skills and good work ethics and transfer them over to your new business.

All successful business owners have these three threads in common that scream success. They have to be optimistic, determined and creative. Optimism and determination will help them put things in perspective and to reaffirm that they are going to succeed in whatever project they are tackling. In addition the business owner has to be focused, disciplined and adaptable with excellent time management skills and most importantly have the right mindset. (Always keep in mind that the rate of failure for small businesses is a very high. Refuse to be part of that statistics).

As a business owner your success will be measured by the financial worth of your company. This goal can become achievable by being focused and by factoring in discipline, adaptability, and time management skills. Developing the right work ethics is also of paramount importance and may be the key to the success of your work at home business.

The Virtual Agent has to learn to make a quick transition from a brick and mortar office and the 9-5 job. This can be a challenging endeavor. No longer do you have the luxury of having a supervisor to direct and address issues, to schedule your lunches and breaks or peers to throw out the life line of support. You are on your own. You now have to make all the decisions. Go ahead! You have come this far. You can do it! Dig deep inside and channel those latent job proficiency skills that you used in all your other jobs to the surface. Challenge yourself to be self-motivated, self-reliant and self-confident. Enhance your customer service and problem-solving skills. Heighten your ability to deal with irate customers and soon you will master job proficiency.

View my tips for surviving in the work at home job arena. These are tips that I have been using for the last three years. You can use what works for you, delete what doesn’t to come up with your own workable guidelines. To find out what virtual assistants jobs are available you can browse through the little eBook An Inside Job at your leisure.