You Also Want These Jobs?

July 13, 2009 by Leave a Comment

More Freelance Jobs

Looking for OLPC News writers. OLPC News is the premier independent community following the One Laptop Per Child project, and we’re seeking Africa-based bloggers to cover XO laptop deployments around the continent, and around the world.

Are you a Relationship expert? Examiner.com, a Quantcast Top 100 website, is growing and looking for FREELANCE WRITERS (we call them “Examiners”) to share local insights, knowledge and experience. It’s a great way to cover what you love and communicate what’s happening in your city.

Are you a fan of TV? If you love watching TV, this is the perfect opportunity for you. This opportunity is for affiliate TV show data superloggers who can work from home with our emerging start-up, Moogi. As an affiliate superlogger, you will be responsible for a TV show of your preference. (You can elect to log more than one show) An affiliate TV data superlogger is similar to a wiki master, but instead specializes in generating rich informational data specific to TV shows.

Can you write for the web? Can you take jargon filled technical copy and turn it into an engaging read? Do you understand the role good editorial plays in a brand’s ‘personality’? Can you write snappy headlines? Can you get people to register, sign-up, click the ‘read more’ link? Got some samples you’d like to share? Ok then. Lets chat. We need your help in the run up to a re-launch of our business site. You’ll get all the technical content you can stand and slightly less time than you’ll need to make it interesting.

Bathhouse Experience? We are currently accepting submissions for inclusion in a non-fiction anthology covering gay bathhouse experiences both domestically and internationally. Writers are encouraged to fictionalize exact names and locations to protect the privacy of others, though stories should be based on personal experience, either direct or indirect. Writers will be compensated $50 per published piece.

Freelance Writing Jobs. At Suite101, our focus is our commitment to supporting freelance writers. Whether your goal is to publish articles, earn more income, hone your writing skills or create new career opportunities, Suite101 is here to assist you every step of the way.

Cell Phone Writer. Do You Love Gadgets, Cell Phones, and everything related to Mobile and Wireless? Mobile Maven, the Cell Phones.org blog, is looking for a full time blogger to blog about everything that’s going on in the wireless industry.

Appfrica Labs Seeks Web UI Designer. Appfrica Labs (appfrica.org) is looking to hire a part-time Web UI Designer for a number of our forthcoming web apps and a number of data visualizations. The position will pay based on experience and may turn into a full-time offering in a few months.

Flash Developer. Covenant Communications is seeking freelance flash developers for contract work. We are seeking candidates who have impeccable programming skills and a good eye for motion design and interactivity. We are seeking developers to help us create next level Flash projects for our company and clients.

Finally, Some Hot Freelance Jobs


Need help?
How to get an online job.
How to avoid online scams.

This post is a weekly feature – we post a list of online, work-from-anywhere, jobs every single week. Be sure not to miss the next list of jobs. Subscribe to Like Chapaa today, or sign up to receive free email updates.

Filed Under: Online Jobs Tagged With: , , ,

How To Receive Payments Online

July 10, 2009 by 38 Comments

Update: PayPal now works in Kenya! You can also now withdraw from PayPal through Babawatoto or LibertyReserve.


Ok so you’ve decided to give this “make money online” thing a shot. You’ve figured out what you are gong to sell, to whom and how. Now one last thing remains. How will you get paid? How will you receive the chapaa? There are two ways you can receive payments online:

1. Having your own merchant account
2. Using third party processors

What is a merchant account?
A merchant account is a special kind of bank account where funds received from credit card transactions are first routed to the special account and held there before being remitted to your business account. You as an online merchant will need an account called “Card Not Present Merchant Account”. Merchant accounts are only useful when you are receiving payments on your own website (Get one!!) and have some sort of payment processing system already in place on the website (basically, a shopping cart system.

Having the merchant account is, actually, the first step in processing credit cards online. You will also need a payment gateway. A payment gateway is a service provided by billing processor which allows real time authorization of online transactions.The payment gateway you choose to work with has to be compatible with your shopping cart. Three top payment Gateway providers are AuthorizeNet, Verisign and USAePay. All payment gateway providers have their own merchant solutions. Most banks, today, work with partner payment gateway providers and are fully capable of furnishing with a merchant solution.

