oDesk review from a real user. Does oDesk work? I wrote about how to outsource around-the-house tasks earlier, but many of you (including, most recently, Christine) wanted more detail on how to outsource jobs that can be done online.
I’ve definitely had success outsourcing jobs online. In this blog post, I’ll show you which tasks I recommend you outsource, how much you can expect to pay, and where to find good workers. When you’ve read this post, you can immediately take action and start taking some work off your own shoulders.
Step 1: Determine What Your Priorities Are.
As a blogger, my #1 priority is content creation. Though some people outsource content creation, I don’t. Every post you see on erica.biz (that isn’t a guest post) is written by me, and I star in all my own videos!
That’s what I don’t outsource. But around that, there are hundreds of hours of work I do outsource.
If you’re a blogger and feel overworked, the first thing I would recommend you outsource are menial blog tasks. You shouldn’t be upgrading your own plugins, tweaking themes, or upgrading WordPress to a new version. Let a worker handle that for you. I outsource all of that for $30/hour, though you can find workers to do it for even less.
If you’re still moderating comments by hand as a blogger, the first thing I’d do is to kick yourself. Ouch! There. This is one of the easiest tasks to outsource. Your time as a blogger is far more valuable than that!
Other things I outsource include video editing, audio editing (especially important for podcasters!), bookkeeping (keeps those accountant fees down!), transcription, Internet research (great for “10 ways to…” content), and programming tasks.
Thinking about what your priorities are should allow you to see at least one routine task you can outsource. Start there.
Which Freelancing Site is Better?
I’ve used eLance, RentACoder, and oDesk. Of the three, I vastly prefer oDesk.
Elance charges a minimum of $50 for project tasks, and a $5 minimum per hour. This alone makes eLance a complete waste of time for me. Often the tasks I want to outsource will only take 30 minutes or so, and many of the bids are far lower than $5 per hour.
RentACoder is great for finding talented programmers, but the interface is cumbersome and they encourage you to make the bids per-project instead of hourly. My preference is to pay hourly. I have used RentACoder successfully, but the interface bugs bothered me.
They also force you to communicate through their buggy system. For instance, when I was using it, every time I wrote a comma, it would delete the rest of my post. For a system written by programmers, I was amazed it had those bugs. They fixed that bug a few days later, but I was already used to editing out all my commas. Blech!
After using both those sites, as well as oDesk, I found myself coming back to oDesk repeatedly for a few reasons:
- oDesk lets you see what your employee is doing–it takes screenshots of their computer every so often, and shows their level of activity (i.e. are they idle or actually working?) That way you know you’re getting someone who is actually motivated to work.
- There’s no minimum bid or minimum per-project amount. I’ve hired freelancers who have billed me $7 for a couple hours of work. oDesk bills your credit card once a week, and manages all the payments to providers. If you have a dispute, there is a dispute resolution process. I used their dispute resolution process once and managed to get all my money back, so I’m happy with that.
Step 2: Write Your Job Description.
When you first set up oDesk, it will charge your credit card $10.00. That’s to make sure you’re legit. You can then use that $10.00 credit to hire your first employee!
The next step is to post a job. Keep in mind that the more specific you are in your job request, the better off you will be. A common mistake is to want to hire one person for everything. Hire for a specific, small job first. Then, when you’ve found the right person for that job, either expand what you want that hire to work on or hire another person for your next task.
In your job description, explain the task, then ask the provider to do something specific to make sure he or she has understood what is involved.
Here’s one I posted a couple months ago:
“Looking for someone who can do some research online and generate a list of 50 blogs that accept guest posts.
You MUST understand what a guest post is and how to tell which blogs accept them in order to be hired for this task!
To be considered, please send with your application one blog URL that accepts guest posts. Can be any blog — any topic — it is just so that we are both clear that you understand what the assignment is.
Assignment will need to be completed within 14 days; please do not apply if you are not available at this time.
Thank you,
-Erica”
I stated my requirements specifically, and asked them to prove that they had read the job description and were qualified for the job by giving me an example.
The great thing about oDesk is that applicants start coming in in just a few minutes. For simple jobs, you’ll get 15-20 qualified people in 20 minutes. For more complex jobs, you’ll likely have a qualified person or two within a day!
Typically, for the less complex jobs, I hire someone within an hour.
Step 3: Picking the Right Person
Since you’ve added a requirement in your job description, anyone who doesn’t meet the requirement should immediately be out. I also look at previous tasks the person has performed. I don’t take a risk on a new oDesk person; I want to see that he or she has done similar tasks in the past.
