You hear a lot about companies routing their customer-service calls to workers overseas, but a less-noticed trend is the growth in home-based call-center workers. The number of such workers in North America has tripled since 2000, according to an estimate by research firm Yankee Group, with more than 670,000 phone agents in the United States and Canada now working at home.

Thanks to the Internet and better call-routing technology, more companies are finding they can outsource their order-taking, sales and problem-solving calls to home-based workers, said LiveOps Chairman Bill Trenchard. LiveOps not only runs an outsource operation, Trenchard said, but it provides technology for companies that want to set up their own home-based call centers.

Home-based workers tend to be better educated and more loyal than their counterparts at traditional call centers, Trenchard said. Most of LiveOps’ workers have college degrees — Opara has a master’s — and turnover is low.

Call centers usually have no tolerance for audible distractions, so a crying baby, barking dog or ringing doorbell could get you fired. (Some companies require their workers have dedicated offices with doors to minimize potential distractions.) An operator also needs a dedicated phone line, a computer and high-speed Internet access.

Some call centers that say they are currently hiring include:

• Alpine Access
• LiveOps
• Arise
• West at Home

MSN Money

It took a few years before Martine Rothblatt got used to describing her daughter’s chronic lung disease as a lucrative market opportunity. “I choked every time I said it - it sounded so immoral,” says Rothblatt, 52. But when she realized that the fastest track to a cure was to launch a biotech firm and then take it public, Rothblatt started United Therapeutics.

The company, based in Silver Spring, Md.,makes and sells Remodulin, a drug that treats pulmonary hypertension (PPH), abnormally high blood pressure in the arteries that supply the lungs. The rare, incurable, and often fatal ailment causes shortness of breath, fainting spells and fatigue. Most treatment options, ranging from daily pills to intravenous medicines, are fully reimbursable by insurance companies.

Rothblatt describes watching her daughter, Jenesis, battle PPH when she was diagnosed as a little girl. Jenesis survived on a mix of pills, but doctors warned that if her condition worsened, she would have to take Flolan, a GlaxoSmithKline (Charts) drug that stays in the bloodstream for only three minutes. It must be continually administered via a catheter threaded directly into the groin or neck. Unstable at room temperature, Flolan requires patients to carry an ice pack 24 hours a day to ensure that it stays cool.

“The treatment seemed worse than the disease,” recalls Rothblatt, stroking one of the three mohawked Labradoodles that roam her offices. “My vision became an inhaled version of the medicine.” Her first step was to develop a drug that lasted longer than Flolan.

FSB Magazine

Top five expressions people use when they are talking about networking that can make you cringe:

1. Schmoozing — this word makes networking seem so slimy and insincere. Networking is about teaching your contacts to believe in your character and competence so they want to work with you, send business your way or hire you
2. 30 Second Commercial — while you want to “sell yourself” you don’t want to appear as too much of a hard sell
3. Pick Your Brains — this expression makes the authors think of vultures coming in for the kill; and wish that people would instead say “I’d like to get your thoughts about something.”
4. Work a Room — this phrase sounds as if you intend to work people over and take all you can. Instead, focus on listening and showing others what they can count on you for and what kinds of opportunities to send your way.
5. Information Interview — You can make networking a way of life — at professional meetings, backyard barbeques and all kinds of professional and social venues.

All 10 expressions by Anne Baber and Lynne Waymon.

powerhomebiz.com

Barbara Kavovit — better known to the world as Barbara K — has turned what began as a niche home-improvement business into a mini-empire that now includes a line of fashionable, female-friendly tools available through retailers like Target, two best-selling books and, most recently, an online show. Barbara K admits that while her career has rarely traveled in a straight path, and that she has made her fair share of mistakes, her business is stronger because of what she’s learned along the way.

“My first job I took after college was as a financial analyst. I was living at home in New Rochelle, N.Y., at the time, and it was actually kind of boring. Then one day I heard my mom talking to some of her friends about how hard it was to get things done around the house without a man around, like hanging picture, fixing a leaky faucet, and tightening a doorknob. That’s when a lightbulb went on for me.

“I realized that women are tired of having to rely on men to help with home improvements. I thought women might like to deal with another woman instead. So I went to a local printer to have some business cards and fliers made up. Then I went to the mall and started talking to women about how I had just started a home-improvement business and asked whether there was anything I could help them with.

“After I lined up a job, like putting up Sheetrock, I would go to the phonebook, find the contractors that could do the work, and check out their references. I would then drive the contractor to the job and talk with the customer as he did the work. I made my money by charging the homeowner more than the contractor was charging me. My first year, I made $25,000.

Yahoo! Finance

Some words used in business names just bring certain connotations to mind, and, it can be enough to make me not go inside and shop.

1. “Today’s”
2. “Modern”
3. “Classy”
4. “Savvy”
5. “Swanky”
6. “Lady”
7. “Tidy”
8. “Charming”
9. “N’ Things”
10. Anything with a “K” where a “C” belongs - If you own “Kountry Klutter Kakes”, I will Kut you.

BusyMom.net

Just over a year ago, we covered Ether, which makes it easy for (budding) entrepreneurs to sell spoken advice and support by providing them with a dedicated 1-888 number for customers to call, and taking care of billing and payments. Now, a massive player has joined the arena. Skype’s latest software release includes a beta version of Skype Prime. The service is very similar to Ether: sellers set a price, fixed or per minute, find buyers for their service, and Skype handles the rest. Of course, instead of using phone lines, both sellers and buyers use Skype’s voice over IP platform.

While Skype charges ‘call providers’ more than Ether does—30% commission versus 15%—Skype’s obvious benefit is its existing global user base. Skype has over 171 million registered users, is available in 28 languages and is used in almost every country around the world. Which means a very large reach for minipreneurs who’d like to sell their services, whether they’re offering Spanish lessons, tax advice or something saucier. (Note that Skype’s guidelines state that call providers cannot offer any content or service that is adult, sexual, pornographic or paedophiliac.)

Other alternatives include BitWine and Wengo.

springwise.com

People have a harder time coming up with alternative solutions to a problem when they are part of a group, new research suggests.

Scientists exposed study participants to one brand of soft drink then asked them to think of alternative brands. Alone, they came up with significantly more products than when they were grouped with two others.

The researchers speculate that when a group of people receives information, the inclination is to discuss it. The more times one option is said aloud, the harder it is for individuals to recall other options, explained Krishnan.

Another contributing factor is variation in learning and memory styles. People store and retrieve information in myriad ways, so in a group situation, the conversation could cause individuals to think about the cues differently than they would if they were alone.

Krishnan said individuals, whether students, executives or football fans, should take time to consider the facts on their own before coming to a consensus.

msnbc.com