Well, okay, it's not really new anymore; I am almost to my 90 day review!
I am the Office Manager for J.P. Schwartz Custom Network Design. I really love this job and I am so grateful for it.
J.P. Schwartz Custom Network Design works with businesses to help them to meet their business demands by designing, installing, or helping to maintain a secure and dependable communications network. Some of the things that the company does are custom network design, network services (such as configuration of the network), security services, server and workstation services.
I had the pleasure to meet the owner of the company, John Schwartz, on my 30th birthday at my interview. I was impressed by the professionalism and knowledge that he possessed and I still am.
As the Office Manager at J.P. Schwartz, Inc. my duties vary. I am so blessed to have found a job which allows me the flexibility to telecommute, to work flexible hours as needed, and puts a real value on family as well as work. I work from my home office 4 days per week and from the office of J.P. Schwartz one day per week. One of my main tasks right now focuses on marketing, however I also help with clerical and office tasks, tasks pertaining to our website, I help to manage contacts, partnerships, and vendor relations, among other things.
I have found this job to be rewarding for me. It is great to have a job that you can feel personally invested in and care about beyond just your paycheck. My last few job opportunities have been like that, and it is so much more fulfilling.
I really enjoy my days in office as well, being in the "work environment" is a nice change of pace once a week and working with John is always a pleasure.
I have found that the knowledge I have gained in the last few online personal assistant jobs I performed have been valuable in my new position and I am grateful for having had those opportunities.
If you should stumble upon this blog, and just happen to be needing some IT help in the Denver area, I couldn't recommend anyone better. And not just because I work for the company. There is a link on this blog to the J.P. Schwartz, Inc website, or you can always call their Office Manager, (that would be me :-) at 720-259-5365.
Run Wild!
Jenn
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Don't get Scammed with On-Line Jobs
Hello friends,
I began the summer working for a "company" known as Greasewheel. I had posted my resume on Cragislist as my work with joossearch had significantly slowed. I was contacted by a man named Steve Fisher from Greasewheel. It sounded like an interesting venture; an online small business advertising community. The pay seemed a little sketchy and some details were missing, but since it was basically a start up company, I decided to give them benefit of the doubt and chalk it up to new/poor management.
I paid the $75.00 training fee for live web training and attended the trainings. (NEVER pay for a job, they are supposed to pay you!) The trainings were actually valuable in many ways. Steve conducted the trainings himself via conference call and web slides. While the training schedule kept changing, it did seem legit since this guy was putting in so much of his own time into training us (there was a small group of us in my training class).
There was a CRM program I was working from, my own e-mail address, and things were seeming fine. The pay was very low for the amount of work I was putting in, but I was assured this was temporary, as the accounts came in, I would make more money.
The job description changed almost daily, the expectations were always unclear, and the communication was foggy at best. But I hung in there and did my best. I was "promoted" 2 times in the short month and a half I was with them. I figured this was a good thing to be promoted early on in the company and gladly took on the extra responsibility and work.
I received pay for my first month, and while it averaged about $2.00 / hour for the work I had put in, I was still looking at it glass half full and with an eager spirit. I couldn't wait for Greasewheel to take off!
Since being promoted the second time I was now helping to recruit, interview and train new people. However things got worse as time went on. Everything was very vague, and management had become rather testy. I was now working 10-12 hours some days, and while my accounts had increased, meaning my pay had increased, with those hours it still averaged just over $2.00 / hour, but now I was not even seeing my family. I decided to give my letter of resignation. I received correspondence from Steve stating that he respected my decision and I would be paid for the time I had put in.
Shortly thereafter I began to receive e-mails and calls from people I had formerly trained or helped to hire to Greasewheel stating the website was down, and no one could reach Steve Fisher or any other upper management. The company was just gone; no website, phones disconnected, e-mails bouncing back. One Greasewheel employee contacted most of us and asked us to join her in filing a complaint with the appropriate attorney general, which I gladly did. A few weeks later we all received a letter in the mail with no return address saying the company was no longer and we would be paid no later than August 31. At this time I have no hope of seeing the money owed to me for the numerous hours I gave to Greasewheel, it seems from the research done by the employee mentioned above, that indeed Steve Fisher and his friend had run a scam and we were all taken advantage of.
