Arise Work From Home Review – How Does This Biz Opp Work?

An Arise work from home review is long overdue on this site. This is one of those opportunities where you do have to pay to get started.

However, this is not a work at home scam. You should always exercise caution when asked to pay for employment, but Arise is the exception because it's more of a home business opportunity.

Once you have completed the sign-up process with Arise, you essentially have your own business as a customer service professional, and Arise is the middle man that hooks you up with clients.

Arise Work From Home Review – How It Works

Just as with any work from home customer service job, you are providing customer support and/or sales to various businesses. You are not helping out Arise directly, but rather their clients.

There are many, many well-known companies that use Arise for their customer service staffing needs.

Instead of bothering to hire people directly, these companies simply contract through Arise and Arise provides the workers as well as handles all of the training.

The work you do will vary depending on the client, but you can expect phone work and possibly even email/chat support.

Yes — email and chat jobs are highly sought after non-phone jobs that are hard to come by, but Arise is one company with many clients that need help with those very things.

Why You Have to Pay

One reason you have to pay is because Arise requires that you incorporate yourself as a business before you can sign up.

They have a rule that they only contract with incorporated entities, so you do have to go through the process of creating an independent business first. Doing this will probably cost you around $100.

In addition to this, there are other expenses involved in getting started with Arise. They have provided a general breakdown of what it will cost you to start-up (note that they have included the incorporation fee in this:)

National Background Check Fee ($12.95 in most states, $25.95 in CA, CO, MA, NV, VT or SD)
Incorporation (approx. $100)
High-Speed Internet Access ($50/month)
Phone Equipment ($35-100)
Dedicated Phone Line ($18-30/month)
Basic Certification Program CSP101 ($99)

All of the above fees are paid to third parties with the exception of the Basic Certification Program fee, which is paid to Arise.

You'll also notice above that you do have to have a dedicated phone line to use just for working, so using your own home phone line is not an option. You'll have to pay for a separate line used solely for working.

Additionally, Arise deducts a semi-monthly service fee of $19.75 from all independent business owner employees. This fee will not be deducted until you are actually working and earning money.

Why do they charge this fee? Arise states it's because of the infrastructure they provide to you, which includes accounting services, 24-hour help desk, and their scheduling system.

Getting Around the Fees At Arise?

I have also read that it's occasionally possible to get around some of the fees when signing up with Arise.

For example, if you do not want to incorporate yourself, you can sign up under another person's corporation and work that way. I know some people already have corporations for whatever reason. If you do, there is no need to make a new one. You can just work under your existing corp.

Sometimes there are promo codes you can take advantage of to go toward the basic certification program so that you're not having to pay for that either.

Unfortunately, I'm unsure how often this happens. If you “like” Arise on Facebook you'll see when/if they offer any special promotions.

Chances are good that you already have high-speed internet and phone equipment, although you'll need to get a headset if you don't already have one of those.

Earning Potential and Pay

There is potential to earn good money through Arise.

They quote between $9 and $19 per hour depending on a variety of different things, including the client you are working for as well as possible performance incentives and bonuses.

Arise pays you twice monthly via direct deposit into a corporate bank account.

The Application Process

So if you want to do this, how do you start?

First, you have to look over their contract, go through an assessment so they can verify that your computer and voice proficiency, etc. are on par with what they need and so they can understand your skills, which may help them with matching you to their clients.

Then, pay for your background check and wait for the results to come back. If your background check is OK, you can go ahead and enroll in the e-certification program which you'll have seven days to complete.

Your incorporated business must be in place, or you'll need to be signed up under someone else's so you can begin working. Arise will additionally need to verify that you have all the equipment you need to meet their standards in order to do the job.

Equipment You'll Need

  • High speed internet
  • Basic telephone service through a dedicated line
  • Headset
  • An email account through an ISP (free email accounts are not OK to use)

Scheduling

Arise is known for being extremely flexible. However, they do require that you put in a minimum of 15 hours of work each week.

The exact hours available you can grab will of course depend on the client, but there are usually options around the clock and all throughout the week, so you may be able to work things around your desired schedule.

