Have you ever scolded your children for hanging out with the wrong crowd? Were you ever yelled at by your mother or father for the people you were hanging out with? I would argue that this has happened to most people at least once in their lives. Well for me it's definitely happened many times. In fact I was often embarrassed by my loving mother who would literally come out the house and drag me home. Growing up in the Bronx I can't tell you what that did to my rep in the “hood”. I went through this phase of hanging out on the corner with my crew of “friends” and my parents hated it. On my block everyone knew my folks because they were hard working immigrants trying to give us a better life and the people in the neighborhood appreciated that. So they often kept tabs on us and reported back to my parents like the spies that they were.
Perception Is Everything!
Word started getting back to my folks that I was hanging out with the wrong crowd and sure enough my mother literally put a stop to it. At the time I was so angry with my mom. My argument was that everyone knew I was a good kid and wasn't doing anything wrong. But in hindsight I realize my mom was worried about perception and influence.
Although everyone knew me and my family, their perception of me would be affected by the company I keep. I always felt that was very unfair to base your opinions of someone on something so superficial. But in the real world that's how it works. The other part of this equation was the influence factor which is the whole reason of this article. My mom worried that although I was a good kid, some of my seedy “friends” would influence me in the wrong way. She wanted me to surround myself with like minded kids that were doing positive things. But I didn't like those kids because I thought they were “corny”. lol
But it's funny, “Moms” was right. As I grow up, the cool kids grew up to be adults that were either in jail, struggling or worst. The “corny” kids ended up doing very well and working at some great companies or had a lot influence in various industries. That's very important to note for you folks struggling to look for work at home.
Show Me Your Friends & I'll Tell You…
Who are you associating with? Are you surrounded by other work at home seekers who are doing well and have a positive attitude? Or are you in a circle of “Negative Nancys” that complain about work at home and tagging everything as a scam but aren't actually making any money at home? Think about that. A work at home career is often like a regular job where it's not what you know, it's who you know!
Knowing bitter work at home seekers that have never worked at home isn't going to help you find work at home. You want to surround yourself with other work at home seekers that have actually made it. You need to have supportive and positive network of people.
The Power of Social Networks for Job Searches…
I'm sure you've all heard of MySpace and Facebook. Originally it was just a place for young people to hang out and waste time. For many it's still used in that way. In fact, last week I wrote about the dangers of using these social networks and how it can stop you from being hired. But some of the most popular social networks are evolving in terms of helping people find jobs. Others have been created just to help people find work.
I recently joined a social network and put up my profile which is kind of like posting a resume. To my surprise, a few months later an employer contacted me because they wanted to hire me. That happened without me trying. Imagine if I actively used the network and it's forums. Or more importantly imagine if I placed myself on multiple networks? That would have given me even more employment opportunities considering what happened when I was just located on one network.
Now, because I've retired and work for myself, it's not in my interest to use these networks. But for those of you that are still looking to work at home, you need to make use of social networks in a strategic way. You should approach it like posting your resume and hit every place you can. Networking is about being everywhere. So don't just set up an account in one place like I did. It worked but not as great as it would have if I was present on more networks. Go crazy and get on as many networks as you can find. You're already spending time searching for work at home jobs, why not take an hour or two to join and participate in some social networks.
We know that our loyal subscribers are a pro-active bunch so we've decided to do some leg work for you and compile a list of sites you should join.
Don't worry it's totally free! You just need to set aside an hour or so to go through them all and add your profile.
After you've registered for each of the sites below, become active in them like you are here in this blog. If you're not, get out your shell and start making friends. Many of these sites have forums, message boards and job boards where you can learn about work at home opportunities and talk to others. Furthermore you might make some friends that can give you advice or job leads. Remember it's not what you know, it's who you know! So sign up for all the sites below and take advantage of a network of people. Why go it alone when you can get help from multiple people.
But if you have all the work at home jobs you can stand and are already making money at home, please don't sign up for all of the sites below. It's not fair to the people who do need the leads and networking options that these sites could provide.
- Konnects.com (Click on sign up button.)
Hello Eddy,
Its me, Philemon again, and thanks for the encouragement you gave to a 58 year old regrouping and reinventing himself for the marketplace. Your website with all its information is really helping me in my plans to become an internet marketer.