In addition to the loss of my time, the money I will surly never see I am now be harassed by one "ex - employee" who has continually e-mailed me, requested phone conversations with me, and even tried to connect me to the Greasewheel scam. His harassment was to the point I had to block his e-mails entirely.
I can only caution you to be aware that people are out there who will scam others and steal from them their time and money. Be very careful who you accept work from. This "company" had me unknowingly misleading others, believing I was doing my job and helping to grow the company. It makes me sick that I was scammed in such a way, but I along with all the other Greasewheel "employees" have learned a lesson the hard way. Please learn from our misfortune and lack of judgement.
Some things I will personally be cautious of in the future are:
1. Any job that asks you to pay for training. If they are hiring you, it is an investment they are making into their company for a valued employee who will in turn help their business to succeed, you should not be asked to pay to get a job.
2. Any job that pays via PayPal. I am not saying there aren't legitimate jobs out there that may pay in this fashion, but I would be cautious.
3. Any job that will not answer ALL your questions about the job, the company, or the expectations. Greasewheel was very vague, and I had a knot in my stomach when they had me interviewing people and said that if the interviewee asked questions, cut them loose, they weren't a fit for Greasewheel. That made no sense to me, of course people have questions about the job they are applying for, or at least they should.
4. Which brings me to my next point, follow your gut feeling! I am a generally optimistic person, giving others the benefit of the doubt. However, my gut all along told me something just wasn't right, I had that knot in my tummy, but I ignored that feeling and made excuses believing this was going to pay off.
5. Be cautious of any job that changes your job description too frequently or seems overly disorganized. They may be covering or hiding something.
I hope that this is helpful to someone out there and can prevent you from becoming a victim or a scam such as this.
Thankfully, I can report I now have a real job, with a real company, doing exactly (well almost :-) ) what I was wanting to do. And regardless of the evil ploy of Steve Fisher and his cohorts, I did learn some skills while with their fake company that will benefit me in my new job and future Internet endeavors. So I guess at the end of the day not all is lost and my glass is still half full.
RunWild!
I began the summer working for a "company" known as Greasewheel. I had posted my resume on Cragislist as my work with joossearch had significantly slowed. I was contacted by a man named Steve Fisher from Greasewheel. It sounded like an interesting venture; an online small business advertising community. The pay seemed a little sketchy and some details were missing, but since it was basically a start up company, I decided to give them benefit of the doubt and chalk it up to new/poor management.
I paid the $75.00 training fee for live web training and attended the trainings. (NEVER pay for a job, they are supposed to pay you!) The trainings were actually valuable in many ways. Steve conducted the trainings himself via conference call and web slides. While the training schedule kept changing, it did seem legit since this guy was putting in so much of his own time into training us (there was a small group of us in my training class).
There was a CRM program I was working from, my own e-mail address, and things were seeming fine. The pay was very low for the amount of work I was putting in, but I was assured this was temporary, as the accounts came in, I would make more money.
The job description changed almost daily, the expectations were always unclear, and the communication was foggy at best. But I hung in there and did my best. I was "promoted" 2 times in the short month and a half I was with them. I figured this was a good thing to be promoted early on in the company and gladly took on the extra responsibility and work.
I received pay for my first month, and while it averaged about $2.00 / hour for the work I had put in, I was still looking at it glass half full and with an eager spirit. I couldn't wait for Greasewheel to take off!
Since being promoted the second time I was now helping to recruit, interview and train new people. However things got worse as time went on. Everything was very vague, and management had become rather testy. I was now working 10-12 hours some days, and while my accounts had increased, meaning my pay had increased, with those hours it still averaged just over $2.00 / hour, but now I was not even seeing my family. I decided to give my letter of resignation. I received correspondence from Steve stating that he respected my decision and I would be paid for the time I had put in.
