I'm a Happy Member of the Professional oDesk Community!

I am now an oDesk professional, as compared to an amateur - someone who does it as a hobby. And of course what that means is I got paid! I've been working for a little bit, but they have a delay - I assume so that the buyers can't cancel the payment. Let's go a little slower and explain how the pay system works there.

When a person or business looks to hire someone through oDesk, they have to give oDesk a method of payment - usually credit card, probably Paypal would work too (not a Buyer - yet!). oDesk then tests the card, and doesn't let that person hire anyone until they have a positive result. As long as the you(or me, a provider) works hourly, you clock in, are monitored, and oDesk keeps a record of time spent and what was going on with your computer. Sunday night, your hours for the week are up, and you have until Monday noon to make any changes - say you got a drink of water and spent 10 minutes talking to a friend; you don't want to charge them for that 10 minutes.

Now comes the wait. oDesk spends about 10 days processing: charging their credit card; handling their paperwork; waiting to make sure the money is safely there; and then they make it available to you. So my first week of work came available yesterday, and I got my first paycheck today, all $221 of it, deposited into my account!

So there you have it. oDesk is for real. There's a lot of competition, and some of it is from places with a much lower standard of living, so you have to work hard to differentiate yourself. But once you do, oDesk can be your new workspace. I make more hourly there than at my other jobs - while sitting in my easy chair, looking out the window. Well, sometimes - a lot of my work was really early in the morning.

In other news, Loxly Studios has three pictures of mine up here. Brand new, so I won't make anything this month. Take a look and see what you think. And let me know if you want anything specific. I live in Newport, on the Oregon Coast, so lighthouses, ocean, gulls, pelicans, the Aquarium, and so on are all really easy to get. I'm thinking about putting together some Motivational Posters - let me know if anyone's interested.

Finally, surveys have been a bust. I mentioned two possibles last week, and they both fell through. One never showed; the other one did, but was closed when I went to fill it out (apparently they sometimes close early). I'm going through the other sites again, but nothing new there either. Well, at least I'm learning what works - and what doesn't!

Monthly recap coming soon!

Online Work

Good news/bad news...

oDesk (and a real-life job) have been working wonders, and I've been very busy lately! This is also the bad news, as I can see it's been almost two weeks since I've posted here. So a quick update is in order:

1. Blogging, here and Lucid Living, have both taken hits. And they haven't made me any money this month, so you get what you give. I'll make it a priority to keep these up, as the goal is steady income.
   
2. Loxly Studios still hasn't put up any of the pictures I've sent. I'll keep on them...
   
3. Telecommuting through oDesk has gone great. I've put in 15 hours last week, and probably will have 10 or so this week.
   
4. Posting articles to Associated Content hasn't shown any new promise.
5. I've gotten a couple of Surveys, but so far just ones that will put my name in a drawing. Two coming up look promising, so we'll see.
   

I'll be working more for oDesk, and now looking up another I heard about: elance. Very cool to get paid to sit back with a headpiece on, chat with a boss in Greece, and write text that will make his product better.

An interesting realization: I currently have four bosses, in Idaho, the Philippines, Greece, and one in my town... Welcome to the global economy!

Making Money Online!

Okay, moment of truth time... Early each month, I'll post how I've been doing. Right now, I'm going to keep it on totals, but as things build, I'll move to monthly income. Each of my ventures will get some time devoted to it, so we can compare and contrast. Let's get started!

Blogging
This has been by far the most labor-intensive. I'm putting at least a couple hours a day here (though not this last week, as you'll note by the lack of posts... oops), and so far, little to show for it. Directly - I might have an oDesk job because someone liked the style of writing on my blogs. Anyway, AdSense shows an average of 13 viewers per day, and a total of 47 cents, most of that on a click-through. Nothing on Amazon.com, the other part of blogging income. Well, I was told it would build slowly!

I certainly enjoy the creative and expressive aspect of blogging, so let's see where it goes!

Posting Content
Didn't do much with this one. I got my five articles in by the end of December for a $10 bonus that didn't materialize. One of the 'articles' was a slideshow, and I don't know if that counts. I'll follow up by email and see what comes of it. I also posted two poems in January - haiku for Valentine's Day,here and here .

Final tally: 121 page views for 18 cents.

Sales
Looks like I finally exist on Loxley, but I'm still trying to get pictures up so I can work on selling them. Slow when you're waiting on someone else. I probably would have been better working with eBay or somewhere I have more control. I'm hoping to set up passive income here though. Probably should focus on just income first...

Final tally: nada

Surveys
Well, as I said, I'm signed up for several. I have registered with PineCone, panelbase.net, Greenfield, and American Consumer Opinion - and have only received invites for surveys that put my name in a drawing. And only probably 3-4 of those even. I need to get the second half looked at, and listed on 6-10 survey sites, not just four. I made $3 on two different surveys in December, and have £3 listed in my account from Panelbase.net.

Final tally: $6, and maybe £3

Telecommuting at oDesk
And the winner is... I spent 3-5 hours reading a book - that I would read anyway - and about 1 hour on editing the book, and made $10.53. I also wrote an article for a travel site to help build traffic and interest for $5, spending about three hours on this process too. So far, I'm making lousy 'per hour' income (though not as bad as the blogging), but I'm at least making some money. It also looks like I'm going to get a job on oDesk due to my blogging, so this will jump in February. Wish me luck!