Ratings can be staged a bit, so a person who has all 5-star ratings still may not do a great job. However, the more similar jobs the person has done in the past and the better ratings he/she has, the more likely he or she will do your job well.
I usually look for someone who writes English pretty well in the application and who has met my specific requirements. I don’t usually pick the cheapest or the most expensive. And I tend to be biased toward the Philippines since I’ve hired so many amazing workers from there.
Step 4: Communicating with Your Employee
I usually hit “Interview” with 2-3 people and ask for their Skype usernames and whether they can interview right away. I communicate with all my employees via Skype text chat. I love Skype because it shows me what time it is in their time zone. It’s a free download, so there’s no excuse to not have it.
Whoever replies back the fastest and I can get on Skype gets the job. Usually, the person can start right away. I relay the job description again and make sure he/she understands. I remind the employee that I am available for questions if needed. I then send any files that are required either via email or Skype.
If it’s a long task, I ask for the employee to do one piece first, and then send it to me, so I can make sure it’s being done properly. For instance, for the above task, I asked my employee to send me 10 blogs, formatted in a spreadsheet as I requested, first. Once he had sent those, I gave the green light for the rest of the project.
Step 5: Closing and Leaving Feedback
Once the employee has completed the task, it’s time to close the task and leave feedback. If you have any issues with the employee, try to bring it up first instead of just leaving negative feedback.
In general, the employee will complete the task. Your next step is to close the task on oDesk. oDesk makes it simple to re-hire someone, so don’t hesitate to close the task unless you immediately have more work for the person.
To close a task, go to My Jobs -> Assignments, then click on the task and click End Assignment. Then rate the person. I like to add a bit of feedback as to what they did to help future providers, too. For instance, I might write “Great work inputting all the data into the Excel spreadsheet and then emailing it to my clients!” This lets future providers know that this person knows how to work with spreadsheets and email.
Conclusion: Is Outsourcing Worth It?
In general, using oDesk has worked out great! I’ve found many amazing workers, and only one truly bad one (a PHP programmer I fired after he had spent just a few hours working with me.)
I’ve hired people for a total of 387 hours of work on oDesk–that’s a lot of time I’ve saved!
It’s definitely worth a shot. You don’t have a whole lot to lose–since you can expect to pay $3-$10/hour for most basic work, it’s low-risk if you hire someone and he/she doesn’t work out. Since you’re starting with basic tasks and expanding from there, you can quickly gauge if a person is competent. And, if someone doesn’t work out for whatever reason, you can simply “End Assignment” and start a new job with new candidates.
I encourage you to try this route if you have any rote work that needs to be done that you’re currently doing yourself.
“But Isn’t This Exploitation?”
I’ve posted about outsourcing before, and I always tend to get comments about how I’m “exploiting” workers.
oDesk, and other outsourcing sites, are not exploitation. A worker has to actively apply for a job. No one is putting a gun to that worker’s head and saying “Apply for jobs online, darn it!”
A lot of the background of this theory, though, is that $3/hour (or less in some cases) “seems” exploitative to us. After all, most Americans couldn’t live on that wage.
To illustrate my point of view, let’s take a typical American named Craig and give him a $30,000/year salary. Now let’s place him in my hometown of Brookville, Indiana. Craig can live pretty well on $30,000/year. He can buy a 3BR, 2ba house on 1/4 acre of land (~$80,000), go out to the Dairy Cottage for some good fried chicken, and afford a decent car–you need one there, because the nearest Wal-Mart is 20 miles away. But overall, Craig will live a pretty happy life!
In fact, Craig’s salary is pretty close to the median household income of folks who live in Brookville: $32,670/year.
Now let’s put Craig in San Francisco. $30,000/year is painful to live on in San Francisco–I speak from personal experience! Tax rates are much higher, including a whopping 9.5% sales tax. Craig won’t be able to afford a house on 1/4 acre; he’s probably stuck sleeping on someone’s couch or living in a bedroom that was once a closet and sharing a house with several others. He probably won’t be able to afford a car–fortunately, he probably won’t need one. With lunch costing $9.25 for a sandwich, he’ll probably learn to cook. Craig probably feels poor compared to his other friends in San Francisco; San Francisco’s median income is $65,519.
In the Philippines, the median annual income is 111,000php, or about $2,450/year in U.S. dollars. Our friend Craig could live like a king there (and, in fact, many Americans do choose to retire to lower-cost countries like the Philippines and Thailand.) Divide it out into an hourly rate, and you’ll find it’s about $1.18/hour–which means people earning $3/hour are similar to folks earning $60,000-$90,000 annually in the U.S.
