Working for oDesk

Working online is not as easy as it sounds. There are a lot of "working online" websites but most of it are only applicable in the United States, or somewhere else, but rarely applies the Philippines. Yes, there were reports that a Filipina had earned hundreds of thousands of pesos by giving her comments online. Rarely will you find a website that offers work for free. If ever there'll be such a website, one can't help but wonder.."is this a scam?" Well, let me tell you my experience with online work...

5 years ago, I've thought of searching for work, online. Since I get to be online almost 24/7, I wanted Internet time to a more profitable and effective. So I've started looking for work online. There were websites that are "catchy" in nature...they will offer you great money with a simple click of a mouse or simply giving your opinion. With these kinds of offers, who will not be tricked into signing up?! And yes, I was tricked into giving them at least $25 for their sign up fee...what did I get? Websites upon websites upon websites....Did I get any offers? Oh yes! But once I clicked on the link to get started, an error will appear saying that the product or company is not being offered in my country! It was so frustrating!!!

I almost gave up, but the Lord has been good, I've found a breakthrough! As I was searching for online work, which I have been doing for the past 5 years, I've finally landed on a gold mine! While clicking on links upon links, I tumbled upon oDesk.com. At first I was apprehensive to join 'coz it might be one of those crazy websites. But as I read thru the website's page, I found out that it's not offering quick money or anything like that. Instead, it's offering real job from real companies for real freelancers...and it's free! So, I've decided to give it a try.

I've filled up their resume, gave a proper calculation of my salary and started applying for work. It's much like applying for a real job in the real world, just minus the hassle of traffic, pollution and weather conditions. I was a member of oDesk since March of 2010, but I only get to work 2 months later. It's not easy to land a job, as it is not easy in the real world. The competition among the contractors are great, but its not impossible to land a job.

The uniqueness of oDesk is in this area: joining the website is free, both for the contractors (freelancers) and the employers; if the employer will hire a contractor, the employer will shoulder the 10% service charge, while the contractors will NOT pay for anything while working under oDesk; the only time a contractor will pay for anything is when he/she will withdraw his/her salary from oDesk, and this is at a very very very low price of $1/withdrawal. So lets say you've earned $251 by working at oDesk and you wanted to withdraw the money, $1 will be deducted from your salary and you get the remaining $250. The same is true to any amount you would like to withdraw. Therefore, it is wise to gather as much money as you can before making a withdrawal.

How to transfer the money from oDesk to your bank account will need another blog for it. What I wanna focus on right now is working online under oDesk.

oDesk guarantees that an hour billed is an hour worked and that an hour worked is an hour paid. That is why there are no "lazy" moments while working at oDesk, which is very unlikely to happen in an office environment. Some people are known to take advantage of their employers absence. Do you know the popular phrase for this? "When the cat is away...the mouse will play" (which, sad to say, is most visible and rampant in the Philippines government employees!) But this is not so with oDesk. oDesk has a software that allows it to take snapshots of what you're doing on your desktop. if you were doing something outside of your work (even for just a few seconds), and oDesk Team took that snapshot, you'll be forced to delete that snapshot, and so does all of your work for that full 10 minutes or so. That's the guarantee of oDesk: that an hour billed is an hour worked and that an hour worked is an hour paid.

There are a lot of work available at oDesk, but most has to do with web pages. Most popular are the web designers and blog/article writers. As I've mentioned earlier, great is the competition among freelancers in landing a good job. And I guess this is the sad part in working for oDesk...for a mom like me, I have to compete with freelancers who have all the time in the world to work. Therefore, those more "abled" freelancers gets to land the "good" jobs while I get the "crumbs".

But in totality, working for oDesk is much more realistic rather than running after the quick and easy way of earning money online. As the older folks used to say "its more satisfying to spend a hard-earned money".

I hope this blog has helped you in any way possible.

For employers who might have read this blog:

For freelancers who wanted to join this wonderful team:

On Being a Home-School Mom

Home-schooling is now becoming a trend in education. A lot of schools, especially in the Philippines, are now offering home-schooling curriculum. Home-schooling was never heard of until the year 2000. And it was not accepted until 5-6years later. Home-schooling is unknown in the unbelieving world, but this is a basic Biblical teaching. It is unheard or unpracticed in the unbelieving world because most, if not all, parents would prefer to throw their children in schools because they need to work to provide the children with good education. But this is not true with the Biblical teaching. Deuteronomy 11:19 says "Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up." Although this specific passage talks about the miracles that God had done and has to do with the teachings of the law, the same is still true when it comes to educating our children. In the Old Testament time, one may argue, there was no institution called school, but that's the purpose why school was made, so that parents can focus on working. But I say, that is wrong. Statistically speaking, children fare well in this world when both parents are there to teach, guide and live by example. Some children fare well too with only one parent present. However, the same can't be said to a child or children who were left in the care of an institution. Home-schooling is the most ideal, but also most taxing of all.

Home-schooling Moms need to have patience, abilities and discipline. Most of the time, we'll hear parents scold their children of not being focus on their studies or assignments. But in home-schooling, it's the Mom (or the supervisor) who needs to be disciplined. The "Supervisor" must be consistent with study time and goals accomplished. The "Supervisor" must prepare all of the things, esp when it comes to craft time. If the "Supervisor" failed to do these things, then home-schooling will not be effective.

However, there are perks as well in doing home-schooling. The child is trained to be independent in doing his homework. The child gets more attention than in a traditional school set up. And the "Supervisor" can figure out the child's weakness in each subject and be able to help the child cope up.

As with anything in this world, there'll always be pros and cons in a given situation. One must weigh the pros and cons of home-schooling before actually "leaping" into it.

I've done home-schooling with my son for 3levels in a span of 2years. I can say that home-schooling is still the best for I can focus on my son's weaknesses. However, my son has acquired my weaknesses as well. I'm pretty poor with crafts, and so I have the tendency to pay more attention with his actual subjects than honing his skills in the arts' section.

Again, there are pros and cons in doing this thing...but it's truly worth a try. It can strengthen one's bond with your child/ren or it can cause more problem. With my case, it has allowed me to get to know my son better in the area of his studies. And I was able to relay to him my goals for him. I can say it has helped us in improving our relationship with one another. And on top of this, I am able to follow-up the principles I'm teaching him here at home with this studies. Home-schooling, for me, is and will always be the best!