Independent Contractor or Employee?

You're an independent contractor for Arise, not an employee.

What locations are eligible?

You can get work through Arise if you are in the U.S. with the exception of California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, New York, and Oregon. It may also be possible to sign up if you are in Canada or the UK.

Feedback

Feedback is always very important. You'll need a general idea regarding the experiences of others prior to signing up, so I'm providing you with more reading material below.

I would suggest reading through the following (on the forums, note the date of each thread because some may provide outdated info):

The WAHM.com forum has a search feature. Just type in “Arise” in the search field to find much more feedback on the company.

Bottom Line

Arise makes it very, very clear that they offer a business opportunity and not employment. As a customer service professional, you can use Arise to get clients.

As with any home business, there are start-up costs. This is the difference in a work at home job and a home business that you form yourself.

Obviously, not everyone is going to be able to afford to do this.

I would certainly not recommend it unless you have some faith that it will work out as well as the money to invest in everything or at the very least you find that it's possible at any given time to work around most or some of the fees.

I have been researching legit work at home opportunities for several years now and what I am seeing over and over is that, fees or no fees, lots of people are successfully working at home thanks to this company. My Arise work from home review is intended to help you make up your own mind.

In addition to the links above, you can find plenty of detailed information at the Arise website.

If you have your own Arise work from home review to share, good or bad, I would love your feedback! Feel free to leave a comment.

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38 thoughts on “Arise Work From Home Review – How Does This Biz Opp Work?”

  1. It is true; Arise mandates that you establish an LLC or INC before you can be considered to offer services to an Arise client. If you wish to participate, you will then have to pay for the upcoming training classes and move-on from there.

    My training was insufficient and systems that we needed to log into lost our credentials frequently. There were other issues that resulted in terrible customer service and employee dissatisfaction. Support systems were not responding in a timely manner which hurt customer service, as well.

    Please keep in mind: I do not believe this is the way Arise does business but I will not be working with them again as a result of my experience. I am sure many companies have positive experiences with Arise.

  2. I have worked with Arise in the past and I would not recommend them if you are looking for steady income. You have to pay for training which in some cases are 6 to 8 weeks or longer. The classes are expensive and it seems they make their money by having new CSP’s and IBO’s paying for classes. The turnaround is high and sometimes there are no opportunities available. And there are hardly any non-phone jobs available.

  3. I reall just want to have other people work for me as an over of a virtual,call center. Does anyone know how much I can make off of each independent contractor I get? Any I for,action on how to get started owning your own actual call center through them and the money I can expect to make would be great.

  4. I have worked for Arise for over a year. My recommendation is to not use this company as a primary income opportunity. I am looking for other ways to make a decent income from home. Does anyone have any recommendations.

  5. Does anyone know why you cannot do this in New York state? I live in New York City and no article I have read says exactly why one cannot do it here. Thanks for your reply and help in advance!

  6. What is an IBO? Sorry to ask a stupid question but I am new to all of this and am really needing to get into working from home here real soon.

    • Independent business owner…and it’s not a stupid question. I didn’t know before either.

  7. This should be edited because they don’t actually have several non phone clients as indicated. They have two non phone clients which hardly come up. The first is live sales chat for ATT just like at talk2rep and the second is live chat for apple.

  8. i was research ing Arise as i would love to be able to work from home but noticed si ce i live in Maryland i cant apply. Does anyone know why that is? is there any way to get around that? thanks in advance for any help

    • Jenn,
      I live in New York and have the same questions. I have done much research online and have been unable to find a reason for not allowing it in certain states. If you do find out please let me know. I will also post here for you if I find out. Thanks. Good luck.

      • @Jenn & @Joshua

        You cannot work with Arise if you’re in New York and the other states because of their Consumer Rights Protection Laws. To make a long-story short, Arise has many clients and probably some of those clients sell “questionable” products that people have complained about or correspond to guidelines that can be construed as soliciting, scams or gimmicks. As a result, even if you don’t take calls for those specific clients, Arise is still affiliated with them, so in order to protect consumers, those clients can’t sell in those states, nor can Arise can’t have agents taking calls in those states at all or risk being sued. Other work at home opportunities who are also “banned” from working in those states are West At Home (now called Alorica) and LiveOps.

