Time Flies Fast

November 9 marks my anniversary with oDesk and today is the first.  I can’t help but ask myself what would I be doing now if I hadn’t found oDesk.  Of course, I would still be a full time mom.  No questions to that.  And I have no regrets leaving my full time job and have no plans going back unless maybe under desperate circumstances.

Maybe I would still be struggling to make money online-paying for work at home programs that provided me nothing but ebooks and ecourses that only the internet gurus could understand.  Or, I would still be struggling to post affiliate link ads to free classifieds where not even a  few individual will ever see.  Perhaps, I would have bought again a data entry position from 365jobs hoping that this time I will enter the data correctly and finally get paid $2000 a month.  Heck, I know now that all the while I followed their instructions to the detail and was doing right because for all the data entry projects that I did at oDesk, my clients praised me for my accuracy.  Finally, my credit card bills would still be up to my neck and wonder what my husband would think once he found out that his smart, money-wise wife lost some bucks to some useless online money programs.

Maybe… but I’m just glad I found oDesk.

So, what has become of me now?

Today, there’s a smile in my face as I look back to the first year of my oDesk career.  Working at oDesk gave me financial freedom.  I haven’t hit big yet but the modest amount that I’m earning have bought me some of the leisure in this world.  It made me realized that even at home, I’m still capable of  bringing in the check.  It brought me an added confidence to myself and I feel good about it.

I have virtually met different people from across the world like the US, Canada, UK, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Japan and my own, the Philippines.  Some are now my LinkedIn connections and Facebook and Twitter contacts.

oDesk is a exciting place to work.  By so doing it’s also a learning process.  And this is what excites me a lot.   I have no formal technical education.  My  little knowledge in back linking, anchor texts, modifying HTML codes, URLs, applications and so on is being enhanced while working at oDesk.  Thanks to my buyers who believed in me.

When my affair with oDesk was just starting, I thought I will not stay long.  But I did.  Oh well, it’s just the first year.  And in any relationship we never know what will happen next.  I believe  I still have a long way to go.  A plan to drop the relationship is remote because I actually plan to stay for several years more.  Right now, this is where I belong.

A toss to oDesk.  Happy Anniversary!

Work, Sleep and Play

From day 1 since I started working at home as data entry provider, I was barely on a day off.  Even on rare occasions that I did, I simply cannot resist work.  I’m on the go 12-16 hours everyday and  was only getting 4-5 hours of sleep.  That include weekends, birthdays and holidays.

On A Recent Vacation

Sure, watching my  earnings grow and my purse getting fat, motivate me to grab more assignments even if it meant sleeping less and forgetting fun.  I must say that working harder for more is very tempting.  It’s in fact addictive.

If you think that overworking and sleeping late every night don’t contribute much to bad health, think again.  My late night habit plus the absence of leisure time soon took its toll on me.  By the 7th month, I was always groggy and I had a terrible feeling that none of my systems were working properly.  The long hours that I spent in front of the monitor worsened  my astigmatism.  My right hand was no longer writing as legibly as it used to.  Once slim but healthy,  I suddenly looked more like an anorexic. Emotionally, I became increasingly anxious and temperamental.  All in all, I was literally on the fast tract to a heart disease.

My physical and emotional deterioration did not adversely affect my performance.  I was actually better and more productive than ever.  As far as my work is concerned, I had nothing to worry about.   What bothered me most was its impact on me and my personal life.  My obsession to work was changing me fast into a person that I did not like.  My son became the poor beneficiary.  One morning,  I woke up and realized that I was no longer the mother that he used to have.

The Apple of My Eyes

I did not want to compromise the things that matter more to me but I did not also want to give up the work that I learned to love.  To be able to keep both, I had to balance the scale.

On my 8th month I made a turn around and followed a set of rules that I imposed on myself.  These are they:

• Sunday is strictly NO WORK day.  It’s reserved for my boy, Nathaniel and my faith.
• Eat my meals on time, take 30-60 minutes nap during the day and work not later than 10 in the evening.
• Resist the temptation to accept more than 2 assignments at a time.
• Have time to do the things I really enjoy like writing, reading my RD issues and watching DVD or a good movie (I was able to watch in the big screen the latest 2 big hit Filipino movies: “And I Love You So” and “In My Life”).
• Take a full week off each time I finished a real backbreaking assignment.  During this time, I sweat myself by doing the neglected house chores (I have no hired help).  It’s a sort of a workout.
• When on an assignment, Facebook and Twitter and all those social networks I’m involved with, DO NOT exist.
• Bring my son out at least twice a month and once a month, give myself a beauty treat.

