Recently a site called acobay asked if I’d take a look at their service. They take the work out of testing bugs on your site, spotting spelling errors, and usability testing. There’s two options when you land on the homepage, and I think most readers would probably fit both categories; client, and tester.

As a client, there’s a few obvious benefits:

• start test projects at any time;
• get immediate results;
• pay only for valid bugs.

As a tester, the big bonus is that you can work at home (what we’re all about) and get paid to browse sites, and put them through the ringer. If you’d like to register as either a client or tester, you can do so here.

Once in a while someone will email the contact form here letting me know of a spelling mistake or broken link, and for that I am grateful,  but I’m always left with a feeling that there must be more out there. Turning loose some human testers on your site is a cost effective way to scrub for bugs, spelling errors, and usability issues.

The phenomenon of “crowd-sourcing” has been steadily gaining traction over the past few years. I’ve used Amazon’s Mechanical Turk and found it to have a host of benefits. Whether it’s matching a clothing item to a particular category, or voting on how appealing a color scheme is, it’s comforting to know there’s some tasks out there that humans are still better than computers at.

The next time I’m doing web testing I’ll use acobay. Looks like they’ve already been doing some discovery work on microsoft.com. Knowing Microsoft products I don’t see an end to their bug hunting any time soon!

and some things you can’t.
Just wanted to share this quote which I think is particularly relevant in our current economic state:

“Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling some five balls in the air. You name them – Work, Family, Health, Friends and Spirit and you’re keeping all of these in the air.

You will soon understand that Work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back.

But the other four Balls – Family, Health, Friends and Spirit – are made of glass. If you drop one of these; they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged or even shattered. They will never be the same. You must understand that, and strive for it.” – Brian Dyson, former CEO Coca-Cola

If you’re working on an online business, talking to a start-up founder who has tried, and failed, is an education goldmine. Experience is the greatest teacher, and it’s not often you get that kind of business lesson for free, but today is your lucky day.

I give you Jamie Quint (his blog here), who founded the now defunct college recruiting site SnapTalent.com. Read the letter posted on SnapTalent, then head over to his blog to read his first few lessons in what NOT to do when starting an online company.

Given you have a lot of reading to do, I won’t ramble on. Enjoy!

We’re always looking at ways to improve our site and services, so today we’re launching a weekly job alerting service. We already offer the largest work at home job database on the web (including free postings for employers) and the weekly email digest of jobs matching your skill set is a great addition to our existing services.

It’s easy to get started. Just visit whydowork.com/jobs and click on the alert service. You’ll see this window:

Enter your email address, the job you’re after (e.g. data entry clerk), and answer an extremely complex math question and you’re in! Once you join, you can cancel an alert at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link the footer of the weekly digest you’ll receive.

Hope you enjoy it and let me know if you have any feedback.

Move over Queen Elizabeth! In celebration of the upcoming winter Olympics in Vancouver,  the Royal Canadian Mint is sponsoring a contest to find “The Face of the Games” in search of the ultimate Olympics fan. Two lucky mugs will end up with their face on a coin on 100 medallions each.  Produced by the Royal Canadian Mint, these coins will feature the winner’s faces on one side, and the VANOC/Mint logo on the other side. Each one of the two grand prizes also includes a trip for 2 to Ottawa around or on Canada Day (July 1st for you non-Canadians) to pick up the prize directly from the Mint. Four runners up will win prizes courtesy of the Mint valued at $500 each.

If you’re Canadian and an Olympics fan (which I am), there are two easy ways to enter:

1. Submit a short video (up to 30 seconds) or;
2. Submit a photo or short essay (up to 250 words)

Whichever you choose, it should make it clear why you are the ULTIMATE Vancouver 2010 Olympics fan!

Winners will be judged based on the number of votes they collect, so make sure if you enter you share it with your friends (hint: Twitter/Facebook/email work well).

Logging into the site and adding your ultimate fan content is easy. Just visit Face of the Games and upload your entry now!
The contest opens today at noon E.S.T. and  runs until 11:59am on March 21st.

Thanks to the Canadian Mint for sponsoring this post and letting me know about the contest. I’m working on my entry now!

• Specific Occupations
• State and Local
• Military and Government
• Older Workers and Seniors
• Diverse Workers
• Ex-Offenders
• Students

Instead of ignoring the entire industry it would have been nice to have a section on the Department of Labor’s website dedicated to it.  Where is the advice and direction for people considering the option of making money online or working from home?  Let’s face it, the work at home industry is full of opportunity as well as scamming predators.  This was a great opportunity to steer people in the right direction. With all the money the FBI spends on fighting ‘get rich quick’ schemes, this was an opportunity to highlight to job seekers the relevant sites that are actually working to improve the image of the home based workforce.

Let me just say to the United States Department of Labor, you dropped the ball on this one.

The ShoeMoney system is a program that:

…walks you through step by step on how to make money on the internet. But it’s much different than anything anyone has ever seen. Instead of talking about theories on how to make money we actually do it, step by step. I hired a co-host who not only was not an internet marketing expert….but had no clue what Facebook or twitter was. She is an aspiring pop singer and model and I completely show her (and you) step by step how everything works.

Programs like this can be a great thing if you’re just starting out, and learn best through video or traditional learning. Personally, I’ve always found I can learn whatever  I want for free by using an age old system I like to call “asking for help.”

There are a ton of forums stocked with helpful people who can answer any question you might have; traffic strategies, web design, affiliate marketing, blogging, working at home, the list goes on and on.  whydowork.com/forums is a good place to start.