Shortly thereafter I began to receive e-mails and calls from people I had formerly trained or helped to hire to Greasewheel stating the website was down, and no one could reach Steve Fisher or any other upper management. The company was just gone; no website, phones disconnected, e-mails bouncing back. One Greasewheel employee contacted most of us and asked us to join her in filing a complaint with the appropriate attorney general, which I gladly did. A few weeks later we all received a letter in the mail with no return address saying the company was no longer and we would be paid no later than August 31. At this time I have no hope of seeing the money owed to me for the numerous hours I gave to Greasewheel, it seems from the research done by the employee mentioned above, that indeed Steve Fisher and his friend had run a scam and we were all taken advantage of.
In addition to the loss of my time, the money I will surly never see I am now be harassed by one "ex - employee" who has continually e-mailed me, requested phone conversations with me, and even tried to connect me to the Greasewheel scam. His harassment was to the point I had to block his e-mails entirely.
I can only caution you to be aware that people are out there who will scam others and steal from them their time and money. Be very careful who you accept work from. This "company" had me unknowingly misleading others, believing I was doing my job and helping to grow the company. It makes me sick that I was scammed in such a way, but I along with all the other Greasewheel "employees" have learned a lesson the hard way. Please learn from our misfortune and lack of judgement.
Some things I will personally be cautious of in the future are:
1. Any job that asks you to pay for training. If they are hiring you, it is an investment they are making into their company for a valued employee who will in turn help their business to succeed, you should not be asked to pay to get a job.
2. Any job that pays via PayPal. I am not saying there aren't legitimate jobs out there that may pay in this fashion, but I would be cautious.
3. Any job that will not answer ALL your questions about the job, the company, or the expectations. Greasewheel was very vague, and I had a knot in my stomach when they had me interviewing people and said that if the interviewee asked questions, cut them loose, they weren't a fit for Greasewheel. That made no sense to me, of course people have questions about the job they are applying for, or at least they should.
4. Which brings me to my next point, follow your gut feeling! I am a generally optimistic person, giving others the benefit of the doubt. However, my gut all along told me something just wasn't right, I had that knot in my tummy, but I ignored that feeling and made excuses believing this was going to pay off.
5. Be cautious of any job that changes your job description too frequently or seems overly disorganized. They may be covering or hiding something.
I hope that this is helpful to someone out there and can prevent you from becoming a victim or a scam such as this.
Thankfully, I can report I now have a real job, with a real company, doing exactly (well almost :-) ) what I was wanting to do. And regardless of the evil ploy of Steve Fisher and his cohorts, I did learn some skills while with their fake company that will benefit me in my new job and future Internet endeavors. So I guess at the end of the day not all is lost and my glass is still half full.
RunWild!
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
Jenn's Resume
Jennifer Greene
runwithme2@gmail.com
Profile
Educated, hard working, disciplined, self-motivated, individual seeking to work from home office. Excellent office and administrative skills, great typing and computer skills, fun yet professional personality. Part time work is ideal.
Employment Experience
June 2007 -
Present
J.P. Schwartz, Inc. – Office Manager
Administrative Tasks: Tasks include scheduling, generating client proposals, filing, vendor and partner relations, development of company forms, use and utilization of Salesforce.com, assist in training of new employees, monitor and post to online advertising sources for various purposes, and run errands to the bank and post office. I also contribute to content, editing, and posting on company website. I also have planned company functions/parties.
HR Tasks: When hiring a new employee, I write the job add and post it, I receive all the resumes and sort through them for possible hires, I wrote the interview questions that we use for both phone and in-person interviews, and provided input on the prospective hires. I maintain personnel files for the company, setup and request for background screening checks, and wrote the company handbook.
Accounting Tasks: Use Quickbooks to generate invoices and mail them to customers. Help track and document financial information.
Sales and Marketing: I generate leads through networking events and word of mouth, as well as I was in charge of a direct mail marketing campaign for the company.
January 2007 -
May 2007
Joossearch (Independent non-profit Organization) – Online Personal Assistant
Online Personal Assistant: Administrative tasks to include filing and sorting of e-mails, upkeep of website, scheduling, and making travel arrangements. Utilize online programs such as Google.
Research Assistant: Research and write on topics relevant to current projects on Joossearch site.
April 2006-
September 2006
The Rock – Preschool Director
Preschool Director: Create and manage scheduling of all volunteers, implement curriculum, train all new volunteers and staff in department, record filing, computer tasks, director of preschool VBS, created MOPPETS curriculum for 2006-2007 year, work within budget guidelines to purchase equipment for new building, involved in planning of new programs and procedures for department.