I am now approaching my first anniversary with oDesk.  Things are just getting better although sometimes I still fail to follow my self-imposed rules.  It’s amazing how easy it is to fall back to old routines but I’m managing.  On self-assessment, I think I’m better now and a more balanced human being.

Proud Mom

You Can’t Work Due To A Calamity? Here Are Ways To Tell Your Buyer

The typhoon that hit Manila in the Philippines on the eve of September 26 left the city in deep waters, power outage,  and lost of lives and properties.  Many Filipino providers who live in the city might have been unable to work on their assignments and inform their buyers about it.

This situation does not only happen in the Philippines but also in other countries whose geographical locations make them vulnerable to storms and other calamities.  The US is not even exempted .  Florida, for example, experiences more storms than any other US state and California wildfires happen several times in a year.

As oDesk providers, we cannot afford to lose the trust of our buyers.  Dissatisfied customers do not come back and their negative feedbacks will affect our chances of winning future assignments.  But natural calamities happen and when they do, we may be compromised.

Here are some ways to tell your buyer about your situation and make the impression that you do care about his business.

1. Send Advance Notice. Weather bureaus and other related agencies warn the public once a storm is detected including a list of places that are likely to be affected.  If you knew that your area is an expected path of a storm, notify your buyer beforehand and the possible consequences that may affect or hamper your work.
2. Use Your Cellphone To Send Email. Sometimes, storms change course and may strike your area unexpectedly which means you won’t be able to give advance notification.  In the Philippines, it is typical for power to be cut off during a typhoon and extend for days depending on the extent of damage.  The only thing that may help you save face is one small gadget which is your cellphone, provided, it still has power and your account has adequate balance.  Most cellphones are now supported by GPRS and MMS technology that allows you to access the internet using the gadget.  It costs PH 20.00/hour.  Smart Communications, a wireless provider in the Philippines, also has a “TextMail” service that enable subscribers to send 80 characters message to an email account.  It costs PH 2.50 per message sent.
3. Ask Someone To Send A Message. Sometimes, wireless subscribers are only after the text messaging features of their mobile phones and do not bother to activate their GPRS or MMS.  Others are simply unaware of their phones’ features.  In this case, you may send a text message to a friend or relative somewhere and ask them to send email to your buyer in your behalf – a solution that I, myself had used four months ago when my province was also hit by a storm.  I just switched to a China phone at that time and just could not figure out how to activate its GPRS settings (I learned later on that China phones have different activation settings for GPRS and MMS).  Ironically, I was also unaware about Smart’s “TextMail” feature.  I sent a frantic text message to my husband in California and ask him to email my client in Canada and inform him about the situation.

What if all else fail?  Well, life is incredibly unfair.  We might as well learn to live with this reality.  Deal with the situation and just cross your fingers that your buyer would still be on the other side of the road when you come back.  Otherwise, just move on.

One last piece of advise though.  Once everything gets back to normal, no matter how long it may take (mine took 3 weeks before power came back) and even if the buyer already dropped you (I was lucky), you may still send an email thanking him for the opportunity and maybe a short apology for the inconvenience that you might have caused.

Kudos to oDesk

Just this morning, I received an email that was sent out by oDesk to its providers in the Philippines.  It was a personalized letter of concern to all who were affected by typhoon Ondoy last September 26-27.  oDesk also took the initiative to inform buyers about the predicament that might have hampered some providers from doing their assignments.  It was a very uplifting gesture from a company that I consider as giant in the industry.  I was deeply touched although I was lucky not to be one of those who were adversely affected.

My province is located several kilometers north of Manila.  We experienced strong winds at the height of the storm but amazingly, we did not have rain.  Nevertheless, my heart goes out to my countrymen and fellow oDesk providers who are based in Manila and were not spared from the disaster.  I just could feel how they felt as they watched the water to rise compounded by heightened uneasiness because they were in the middle of an assignment and they were helpless as to how they could inform their clients.

