Apply to one of the many chat companies as an operator. To begin with I recommend all new operators start off screen ( i.e. not on web cam) until they have a few months practice and build up their confidence in chatting.

This experience can be highly beneficial when going onto web cam. As this site develops we will get listings of companies you can join and operators will rate them. I can recommend you companies in the UK so complete the form here if you want a job as a phone or web operator, paid by a UK company.

Usually operators are self employed under agreement with most chat companies. You may still be asked to sign a self employed contract agreeing to adhere to the company’s terms, conditions and regulations. In these circumstances you pay your own tax.

You can register with your local tax office who can give you full details, you can just say you are planning on working from home using your own phone as an operator.

What tax you pay depends what country you are in, but in the UK you can run a good little business as a sole trader. First you get a taxable allowance. This means you can usually earn several thousand pounds before you have to pay any tax, although you will still have to fill in an annual tax return form to state how much you have earned.

Find out what your taxable allowance is from your tax office, as this will vary according to whether you are married, single or have children. If you earn more than your taxable allowance, you take your gross income and keep receipts for your phone bill, computer and internet costs and other relevant expenses, then deduct your expenses from your gross earnings and pay tax on the balance that is greater than your personal tax allowance.

For web cam operators things like outfits, creams and make up, nail care etc can be tax deductible as an expense to do your job.

Yes you can work part time as a chat operator and do your chat job extra to your usual job. You will however have to pay tax on what you earn.

If you have a day job and want to earn some extra cash as an operator in your free time this is no problem, but I strongly recommend that you declare this work and pay any tax due on your chat job.

To find out what you would have to pay, contact your local tax office and have the pay slip from your full time job available. They can explain to you the details.

This is not something I would recommend. In my experience, chat companies are subject to more investigations than many other types of company because of the nature of what they do.

Tax investigators will often ask for names of all self employed operators and then randomly follow up on names they pick out. If you are on benefits this can be particularly risky and you may be asked to pay back any tax you owe, plus get a fine for having not declared your income.

Technically you do not need an accountant, but if you hate book keeping or have limited time you may wish to consider one. Your accountant can do all the work for you, you will simply send him your bank statements or pay statements, your receipts and he will do the rest.

Prices of accountants vary but they will usually take a few hundred pounds a year for doing the job and often they can save you money and lots of aggravation.

There is no straight answer to this one, it depends on the company you work for, how many clients they have and what the clients are like.

Try logging on at different times. Usually peak time would be evenings from 10pm to 1am for many companies, but some operators also make good money during the days when there are less operators about to compete with.

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