May 1999-
April 2004
Little Jenny’s Little People In-Home Child Care - Owner
Administrative Tasks: Record keeping of income and expenses. Developed professional legal parent/caregiver contract, kept food program records daily recorded, compile all tax records, assemble profiles on individual families and keep up-to-date, interview potential families, interview and hire back up child care providers, maintain state licennse.
Child Care Provider: Taught preschool program 3-5 days per week, cleaning, cooking, general care of children ages 0-6 years of age.
1998-1999
Toyota Motor Credit – Customer Service Representative
CSR: Answer customer calls from Toyota and Lexus customers regarding customer loans and financial situations. Meet call guidelines and quotas set forth by management.
1995-1999
MCI – Customer Service Representative
CSR: Answer MCI customer calls regarding phone service and billing issues, sales of phone services and products, troubleshooting customer telecommunication problems, typing, helping to train incoming CSR’s.
Education
May 2000 Kirkwood Community College
Associate of Arts Degree with emphasis in Paralegal Studies
Honors: Deans List
Other Positions, Interests & Past Activities
MOPS Publicity – Steering Committee
MOPS at The Rock in Castle Rock: Newsletters and advertising for MOPS.
Included writing original stories, interviewing, information gathering, creating
news letters using computer software, contacting advertising agencies and
placing ads, staying within budget guidelines.
Brighton Bears 8-Year Old Competitive Baseball – Team Mom
Team Mom: Budgeting for team events, organization of team events, communicating with
parents through phone and internet, picture taking and sharing digitally via internet,
tracking and filing of sponsorships and fundraisers, organizing fundraisers.
Warehouse Shoes – Department Manager
Running
Races Include: Turkey Trot Denver – 2003, 2004, 2006. Turkey Trot Castle Rock – 2005. Valentines Day 5K -2004. Rockies Home Run Race – 2004. BIX 7 – 2004. Race for the Cure – 2004.
Relay for Life
Team Member: 2007
Scrapbooking
Music
Computers
Reading
Hiking, Camping, Outdoor Activities
runwithme2@gmail.com
Profile
Educated, hard working, disciplined, self-motivated, individual seeking to work from home office. Excellent office and administrative skills, great typing and computer skills, fun yet professional personality. Part time work is ideal.
Employment Experience
June 2007 -
Present
J.P. Schwartz, Inc. – Office Manager
Administrative Tasks: Tasks include scheduling, generating client proposals, filing, vendor and partner relations, development of company forms, use and utilization of Salesforce.com, assist in training of new employees, monitor and post to online advertising sources for various purposes, and run errands to the bank and post office. I also contribute to content, editing, and posting on company website. I also have planned company functions/parties.
HR Tasks: When hiring a new employee, I write the job add and post it, I receive all the resumes and sort through them for possible hires, I wrote the interview questions that we use for both phone and in-person interviews, and provided input on the prospective hires. I maintain personnel files for the company, setup and request for background screening checks, and wrote the company handbook.
Accounting Tasks: Use Quickbooks to generate invoices and mail them to customers. Help track and document financial information.
Sales and Marketing: I generate leads through networking events and word of mouth, as well as I was in charge of a direct mail marketing campaign for the company.
January 2007 -
May 2007
Joossearch (Independent non-profit Organization) – Online Personal Assistant
Online Personal Assistant: Administrative tasks to include filing and sorting of e-mails, upkeep of website, scheduling, and making travel arrangements. Utilize online programs such as Google.
Research Assistant: Research and write on topics relevant to current projects on Joossearch site.
April 2006-
September 2006
The Rock – Preschool Director
Preschool Director: Create and manage scheduling of all volunteers, implement curriculum, train all new volunteers and staff in department, record filing, computer tasks, director of preschool VBS, created MOPPETS curriculum for 2006-2007 year, work within budget guidelines to purchase equipment for new building, involved in planning of new programs and procedures for department.
