Pennies Add Up
When I joined RedGage I have to say that it reminded me of how I earn money guiding for ChaCha. ChaCha is an answering system that people use on their phones and on their computers as well. It works like this: you text ChaCha a question and they text you back your answer. Simple, right? Well, “they” are us, on our computers at home receiving these questions and sending back answers for money. While it is not enough money to quit your job or anything, it can add up. If you are patient enough to earn pennies a day on RedGage then I think that ChaCha could work for you too..
I heard about it from a friend at church and she makes a nice amount of extra money through ChaCha so, I thought to myself, “What have I got to lose”? It is free to sign up, however, there is a little effort involved in the sign up process. It is actually like getting hired for a job. While you are not employed by ChaCha you still represent them and they have a best interest at stake. You are considered an independent contractor and if you make over $600 in a year then you are responsible for claiming your own taxes and so on. There are a few different positions available on ChaCha and Expeditor happens to be mine.
As an Expeditor I receive questions and send answers back to customers from the comfort of my home computer. However, if I come across a question that I cannot answer or will take longer than I have (3min) to answer, well, I can send it on to a Generalist/Specialist. Expeditors earn .02 per session (or question) whereas, Generalist/Specialists earn anywhere from .10 to .20 per session. The amount for the Gen/Sp depends on the category of the questions being answered. Each category has a pay scale and this would factor in the amount per question. Like I said, it isn’t enough to support yourself but it is extra income if you have the time. For example: if I devote on average 4 hours a day answering questions, I may be able to answer approximately 100 questions/hr. This averages out to about 400 questions a day for me which equals about $8.00. Just to sit in my spare time and click answers and send them. I do this while watching T.V. and other things at the same time.
ChaCha is like any other work from home gig where you set your own hours and work at your own pace. When I first began I would take just about the whole 3min to answer questions. Then I quickly learned that if I tried to pace myself at about 30sec per question I could be making a lot more in the same amount of time. Answering questions is not entirely left up to you. ChaCha has lots of tools for you to use in finding and sending the best possible answers back to customers in the least amount of time.
They have what they call PAQ’s which are “previously answered questions”. This is a database of questions that have already been asked and answered in many different ways. You have the luxury of choosing the best answer to the question set in front of you. They also have a “finders” tool that allows you to narrow down your answers to specific categories such as movies, weather, definitions, sports scores, etc. You just type in the necessary info and ChaCha does the rest. Then there is the tool that you can use to send an answer in your own words or perhaps an answer that you cut and paste. So, you see it’s not hard at all to get it done. The key is patience and time and if you have both then ChaCha will definitely work for you.
Once you have decided o go ahead with giving it a try, you can go to www.becomeaguide.chacha.com this is where you apply. If you would like to be part of a network of guides (mine) then you will need to enter in my email address under the referral section. This cannot be done at a later time so, if you want to do it you will have to do it when you initially apply. If you need my email address just send me a message and I can send it to you.
After you have applied and entered all the important personal information, you will then be required to watch a few tutorials on how to do things on ChaCha. These are short 3-4 min tutorials and there might be about 6 to 9 of them to watch. The last one you will watch will tell you what you need to know before taking your “readiness test”. This is basically a 10 question simulation of what being a ChaCha guide is all about. After you complete those 10 questions (or sessions as they like to call them), you will be contacted via email to let you know whether or not you passed and if you can start guiding. This usually happens within 7 days of taking your test; I got my response in about 3 days. You can ChaCha too!
