The Year That Was 2014 - Upwork

It has been Upwork for a while now and I do not want to bother with changing things here.

After some lazy years and doing other people's work, I now have a bit of time to myself - hence this post.

The transition from oDesk to Upwork has not been the smoothest of rides but it's OK for the most part. There were times many freelancers in the Upwork community like myself were not pleased with certain changes.And, there were also increased occasions of downtime which really got to me and perhaps many others. I do look forward to what 2016 has in store and things have not been the best so far - just OK.

Now, to the point of this post.

Below is a set of screenshots of the page from http://elance-odesk.com/online-work-report-global. It was taken on Feb 22, 2016. On the surface it looks promising for Upwork and Elance but I would caution on taking some of the things on there at face value. I have not really given it some real thought and these are just raw on the fly comments.

I would like to see 2015 so a comparison can be made.

Download HQ image at https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5pcRUsYVRedVjdjenZhTG55dVU.

Tuning into oDesk Trends

Tuning into oDesk Trends

Learning the trends that happen in the oDesk job marketplace and positioning yourself as a player that can compete in a few fields will work best to increase your chances of earning a decent income on oDesk. If you are not an extremely talented individual or if your skills do not fall into the larger market trends, I would advise you not to focus on your strengths and limit yourself to them. It may be required to do other things that are in the larger markets not in your field of expertise. Check out the oConomy here at http://research.odesk.com/visualizations/country-dashboard/#/bubble.

Take my wife for example, she has worked for the financial cooperatives sector doing some basic accounting duties, accounts management and supervisory work in the real world but on oDesk she has done mostly non-voice administrative and data entry tasks. It suits her since she is busy with our daughter. For her, oDesk is something she can do to earn a little and still keep up with the rigors associated with our daughter growing up. If the end-game is money you can’t be choosy but you have to choose wisely. 

Even if you are an expert in your field and even relatively inexpensive as a contractor, you may find yourself without work if that expertise is not in a big enough market. Unless there is very little competition and your line of expertise happens to be unique and sought after, you may find yourself competing with others in both price and skill - making it troublesome and difficult to get a contract. When the end-game is earning a living One has to go outside their comfort zone and try out a few things they might like. If you happen to be lacking in the emerging trends and the current trends you have to take it upon yourself to learn a new skill and study hard. Maybe you can take on a job that pays low but trains you with a new skill you can use for other opportunities if they were to arise. One thing I would like to reiterate, do not limit yourself - be brave and expand your horizons. To be successful at a livelihood on oDesk, tuning into oDesk trends may help.

Going Green Working on oDesk

Going Green Working on oDesk

Early on in life, I have always been fascinated with nature and even then, I knew that our mother was already in trouble. As I went through my childhood where I was fortunate enough to have had many fun and memorable times in her natural splendor, it saddens me today to know that my daughter will have to venture far to get her taste of nature’s wonders. In my view things are dire, but change is not impossible and every little bit counts.

Working on oDesk, I can make a contribution to saving Mother Earth by working from home. I have reduced my impact on the use of fossil fuels - my office is a few steps away. I have a paperless workplace that exists in a virtual world - saving on precious trees. I re-use old computers too. I have never owned a brand new computer in my years as an oDesk contractor. It does not take much computing power for some of the jobs I have chosen to work on so an old PC works fine. There are more ways to help and I am sure more creative individuals out there would have bigger and better ideas.

It is not the norm to be at your home and practicing a profession that creates a means of livelihood for oneself or your family but many are choosing this path to get away from the rat race and create a better life for them.

It is not for everyone but for those that have chosen to telecommute or work from home, even not on oDesk, the environmental impact is better than some alternatives. For those who wish to have a better work-life balance and make a small impact on the environment, going green working on oDesk is a good idea.

Work-Life Balance with oDesk

Work-Life Balance with oDesk

I have been a member of oDesk since the 18th of August 2009. I was working in the BPO industry at the time and it took me almost a year to get out and make that leap to be a freelance or home-based worker. It was close to my daughter’s birthday but I did not care and jumped ship. It had been on my mind for years and spending 11-14 hours of my day away from my family is not my idea of having one. I got my first oDesk contract a few weeks after I resigned. It was on the 6th of June 2010 - a day before my daughter’s birthday. I am glad and thankful that a kind person was able to give me that opportunity to prove myself as an oDesk contractor.

Using oDesk as a means of taking control and achieving a sane form of work-life balance is not easy at all. It does take some work and you have to keep at it. You have to be extremely talented or extremely cheap to attain quick success but that does not last. I was one of the lucky ones and met up with a kind employer who took a chance on a newbie. 

These days I work anywhere from 30-40 hours every week, sometimes its more - depending on the tasks that go my way. It may seem I have not gained time to spend with my wife and daughter but I have. I spend all of it with them, 24 hours a day for 7 days a week and 52 weeks a year. While I work, they work on their work stations alongside my work station. It is not a very good way to bring up my daughter sitting around all day in front of a computer but I am hoping she outgrows it and learns that there is more to life than the virtual one. 

Things are not perfect but they are certainly better than my time being spent away from them. It has been a few years but it still remains a work in progress. Though things can become problematic and it takes hard work, one can achieve some kind of work-life balance with oDesk. 

A Computer That Works

A Computer That Works

Many might be put off by the thought of working at home online. Some might think that it requires the latest computer with all the bells and whistles on it. I would say that it depends on the kind of work that you do online. The work you do must match with the hardware or else the situation can get very problematic. There are many categories you can go into to find some home-based work and most of them do not really require the fastest computer. It is required though that what you have as a computer must be capable of doing the work you have chosen to do, I cannot stress that enough. I for one prefer a machine that can do several kinds of tasks, instead of just one. This allows me to take on a variety of jobs on oDesk that might be available at a certain time. 

The computer I use is a Gateway machine with a Pentium 4 Intel Processor chip that supports Hyper-Threading technology. It is packed with 1 GB of DDR ram, a 200 GB hard disk, a built-in Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900 and it also comes in with your basic computer ports and peripherals. This computer that my sister-in-law gave has worked well for me and managed to provide my family a means of livelihood. Compared to the new computers today, its capabilities are, in the computer world, slightly antiquated.

We have, since then, bought a second-hand Samsung machine with similar specs which my wife uses for her oDesk contracts. It is actually faster than mine and it is way too much for the kind of work she does - data entry and non-voice administrative support. We bought it as a complete set at less than P6000 and this investment has thus paid back double in its first month of use.

In future posts I will discuss a bit more on the kinds of jobs that are available on oDesk and the kind of machine one must have. For now, think about joining in, find work, get paid and join the online work revolution. Get a computer that works.