Of course, “middle class” means different things to different people, and you’ll likely find a “middle-class” lifestyle in the Philippines to be far different than here in the U.S. But the important thing to note is that none of these people feel exploited. In fact, they’re thrilled to have the opportunity to prove their worth, and they are some of the nicest people you’ll ever have the pleasure of working with.
I know outsourcing can be a touchy subject, but I use this story to help you break through your own barriers. We know you wouldn’t work for $3/hour, but a sandwich doesn’t cost $6 in the Philippines, either. It’s all a matter of perspective. Should you still have concerns, I encourage you to spend time in third-world countries. See for yourself the type of people you’re giving opportunities to. It will change your perspective entirely.
Outsourcing is great for you, but equally great is giving other people an opportunity to share in your success. It will help you double the amount of work you can do and deliver even more to your clients and prospects. And when you find the right people, you’ll wonder how you ever lived without them!
Give outsourcing a shot today. You have nothing to lose. Get started with oDesk.
Have a question on outsourcing? Ask me in the comments!
Recommended Reading:
- Five Steps to Freedom: How to Outsource. In my earlier post on outsourcing, I show how to outsource common household tasks, like cooking and cleaning, to make your life easier.
- oDesk. Set up an account today and get started outsourcing. It’s painless.
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6. May 2010 at 2:19 pm
Thanks for pitching in for oDesk.
I work full time on oDesk, as a provider and agree with Erica.
She has been a loyal buyer, click on my name to hire me on oDesk.
6. May 2010 at 2:29 pm
Good stuff, Erica. I find it funny how these things work. John is doing this prelaunch. Yesterday, I had a conversation with a friend of mine who uses Odesk heavily and outsources to 6 full-time people in the Philippines. Today, I spent some time planning out some of these things and have arrived at the conclusion of using Odesk and streamlining some things.
We’re all thinking the same thing at the same time.
6. May 2010 at 2:35 pm
I’ve used oDesk in the past and had a great experience with them. Thanks for the suggestions on the kinds of blogging tasks that could be outsourced easily. I hadn’t thought of outsourcing comment moderation
6. May 2010 at 2:41 pm
Erica, I have been thinking about outsourcing for a while. Your step by step approach make it seem much more doable.
Also, I appreciate you taking the time to address the exploitation question but I would hope everyone would understand the way business works in a global economy and that this is not exploitation.
6. May 2010 at 2:42 pm
Hi, Had been reading your post for some time now and they are always worth reading. On outsourcing, i am from india and i know how it is here, have been working as a freelancer, an agency. But was for last 7 years never really got through any of the freelance/outsource webistes as a bidder. But still ended up working for 7yrs and have good loyal clients who prefer to work with me for all there needs and got some great referenced clientele from them. The only thing about your post was as you said you would not like to try a new guy on odesk or any other site, gives a shallow feeling as the day you also started your business you were new and someone gave you a shot and that is why you are here now !!! correct me if i am wrong,I have loads of portfolio lots of testimonials but if i make a account on odesk for bidding i would still be looked up as a new bee and wont be taken seriously( or not to be bet upon as per your post). I just wanted to say what i had on my mind. Thanks.
Robin
10. July 2010 at 6:10 am
Robin,
You make some good points here; however, speaking as an oDesk buyer, if you have an impressive portfolio some buyers would still give you a chance. It’s the newbies who have 0 hours, 0 portfolio docs, and 0 references that make me nervous. I had a very bad experience with someone like this.
Be encouraged. Don’t give up.
Missy
6. May 2010 at 2:51 pm
You’re the cats meow! You explain things so simple. You are a master.
6. May 2010 at 3:04 pm
I like this approach Erica. Very well done.
My problem in hiring an assistant like this is I have so many unrelated tasks that I would need an army of assistants, and I don’t have the cash to pay finders fees for each.
The site mentioned in the video, onlinejobs.ph (I think) seems pretty cool, and if these people don’t mind working for those rates, then I don’t mind paying them.
6. May 2010 at 3:44 pm
At this point, I can see how I could have outsourced at least some of what I’ve done. But I *really* like to know a little bit about what I’m outsourcing… been burnt before. I’ll be doing more outsourcing in the future, even for coding.
