What GMA doesn’t tell you about oDesk

With the recent surge in signups due to the publicity on Good Morning America yesterday, oDesk's servers are struggling to keep up with the heavy traffic.  oDesk is getting some press, which is good because they deserve it.  But a lot of people may not realize what goes into freelancing on (or off of) oDesk.

People hear "work from home", and they get excited.  What they don't hear in the glamorized news stories is that it's hard work, and you have to be willing to put forth the effort to get yourself established and make a decent living at it.

What Good Morning America doesn't tell you

You are your own employer - When you freelance, you are running your own business.  When you sign up for oDesk, you are agreeing to their terms which state that you will be an independent contractor for oDesk, not an employee.  You are not entitled to any employment benefits you would receive as a normal W-2 employee because you aren't one.  This means no minimum wages, no health benefits, no tax witholding.  In January, you will receive a 1099-MISC form from oDesk if you earn more than $600, and you will be expected to pay taxes on it.  Welcome to the world of home-based businesses.

You are your own salesperson - Because you are running your own business, you have to obtain and retain clients by providing a valuable service to them.  With every job opening you apply to, you must be able to give the buyers (your potential clients) your best sales pitch to make them want to pick you over the 60 other applicants.  Simply signing up and clicking on the "Apply" button won't do any good unless you have a coherent profile, a strong portfolio, and an excellent cover letter.  Tell your buyers you that you are good in your profile, tell them why you are good in your cover letters, and show them how good you are in your portfolio.

You are competing on a global scale - Just because you make $15/hr doing data entry work at your day job doesn't mean you will make that much doing the same on oDesk.  In fact, it's nigh impossible.  You have to know that there are providers in countries like the Philippines where the minimum wage there is roughly $8 USD per day.  When it comes to copying and pasting and performing general tasks that anyone can do (as many of the data entry jobs on oDesk are), the buyer is more likely to hire based on price.  Don't let this discourage you, but do understand the economics behind it.  For more info on this, have a look at all 4 parts of the "Make More Money" series at the oDesk Insider Blog.

You WILL face rejection - Like it or not, you will not get hired for every assignment you apply to.  It's a fact of life.  If a buyer doesn't hire you, you keep going until someone does.  If you notice a trend when being rejected (for example: bid too high), consider making changes (like lowering your rate) until you can build up a history on oDesk.  Once you have an assignment or two on your profile, increase your rates and apply to more jobs.  Don't just give up because you weren't hired immediately - many long-standing, successful providers have waited months before receiving their first assignments.  Just be patient and, more importantly, persistent.

You can't complain if you didn't take the time to read - Everything you need to know about oDesk can be found somewhere on the oDesk website.  You can find information about their fees, payment schedule, using software, applying to jobs, as well as tips for new providers.  If you can't find anything in their help section, it was probably mentioned in the community forums.  If you don't read any of this, don't take the time to search the help section or forums, but complain about not being able to ________ in the forums, chances are you will do nothing but annoy the other members...so just don't do it.  Read first, complain when you have a solid basis for complaint, and back up your complaints with solid evidence of "wrongdoing".  Otherwise, your complaints will fall on deaf ears...and who knows, you may even get a surly response from me.