        Hth

  9. I worked for arise and arise along with my ibo didn’t pay me for all the hours I worked. I now work for working solutions they paid for my training, background check, drug test etc and for ALL the work I do.

    • But working solutions does not provide steady work, they even say on their website that they do not recommend using them as your primary source of income

  10. I have worked with an Arise client for four months now. I do not have anything bad to say about Arise, but the client that I am working with is definitely difficult to grasp because there is so much to learn in such a short amount of time and most of its customers are upset.
    It is difficult meeting the contract terms when dealing with irate customers.

    As far as the costs / investments, I have absolutely NO complaints about it! I got background checks, training, a headset, etc. all under $80…how? Because Arise constantly has specials going on, you just have to catch them at the right time.

    I like and enjoy Arise, but I would like to work with another client and do Email / Chat only and no phone.

  11. Bubbie comment is right.
    Also if you are doing this for your main income, becareful. Their management doesnt care about the employee(they can name it whatever they want and using loophole to avoid paying tax, benefit etc, we know all are employees).
    Therefore it is part time to supplement income is alright if you can take all the heats from the job. Hours are limited all the time, unless it is holiday, but only one holiday per year, so you can go figure.

    • Both Bubbie and Marilyn are right. You see how all these Arise Independent Owners immediately come here and offer themselves up? well let me explain something. I started under an IBO if I had any questions she was less them upfront about any of it. Arise keeps information close to the breast. They protect their IBO’s and their own backs. You as the Independent Contractor have to pay for everything. What these IBO’s dont tell you is that they ” incentives” for bring you in and for keeping you and what they also dont tell you that your going to be paying 19.95 to arise each 15 days, whether you make any money or not, they get paid first, the IBO THEN YOU….its a catch 22. If you work under a IBO there is no one to complain to. The certification classes are only the beginning, the rest you learn as you go and service. You will have to put in , depending on who you are servicing at least 10 hours a week that you will not be paid for , whether it be in attending ENHANCEMENT MEETINGS or all the memos regarding the business your servicing and if it happens to have anything to do with reservations, bookings, etc expect it to be more. You will constantly be told about your matrix and how much more money you can make with higher matrix, but at the same time how important it is to take care of the customer, but when you go over your average talk time, there is hell to pay for and your likely to lose your SOW ( STATEMENT OF WORK , CONTRACT WITH YOUR BUSINESS THAT YOU ARE SERVICING) . I can tell you that if you tell a guest that you are unable to stay on the line because it is taking too long you will get a low evaluation so you opt to stay on to assist with on line check in , usually elderly people and there goes your matrix!
      You cant call Arise a Scam but YOUR ON THE BOTTOM OF THE RING! thats why they will pay , sometimes more $150 a head, provided you finish your sign up within 10 days, start a course with in the first 30 days and service a full 30 days / 90 days..funny how none of the IBO’S here ever mentioned that!
      When you ask questions they will send you to your IBO, the IBO WILL LIE and you will not know it! you are a slave and good luck getting enough hours! I finally became my own IBO because my lovely Ibo that i was working under decided that she just didnt want to do it anymore…so she pulled the plug and left me without a working contract, so for the entire month of dec i was without work on top of not having had much hours in nov….so do yourself a favor…stay away …save your time and money! and dont think for a moment you matter to these people because you dont.

      • Im considering becoming an IBO but Im not sure if I want to hire anyone, can I become an IBO and just work for myself without employees?