If you are just starting an online business and you don’t think that your sales will generate more than a thousand dollars a month, you will be better off with a third party processor. However, once your sales become really high, you will save a bundle by switching to a merchant account.

PayPal
With 72 million accounts worldwide and payment volume which is growing at a rate of 44 percent each year, PayPal by far is the most popular third party processor on the Internet. PayPal is a simple and affordable payment solution for those online merchants who are unable to or don’t want to go through the complex process of setting up a bank merchant account. Merchant losses from fraud on PayPal are now only 0.17% of revenues, vs. 1.8% for online merchants that accept credit cards through merchant accounts. This gives one more reason to use PayPal.

Paypal is also perfect for receiving small payments. For example, if you are a freelance writer and you do some small job, you don’t need a big huge merchant account – just request to be paid through Paypal. Once the money is in your Paypal account, you can use it to pay for things online, or you can request Paypal to send the money to you.

Getting a Paypal account in Kenya used to be impossible but they opened that up and you can get one right away. The bet way to use Paypal from Kenya is to use it in tandem with a Debit card. Basically, get a Debit card (I got mine from KCB) and then link it to your Paypal account – you will need to verify the card by entering into Paypal some code that will be on your bank statement. You will also need to verify your address by scanning and sending to Paypal a document (like a water of power bill) showing your name and address on the face. Doing these verifications may seem like a chore but, trust me, you will be love the simplicity and assurance that Paypal is known for.

ClickBank
Clickbank is a laaaarge marketplace where sellers list digital products for sale. The thing that’s special about clickbank is that hundreds of thousands of people ready to market and sell your product for you for a commission. By listing your product on clickbank, you access a huge market. For selling e-books, software and other similar digital products, ClickBank is probably your best option. ClickBank accepts all major credit cards and PayPal.

MPESA
Did you know that you can accept payments online through Safaricom’s MPESA service? Nice eh? I’m pretty new to it so I cannot really review it but here’s what you need to do if you want to accept payments online via MPESA:

  1. Send an email to mpesa@safaricom.co.ke requesting for the service
  2. Safaricom then responds with the requirements, tariffs and supporting Docs required.
  3. Agreements and contract drafted
  4. Allocation of code number, account creation
  5. Service Goes live

There are many other third party processing companies available on the Internet. Two of them worth mentioning are moneybookers and ikobo.

Filed Under: Make Money, Online Jobs, Small Business Tagged With:

Do you want these online JOBS?

July 3, 2009 by Leave a Comment

More Freelance Jobs

Autism bloggers/writers – We need volunteer writers globally, as this project will give you national and international exposure and will lead to major articles in the field, both scientific in nature as well as human interest articles. It will also help us provide info and free services to the autism community and educators/researchers. If you have the talent, the passion to help others, and will to be consistent; then this is for you.

Online News Editor – Do you love working in a fast-paced environment? Are you an adrenaline junkie that loves covering breaking news? Gazette Communications is seeking a progressive Online News Editor to take our online site, GazetteOnline.com to the next level.

Writing Online Columns – Online column writing on a variety of topics available. Pay is around 10 US cents every time someone reads your written content.

Client Relations and Web Specialist – Opportunity to learn a business and apply your sales, web and writing skills with a small, but growing company. We are seeking an internet savvy individual to act as a front line customer relations representative and assist with online business presence while learning the bail bond business. The ideal candidate for this newly created, work mostly from home position has the ability to connect with people over the phone, understands and can execute the sales process, and presents themselves in an articulate manner.

Swahili interpreter needed – Professional interpreter needed for an interpretation company. We are seeking a professional Swahili interpreter to work with us on Swahili projects. If you are interested, please send your resume and a cover letter to hr@daytranslations.com. Please put Swahili interpreter in the subject line. We always want to work with people who are very kind and professional and love languages.

Web Content Writers – Put your writing skills to work at Demand Studios. Earn money while you improve your writing skills and gain valuable exposure. Demand Studios supplies content to a network of highly trafficked websites including LIVESTRONG.COM, Travels.com, Golflink.com and more. This is a freelance writing position where you can claim and work on multiple assignments at a time, allowing you to work at your own pace and earn extra money around your own schedule.