Philemon
Hey Phileomon,
Great to hear from you again. You’re quite welcome. I’m glad that you’re actually taking the time to read through all the information we have here. It shows that you are really dedicated to your success. Your age means nothing more than that you have a lot more wisdom to apply to anything you eventually decide on. So always keep that in mind. As long as you’re able to read, you can learn anything just like those younger whipper snappers out there. lol
Hey Sharlene,
Nice to hear from you again! Always good to have friends back. Thanks for this tip on this site.
Please email me more details about how you make money with it. It sounds kind of like Yuwie, http://www.workathomenoscams.com/2007/08/13/myspace-will-pays-users-sike-but-yewiecom-does/
but better.
I totally hear you about the ignorance of people in terms of race relations. You would think because we have different shades of color that we’re not all of the same species.
It’s not as bad here in NYC. It’s one of the things that makes this place great. But living in the suburbs I’ve noticed some minor differences in terms of the looks my wife and I get. But I have a thick skin and so does my wife.
I’ve always prided myself on having a nice mix of friends. In high school they use to call our little group, the united colors of Beneton. lol Same thing happened in college. It’s amazing the things we can learn from each other if we set aside differences or even just talk about them in an open forum. I’ve taught my white co-workers a lot about the struggles of being a person of color and they’ve taught me a lot about their own struggles and questions they have about my community.
I think we all have our own little prejudices and preconceptions about each other. You can’t help but have them because you’re influenced by your family, friends and environment.
I just think it’s just a matter of acknowledging this and trying to work with it to make sure that you’re not making rash judgments about people or groups of people without providing them the opportunity to demonstrate to you their true “colors” Pun intended. lol
Differences is what built this great country of ours and I think it’s okay to acknowledge them constructively so we learn more about each other which will lead to better cooperation and fair treatment for everyone.
Okay, I’ll get off my soap box now. lol But thanks again for the resource Sharlene. Feel free to email me privately for more details about it since you’ve already made some money with that site.
Eddy
Hey Ginny,
How are you buddy?
Glad you enjoyed the article and actually read it. I just got an email from someone asking if I’ve changed my business from work at home to something else.
Goes to show you how people don’t read things completely and why they miss out on opportunities. tsk tsk.
In terms of videos about searching for work at home jobs, I think I pretty much covered the most important information in my last video:
http://www.workathomenoscams.com/2008/02/13/how-to-find-jobs-at-home-video/
I could make more videos showing you how I apply the technique discussed on various job sites such as monster, careerbuilder, etc but it’s pretty much going to repeat the same information.
I don’t think finding the jobs is really the problem.
After all we’ve provided you some of the best top free work at home job sites here:
http://www.workathomenoscams.com/2007/12/04/top-5-free-work-at-home-job-sites-for-2008/
The real problem is that there are too many workers and not enough traditional work at home jobs available for all of you. It’s why I emphasize doing other types of work at home opportunities such as Medical Transcription, affiliate marketing, etc where you have tons of opportunities to work at home.
I’ll definitely be creating more videos about working at home and avoiding scams but it’s not going to be focused on work at home jobs since I’ve already provided tons of free resources and information on this topic in this blog.
So my focus is going to be on things you’ve never considered that will make you money at home. Because the fact of the matter is, that’s how I ultimately became successful.
http://www.workathomenoscams.com/freedom
http://www.workathomenoscams.com/about
It wasn’t because I continued to chase after a job. And I want you all to be able to be as successful as me.
But for those that want just a job, you have all the information you need in our articles section:
http://www.workathomenoscams.com/articles/
and companies section:
http://www.workathomenoscams.com/companies
I hope this makes sense Ginny?
Thanks
Eddy
Hi Eddy,
Sharlene here, I would also like to know if you would like to include the Giblink site with your list of social networking sites.
It’s fairly new and dedicated to making money from home.
http://www.Gibline.com/sierah1
I have actually been paid several times through them. This is the only networking site I have found that you can actually earn money from.
By the way your background sounds like my husband’s.
His father is from the Bahamas. His mother is from the states. He also grew up in a low income neighborhood in a small town. He is 1/2 black and 1/2 Bohemium. We are a mixed couple. I am Caucasian. We have encountered problems with that in our relationship because there are still lots of people in this world who can not accept mixed marriage’s. I really think that is sad. But I know it has gotten better, but that really depends on where you live. It is accepted more in some areas than others.
OK, enough about that. I really like your articles they touch base with reality a lot.
Thanks again.
Sharlene
Eddy;
Your column about “Your Mother Was Right…” was hilarious and sooo true. Keep those educational columns coming.
Question: Are there going to be any more videos about searching for work from home jobs?
Have a great day,
Ginny