The Fearful Freelancer

Some people can make the switch to freelance life seamlessly. They know their audience, their business, and what they can provide and go with it. They roll with the punches, and learn when they could normally just give up.

For years it seemed that my transition was also seamless. I started taking on oDesk contracts while in college, kept a few when I had a day job, and got more whenever the job market hit. In every lapse in employment, I've always been able to turn to oDesk.

But even after all this time as a writer on oDesk, a writer who actually does more social media and research than anything, I still find myself crippled with fear when asked to write an article.

What if the client doesn't like it? What if I spent too long researching? What if it sounds like I'm as dumb as I feel when writing about your sound equipment?

I most struggle with the fear that I'm not good enough. I get daily invitations from people needing articles, bloggers, ghostwriters... But apart from the fact that I hate '20 Unique Excellent, SEO-optimized articles in 1 Hour!), I hate when hourly jobs ask me to write an article.

I'm just not good at it. I almost feel like subcontracting everything I get to someone who actually enjoys writing for businesses.

Sunday Before Tax Day

My mind is a bit of a mess. I have a headache from the number of worries and hopes running through me right now. But I know that I'm happy.

Today is my little bro in law's birthday party day, and I haven't gotten his gift yet. Tomorrow is tax day, and I can't actually afford the bill from Michigan. I'm sitting in Barnes & Noble, one of my favorite book chains, surrounded by books I can't afford to buy.

My eyes hurt, but it's so beautiful outside after a week of wet and cold weather.

I actually have work to do this week, oDesk jobs that I just started, which is great. I really need to get creative though, and start managing my own social media like I manage other peoples' accounts!

Invitations to Interview w/ oDesk

Most of my freelancing jobs through oDesk have been from invitations to interview. In fact, my first job came two weeks after making my profile and taking a few tests in Technical Writing, Email Etiquette, and Phone Etiquette. I didn't expect anything to come of it, but sure enough, I was invited to be a beta writer for a software development company.

A lot of people who join oDesk think they'll get a job pretty quickly just for making a profile and doing well on a skills test. I knew this wasn't the case and ever since, I've been warning people against thinking it's just some vat of jobs. Of course, oDesk is this overflowing vat of jobs, but it's also an overflowing ocean of international workers. It's nearly impossible to get noticed.

About once a month, I get an influx of invitations to interview. They range from article writing, to product review writing, but usually for low pay. I ask, "How did you find me out of everyone else on oDesk," and they always say, "Because of your test scores." I don't think I have outstanding test scores. Even if I'm in the top 10% of almost all of them, they aren't difficult tests! Maybe someone at oDesk is putting me higher in the listings!

I received two invites yesterday, one for product descriptions and the other for editing. I declined the first (with a message thanking the person for the invitation) and responded to the second. Editing is simple. I'm no professional, but people came to ME all through school and uni for help.

The job seems kind of crappy, paying $0.50/article to check them over for quality. If I get it, I'll have money for fast food, if I don't, whatever. I almost think the job was automated, but I could be wrong.

How to be successful with oDesk pt.1

Don't apply for jobs you don't want.

I'm not some amazing person with a profile and portfolio so delicious that I can charge $40/hr and get jobs left and right, or take $500-1000 fixed-price jobs whenever I please. I'm really pretty plain. All I have going for me is a degree from a barely known university, and English as a first language (a rare find!).

But somehow, within two weeks of being on oDesk (back in March), I got a long term job offer, and several more following that. And now I'm regularly employed by a marketing firm!

How did I do it?

1. I only applied for jobs I wanted. Those that I had both the time and energy to do the work. If I wasn't excited, or the least bit piqued, I carried on. New jobs show up every minute!
2. I acted like a human being. When writing my cover letters, I searched for ways to NOT use "Dear Hiring Manager," showed excitement and tried to give a real-life experience that related to a job and not "5 years of expertise in SEO." That would mean saying how much I enjoy writing for a local massage studio, where I'm constantly finding and meeting common-interest businesses online. It may be vague, but it shows that I know how to write and market in one swoop without being dry.
3. I was humble. I am humble. On my good days, I'm one of the sweetest people you'll never meet. I'm not afraid to admit my faults because even if I know that I can bring a skill to the job, there are 30 people who also applied that are more talented with bigger portfolios. When an employer feels like they can teach you something, instead of feeling burdened, I think, they feel smarter. Show enthusiasm to learn and do better whenever possible.
4. I kept in touch. Employers don't throw around "keep in touch, we'll be hiring again soon" just to fool you. Most businesses that turn to oDesk need workers/content/progress right then and are down the wire and anxious for anything they can get quickly. They are usually startups that don't exactly know what they need in the future, but for now need 20 minutes transcribed, a presentation put together, or a list of emails by nights end. Chances are, in a few days they'll need something else, and next week they'll be hiring someone again. Stay on the radar and maintain the relationship if you like the job.

