More on How to Make Money on oDesk

As the one that is working and making me money, I am really starting to focus on oDesk. It's a job, yes, and my goal is Financial Freedom - and that will come from steady passive income, not pay-per-hour. But right now, I need money (don't we all!), so I take what pays...

Besides, I might have some ideas on how to make oDesk more passive. I'll post on that later though! For now, more on how things work at oDesk.

To make money there, you have to be the cheapest, the best, or otherwise unique at what you do. Considering the competition, I wouldn't try to be the cheapest - many work for under $2 an hour here. The best can also be a pretty high level... That really leaves being yourself and being unique, which means some branding. More on that in a bit.

To set yourself up, first you create an account. They walk you through that, and through the stages of building your profile - think of it as your oDesk resume. Here's mine. The focus is on what you can do for your client (called a Buyer as they're buying your services). So first I took tests to show that I'm not just saying I can write well. You need to take the introductory oDesk test, and then you're on your own. I'd recommend you do a couple obvious ones - creative writing, tech writing, etc. if you want to write. Then apply for a couple jobs and look at the other people applying - click on their names, read their profiles, and start adjusting yours. What other tests did they take? How did they write their intro? Have they worked a bit? Take their profile more seriously, like this one - notice the portfolio as well as tests.

One other thing - as you're building, don't worry about the pay. You'll get up to it. I started at under $2 an hour for my first job - now I'm at $14. The profile in the last paragraph, she started at $10 and now often makes over $30! Start. Write something. Get some positive feedback, and build. There is enough work out there to make a good career here.

Now you just have to stay motivated and working at home!

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!

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!

Takin' Surveys

I will be going through my exploration into making money online. First, an individual introduction of each type...

My first venture into actually making money online was taking surveys. I was invited to Pinecone Research by a friend, and have been a member since November 2008. I've looked into eBay before this, but haven't actually sold anything. A true neophyte...

I signed up after being told that I would make $5 per survey I took, and that there would be one every couple of weeks. When I signed up, the new deal is $3 per survey, and entry into their sweepstakes... Oh well. So far, I've taken three surveys - two paid, and one for entry in a broader sweepstakes. This works out to one a month at the moment - and $3 a month is not the road to riches!

I am kind of unusual though. I don't have a TV, don't see commercials, and we're pretty tight for cash right now, so I don't do a lot of spending outside of necessities. I assume as they collect data, this could weed me out of some surveys.

On the other hand, at the end of the first survey, they asked me if I participated in other surveys. I said no because I don't, but I did copy their list. This is the list of survey companies they talked about, so I assume they are as legitimate as Pinecone Research is. I am now in the process of checking these out, and I'll let you know how it goes.
• American Consumer Opinion
• Global Opinion Panels
• HarrisPoll Online
• I-say Panel
• Lightspeed
• Nielsen NetRatings
• NFO MySurvey (TNS)
• NPD Online Research Panel
• OpinionSquare (may also be known as comScore)
• SurveyCenter (may also be known as Greenfield Online)
• SurveySavvy
• SurveySpot
• Synovate Consumer Opinion Panel
• Your2cents
• Zoom Panel

Review: this isn't a lot of money, but if you can get on 20, it could mean an extra $50 to $100 a month. As you can start right away, it's a good place to have some income while you wait for slower opportunities (i.e. blogging) to build.