There are few ways actually and I will talk about it in my next post.  This post is mainly a tribute to oDesk for its act of unselfishness, understanding and thoughtfulness during our time of trouble.

THANK YOU, oDesk FOR CARING ABOUT US. You made us feel like part of a family.  More power!

A Copy of oDesk's Personalized Email to Filipino Providers

Lost Opportunities and The Lessons I’ve Learned

Despite the fact that oDesk is a highly competitive marketplace for providers especially in Data Entry category,  I am always amazed at my luck in winning assignments, not to mention clients who come back to hire my services.  Ironically, I still managed to lose long awaited interviews and one hard earned project mainly because of my own negligence, ignorance, lack of self-confidence or just pure stubbornness.  There are no regrets, however, only lessons learned.

In this post, I would like to share with you how opportunities  slipped through my fingers and what they taught me along my oDesk journey.

THE ASSIGNMENT THAT ENDED BEFORE ITS TIME. I’m glad there’s only one.  I was working for a client for about a week already when he demanded more out of the list that I was working on and even compared me to his other team members who were producing twice as I did.  Alright, they did.  But  I checked their snapshots and found out that roughly 30 percent of their lists was irrelevant.  “Quality is more important than quantity,” I lectured.  Wouldn’t it be better if I give him 100 verified list than give him 200 and half of it will be rejected?  It will be a waste of time and money.  I was obviously telling him that he is wrong.  He got the message and ended the assignment.  I’m just glad he didn’t leave a feedback.INTERVIEWS THAT NEVER HAPPENED. There are around a dozen but I’ll just mention the most significant to me and sometimes funny.

Interview #1–It was 6AM when I opened my computer.  I scanned my inbox for anything from oDesk.  I had 4 notices of rejected applications.  The usual reasons-rate too high, just preferred another applicant, all positions filled, blah, blah, blah.  Hmnn… not good to see when you just got out of bed.  But I had 1 notice of interview from India.  It was not a bad day  after all.  The buyer was online but told me to wait for 1 hour as he was busy.  Ok.  One hour was more than enough to take a quick shower and grab some breakfast.  I left my screen and off to the bathroom and started humming “Top of the World” by The Carpenters.  I was out in 15 minutes, cooked some oatmeal (you’ve got to eat this if you want a normal cholesterol level) and brought out my favorite “papaya” fruit.  I had my fill. All these took me just 40 minutes.  I eagerly went back upstairs where my computer is and was surprised to see that the buyer was already offline.  He left 5 chat messages all asking where I am.  When I checked the time of the messages, they were sent  5 minutes after he told me to wait for 1 hour.  I never heard from him again.

Interview #2–A buyer from the U.S. wanted to interview me between 3 PM and 4 PM U.S. time.  I agreed even though I knew that the scheduled time is also the time that I bring my son to school.  I was confident that I can catch up but I was late.  Fortunately, she reset the interview the following day at 11 AM U.S. time.    Sweet.  I got another chance.   I set my cellphone’s alarm to 2 AM  to make sure I will wake up.  But I forgot that my cellphone was programmed to automatically turn off at midnight and will only turn on again at 4 in the morning.  Naturally, the alarm did not go off and you know what happened next.

Interview #3- Another interview from a US client.  Pay was damn good so even if the interview would take place at 1 AM, I tried hard to stay awake.  I didn’t want to screw up again.  The time came.  But client wanted to talk.  I did not have a headset.  Oh, no!  But, with another stroke of luck, she proposed another time with the condition that I should have a headset when I come back.  So I went to buy one worth PH250.00.  The day came.  I was nervous because it would be the first time that I will talk with my interviewer.  But sometimes, there are things that are not really meant for us.  We didn’t hear each other.  At first we were at YM then we switch to Skype.  At Skype, she could hear me but I couldn’t hear her.  She patiently spent an hour with me while I was figuring out what was wrong.  But I just couldn’t make it work so I lost a chance one more time.

Paid For The First Time

Have you read my  post regarding my first oDesk assignment?  Would you like to know how much I was paid?

