In a Day, No Change of Scenery for Online Freelance Workers

Sometimes, I can't help but go "bwsh" at people who say we are merely at home.

If there is one thing the regular office people can enjoy that we freelancers at home cannot, it's the change in pace or the break from being in the workplace when the clock strikes after 8 hours of work.

We do not have that luxury UNLESS we are strict about it to ourselves

But as I repeatedly say, online freelancers have this natural capacity to work and work and work even without prodding ... It is easy to get lost in work and work 12 hours, 16 hours on a project, especially if there are no children or partners to remind us to live.

However, one of our strengths is being able to tell ourselves what to do and do it.  So I guess we can tell ourselves to just stop.

But to repeat my point, regular office workers have the luxury to be told to stop.  And the commute home is a break for the brain to change the next situation to face, which is family then rest.

How about you online freelancer?  Is it easy for you to stop work for the day?
Are you good with the no change of scenery for most of the day and the weeks?

Regular office people. what's your take on this?

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How Online Workers Retain Clients, Avoid Being Let Go

 This week, one of the gigs where I'm a regular at is thinking of letting go another teammate in the PH.

Working online is great and fun, but you can still be let go so always be careful of your work output and standards. 

Again, just like in hiring online workers, the main consideration is The Client/ Employer cannot see what you are doing, unlike in a regular brick and mortar office.  In a regular office, you can afford to not say anything because people can see you are doing your job.

For online work though, there are 3 things that have to match up so your client is assured you are doing what you should be doing:

• What you say you are doing, should match
• The output you submitted or the activity logs in the website.  And both should also match
• The results your client is aiming for.

Online workers should have a wee bit higher work standards than the usual employee because they are not seen.  Everything is based on quality work output and a little more communication than usual.  These little things should be lived daily and internalized if you want to work long-term in the freelance telecommuting industry.

For clients to be happy, and for you to avoid being axed (if you are a resident online worker) then make sure those 3 things are in order.

You can do it.  It's easy and doable if you want to.

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How this Online Filipino Worker Earns

 There are plenty of ways Pinoys earn online.

Here are some ways Filipinos earn online, some of which are still a total mystery to me up to now, even if I have been stuck to this seat facing the monitor for 3 years now:


-  Earn from Blogging1.  You can write paid blog posts.  Some companies you can write for are payperpost, blogsvertise, and more.  The more followers you have (because you are a good blog keeper) the higher amounts you can demand. Some people really earn a decent income from a post.  Me, my earning capacity from blogging is crippled because of my laziness to be pro-active with online communities.
-  Earn from Blogging2.  Some post adsense ads and ads from other companies.  Some earn big amounts from adsense.  Unfortunately I'm not one of them.  It's not so much as setting up your blog and waiting for people to come and click your ads and you earn.  The great adsense earners work on their blogs constantly to attract the traffic and engage them with excellent content and a sense of community.
-  Earn from Affiliate marketing. Pinoys sign up as affiliates to the big stores, and they fix their own webstores with  affiliate products so that people buy through them. They get commisions.
-  Earn from Pay per click. Is a total mystery to me.  I never really studied how this works. I feel it takes too much effort for so little pay.  But then, I don't know anything about it to say that. 
-  Working on Freelance projects.  Some sell their skills online, and there are lots of skills you can sell online.  IT-related, writing, designing, admin work, consulting.  There are a lot to be done.  The freelancers work on short stints and constantly market themselves to get new projects.  If you get high paying projects, great.  But save up so that on days when nobody's looking for your skills, you have some money to cough out.
-  Regular workers/ online employees.  These are the residents who work constantly for one party.  So you lose the fine line between client and boss.  Oh, the fine line is not so fine, really.  Employees work 8 hours a day (or the equivalent) for the boss, like in a regular office.  However, as the character of telecommuters go, who work by themselves without supervision, the trap is that online workers work too much, beyond the hours they are supposed to stop and spend time with family. In short, when one becomes a resident worker, you tend to work 10 hours, 15 hours.  No time for family anymore! tsk tsk.
-  Selling using the internet.   One of the best ways to earn online, believe me.  You don't have to be the slave all the time, like me. You can be the boss as well. Same principles apply as to running a business, only you use the net smartly to be seen and heard by customers.  What can you sell on the net?  Anything and everything!  Actual items, services, cyber items, even food and pieces of land get sold on the net!  (Someone even sold tickets to the 2012 end of the world ship over EBay).  Use the net to get leads.  Some seal deals online, others seal the deal face to face. 

How do I do it for myself?  How do I earn?  I prefer to be a regular employee, who also accepts freelance gigs.  The pay is regular, twice a month, and if you have no gigs, that is fine as well.


Someday, I do hope to learn the secrets to earning a lot from adsense, and I would also like to sell online...  but for now, I am content with my regular online job and gigs.


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Do Feelings When Placing Bids Help you Get Online Work?

I don't know why, but I feel blissy when I bid for projects.

Pretend-new age geek that I am, I feel that when I bid on projects feeling blissful and peaceful, I am much more inclined to win the project. 

When I am all frazzled out and stressed and pressured, MORE especially when there are bills to be paid,  I don't get new projects.

But when I am all inspired and feeling moneyed and just all smiley in my heart, I immediately see a notice that the buyer is interested in availing my services.

How about you, would you rather smile or pressure yourself when applying for a project?

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Online Filipino Workers: Do you still Use the Computer to Relax?

Online Filipino Workers are in front of the computer 25 hours a day.  So the question is, do you still use the computer to relax?