May 1999-
April 2004
Little Jenny’s Little People In-Home Child Care - Owner
Administrative Tasks: Record keeping of income and expenses. Developed professional legal parent/caregiver contract, kept food program records daily recorded, compile all tax records, assemble profiles on individual families and keep up-to-date, interview potential families, interview and hire back up child care providers, maintain state licennse.
Child Care Provider: Taught preschool program 3-5 days per week, cleaning, cooking, general care of children ages 0-6 years of age.
1998-1999
Toyota Motor Credit – Customer Service Representative
CSR: Answer customer calls from Toyota and Lexus customers regarding customer loans and financial situations. Meet call guidelines and quotas set forth by management.
1995-1999
MCI – Customer Service Representative
CSR: Answer MCI customer calls regarding phone service and billing issues, sales of phone services and products, troubleshooting customer telecommunication problems, typing, helping to train incoming CSR’s.
Education
May 2000 Kirkwood Community College
Associate of Arts Degree with emphasis in Paralegal Studies
Honors: Deans List
Other Positions, Interests & Past Activities
MOPS Publicity – Steering Committee
MOPS at The Rock in Castle Rock: Newsletters and advertising for MOPS.
Included writing original stories, interviewing, information gathering, creating
news letters using computer software, contacting advertising agencies and
placing ads, staying within budget guidelines.
Brighton Bears 8-Year Old Competitive Baseball – Team Mom
Team Mom: Budgeting for team events, organization of team events, communicating with
parents through phone and internet, picture taking and sharing digitally via internet,
tracking and filing of sponsorships and fundraisers, organizing fundraisers.
Warehouse Shoes – Department Manager
Running
Races Include: Turkey Trot Denver – 2003, 2004, 2006. Turkey Trot Castle Rock – 2005. Valentines Day 5K -2004. Rockies Home Run Race – 2004. BIX 7 – 2004. Race for the Cure – 2004.
Relay for Life
Team Member: 2007
Scrapbooking
Music
Computers
Reading
Hiking, Camping, Outdoor Activities
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
What is an Online Personal Assistant?
My title is Online Personal Assistant or you may also refer to me as a Virtual Assistant. Many people may not understand what that is, or why they would want one.
An Online Personal Assistant would be one who is providing professional, administrative, managerial, technical, business office or personal support services from ones own home office. Working from home using technology such as the Internet, IM, videoconferencing, etc.. I can provide service to clients regardless of their geographic location.
An Online Personal Assistant such as myself would work on a contractual basis, and agree to provide services with integrity, honesty, diligence, and in a timely manner.
Why would you want to hire an Online Personal Assistant? Having an Online Personal Assistant means you have someone you can delegate your time-consuming, mundane, and non income generating tasks or duties to; in doing so you can alleviate stress from your job and free up time for more important business or personal ventures you may have. In addition you eliminate the cost of having an on site employee that does these tasks by not having to provide employee benefits, office space, or equipment. An Online Personal Assistant could be especially helpful to you if you find yourself overwhelmed with task oriented work, you could use fresh insight on projects, you need an extra pair of administrative hands, etc...
Online Personal Assistants must be self driven to work and be focused on the tasks given him/her. For this reason, most often, your Online Personal Assistant will require a basic overview of your project/task, some minimal instruction as to how you would like to see the project/task done, and a time frame in which you would like the project/task finished and he/she will take it and run with it. Having an Online Personal Assistant will free your mind and your schedule for more important things!
That is my job, to assist you from my home, with your work. I utilize online technologies such as the Internet and all its tools to best assist you and perform your tasks and to get them back to you. Anything that can be handled in a digitized format is work that I can do or help you with. Internet-based technology is what makes this all possible, we live in a virtual world, take advantage of it! My name is Jenn, I am your NetRunner, how can I assist you?
An Online Personal Assistant would be one who is providing professional, administrative, managerial, technical, business office or personal support services from ones own home office. Working from home using technology such as the Internet, IM, videoconferencing, etc.. I can provide service to clients regardless of their geographic location.
An Online Personal Assistant such as myself would work on a contractual basis, and agree to provide services with integrity, honesty, diligence, and in a timely manner.
