RWAP Services review find the best programs on the internet to make you money.

Working Freelance From Home

Other RWAP Websites
RWAP Software
(supporting the Sinclair QL, Cambridge Z88 and ZX Spectrum)

Internet Business Angels
(Providing advice to small business)

If you prefer to work freelance for other people, you need to get your voice heard. Although you can join schemes such as Site-Reporter (which pays you to review other internet sites) and add details to your own web-site; it is often difficult to attract the right kind of work. You therefore need to find other ways of advertising your services.

Selling Yourself

Before looking for work for yourself, it is imperative that you create a professional looking curriculum vitae (CV) which you may wish to advertise on the internet or send out to prospective clients. Designing a CV requires a lot of thought and work, to ensure that your details stand out in what could be a pile of over 50 applicants (indeed we know of one instance whereby a company received so many applications for a job, that they had to throw out half of the CVs with only a casual glance at them). There are plenty of sites on the internet which allow you to publish you CV on the internet and provide advice on how to improve it. One program which we have found to be useful is HotResumes who provide a free critique of your résumé (CV) and free submission of it to You might also like to consider joining Monster - one of the largest résumé promotion and job search websites available.

Because your CV is so critical to making the right initial impression, you may like to consider using our Proof-Reading Service to check your CV for typing errors and provide useful comments on its content - typically we only charge £10 to check a CV.

Finding Work

Another avenue open to the homeworker, is to join a site such as the Independent Homeworkers Alliance, which provide training packs for you to learn how to set up and operate different types of business from home, as well as providing companies with an opportunity of advertising for people who want to work from home. This is no longer limited to the age old home-working ideas of stuffing envelopes, or manufacturing items (which invariably are rejected), but include website editing, programming and writing opportunities. There are also specialist medical and legal transcription jobs, some of which can offer high rates of income. You can browse through the adverts for homeworking (or remote tele-working) before you join the site.

A similar scheme is offered by the Freelance Work Exchange which offers a 7 day trial membership for only $2.95. They also offer more free guidance to working from home (or freelance work) and provide a similar newsletter listing the latest job offers. The Freelance Work Exchange also appear to attract a higher proportion of UK jobs. We have found this site and the information which they provide to be very useful and would recommend it. The only problem with the site is that it is not very clear how to cancel your subscription - details appear in the FAQ section and you will need to go to the iBill site who handle the subscriptions for them..

Anyone undertaking homework, must however, not just rely on the advertisements which appear on these sites - you need to closely check the terms of any contract before signing, in order to ensure that you can make money through these schemes. Any Company which offers a valid homeworking scheme will not expect you to pay a membership fee (or other type of fee) or to provide your own materials.

How To Avoid Going Back to the Office

If you are looking to work from home, but not on a self-employed basis, you might like to consider software such as GoToMyPC which we have reviewed here, which enables you to link directly to another computer (such as an office based one) directly and securely over the internet, and access all of its files from the remote computer. This may of course also be useful to you if you intend undertaking site work, or may need to attend meetings away from home - in which case, you can easily obtain a file or information stored on your computer back at home, using any convenient computer on site.

There are numerous work from home schemes which offer to make you lots of money for a few hours work per week although it is all too easy to be swayed by the promises of making large amounts of money without spending enough time considering the actual merits of the programmes, many of which rely on you advertising and spamming discussion forums in order to entice other people to join the scheme. These are generally pyramid selling schemes where there is no actual product (apart from the scheme itself) and should therefore be avoided as you will growingly find it difficult to find new members (or keep existing friends). It is always therefore well worth carrying out background research into all of these schemes before you spend any money on them..

One work from home scheme which has hit the buffers and no longer exists is DollarBoom - this was a system whereby you paid money to people higher than you in the hierarchy and then you would create your own downline of people you introduced (or randomly introduced to you by the system) and they would pay you. Sounds very similar to the PayPal scam which has been going around for many years and just about as likely to succeed.

For those of you who have not come across the PayPal scam, if you look at any message boards or discussion groups often enough, you are bound to see someone promising to make you mega rich, often "as shown on Oprah" - send $5 or $6 to three people on the top of the list, remove the top name and then add your name to the bottom. Simply send this email to 6 friends and get them to do the same, and then maybe one day, your name will appear in the top three places and some fool will send some money to your PayPal account. If you can find another 1000 fools then once your name is at the top of the list, you could receive $5,000 - but just how likely is that before you cheese everyone off by spamming emails.

There are plenty of similar get rich quick schemes - alas none of them work - you have to be willing to do something in return and offer a product which people can see. There was an interesting program on TV not too long ago, with a man who made thousands through various MLM network marketing schemes - he used to refuse to answer the phone and just leave an answer phone running, as it made people think he was so busy that the scheme must be good. Alas, there was never a product to actually sell, other than the scheme itself and so people just found it impossible to find enough people to sell the scheme to in order to receive any money. Before you ask, yes, he ended up in prison for his hard work.

The Dreaded Taxman

Many people do not think of earnings from completing surveys and the other ideas recommended on our site, as self-employment, but basically any monies received from a regular activity will be caught as self-employment and therefore subject to income tax - many traders on eBay for example, have been caught out by this, as they start selling off unwanted items, but it becomes a regular trading activity, buying and selling second hand goods.

If you are to earn money from any self-employment, you need to carefully consider the tax consequences. It is essential that you retain all a note of all of your income and expenditure relating to any self-employment and keep your receipts. This can, in some circumstances, act to your benefit as you are able to claim part of the cost of computer equipment, utility bills, insurance and transport in so far as it relates to your business activities, which could mean that the cost of a family PC suddenly becomes less of an obstacle.

You do not have to tackle the yearly tax form yourself, and we would recommend that most people look to use an Accountant - at least for the first few years, so that you can see what you can and can't claim for and how it is all done. It is also essential to consider this step, particularly as there is an automatic £100 fine for not getting your tax return in on time (whether you owe the Inland Revenue money, or are due a rebate) and also time limits after which you have to calculate the amount of income tax due yourself. This can be particularly useful as you can may be able to offset earnings against previously unused income tax allowances, as well as check that you have paid the correct amount of income tax over the past 6 years. With ever complex taxation rules, such as the Working Families Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit (in the UK), it is imperative that you consider using the services of a professional until you are confident in handling your own tax affairs.

It is however, not all bad news, since if you are working using a PC, you can claim for at least part of the cost of that and the software, as well as a share of utility bills, rent and council tax for your home (based upon the amount of rooms in your property and how many hours you spend doing self-employment), which all means that this can easily work in your favour. You also need to consider whether it is worth your while to offset a share of the costs of your housing if you own your own home, as this may unduly affect your Capital Gains Tax position (as a result it is not normally worthwhile unless you are in rented accommodation).

You will however, need to consider purchasing an accounts package and also watch out for any deadlines for filing returns so that you do not end up paying fines and interest..