Me, I make it a point to not stay by the computer during week-ends.  That is my only time away from it.  However, when I want to relax and spend some me-time during weekdays, I while away my amusement also in front of the computer.

Which sites does a typical online worker go to?
Well, my favorite site of all is Plurk. It has been formatted in a way that you grow friendships in Plurk.
There is Facebook, but I only play 1 cute Playfish game in it.  I do not really participate.
Then there is StumbleUpon.  You get the cutest pieces to pop out on your monitor fromStumbleUpon, that randomly shuffles pages you might like and presents it to you whenever you feel like it.
The others are random things I usually want to find out about, such as recipes, Hollywood news, etc.

On weekends, I so want to stay away from the computer but still want to interact in Plurk, so I use my mobile.  Yes, it is cheating.

I imagine that I can stay away from the computer during weekends, because I have regular gigs.  But for the Filipino online worker who constantly markets the self, Saturdays and Sundays are not exempt to check those mail boxes for inquiries or questions.


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Handy Character Traits to Have When you are an Online Worker

In my few years as an online Filipino worker, I have noticed that some people are naturally matched to working online.  Working at home is something they thrive at, compared to those who do want to but do not thrive as much.

Do you think have what it takes to be an online Filipino worker?  We usually have the same stuff as office people, but some personality traits are more distinct when you are working by yourself, at home, most of the time.  The traits below may seem easy as pie, but usually we'll only know once we've taken on that first online work assignment.

More self-motivated than usual.  Online workers are very independent, more than the usual office worker, maybe.   Since the online worker mostly talks to a monitor, it is easy to slack off and sleep through the day. Regular online workers have a proven track record of automatically doing the tasks needed even without anybody watching them.  People who like supervisors, nannies or mommy to pressure them to do something may not be the best match to online work.


Strong sense of commitment.  Word of honor to deliver is enough to automate the self-motivation.  The online worker dismisses any excuses, real or imagined, to deliver an agreed project.

Comfortable with doing different kinds of tasks. When you are an online worker, whether you are freelance or a resident contractee, on some level you are your own boss, secretary, sales, marketing, operations, admin services in 1.  You are also the janitorial services, so it really helps to be flexible.  Being cheerful in doing "lowly" tasks to boss tasks indicates you can be an online worker in the long haul.

A little more patience, especially for moms with small children working at home.  I salute the work-at-home moms with small children and are still very professional.  Like any office work, we have deadlines.  In the office though, there is the privilege of focusing on only the tasks at hand.  At home, there is the ever-lovable but still breaks the peace, "Mommy, look at me! Mommy may I have juice?  Mommy, hold my hand."  Some online worker moms still make sure their babies/ toddlers have baby sitters so that they can work and deliver.  It's still much better to be physically present at home and keep an eye out for baby and yaya while working, than not be there at all.

Cheerful with almost no "real time human contact" through out the day. This may seem easy to do, but I have found that this where most people are challenged.  Yes, online workers have their online bosses and online friends.  They may suddenly laugh out loud in real time from all the amusing conversation they do online. However, it is still online, conversations that pop out on a  monitor. Some people who are super efficient in the real-time office will suddenly feel "lost" with no human contact throughout the day.  Me, being naturally self-absorbed, thought this was easy to breeze through.  But then, I have been surprised at people who did not match up to online work because of this "lonely" part of the work.

These are the main ones that I can think of.  By now, you may be able to identify if online work is for you, or if the real-time brick and mortar office with people is better.

Online Worker Business Hours

Similar to any overseas Filipino worker, or a call-center agent for that matter, online Filipino workers also have a variety of odd schedules to fill.

Most freelancers work on their own schedules. However, in the initial phases of coordination with a newly-met client, the online Filipino worker has to stay up late or wake up reaaal early to be able to speak to a client. Luckily, staying/ waking up late is a 1 or 2-shot deal. As soon as matters are ironed out, the online freelancer can go about the usual schedule.

Some online workers who are resident contractuals work simultaneously with the regular business hours of the country of the contractor.

Some are lucky and get to work on their own hours. That is, the regular 9am to 6pm Phlippines time (9PM to 6AM EST, or 6PM to 3 AM PST).

Busy online mommies work around the sleeping time of their babies. Once baby drops off to sleep, (or leaves for school) expect mommy to park in front of the pc and work away until she hears the wakening cry of her child... (or the honking of the school bus). It's the signal to change to Charlie Chaplin mode, where mommies always move about a bit faster than the regular rhythm to get family stuff done.

Me, I mostly work Philippines business hours time. My communication matters are mostly done mornings here, so I'm lucky. However, I have this habit of not counting hours that I think are not so productive, even if those are work-related, so I tend to extend hours a lot. Yeah, not so wise, but it's the only way I go to bed with peace (and a smile) in my heart.

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Online Filipino Workers Relax Too

Sometimes, online workers have breaks too.

Some online workers have resident stints that only have them work Mondays to Fridays.

Some work on per-project basis. These people diligently work even Saturdays on Sundays.

Some with Monday to Friday regular online work accept little projects, so they work on these mostly on Saturdays and Sundays.

But since it's the last leg of Filipino christmas, a lot of us are sitting back and relaxing. It's also 1 of the rare times of the year to go out and catch up with friends 1 last time before work starts again.

Yes, some of us tend to forget to go out and socialize, since we do a lot of socializing online anyways. So now is the best time to do it, while everybody else is on holiday mode.

When the wheels of 2010 roll, expect our Online Filipino Workers to work themselves til their computers hang.


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