On the other hand, I’ve found that moderating comments is one of my best ways for getting to know my readers. I mentioned to Srini Rao last night (He interviewed me. Booyah.) that around 2/3 of my guest posts have come from commenters, these guest posts usually get a LOT of traction, and remain the more popular articles on my site.
So I’m going to hang on to comment moderation!
6. May 2010 at 4:15 pm
Great article! Have been researching options of outsourcing for an upcoming project and just recently heard of o-desk and am glad to see others are using it with success.
Keep up the great content!
6. May 2010 at 4:29 pm
Hi Erica,
Interesting post with a lot of good tips.
I knew nothing about oDesk even though I vaguely remember hearing the name.
I’m not sure that I’d feel good about having someone else moderate comments on my blog.
Do I have to kick myself for staying in touch with those who are contributing to my blog?
Otherwise I agree with you that we need to save time on the repetitive tasks and that giving work to others who are happy to have it is not exploitation.
Perhaps you can clarify how you have comments on your blog moderated without being out of touch with your readers.
You encourage people to ask questions in the comments.
It will be nice to see you reply to them.
I know that you can reply to the most interesting and valuable questions in one of your next posts but if you reply in the comments section my question would be:
Will it be you who answers or somebody you hired?
Vance
6. May 2010 at 5:54 pm
Hi Vance,
Everything on this site that says it’s by me–is by me. I write my own content (except in the case of guest posts, which are clearly marked as such.)
I’m afraid a couple folks have confused moderating comments with reading them and replying to them. Two totally separate things. Moderating comments means approving/disapproving which comments appear on the site. In my blog’s case, it’s just getting rid of the junk spam and keeping the real comments (such as yours.)
I’m NOT talking about having someone else reply to comments. That would be kind of silly, on your own blog, don’t you think?
-Erica
6. May 2010 at 4:35 pm
OK seriously? I was going to toss out your email since I’ve been swamped with emails from so many helpful people. It’s my own fault since I myself sign up to get them. Anyway, I was cleaning out my inbox, and not really looking to outsource. But I read your email anyway, and then the link online and next thing you know I’ve signed up at odesk with a job offer for a web designer. I have a next to nothing kind of budget for this, so am not sure if I’ll get any bites on this. But it made me do something about the lameness of my website rather than sitting around still dreaming about it getting cool. So, thanks much for the advice. I’ll be sure not to space out on your emails to follow.
6. May 2010 at 4:49 pm
–sheiler–
Probably the #1 lesson I learnt (disclaimer: lots of folks in the UK use this version) in the last month is: The power of subscribing is not in fearing some mailbox spam (unlikely) as sites like Erica’s with content, never send you crap just to flaunt their aweber powers. The emails at worse deserve a once-over. And again, they don’t work so hard to gain your subscription, only to annoy you into leaving with a cluttering up your tidy inbox.
6. May 2010 at 4:54 pm
I feel this post should not have been, just about three websites but more about just outsourcing..
and @Vance nice one
now i feel Erica doesnt even update her twitter, its just someone doing it for her.
6. May 2010 at 5:55 pm
Yeah, Robin, think that all you want. Guess my VA is the one who’s fostering the four cats, then, or complaining about having to do laundry.
Seriously, if I hired someone to write my Tweets, they would probably be more coherent than most of the stuff I post now.
Again, when it comes to my blog (and Tweets, and Facebook), if it says it’s by me, it’s by me.
-Erica
6. May 2010 at 5:11 pm
I use odesk too and have had good and poor results for it. Definitely will use the interviewing tip you gave next time. Aldo been trying out burnyourtodolist.com which has a good model.
6. May 2010 at 6:54 pm
Hi Erica,
I used ODesk for the first time last week for a small job and my experiance was very positive. I will use them again in the future.
Brad
6. May 2010 at 6:57 pm
I just hired a VA through onlinejobs.ph. I learned one very important thing. I wrote an email telling them about the job and asking questions for each candidate to answer. I sent about 10 out. I didn’t get one reply.
I asked the company why and they told me my email was too long. First, I should just ask if they are available and looking still and that is it.
I emailed about 30 people and received about 6 responses. I finally hired one, and I’m paying via Xoom. I’ve asked the VA to do a two week trial, and then we would work in three month increments. She’s been working for me for a week and working out well so far.
I’ve also been using the Askimet plugin for comment moderation and it’s been awesome. (though you have a lot more subscribers than I do, not sure if it would be as wonderful for you!)
6. May 2010 at 7:06 pm
I like what you are saying, but I have one issue with the post (at least from an employee stand point).