There are so many other things that I could jam into here, but I write too much. You should hear me talk when I'm nervous, it's insane!

Qualifications:

Bachelor's Degree in STC (new graduate, some experience)

English-speaking American

Excellent oDesk test scores

A lot of free time.

Article Writing on oDesk

Have you found yourself wanting to do some quick article writing for some extra cash? Thought about giving freelancing a shot? Well please look further--than oDesk.

I love oDesk. This site has kept me actively thinking and learning for months after graduating, and gave me real purpose during the last semester of school (when I most felt like a failure to humanity). So when I took a job writing articles, I really didn't realize how much I'd grow to hate something that I did wonderful in in Intro to Journalism.

See, I love to write. I love to read. I love to do both so much that I constantly find myself either getting writer's block because I couldn't write fast enough and lost my train of thought, or losing interest in a story because there are so many MORE to read, and not enough time. And I love to cite everything, enjoy putting in-text citations in the appropriate places, and look forward to verifying my sources a few times.

On oDesk, all of my hard work and addictive nature goes to waste. I landed a job writing about black hair care, giving content for a blog attached to a website selling hair products and weaves. The problem: the site was for traditional black hair care, and I'm a natural. For those who don't know, "traditional" in this context means chemically relaxed, weaves and synthetics, constantly ironed and processed, and the products to keep the hair from falling out from all the stress. As a natural, my hair is not processed, so the products and tools I use amount to a whole $5 from Walmart for the entire year. A whole different scheme of products. Writing positively about TERRIBLE hair practices was difficult for me, to say the least.

Something else that was difficult was writing articles as fast as some of my Filipino and Indian counterparts. For someone as thorough as I am, it could take upwards of 4 hours to produce a quality, referenced article for publishing. For others, it would take 10 minutes to produce just some content for a site--what employers on oDesk want. There are many people that are willing to write 10 articles for $1 immediately. That's ridiculous.

I, somewhat thankfully, got $5 per article. If I had been, say, someone from the Philippines who could write legible articles in minutes and still get a perfect rating from my employer, I'd be rolling in it. Either way, after a few weeks, I told the employer that I thought they'd be better off finding someone to write content only, quickly, and cheaply. The employer agreed, and we peacefully parted ways. I got amazing feedback!

Experience: SEO, Article writing, black hair care

It's technically my FIRST day!

Thanks to oDesk, and the wonder that is Skype, I actually began my new job. That's right, after leaving my position as Assistant Photo Editor just yesterday, it was quite timely that I started my new one today!

This job is quite different, and instead of sorting the photo files of others, I am managing Social Media accounts! I'm having staff meetings and conference calls, and just spent the last few hours diving into Twitter, Facebook, and anything I could find about cars. I'm feeling really special, and really fortunate to have found oDesk and this company.

"Social Media Assistant" is the second big job that I've taken through oDesk, and I wasn't even slightly sure how I managed to get an interview and do well. But it was quite a wonderful surprise!

In July, 2011, I got an "Invitation to Interview" from the owner of a social media marketing firm. After looking through the requirements I thought I'd give it a shot and take the interview. I needed a degree in Liberal Arts, experience with popular social media platforms (Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook), and a big interest in in-depth social media management. I have no degree in Liberal Arts, barely use my Facebook account, and only heard vaguely of people getting paid to Tweet and post on Facebook.

Alas, I had the greatest interview with the owner via Skype. I was so nervous up to it that I was almost sick with worry, constantly researching in order to get myself more prepared, coming up with questions and ruling out "stupid" ones. I had such a bad headache that I hung out in bed to keep myself from running to the computer to look up more stuff. But all that stress was for nothing. The owner was hilarious, we talked about dogs, Star Trek, and skipping town for paradise.

I waited patiently for weeks for her response, only to get the message that she couldn't hire me then, but that I would be first in line for the next available position. To me, having experienced that before, I thought I'd have to wait until next year sometime and tried to get comfortable being poor for a while, eating roman noodles and streaming Netflix. There wasn't a minute that went by that my husband didn't complain about not being able to GO anywhere or DO anything.

But one morning, about a week ago, I thought I'd "keep in touch" as she'd asked and inquired about some things I could research and read while waiting for a position to open up. Quite shortly afterwards she wrote me back saying she could hire me right then to take on some new accounts and to set up a meeting on Skype. We met, it went awesome (more talk about randomness) and I stayed logged in for a staff meeting an hour later.

I spose that's the end of that story! oDesk is magic!

Who am I?

I'm really nobody special, just a recent graduate documenting her life after college.

Name: Brenda Harjala. Occupation: Freelancer at oDesk, Consultant at Scentsy, Manager at a local massage studio. Location: Michigan. Interests: Fanfiction, Making Money.