Article Writer – Are you great at researching several sources and coming up with useful, creative articles? Would you like to work for a company that is growing bigger and better every single month? Would you like to work from home and make good money doing what you love – writing?

Maya Animator – Kerosene Creative Services is seeking a 3D Animator for an immediate contract lasting about 2-3 weeks.

Flash Developer – Covenant Communications is seeking freelance flash developers for contract work. We are seeking candidates who have impeccable programming skills and a good eye for motion design and interactivity. We are seeking developers to help us create next level Flash projects for our company and clients.

iPhone App Developer – we are in need of whip-smart, work-hardened folks who are committed to making things happen. Those things, are the things that live in the iPhones and iPod Touch’s of our hearts and dreams. We need the kind of computer soldiers who are dedicated to the challenges that most shy away from with their feeble tails tucked.

Finally, Some Hot Freelance Jobs


Need help?
How to get an online job.
How to avoid online scams.

This post is a weekly feature – we post a list of online, work-from-anywhere, jobs every single week. Be sure not to miss the next list of jobs. Subscribe to Like Chapaa today, or sign up to receive free email updates.

Filed Under: Online Jobs Tagged With: , , ,

Beat The Global Recession With An Online Job

July 1, 2009 by Leave a Comment

From the way things are going, doesn’t it look like soon enough milk will be be more expensive than beer? :p The good news is that there are plenty of undemanding ways to supplement your salary online.

From filling out short surveys to being a virtual PA or writing brief articles for online encyclopedias, you could soon be bringing in significant amounts of money every month. But how do you start? As companies scale back and cut jobs, sending people home, opportunities open up for freelancers. These organisations often turn to outside help to fill in the gaps left by employees sent home. So how do you attract clients when you have never had any?

  1. Establish yourself as credible and qualified – even if it means working for free, get some people who you can refer to as people who you’ve worked for before, doing similar things.
  2. Tell everyone you know that you are available for hire – initially, you will really need referrals.
  3. Network – networking helps build up connections with potential customers and it is vital. Some easy ways to network:
    • Join professional/local organisations – Depending on what organisation you join, you’ll gain a whole lot of things (the stuff that the organisation offers to its members) and also gain access to a number of potential clients.
    • Volunteer – Give back to the community by doing something that you love. You will not only help people but you will also broaden your network of potential clients.
  4. Never let an opportunity pass you by – always be on the look out for potential clients who haven’t yet heard of you and then tell them about you and what you can do for them.

Ready to start? Perhaps you could apply to become a freelance sales agent.

This post serves as notice that we intend to revive the online jobs section of this website. We’re working on something big regarding this but in the meantime, there shall be a weekly jobs listing & advice article which will list real online jobs that you could well do from Busia or Kericho. Why not subscribe to receive free updates and ensure you don’t miss anything?

Filed Under: Online Jobs

Mechanical Turks, and 9 Other Jobs

November 17, 2008 by Leave a Comment

While computing technology continues to improve, there are still many things that human beings can do much more effectively than computers, such as identifying objects in a photo or video, performing data de-duplication, transcribing audio recordings or researching data details. Traditionally, tasks like this have been accomplished by hiring a large temporary workforce (which is time consuming, expensive and difficult to scale) or have gone undone.

At Amazon Mechanical Turk, you get paid to do things such as transcribe audio, label pictures, write short (and long) essays among other things.  Some of the pay is pretty low but if you live in a country like Kenya and daily do an amount of work equivalent to a full working day, your monthly income should be a lot more than that of most people in this country.

Still not convinced?  One of the people who work at Mechanical Turk is "Kristy Milland, 27, a mother of one who runs an at-home day care in Toronto, as well as a Web site called RealityBBQ about the reality TV show "Big Brother." "I have a lot of free time basically sitting at the computer while the kids play," she says. Among the work she does is editing and quality assurance for CastingWords, but not transcription, because she has tendinitis. When Mturk.com first began, Milland would churn through 3-cent HITs. (That's "human intelligence tasks," Turker lingo for jobs.) Amazon was paying turkers to make sure that photos of businesses used on its A9 site, a local search engine, matched the actual businesses listed, a task a computer can't do. In an eight-hour day, when she didn't have the kids to watch, Milland could go through 1,000 photos, making a cool $30". (Read the rest of this review) That's 30 US dollars per day!!!

