Sorry I haven't been back to the Blog for a while - I've been busy, busy, busy ! Many of you have questions, so let me try to answer them quickly here for you so that you can feel comfortable venturing with this work from home opportunity as well.

Identity Theft - this is a concern for all of us and one of the reasons I posted this blog. I too was nervous but then IT-Boss (who I applied through) made some good points. They put a lot of effort in their recruiting program. Their training is top-notch. Their application process is detailed and thorough through each phase. Thats a LOT of work to go through just to grab someone's identity. People are out there to do harm with your identity don't want to take hours and hours to steal your information. It's like a house burglar - they want quick and easy homes to break into, not ones that take hours. Olivia at IT-Boss explained it to me that since they conduct virtual interviews, they have to know who you are too! They take a lot of precaution in trying to ensure that they are sending in American Citizens to the courthouses to conduct the clients' research. So its more of a security practice for them. Plus, you wouldn't want the IRS to tell you a few years from now that your SSN received reported income that you now owe taxes on! IT-Boss asks for photo ID and a W9 form - so that they protect "you" from such fraudulent activity as well :)

IT-Boss Research - in addition to provide court research services for clients, they do recruit for several companies, their largest two clients are Wolfgang Research (who I still work for) and A&M Research. They are not an employment agency, but a contractor placement service. They do not charge you a fee for their services going in. It's free with stipulation (very easy ones): you need to pass the "open-book" exam which you have 2 attempts to do so and you are asked to give a 30 day commitment to the client once you receive your assignments. With the wealth of information they provide, I think that is VERY understandable. However, if you for any reason, things change and you cannot keep your commitment, they will NEVER ask you to pay the fee. They simply report it as income via a 1099 at year's end. If the reported income is less than $600 at year's end (which it would be because their fees are MUCH less than that), then you won't even receive a 1099 Form as the IRS does not require such to be sent out "unless" your earnings from a particular company was $600 or more in a given year. So you see, there is absolutely NO risk at all. So try it! Understand that it usually takes 2 to 4 weeks while doing an assignment before you get into your "groove" - a routine where everything flows smoothly and quickly. I LOVE this work !

No further response from application: Once you apply at IT-Boss Research using their online application system, you should receive an email within 48 hours stating that your application has been received and is being reviewed for the needs in your area. Due to the high volume of applications they receive each week, their policy is that if you don't hear from them within 2 weeks, then (1) there is no longer an immediate need in your area, (2) another applicant was selected and you have been placed on a waiting list, or (3) you didn't complete the application properly (remember, your application is their first "view" of your skills and eye for detail - so follow the directions carefully, read the questions thoroughly. They do purge their applications about once every 30-to 60 days, so feel free to re-apply. Don't give up! I promise, it will be worth it !

What can you expect to earn each week? Well thats a toughy folks. You see, there are a lot of "IFs" that fall into play. For example, if you live in a highly populated county, then most likely, that county records and stores a LOT of documents each month. It's the opposite for a less populated county. This of course will affect your possible earnings and how often you will need to visit that county court offices each month. High volume = Weekly; Low Volume = Monthly, etc. For each county, you may not be asked to research the "same" document types. For example, in one county, you may be asked to research tax liens and for another county, perhaps mortgages, marriages and births. Or you may luck out and be asked to research lots of document types, like judgments, probates, civil, bankruptcies, tax liens, mortgages, marriages, births, lis pendens, foreclosures, etc. It all depends on what assignments are available from the client in each county. The more assignments you have and the higher the population, the more you can earn. As for an hourly rate, that depends on variables too: Your typing speed, how quickly you learn to look through (scan) documents for the information you need to report, how the documents are stored at your local courthouse (digital view via terminal, microfiche, microfilm, or paper copies loose in files or bound in books, whether or not you can pull files or the Court Clerks have to pull them for you, etc.) . So you can see how it would take about 30 days for you to grasp the routine and determine the fastest method for you to accomplish your tasks and how often you'll need to visit. With gas prices up and down, the clients do their best to give you as "much" work as possible for each county as to ensure the trip is financially worth your while :) For the first couple of trips, don't get discouraged if your pay rate doesn't fall within the average of $8-$15 an hour, as this is new, and although quite easy work, does take a little time to master the steps and develop your own routine of doing things.

Where is IT-Boss Research located? If you visit their website, you'll see that an address is not listed to the "public". Why you ask? Take a moment to read about the company and you'll find that they are a group of retired recruiters, joined together, all working from their "Homes". Olivia Martin, the Director of IT-Boss Research used to display her home address on the website which is in Northern Virginia (Loudoun Area)... that is, until she started having strangers come knocking at her door wanting to apply for a position. I'm sure you can understand how that information was quickly removed from the website LOL. Her agents also work from their homes for the most part, except for 3 that work from her home. Their entire contractor placement process is conducted by the internet and email. A lot of thought and time was taken to create specific phases for each applicant's processing. They've got it down to a science these days and their clients are very appreciative of their outstanding results.

Can you work for multiple research companies? Depends on who you are working for actually. Some companies don't mind you working for fellow research teams, but I'd suggest you at least tell your "current" company of your plans. Since many of the research companies network together and even support some of the same clients, it's possible that if you tell your current research company that you are working for, that you are interested in County A and B also, or other types of research, your current company might just be able to get you the work you requested! This makes it SO much easier as you have one set of guidelines, one client to report to and one 1099 form at the end of the year for your earnings.

I hope I have answered all the questions you folks have. If not, feel free to post your question here. I'll try to monitor this a bit more closely. Again, my apologies for delaying in getting new posts and responses published.