When my friends learned about what I was doing and told them how much was my hourly pay for that assignment, eyebrows were literally raised.  The big “WHAT” question was thrown to me in unison.  They said I must be nuts.  That I could get the money a hundredfold without breaking my back.  All I have to do according to them is ask my husband.  What they didn’t know at that time is that my husband was already in danger of losing his job because of the bad economy in the U.S.  And that when he learned about my oDesk, he was as happy as I am.

First Fruit of Hard Labor

Well, my friends had reason to freak out.  For my first assignment, I settled for $0.50 per hour rate.  No kidding.  The weekly limit was 10 hours and all oDeskers know that working beyond the hourly limit means no pay unless there was prior agreement between the provider and the buyer.   So, do the math and I only got $5.00 for a week.

My friends can’t believe I was actually on it.  But I told them it’s better than none.  I won’t even see five dollars  just by sitting around.   And this could actually be the  BEST online work opportunity I have ever joined.    Besides, five dollars is still five dollars.  And to me and my family, it is still a blessing no matter how little it was.  Also,  I’d always believed that everything that is big now started small.

Deep inside, I was also asking myself whether oDesk will really pay.  While waiting for the answer, I worked faithfully on my  assignment, making sure I delivered a complete and accurate report on a timely manner.  Eventually, Andy changed my weekly limit of 10 hours to 20 hours and raised my hourly rate to $1.00 per hour.  I was ecstatic especially when I already saw my earnings growing.  Still, I needed to see the money in my bank account to fully convince myself that indeed this site pays.

My PayPal Proof of Payment from November 2008 to August 2009

My oDesk debit card powered by Payoneer

Then the moment of truth came on January 20, 2009.  I withdrew my accumulated balance of $52.00 into my PayPal account.  Five days later,  cash was already in my bank.  Wow! I worked hard on other data entry jobs which I even paid for and yet, not even a dollar landed in my pocket.  For the first time in two years since I started looking for work at home opportunities I’ve finally found something trustworthy.  Silently, I said thank you to God and to oDesk.

I used my first earnings to buy a new table for my computer since I was only using my son’s study table then and it was uncomfortable.  And since then I would always have assignment every month and of course, money – part of it I’ve even used  to settle some of my bills and the other part for occasional leisure with my son like shopping and movies.

If you are looking for work to do at home, I urge you to join oDesk.  You won’t regret.  Believe me, I found treasure.  oDesk rocks.

Getting My First Assignment

They say that the first is always the hardest and I believe so.

After all the certificates I earned after passing several tests, downloading the oDesk tools and familiarizing myself with their usage and setting up my profile and payment method,  I was then ready to browse the marketplace for oDesk providers.

I clicked the ‘All Categories’ button and the first categories in the drop down  list were very technical in nature–web and software development, information systems, writing and translations.  What does a former secretary know about PHP, XHTML, HTML, Joomla, etc?   The only program I know were Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint.  Naturally, I crossout web development from my choices.  Writing?  Hmmn… When I was working, I wrote business letters, sales proposals and speeches for the big boss.  Writing articles and website contents was not a part of my job.  So, writing was not also a choice and so with design and multimedia.  I said to myself, “I should do what I am good at.”

Finally, I found what I was looking for.  It was in the subcategory under  ‘Administrative Support’ — Data Entry.  This is it.  This is where I belong.  I excitedly browsed the posted jobs, pick the ones that I believed I can do and started sending my applications.  I can’t believed it when I saw the long list of applicants for a single job offer that only needs one or two providers.  Competition is tight.  I began to be discouraged when I opened the other applicants’ profiles and saw their credentials.  Will I even get a chance to land an interview?  I was a complete newbie.  I didn’t even have anything in my portfolio.  But, I had to at least try.  After all, I had nothing to lose.

I  sent out application letters most evenings and will eagerly check my email the following day.  I was upset to see most of it rejected and some I didn’t get response at all.  Being rejected repeatedly is no ego booster and anyone  at this point may begin to lose faith.  No matter, I was not about to give up.  Not yet.  In my mind,  and remembering my mother and the credit card  bills  to be settled, plus the global recession that was affecting my husband’s workplace,  I knew this was not the time for me to turn around.