Amazon Mechanical Turk can help you make money, try it.

Other jobs you may want to check out:
Kids Blog Seeks Editorial/Administrative Assistant
Help English Language Learners Online
Seeking GAM writers
Write Short Blog Posts for Social Network Site
Writers Wanted – Custom Content Freelancers
Storytelling Magazine Is Looking For Submissions
Business Plan Writers Needed
Food Blog looking for writers
Pet lifestyle writers, bloggers, producers wanted!
Freelance web designer

Note: The positions above may be filled and therefore the links may cease to work after a while. Hurry!!

DISCLAIMER: You may be scammed, or you may not. I am not responsible for anything. If you click here, you can learn how to avoid online scams.  Alternatively, Subscribe to this blog or sign up for free email updates.

Filed Under: Online Jobs

How to Earn While Learning (in Kenya)

November 5, 2008 by 26 Comments

JJ people have set up a Java Development Centre in Nairobi, Kenya and are looking for people to join them to become professional software developers writing Java code for clients spread across Europe, Canada and North America.

They look to have a very sweet deal: basically, you sign up with them to receive FREE training in java.  After you complete introductory level training, they will pay you to learn with them following which they will then offer you a three year as a java developer working with their clients from Europe and North America.  Now, I don’t know about you but that does sound too good to be true.  


Guess what? It’s not too good to be true.  This is the real deal.  In my view it’s the quickest and easiest path to becoming a software developer (and get paid while doing it).  I have the good fortune to have a good friend currently in the JJ people program and he agreed to an interview.  So without much further ado, I bring to you, Paul.

How did you find JJ People?
I found the JJ people opportunity through the help of my big sister.  She saw the advertisement in the newspaper, and knowing how much I enjoy using computers, she suggested I sign up.  So she helped me draft a letter which I sent through email with my CV attached.

How easy was it to get in?
Getting in was easy, the hard part was waiting for my username and password.  I remember I waited for a month, calling the JJ people HR Manager everyday asking about my username and password.  After two weeks, I had lost hope of joining.  After four months, I finally got the email from JJ people and that same night, I finished the first module.

What is your experience like?
When I frist went to the office(situated at Augustana College Building – on your way to Karen along Ngong Road), I saw all these older people, very active at researching and coding.  I knew it had been some time since I did Java, but I always have preferred it over any other programming language. So that same day, I had to borrow a huge book on Java programming from a friend. Since I was coming to the office once a week, it took me two months to finish the second module(Java fundamentals) as I was studying Java all over again.  After finishing that module, it was easy street. 

At JJ people you meet all kinds of people.  Those who have had years of experience in Java, those who are starting out. T hose who are in it for the money (eventually most have quit midway module two).  At the main office, you get to meet those who have gone through the whole training and are know either Senior developers, Developers or trainees doing projects for the company.  The training has helped me think outside the box more when it comes to java. This is my 4th week at JJ people and what I’ve learnt, no university or college in Kenya can match.

Best moment so far?
I don’t think I have had a particular best moment at JJ people because everyday, walking into that office and sitting at my laptop is a good moment for me.  At JJ People, not everyone is the “serious type”.  You will find the IT Manager, Mr John Dickerson, talking to students and sometimes complaining out loud.  But with the friendly environment comes work.  You must work hard to achieve that 3 year contract you want with JJ People.

Worst moment so far?
Once when I was the only one caught on facebook (people are supposed to be working and not chatting. Yet half the room was on facebook).  Also another time when I was accused of copying someones idea. Sincerely, if the question read the same, they also gave the names of the methods to use………to me, it’s not copying, I simply learnt from the person’s idea.

Any advice for people looking to join?
If anyone wants to join, join. But I must warn you, join if you know what you want. If you have a passion for Java and you want to further develop it, join. There will be people greater at Java than you, but in the end its all about understanding because later on, you apply what you have learnt in previous tasks.