Why would you want to hire an Online Personal Assistant? Having an Online Personal Assistant means you have someone you can delegate your time-consuming, mundane, and non income generating tasks or duties to; in doing so you can alleviate stress from your job and free up time for more important business or personal ventures you may have. In addition you eliminate the cost of having an on site employee that does these tasks by not having to provide employee benefits, office space, or equipment. An Online Personal Assistant could be especially helpful to you if you find yourself overwhelmed with task oriented work, you could use fresh insight on projects, you need an extra pair of administrative hands, etc...
Online Personal Assistants must be self driven to work and be focused on the tasks given him/her. For this reason, most often, your Online Personal Assistant will require a basic overview of your project/task, some minimal instruction as to how you would like to see the project/task done, and a time frame in which you would like the project/task finished and he/she will take it and run with it. Having an Online Personal Assistant will free your mind and your schedule for more important things!
That is my job, to assist you from my home, with your work. I utilize online technologies such as the Internet and all its tools to best assist you and perform your tasks and to get them back to you. Anything that can be handled in a digitized format is work that I can do or help you with. Internet-based technology is what makes this all possible, we live in a virtual world, take advantage of it! My name is Jenn, I am your NetRunner, how can I assist you?
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Online Personal Assistant
Hello. I am Jenn.
For years now I have been a mom. A stay-at-home mom and also a day care mom. Until recently when I was given the opportunity to assist a friend of mine on a project of his, that I hope you check out, called joossearch.
The title for my job would be best described as an online personal assistant. Due to technological advances, I can assist my friend/employer from across the country. We can collaborate on projects and we can communicate in various ways to get the job done. Of course I can't fetch his coffee, but I can do almost anything else. From the tasks one just does not have time to get done, to the mundane that one just does not want to do, I can be assigned to do them, and with a little instruction, I get to it and get it done.
My other "title" in my current position with joossearch would be 'Internet librarian'. An Internet librarian would be someone who embraces and utilizes Internet technology. Helping to develop, evaluate, and manage Internet content in various forms. An Internet librarian helps to build communities online, provide information, guide, and train Internet users. This is what you will find me doing at joossearch.blogspot.com .
My new career path is self educating, self motivated, and builds my self esteem. It allows me to work from the comfort of my home office with my children surrounding me while participating in the professional world.
If you are interested in becoming an 'Internet librarian', if you need Internet information or help, if you want to know more about current technology and how it is being utilized, visit us at http://www.joossearch.blogspot.com .
If you are a professional who needs assistance and could benefit from an online personal assistant, whether helping to manage your web site, or helping to make your travel plans, I may be able to help you. E-mail me at runwithme2@gmail.com .
I hope you enjoy Jenn's Place, I will keep you posted on new and exciting developments in my career as well as some personal achievements as well.
Run Wild!
For years now I have been a mom. A stay-at-home mom and also a day care mom. Until recently when I was given the opportunity to assist a friend of mine on a project of his, that I hope you check out, called joossearch.
The title for my job would be best described as an online personal assistant. Due to technological advances, I can assist my friend/employer from across the country. We can collaborate on projects and we can communicate in various ways to get the job done. Of course I can't fetch his coffee, but I can do almost anything else. From the tasks one just does not have time to get done, to the mundane that one just does not want to do, I can be assigned to do them, and with a little instruction, I get to it and get it done.
My other "title" in my current position with joossearch would be 'Internet librarian'. An Internet librarian would be someone who embraces and utilizes Internet technology. Helping to develop, evaluate, and manage Internet content in various forms. An Internet librarian helps to build communities online, provide information, guide, and train Internet users. This is what you will find me doing at joossearch.blogspot.com .
My new career path is self educating, self motivated, and builds my self esteem. It allows me to work from the comfort of my home office with my children surrounding me while participating in the professional world.
If you are interested in becoming an 'Internet librarian', if you need Internet information or help, if you want to know more about current technology and how it is being utilized, visit us at http://www.joossearch.blogspot.com .
If you are a professional who needs assistance and could benefit from an online personal assistant, whether helping to manage your web site, or helping to make your travel plans, I may be able to help you. E-mail me at runwithme2@gmail.com .
I hope you enjoy Jenn's Place, I will keep you posted on new and exciting developments in my career as well as some personal achievements as well.
Run Wild!
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