Finally, on the second week and after almost a hundred applications, Andy from Canada set to interview me and  others more.  Like the first time I went to a job interview, I had a mixed feelings of excitement and nervousness.  Excitement for the prospect of getting the job and nervousness for the thought of failing.   I’m proud to say that my patience paid off.  I passed the interview and got the job.

At last, my first assignment has began.  The date was November 24, 2008.

Me and oDesk–The Meeting

I used to work as executive secretary in a large retirement plan corporation.  Salary was good, not to mention the feeling of greatness when I brushed shoulders with the CEO or sat with him in the conference table along with other top executives.

Though I enjoyed the job, it was extremely stressful most of the time.  So when I left the corporate world 12 years later on 2005 and decided that mommy should stay home,  I was finally relieved-no more mind boggling assignments, I’m not in the rat race anymore, no more coffee-making for other people.  The alarm was no longer set at 4 AM.  I was free again.

My husband  works as Certified Nursing Assistant in California.  We thought that even if I don’t work anymore, his salary was more than enough for us and our only son.  I should just stay home and take care of Nathan and the house.

2006…  Just a year into my new found freedom, I was getting bored.  I missed work and the paycheck that I used to bring home.  But I did not want to go back outside so I turned to the internet and started to look around.  I was shocked by what I saw.  The internet is littered by work at home opportunities all with very persuasive websites and contents to show off and promising unbelievable amount of money.  Online/Offline Data Entry, Report Creator,  Type-At-Home, Email Processing to name a few. You bet,  I joined them all and for joining I paid from $19 to $55 each.  Needless to say, the sharks got my money and I got nothing in return.

November 9, 2008… a day I will not forget.  This is the day that I met oDesk from one of my searches.  Although it said it’s free to sign up, I was  already skeptical.  Isn’t it that that’s what every work at home site says about their offer?  However, around this time, my family was already feeling the effects of the global crisis.  Money was tight, Mother needs support for her breast cancer medications and my credit card bills from the scam sites I joined were piling up.  I needed to try.

It turned out that signing up with oDesk is really free.  I was so excited I took the oDesk Readiness Test right away and installed the oDesk tools.  I stayed awake until past midnight trying to absorb everything I needed to know.  The next two days, I passed five more tests to add to my credentials.  I was ready by now and from there, there was no stopping me.  I went totally crazy for oDesk.   

The First Question In A Relationship… WHO?

Remember those  times when  you’re into a new relationship?  What was the first question from friends and relatives that you had to answer?  Right.  The question is “Who.”  “Who is this person your dating this time?”  “Who is this that makes you a lot different now?”

In my case, it’s not a matter of  ‘Who’ but it’s ‘What’.  oDesk  is not a person but we date most days of the week and yes, it is making a difference in my life since the day we met.

So, what is oDesk?  oDesk was conceived by Odysseas Tsatalos and Stratis Karamanlakis and was born on 2003 at Campbell, California.  The name is a short version of “no desk” in reference to the company’s intent to enable anyone to work anywhere, anytime.

It is a global marketplace for programmers and technology freelancers, that enables businesses/employers to build and manage remote teams. Using oDesk web-based collaboration tools, project managers can visually track and verify all work performed, both historically and in real-time. For service providers like me, oDesk offers competitive wages and guaranteed payment for hourly work and the opportunity to work on interesting long- and short-term projects all over the world.

oDesk’s unique approach guarantees to buyers that an hour billed is an hour worked, while guaranteeing to providers that an hour worked is an hour paid.

This win-win approach attracts more work to oDesk than to any other online work marketplace. Each month, thousands of companies of all sizes post jobs on oDesk, representing more than $65,000,000. At the same time, hundreds of thousands of top-notch professionals, including web developers, software programmers, graphic designers, writers, customer service representatives and virtual assistants, offer their services through oDesk.

With an average job size of $5,000, oDesk is the best place to find meaningful work and top-flight talent. More than doubling in size each year since 2004, oDesk is where companies are building their entire organizations online and is the primary source of income for thousands of providers.

My oDesk is changing how the world works and it’s changing me!

Resources:
http://www.odesk.com/w/about
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ODesk