Liveperson, previously known as Kasamba, is a web-based help service designed to help people who require services, information or otherwise tutoring in specific fields. The fields range from academic studies such as mathematics, english or geography, to more abstract areas such as self-help, copywrite assistance, legal services or online tarot-card reading. People can apply to become experts on Liveperson easily and recieve a approval or denial with reason within days of applying.

Liveperson is an excellent tool for people who want to make extra income at home, providing services online to clients who require assistance in a broad arrange of fields. I will show you (hopefully easily!) how to make a Liveperson account, market yourself correctly, help clients and recieve payment from this handy-dandy service site.

Lets continue and get you to become an expert in one, two or ten fields!

Clients log on to Liveperson to get help. That is the thesis of the site. The clients want help, and they want it as soon as possible--they are looking for experts (soon to be yourself among the few!) to mentor them, solve their needs, tutor them, or perform a service for them.

Many teachers, businesspersons, stay-at-home-parents, and college students utilize this site in order to augment their income. These people have valuable skills that other persons need, and they are more than happy to provide a service for a fee.

As an expert, clients will contact you from time to time. Traffic to your site is based on your previously satisfied customers (whose reviews are posted on your page), your general pricing, quality of profile, percieved trustworthiness, whether you speak decent English or not, and last but not least--the amount of areas in which you are an expert in.

The client shall contact you via the Liveperson instant messaging device, through Liveperson e-mail, or by phone. You may opt out of any of these forms of media if you wish. Most Liveperson experts do not communicate by phone, and few communicate via the Liveperson messaging device. The primary tool at arms length is your Liveperson mailbox. Answering quickly and concisely to the customer is essential, as they may withdraw their request if you are too slow, your speech is vague and/or unconvincing, or if your invoiced price for the project is too high.

If you choose to do a project, answer questions or give general council to a customer--the job should go above and beyond the customers expectations. When the task is complete, you shall recieve payment for your services. The client pays via Liveperson prior to you completing the task, the payment is held in escrow until you submit your work. Upon completion, you shall be paid. Liveperson takes a small fee for the lead, marketing, website & server maintanence, and general profit.

Congratulations! You just got paid! When you reach a total of $50 dollars in profit, you shall recieve a check in the mail within 7-21 business days, or be payed via Paypal. Keep in mind that Liveperson sends out their checks during the second week of every month--so you should recieve your check 7-21 business days after that given week.

Also, as a bonus, whenever you refer a customer to your Liveperson page yourself--Liveperson cuts their fee by about 70%. The more you market yourself, the more profit you'll make!

Think you don't have the skills nessecery to help someone on Liveperson? I disagree. Everyone has skills that can be used to make Liveperson a broader place with more experts. Did you minor in business when you were in college? Perfect! There could be a student out there that is pursuing the same goal, and could use your help! Did you go to law school, but decide to drop out the last year because it wasn't for you? There could be a place for you on Liveperson.

On the flip side, you can't just be an expert in mathematics because you got a C+ in Alegbra in 7th grade. You can try to do so, but Liveperson will deny you. If you feel you may have some superior skills within their topics & guidelines that may be helpful (and profitable for them, since they recieve a cut!), then apply to become an expert in that field!

I can't stress enough how easy it is to use Liveperson. If you aren't good with technology--that's okay. All you need to know is how to apply, login to their site, customize your simple profile page(s), and answer incoming requests.

Also, if you are denied for a certain area--they often tell you why. You can choose to reapply if you somehow forgot essential credientials. Say you want to become an expert in speech writing, you submit your application and you get denied. Nuts! You forgot to tell them that you recieved a Degree of Merit from the National Forensics League, which may solidify your qualifications. Just redo your application for that given field and try again.

One of the biggest pieces of advice I can give you for success on Liveperson is to find a field that isn't flooded.  Now, if you look here (below), you will notice that this field is flooded. There is no sense in applying here, since syphoning off customers from already-established persons in this area would be nonsensical.  On the flip side, notice (bottom), how I am one of five experts in this particular field (meteorology). The chances of me getting a hit and possibly a request increase exponentially.

Establish yourself early and fortify niche markets. You want to be the person that other experts don't want to compete with. Remember, you aren't all in this together--this is a dog-eat dog environment!

It took me about two weeks before I got my first customer, and I am an expert in five different fields. Sometimes it is hard to hit the ground running when you have no reviews to show for. Customers want to know that you aren't a scammer, and they don't want an "expert" that is on Liveperson just for a quick buck.

I recommend marketing to your classmates, your co-workers, family friends, or even just handing out a business card to a person at a fast food joint. There are alot of ways to market yourself and get customers--be creative!

