How Many Baskets Do You Have?

by Hava Lyon | More from this Blogger

04 Jan 2007 12:00 PM

Being an Idahoan, I have heard some pretty hick sayings from time to time, and this is one of those proverbs: Never put all of your eggs in one basket. But a truer statement has never been made, especially in relation to the working-from-home world everyone seems to want to inhabit.

It all comes down to this: You are the only one looking after you. Companies come, and sometimes they go. For the most part, if your job can be done from home, it can be done by somebody in the Philippines or India, and can be done cheaper by them too. Outsourcing is here, and it's here to stay. I hope I don't come across as too doom-and-gloom, I just want people to know this is a possibility. Too many people have lost their jobs to cheap labor in India for us to ignore the problem. So the more baskets you have, the less likely you are to be in a serious world of hurt when one of the companies you work for starts sending all of the jobs overseas. You will be okay, because you will have other jobs to fall back on.

Some job fields are more susceptible to this than others. Some of the fields that have been hit the hardest by this trend are ones like transcription or customer service. These are fields that are still actively hiring Americans and/or Canadians but the overall pay seems to be gradually dropping, because why pay the premium price for an American when someone from India will do it for pennies on the dollar?

I don't want to stir up a political debate on the subject because this isn't the time or the place for it, but it is something to be aware of. The good news is that some jobs are almost impossible to outsource. One of them is creative writing. Most people can learn another language well enough to write or speak it on a basic level, but in order to write an article or a story in another language, you almost have to be able to think in that language, which is a really hard feat to accomplish. The language you learned as a young child is usually the language you think in for the rest of your life, whether you speak other ones or not. You will not see a large influx of creative writers from other countries, so the competition for these jobs will be against Americans and/or Canadians, which helps keep the playing field level.

The other kind of jobs that are impossible to export are jobs that you have to do in person, like mystery shopping or research at courthouses. I'll go into those jobs more in-depth later on, but anything like that is a great basket to add to your collection. If you get several part-time jobs doing transcription for two different companies and also do some mystery shopping on the side, you'll be protected in case one of the transcription companies decides to send all of their work overseas starting right away.

This past summer, this happened at one of the larger American medical transcription companies-all of the MTs (medical transcriptionists) found out one day that all work was being sent overseas starting that day with no warning whatsoever. Every single MT was out of a job at the same time, so the MT market was flooded with experienced MTs all at once, which threw the market completely out of balance. The newbies graduating from school couldn't find a job (why hire a newbie when you can hire someone with experience?) and the experienced MTs were being offered incredibly low pay rates, when they were actually lucky enough to be offered a job. The market finally corrected itself, but it took a while. I am sure many MTs wish they had distributed their eggs a little more evenly.

Having said that, I have worked from home in the past and didn't encounter any problems personally because of outsourcing. It is a possibility, but it shouldn't keep you from the work-at-home field entirely. Just know that it's out there, and plan accordingly. Remember: Lots of baskets!

Learn more about Hava Lyon

Hello, my name is Hava or Havs (depending on my mood and yours!) I am a freelance writer who writes for several blogs, both paid ones such as this one, and personal blogs.

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jbishop012 (26) 11 Jan 2007 01:22 PM

Hey Havs! (I must admit, your name changed from strange to stranger :-)

I just wanted to make a couple of comments on your blog, more nitpicking than anything important. You know how us Bishops can be.

One, having just finished again The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, I would like to note that there are more than Canadians and Americans that speak English as a first language.

Two, it is entirely possible for someone to think in their second language. Admittedly, I only did it for a couple of months, but it can be done. It sure confuses the living heck out of you though.

Having addressed two issues that weren't even the point of the blog, I must depart. You're doing an excellent job! I'm envious. To a certain extent.

Hava Lyon (1545) 12 Jan 2007 09:11 PM

Hey, my brother is reading my blog!!! Everyone, meet my handsome younger brother Josh. Everyone, this is Josh. I'm assuming Dad sent the link to my blogs to the family? I hope you are enjoying my blogs. :-) Speaking of you being envious, I feel it's my job as the Jobs blogger to tell you that you could get hired on as a blogger and work for Families.com also. If anyone reading this is interested, just write me and I'll send you an updated list of the current blog openings at Families.com.

And thanks for stopping by, brother! Talk to you later! :-)

Havs

PS You are right about both points, but A) America and Canada are the two largest competitors for online jobs (at least from what I have seen,) and B) Even though you were thinking in Spanish, I doubt you would have felt comfortable even then writing creatively in Spanish. So you are definitely right, but at the same time, I still think creative writing is one of the most "outsource-proof" jobs out there right now. Thanks for the feedback!!!! :-)

jbishop012 (26) 14 Jan 2007 10:34 AM

Well, I think it would be interesting, but I've noticed that the more math classes I take, the less I can communicate like a normal human being. It's very unfortunate.

In regards to A) I have no idea. I've never looked into it and seeing as how you're doing a jobs blog and I don't even have a TV to watch the news, I'll trust you. B) You are totally right. Just because I thought in Spanish doesn't mean I could read Don Quixote, let alone write it. After I posted I thought I should've clarified but haven't really had access to the internet until now (visited the parents).