        Thanks
        Diana

  12. I have been with Arise for a year now and with the same client. I cannot say my experience has been bad but it has not been great either. In addition to the fees mentioned in this review, you will have to pay for the client training. At times vouchers are offered that may cover the entire training fee or only a portion. Also, you definitely have to do your research if you decide to work under an existing IBO. There are IBO’s out there that will rip you off and Arise will not help. I am with an IBO that was Arise’s first premier IBO and was invited to become their first IBO therefore, she has alot of knowledge and connections and gets things done when you have an issue. If you choose to go with Arise, be sure to have more than one client because if you do not meet your SOW metrics, Arise will either terminate your SOW without notice or if they decide not to renew your SOW you will only get approximately one week notice. Atleast if you have another client you won’t be without any income if you lose your SOW. I agree with some of the other comments that depending on the client you work for if they are not in peak season there will be very few hours to pick from. The only way to get around that is to exceed your SOW metrics and you will be allowed to pre-select hours before regular posting hours date. For example, if posting hours for the client is Thursday, 8:30pm and you earn pre-select you can post for hours as early as Tuesday morning.

    Again, my experience hasn’t been that bad but I thought Arise would be more organized and have things together better than they do. I believe my experience hasn’t been that bad because I have an IBO who knows what she’s doing and knows all the higher ups in Arise and when she needs a problem fixed she can go directly to those individuals.

  13. Also, for you guys looking to contract under a Super VSC, most take a cut of your pay before they issue you a check. The typical fee is 10%. Plus, your pay is delayed in most cases another few days after all the other IBOs get paid because the VSC has to funnel that money through their account then to yours.

    Also, if you are under a VSC, you will not see the pay listed in the portal of opportunities. You have to wait for your VSC to let you know what that is and by that time, the opportunity is gone.

    Again, be cautious with this one. Don’t believe the hype of the pay. If you are under a VSC, you are lucky to make $8-$9 an hour and on top of that you pay for your internet connection and for a compliant computer.

  14. I started with Arise in 2010 and it has been the worst experience ever in my life. For two clients, I spent more money certifying that actually earning because there were no hours available after so many folks passed. The last client I was with I could not get my computer to work with their systems even though I has a fully compliant computer. So instead of helping me out, they terminated my SOW with that client and put on my record all the marks against me so I could never attempt to work with another client again. Prior to that, I had met all metrics for every client I worked for. If you are totally desperate, then go for it. Otherwise, this company is not worth the stress and expense. Fighting for hours is just ridiculous. In some cases, the hours were so sparse that they were gone within seconds of the schedule release to pick over. Most of the management does not care nor do they support you. I have no idea how so many make it to the level of PF. I have said my piece. Be cautious with this one.

    • Have you tried to express interest in an opportunity lately? I was wondering if they would remove the termination after waiting 3 months.

  15. Mary, you can Google “Arise Super VSC” or something along those lines. If you belong to any WAHM forums, you can do a search there too. I would also search YouTube. There a lot of people on there talking about their experiences with Arise and VSCs.

  16. I was just wondering how you would go about finding VSC/subcontractors that are willing to hire people so that you can avoid being incorporated with arise?

  17. A friend of mine has been working for them for the past 5 years. If not the best, one of the most reputable in the business. I completed the entire process and and just could not afford the high cost certification and other fees.

  18. I have been working for Arise from home for over 3 years now and love it. I am incorporated and hire agents to work under me. Most corporations charge 10% of your pay. But I only charge $15. I’m not trying to get rich…just help people. 🙂

    I love that I can choose my own hours and there is only a 15 hour weekly commitment. I really have nothing bad to say about a company that will allow you to work from home in your pjs. : )

  19. This is absolutely wonderful! Arise was one of the 1st companies I came across when I started looking for work at home opportunities, but could never wrap my head around the initial costs. Now that I’ve been freelancing, I see how it all works. This is definitely something I may start looking into for future work … it’s just the phone line has me going the other way simply because it’s an expense that my household can’t afford at the moment.

    I really appreciate the detailed review as I’ve always been confused about the process, but I feel like I understand Arise so much better now. I’m thinking perhaps around tax time next year, I may have the extra funds to look further into this business opportunity!

    • Thanks, Katie! Another great thing about Arise is that they have a lot of clients who need people solely for chat/email work 🙂 So even better!