What bugs me about this program is the cost. After visiting shoemoneysystem.ca you’re presented with the screen below. Note that although the system is sold out, you can still enter with the “secret code” pictured below, or any other text you like:

Click “Let me in” and you get a look at your first bill. In Canada, it’s $215.38CAD, and $215.38 every month after that. Stay in the program 12 months and you’re out almost $2,600. There is a 90 day money back guarantee, but all great affiliate marketers know that only a small % of the group will actually take advantage of it.

Here are some reviews from John Chow’s blog:

I really hope it picks up the pace soon. I am more at an intermediate level and learning to make a Google account doesn’t really help me out. – Justin @ Informant Zone!

Yeah I somehow felt that Shoe was going to sell more than 500. Its a little misleading when you’re telling people that there are only 500 and they you release another 1000+ more. If it’s not that exclusive, it should be a lot cheaper. – Chester

Been inside and for $197/mth how to set up a google account and click bank account is abit of an insult… there are not over 100 videos at all. Try 2 videos, the same 2 that were available while promoting the upcoming launch. Now there is maybe 5-6 videos. No coupons yet for facebook, PPC etc.. All the old webmaster FM podcasts you want though if you wanna dig into those 4 year old gems. Shoe should have just kept doing what he does best, blog and run his company….This is far from what most of you would expect going in. A 9 minute video on clickbank sign up? come on.. He says he has been making videos for a full year??
Let’s see them…. not one you made last night. I sent 2 messages to support voicing some concern on “light content”
Response? Nothing. – thecompletist

The above are far from glowing. Keep in mind I wouldn’t give anyone $197 US a month to watch videos on how to make money online, so this post is all opinion. The program does promise almost $2,500 in free advertising credits, but I haven’t found anything outlining what that is, and this review points out that it was only for the first 500 sign-ups, so if you join now you’re probably not going to get it.

My Verdict:

Save your money and join the widly successful (and extremely free) :

Ask for Help System.

You’ll get interactive responses and guidance on your specific questions, and you won’t be out $200/month

Career wise, your resume is one of the most important documents you’ll ever produce. Are you giving yours the regular attention it needs? Whether you’re a seasoned professional or just starting out, a great resume can often mean the difference between the dreaded ‘keep’ and ‘toss’ piles on a recruiters desk.

Knowing how to structure your resume, what to include, and how to make yourself stand out from the crowd are all essential skills for any job seeker. Personally, I like to use the following format:

1. Header: Who are you and how can the recruiter get a hold of you.
2. Objective: What are you trying to accomplish in the near term (in one sentence).
3. Experience: Start with the most recent first, and customize your highlights for each role.
4. Education: List any awards, scholarships, and any courses you’ve taken (in addition to any degrees).
5. Interests / Accomplishments: Shed a little bit of yourself outside work (clubs, associations, hobbies, ran a marathon, won business challenge etc.)

I’ve been lucky enough to lead hiring for several roles so i’ve seen my fair share of resume formats, and the above is one that I always find the easiest to follow. Customizing your resume for every job is a must, but it can be hard to keep track of all those versions. Luckily some online tools have cropped up over the past few years that help you build, track, and share your resume.

Two tools I think are great are Emurse.com and JobSpice.com.

Emurse.com is great if you are looking for any easy to use solution for creating, advertising, and tracking traffic to your resume. Resumes posted on Emurse get great SEO rankings, an especially good thing as most people will Google your name anyways. You can choose your own custom domain name, and there are a variety of download options for your resume (check out a sample here).

JobSpice.com does much the same thing, but I like this one as well because it is so visually easy to use. You can start organizing the content in your resume right on their homepage, and then assign a wide variety of skins later to suit the content. You can also define multiple blocks and show and hide them as needed (great when you need to customize each resume).

A third and also excellent option is Google Docs. I like Google Docs because I can work locally, and sync my changes later when I’m connected to the web. They also have a great set of resume templates to start out with.

If your resume only exists on your local computer, it’s time to get it in ‘the cloud’. Any one of the above services are a great medium for doing that.

The hype in the online community has been building for the last year about Apples latest creation, a super-secret tablet device they were working on. Today they revealed this new product, the “iPad”.

In my opinion this isn’t exactly the same kind of home run Apple has hit with their last few launches. The product development plan probably went something like this: “Guys the iPod touch and iPhones are a huge hit. Stay with me here, what if, just what if we took the iPod touch, and made everything 3x larger.”

The Macbook Air pictured below was met with the same kind of fanfare when it was released, but how many people do you know that actually went out and bought one?

Do you think the iPad is going to go the same route as the Macbook Air?

For me there’s a few things a tablet computer can’t ever live up to:

• A physical keyboard
• A lid that keeps the device protected when closed/traveling
• A hinged display that is freestanding and can be adjusted

Now you could make the argument that it is not meant to replace a laptop or netbook, but it wouldn’t replace an ebook reader for me either. An e-Ink display without a back-light like on the Amazon kindle makes reading on an electronic device bearable.

There are options that include 3G wireless access at a cost of $29.99 unlimited data access (in the US), but if you’re going to be doing some serious work, you’d probably use a laptop anyways.

What do you think?

Here’s Hitlers thoughts:

As I flip between hockey and “The Bachelor” I’m trying to finish this post I started a few days ago about how I handle working effectively when there’s a nice flat screen calling to me across the room.

Here’s what I do to make sure I’m working effectively when I’m at home:

• Turn on some music. I recommend creating a free account on Grooveshark.
• Put some ‘real’ clothes on. By real, I mean put those Costco jogging pants back in the closet, take a shower, and dress how you would if you were leaving the house.
• Sit up. Easy to say, but often hard to do. Lying down on the couch with a laptop on you isn’t conducive to performing at your best.