What do you hope to achieve at JJ people?
I joined JJ people because I wanted to learn.  That is my main reason after which is the pay.  But all in all, my dream job is working at EA(Electronic Arts) in Europe.  So my next part-time task is learning 3D programming and 3D animation.  I find a job to learn more than to earn. Most of the cases people quit jobs because of the pay and not because of the skills they acquire.

—
Enough said. Here’s the link to the JJ People website, click and go. Please leave a comment telling us what you think of this.

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Filed Under: Interviews, Online Jobs, Tips Hacking and Reviews

How To Get an Online Job

April 16, 2007 by 13 Comments

Imagine a world where you work from the comforts of you own bed. No getting up early, no shaving – heck, you can have breakfast while briefing your boss or serving customers. Just imagine. (No this isn’t a samsung ad!)

That world could be yours for the taking. Similar to the familiar off-line employment, this involves getting an online job, that you can do from the comforts of your bedroom or wherever. Some of the jobs include: chat room moderators, webmasters, data entry clerks, email processing, and customer service.

Basically, look at yourself and identify what you can do well and then sell yourself to prospective employers. Typically, it would pay if you have some fairly well developed skills as such skills are probably needed by someone somewhere – that’s good for you. I would advise that you treat online employment as a form of freelancing, as it is improbable that you will find very long-term employment online. This implies that, like all freelancers, you are a one-person team and should therefore strive to develop all-round skills needed to operate in this way. That is, you need to do your own marketing, accounting, management, and so on.

Naturally, this means that you should go ahead and create you, the brand. This brings in an amount of professionalism and paints a good picture of you making you seem credible, reliable and professional. Possible employers will definitely be impressed as there are many, many shoddy freelancers out there. But there are also very many well polished freelancers so you best do yourself a favor by being thorough. You will need a brand name (your name or something else), logos, business cards and a website. (If you’re serious, the website is essential.)

Great Freelancing resources can be found here.

Getting Work

Don’t quit your day job yet, getting well paying online jobs can be challenging! The best(and safest) source of online employment comes from your family, friends and/or associates. Identify those amongst your contacts who may be interested in hiring someone who’ll work from home i.e tell people you are now available. However, as this blog is about the internet I won’t digress and go into that. 😉

You can find online jobs at:

1. Right HERE. I’ll periodically surf through the sites below and post truly online (work from anywhere) jobs on this very blog. You may want to subscribe to my blog or sign up for free email updates to make sure you don’t miss anything!

2. Craigslist
3. Pro Blogger Job Board (blogging jobs)
4. Rent a Coder (programming and tech jobs)
5. Get a Freelancer
6. Krop
7. 37 Signals Job Board (or gigs)

Tips & Advice Regarding Online Jobs

  • Be professional. Apply with a resume and cover letter just as you would do when applying for any other job.
  • Don’t put all your eggs in one basket – you are now a freelancer and should strive to have as many options open as possible.
  • That said, do not expect $50000 per year – it probably won’t be that much. Therefore, be careful when deciding to quit your day job, only do so when you already have a reasonable online income. After all, you don’t even need to quit your day job as you can do both, at least for a while.
  • As I said earlier you need to develop all-round skills and be prepared for quite a bit of multi-tasking. You are a one-man team, remember? Since you can do all that, alone, why not create the job yourself? Setting up your own business, in my opinion, is the best way to go. Think about it – no deadlines, no boss…
  • As with all other things, do not forget about your family and friends. Get off the computer once in a while and spend some time with real people. This helps, trust me.


Getting Paid

Unfortunately, chances of getting scammed online are pretty high. Chances of getting problems receiving your payment are even higher. So, how do you deal with this? I’m no expert but I have identified two simple ways:

  • Make sure everything is clearly defined and understood from the very beginning. That means your obligations(what are you doing and to what extent or quality) should be clear and the employer’s obligations(how much to pay and when) should be clear as well.
  • Keep extensive records of everything. These can be handy if things turn ugly as you can point out to agreements in black and white.

Freelanceswitch.com has discussed this, in detail, here.

More resources:
NorthxEast

Filed Under: Make Money, Online Jobs