  20. I have work with Arise since 2007, yes it has its up and downs. But it has provided my family with steady income. It is sometimes hard to find hours on certain clients and some always have hours available. If you are looking into arise I would say do your research. I am under a SuperVirtualCorps because I didn’t want to deal with becoming incorporated. I am still an independent contractor and I can leave anytime and start my own if I wish. Honestly, the only thing is the training cost which is high, but some Super Virutal Corls will pay for your training, give you an discount voucher, or reimburse you after a certain amount of time. I also research in some forums about certain clients just to read the pros and cons and make my decision after that. Hope this helps

  21. Excellent post. But I did want to make one clarification with a statement. It was

    Independent Contractor or Employee?

    You are considered an Independent Contractor through Arise, so taxes are all your responsibility.

    This is partly true. But you are not an independent contractor. You are considered a corporation, whether its an LLC, S-Corp, Corp etc. So taxes are not done quite the same as a standard independent contractor who is a self proprietorship. But yes taxes are your responsibilty.

    Also I wanted to further explain due to people having to be incorporated, Arise is not allowed due to Federal IRS Law to provide any training, equipment etc to anyone. If they did, they would have to consider people employees etc. LiveOps went through this (even though they dont require incorporation) a while back with a huge class action law suit. There is a thin line between employee and ind. contractor/incorporated entity. But Arise does not take chances and treats everyone like an actual company doing business with another company. I know so many people think its crap to have to pay to work but that is not what you are doing. its no diff then if you were to open a pizza restaurant/delivery business. You would have to buy on your own all the equipment, pay for training on how to run and possibly make the pizza’s, pay your payroll and taxes. And if you got a contract with lets say a hotel that wanted your pizza delivery for room service, they would not pay for teaching you how to deliver to the hotel. That would be your responsibilty. This is no different. But so many cannot grasp that concept for some reason. I think its due to so many scams out there and everyone getting drilled in their heads “never pay to work” Well you are not paying to work. Most of the fees are for your corporation. And then monthly fee is like rent to use their phone and computer infastructure otherwise you would have to build and create your own based on the clients needs. And the training fees actually are determined by the end client. Because the end clients charge Arise when they have to train their employees, so therefore we all have to get charged also. They waive training fees at times when they really need to increase cus serv reps for a certain client quickly and just eat that. But due to fed law they cannot due that more then a few times a year.

    No i dont work/contract for Arise and I never have. But I am very familiar with this process because I used to contract for Intuit doing taxes and this was a huge issue each year. But incorporating when working from home is a smart idea. The benefits out number the costs. And research each state. you can incorporate in any state you want. Doesnt have to be in the one where you live. And some states are way cheaper then others. Like Colorado. The total costs are only about $35. Where other states it can be up to $600 or more. And there are advantages and disadvantages for each state so do your research.

    But again excellent post and explanation of the Arise process. Oh also for those hesistant about incorporationg, there are several SuperVirtualCorps under arise that will hire you as an employee or ind contractor therefore you wont have to pay a dime to work. Why would they pay all your fees? because they take out a small portion of your pay(not much at all) to cover those oosts and to make their profits etc. But for those not wanting to deal with the incorporation ordeal its a great option to test out working with Arise. And if you decide you like it you can always resign and then apply directly if you incorporate yourself.

    • I really appreciate the clarification! It does sound as though signing up with an SVC would be an excellent way to try it out without investing too much money if you were hesitant to do that. I have heard before, as you said, that as far as taxes are concerned, incorporating yourself is not such a bad idea anyway for those thinking about doing it.

  22. Arise was one of the first places I worked when I started working from home. I only worked for them for a couple of months as their scheduling wasn’t my cup of tea. (In addition to those weekly hour requirements, there are often other scheduling requirements – usually a certain number of weekend hours or a minimum hour requirement during the client’s peak hours.) When you get two or three clients that can really become a challenge.

    That being said, I wouldn’t say my experience was bad in any way. I do consider them the main reason I started recruiting private clients. I knew then it was possible to make good money from home, and I knew that there had to be better options out there for me…and I did have that business entity formed anyway. I may as well use it. 😉

    • Thanks for the info, Angie! Good to know there may be other hourly requirements apart from the flat 15 a week depending on the client. That’s definitely something to think about if having a certain schedule is really important.

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