Final tally: $15.53!

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So the grand total is $22.18 so far.

oDesk Work(s)

Woohoo! oDesk works!

Last night, I finished my second job through oDesk - a travel article for a travel agency's site, so they have travel stories for potential clients to read while thinking of traveling.

On January 12th, I finished my first job - editing a book that will be used as a 'teaser' to bring clients to their website and start a new social movement. The book was good, and the ideas interesting, and I really only had to do some proofreading, and idea suggestion. First, I told him I couldn't really help, then realized I needed some work history. So I spent about three hours reading and proofreading, and then put together an email of thoughts, concerns, and suggestions, and charged him an hour. And got a great review out of it.

And made an hour's work: $10. That, and last night's article for $5 means I've made $15 on oDesk - making it my #1 money-earning site so far. We're almost to the end of the month, so I'll be putting up monthly totals shortly.

No Opinions Needed

As a sub-part of the surveys, I now belong to:

1. PineCone Research (by invitation only)
2. PanelBase.net (in the UK, I've earned £3 - we'll see how they pay to the US)
3. American Consumer Opinion
4. Greenfield (no pay, just entry to sweepstakes)
   

So the first three pay, and the last one enters my name in a sweepstakes. Shall I tell you which one has surveys available for me? Can you guess?

I've been in PineCone for close to three months now, and they've sent me two paying surveys while the rest are newer and haven't sent me anything yet. I just signed into Greenfield, and I'm taking a survey on beverages while I type here.

The plan is to find about 10 good survey sites. 20-30 would be better... And by taking a survey twice a month on each, I could make a couple hundred dollars. Now it's looking like I might get up to $10 a month.

We'll see. More to sign up with shortly!

Survey Sign-up, part I

Okay, this is taking longer than I expected. I should have expected it, of course... So here's the first part. I'll do two parts from the original list, then a third part from the new ones I'm finding. On to business:

In the process of Googling these sites (I love the way we verb-ize new words), I found the Survey Police – which had feedback on these and more sites, and some new ones to try out!

• American Consumer Opinion
Easy to sign up for. Also, since I consider myself to run my own company (I’m self-employed somewhat), I qualified for a higher level of surveys that can pay significantly more. Of course, I signed up for that too!
• Global Opinion Panels
Looks easy to sign up for, but rewards are in points, 5 to 5,000 a survey, with 1,000 points redeemable for $1. That means surveys could be worth $0.05. Also, you have to get to 5,000 and then redeem them to get any reward. I’ll pass. For now…
• HarrisPoll Online
Again, you gather points, and then redeem them. For merchandise or gift certificates. I’m holding out for cold, hard cash right now. Probably shouldn’t, but my first wave is for money only…
• I-say Panel
Again, you gather points, and then redeem them. For merchandise or gift certificates, and I couldn’t find clear information on what surveys are worth, or anything worth getting at low numbers.
• Lightspeed
Again with the points. You can redeem them for cash, though, but must have a Paypal account to get paid. And Paypal gets a share of money paid to you through them. Second wave of signups!
• Nielsen NetRatings
Couldn’t find any survey information, or a site that looks like it does surveys.
• NFO MySurvey (TNS)
Took a little while to track down. Looks pretty good, though you have to redeem for money too. At least they’ll mail it to you. I'll sign up for this one today, too.

There you go. Of seven I looked into, three paid cash, but only two looked worthwhile, one was MIA, and three paid in merchandise / gift certificates.

To compare, my original is PineCone Research - which sends a $3 check when you take a survey for money. Sometimes they'll send a survey just for entry into a sweepstakes. They aren't taking new members at the time I've heard, and I got lucky there - they asked a friend of mine to recommend new people to them and he gave them my name. If I get an offer like that, I'll set up something to help you guys get in!

Writing, Blogging, and You

And reaching the top of my list, we get to the Blogs. Blogs are interesting, and I've had several people ask how one can make money at keeping a public journal. Well, I answer, JD did it. Of course, he did it over several years, blogging prolifically, honestly, and just ... well. As to the money part, he has stuck mostly to ads (like Google Adwords) and affiliate programs. For example, I think that It's Not About the Money by Brent Kessel is a great book. I write something about it, then link it to Amazon.com so you can buy it directly by clicking on the link - and Amazon notices you came through my link and pays me a bit for the referral.

Steve Palina did it too, and I'm still working through his advice on How to Make Money From Your Blog. He's right on, but it's a lot to absorb, and I'll work on it slowly, so we can figure it out together.

Which is probably the best advice I've gotten so far: write about something you care about, go slowly, and figure it out over time. Let things build.

And that's why I'm here. I like writing about finances, and I really wish I could find a blog like Online Money Journal here on the web to lead me through the process. Since I haven't found one, it seems like a great niche to fill. The hope and plan is to learn how to make money online, and share the 'secrets' with my readers as I learn them. Thus you become my audience that helps me make money here, AND the next batch of online money makers using what you learn here.

Of course, I'll appreciate all the help I can get, so please add any experience you have, and together we'll chart a course to new wealth. Hmmm. GetRichTogether.org!

At the end of each month, I'll let you know how I'm doing at each method, and we'll look at how it compares to the effort put in. With any luck, we'll shortly know the best ways to make money online.