Gearing Up

OK – I’ve been pretty busy, as of late. I just completed an assignment on my new outsourcing gig from oDesk. Now, I just have to wait about 3 more days to get paid and I’ll be off to a good start. I also have a new assignment that should start within the next 24 hours – so things should start rolling pretty soon. For those unfamiliar with oDesk – it’s basically a source for various companies, throughout the world (but mostly in the United States) to outsource writing and technical projects to countries that demand a much lower pay scale – so everyone wins. Well, maybe except for some providers in the United States – but that’s the premise of capitalism. Trust me, I know. My last job in the U.S. was outsourced to here, in the Philippines and the job before that – to India. The only tough part with this type of work is the initial building of an assignment portfolio and feedback rating. This is crucial for being selected for various jobs (out of which there are literally thousands). Within the last week, I’ve been offered three assignments – out of which two have been completed. I’ve been paid on the first one but that was a first “test” assignment which paid little. The goal for that job was to get my first feedback rating. The second assignment pays more – but their payment through Odesk will take a few days to clear (as mentioned above). Once things get rolling, I should be pretty busy. My goal is to build a long-term relationship with a reputable client that I can work with through the oDesk software on an hourly basis. This way, oDesk itself will track my work and guarantee payment. Until then, I’ll be scraping by. Snails and rice for Thanksgiving, again, this year. It’s a good thing I like snails 

Future Henry: payment was completed on both assignments and I had the funds successfully forwarded to PayPal. So I guess I can now claim to be a “professional writer”.