If you are interested in becoming an expert because you want to make a quick buck, then please stop reading. Scamming is not an option. If you are someone who is not an expert in a certain field, and you know you are not, then please don't waste anyone's time. If you were one of these persons, you completed a task for a customer, and the skills (that you marketed) that were required  obviously don't show (or the task wasn't completely within reason, or was subpar), then the customer can request a refund from Liveperson. Liveperson will put a hold on your payments immediately and do an investigation.

Remember, there is nothing stopping a customer from writing a bad review about you--and that's the last thing you want. All reviews are public and will affect your sales. Be an honest expert and tell the person if you don't think you are up for that particular job. Above all, don't enter into a contract with someone that you don't plan to honor!

Some customers may be unreasonable, rude or otherwise hostile, and as said before--you always have the right to refuse service and not engage in a contract. But say you are doing a task for a customer, and they pester you, tell you that you didn't do a good job, or refuse payment. That's okay, Liveperson will act as an intermediary to help solve the situation. That is why Liveperson recieves a cut.

I once had a customer that complained to Liveperson about me, saying the job I did wasn't up to par. I contested this, saying that I fufilled all required expectations and completed the task on time. The reason the customer complained, was because she wanted me to do a second task without paying me (she felt that this next task was in-line with the first task that I just completed, and thus the payment covered both projects). Liveperson put a hold on my payments account, which is fair, and investigated my work for the customer. Liveperson ruled in my favor, saying that her request was unfair. They immediately sought out payment from her, and payed me in the mean-time. That is justice!

Due dates for projects are extremely important. It is easy to find a due date, since the customer will always have one listed on the project invoice. Don't be late! If you are late on submitting a project or advice for a customer, then they have the right to refuse payment--and they will usually win.

I once was late for an assignment because the gentleman requested that the project be completed by 9:00pm. Okay, easy stuff, i'm on it. I submit it at 8:45pm. He sends me a complaint a short while later, very angry that his project was late. I didn't get it, how was I late? I was on time.

No I wasn't, I didn't pay attention to which timezone he was in. He lives in Eastern Standard Time, and I live in Pacific Standard time--I was three hours late.

I couldn't believe it, but these sort of things happen when you are first learning the ropes of Liveperson. Mistakes happen. Apologize to the customer immediately and sincerely, and explain to them the stupid error you made. You don't need to BS them, but make them feel that they are worth your time and that you didn't skim the project for an easy buck. Humor them if you want, but just make them feel worthy of your time.

I was talking about marketing earlier. I highly recommend visiting www.vistaprint.com and getting yourself some business cards (I wouldn't be surprised if their ad was wandering around this hub somewhere). They make it easy for you to create legible business cards for cheap. The cards are free--you just pay shipping (which is around $5). I chose to pay an extra $4 to have writing on the backside of the card. The front of the card clearly stated my service in a brief sentence or two, my name, the website and my phone number. The back of the card stated my rates. Talk about inexpensive and effective marketing!

Sometimes when you are in fields like mathematics, sciences or language studies, you may (and most likely will) get a request for you to do someone's paper or homework. Whether you feel ethically enabled to do this sort of deed or not is up to you. The general status-quo is that you may do these sorts of projects, and any trouble that may arise is solely square on the customer's shoulders; the customer was the one who payed for another person's work. Also, Liveperson preserves your privacy, and no names will be given.

It is considered to be in bad-taste to publically publish work you did for a customer. This could get the customer in deep trouble and could cost further revenue in the future, since you will have basically lost the patron. Although I don't recommend it, it is your work--there was no sale of intellectual rights when the transaction completed with the customer.

Here is the current percent charges (their cut) bracket for Experts on Liveperson:

Session Fee | Spirituality & Religion | Other Clusters | Your Referrals

$0 - $500.99-------------37%------------------30%----------------9%

$501 - $1000.99--------25%------------------25%----------------9%

$1001 - $5000.99------ 20%------------------20%----------------9%

$5001 and up------------15%------------------15%----------------9%

Not a bad bracket considering that when I signed up for Liveperson, Referal percent fees were at 18%! Also, to avoid confusion, you are the one who earns 91%, Liveperson earns 9%.

I hope this information has helped. Liveperson is a fun website and doesn't cost anything to create an expert account. It is a fun site designed to employ people with special skills (all of us!) in fields that we personally specialize in. Once again, if you feel you probably have the skills to help a customer--then apply to become an expert at Liveperson!

If you guys would like to view my profile as an example, it can be reached at www.liveperson.com/howstuffworks.

Good luck, and have fun!