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One of the most critical components of successful work from home jobs is that of preparing bids that are accurate and economical for the clients yet provide adequate compensation for the providers.

Find sources

Depending upon the type of work from home jobs that you are most interested in pursuing, there are web sites that emphasize that type of work. Many freelance workers for example, look for buyer projects on such sites as Rent-a-Coder, Get-A Freelancer and other locations. Whatever the type of work that interests you in your business endeavors, you should do some searching on the internet to see where buyers typically post projects and the type of projects that are being posted. Then you will want to check to see if the projects posted include some in the line of work for which you are qualified.

Understand terms

Just as each type of business and organization has 'buzz words' that are meaningful to those who work in the industry, so project bidding has a language all its own. When you are reviewing a project to work from home, be sure to understand the terms that are being used and how they apply to the work that is being completed. For example, if the buyer wants a bid per hour for a transcription project, you will need to know if that is audio hour or transcription hour. If you are writing an article, you must understand terms such as 'keyword', 'resource' and 'optimization'.

Define the scope of the project

The next step in successfully bidding for your work from home project is that of defining the scope of the project. You need to know how long the article is to be written and how many keyword variations must be included. You may need to know the pages to be created on a website. You may need to know how many audio hours are included in a transcription project. Only when you have a clear understanding of the factors that characterize the finished project can you place an informed bid. If you are the winning bidder on a project and must complete more work than you understood when you were bidding, you could end up losing money and causing your time to be worth nothing.

Select your desired payment expectations

Many work from home projects have different payment options which you can select. Choosing the one that will best fit your needs and will be consistent with the buyer's way of disbursing payment is not difficult. You should first review the options offered by the buyer. These may be personal check, money order, PayPal, electronic check, or more commonly--through an escrow account or a clearinghouse account. If you are comfortable with providing bank account information to a buyer, you can certainly have funds deposited directly into your account, but this is not the most secure method.

Submit the proposal

Using accurate English terms with minimum slang or questionable terms, you should complete the proposal, including all needed information that you have gathered. Define the amount you are to be paid and the work units to be completed. Commit to a deadline and if you have a payment preference, you should state it in your proposal. Make sure your work from home bid is accurate in spelling, grammar and terms and that it is submitted as requested by the buyer.