“I don’t take a risk on a new oDesk person”
That sounds ok on the surface, unless you are a person just starting out. It is the same old thing you have to have experience to get the job, but how do you get experience without the job.
I am in the process of starting a new career, and this is one of the most frustrating parts of the whole process.
6. May 2010 at 7:56 pm
Hi Bradley,
I am not everyone. Plenty of people will hire you if you’re a new worker.
-Erica
6. May 2010 at 7:17 pm
Why is it always exploitation when someone else gets the job but creating opportunities and generating employment when you get the job?
Outsourcing has been making its rounds in the blogosphere of late and thanks for coming out and recommending oDesk. I’m going to put something out there this weekend just to get an understanding of the process.
6. May 2010 at 7:21 pm
Thanks for this article, Erica. I actually wrote about this along a similar vein in a post last week! Being a former HR person, I really stressed that you have to have a good job description and COMMUNICATE with them.
We love oDesk! And I totally agree with you about “exploitation”…fed minimum wage here in the US is only a few dollars more per hour than the $3/hr we pay our person in the Phillipines. Besides, we’ve been really burned by local people we’ve hired to do things…want the pay but don’t feel that motivated to do the work. I sent out a request for some online clerical help to many of my friends who are on furlough from state and county jobs and complain to me about it. Not one wanted the work! Hmmm. When we put in a request through oDesk, we’re inundated!
Kim
http://HowToSellYourVideos.com
P.S. I met you on the IM Cruise/Belize cave excursion. I lent you my insect repellant. Love your blog!
6. May 2010 at 10:08 pm
Hi Erica,
Crazy timing, I just hired two VA’s through elance to do two test runs. I’ve been really happy with their results. I would say the $50 minimum is an asset, because it forces me to assign more projects than my normal “worried to let go of control” self would otherwise assign.
Also would recommend doing a quick search for job postings that are similar to the task you assign. You can then use the good job postings as templates to help you write your posting.
7. May 2010 at 12:16 am
oDesk Review
oDesk, and other outsourcing site, not exploitation, I agree with your opinion. Things may be different, interesting part of a different lifestyle. If in the U.S., Craig in San Francisco. $ 30,000 / year, in the Philippines about $ 2.450 per year if in Indonesia about $ 4.500 per year.
This is a unique in your ability to make a breakthrough, so that others are hard to imitate. An idea you have to say, so I really have to think differently since reading your article. Indeed there are still opportunities that have not may be beneficial, and I believe it can be found with a better understanding of the activities for the advancement of bloggers. OK! Thank you for this information and success for you.
Best regards,
7. May 2010 at 3:04 am
Hey Erica! I happen to be a freelance web designer and developer working on elance, and I also happen to be an old time fan of yours
So thank you for putting the spot-light on outsourcing websites like odesk and elance!
I am a fan of elance though and let me explain why: for me to be a provider on elance, I have to pay a monthly tax.
Now the thing is…odesk is free, anyone can get in. Because of that, any kid who opened photoshop yesterday can say he is a guru in this (talking about guru, that’s another outsourcing website
. Well, I am exagerating a bit, but you get the idea!
With the payment comes also a responsibility, knowing that those are your hard earned money, you tend to think twice before applying on projects that go beyond your skill level.
The other thing is that on elance I always take time to first understand my clients requests before I bid on the project, and I always make a personalized proposal, not the standard on-size-fits-all proposal you see on others. This is because I pay each of the bids I make (with pre-payed “credits” elance is offering). Same principle applies here: when you know there are real money involved, you tend to be a bit more responsible with the way you bid and chose your projects!
Oh, and elance just implemented the system that lets you see what your employee is doing – with screenshots. Pain in the a if you ask me, I think no piece of software will ever replace genuine human interaction, communication and trust
7. May 2010 at 8:46 am
Hi Erica-
I appreciated this post – had heard about odesk, elance, etc., but never really explored how to best use. Now I will. Question for you – was curious regarding why you prefer paying by the hour vs. by the project.
P.S. We are in the M3 group together as well.
7. May 2010 at 12:56 pm
Erica – thanks again for another great article that I can actually used. I’ve signed up for other newsletters and have unsubscribed to all of them except for yours. I look forward to your next post.
7. May 2010 at 1:36 pm
Erica,
GREAT information!
I really don’t understand what the big deal is about whether or not you write your own blogs.
I think we are missing the point, and the point is, do you find the information from erica.biz blog, useful or not? Is it really a show stopper, if Ericia did not write her own blogs?
Really?
7. May 2010 at 5:30 pm
I agree with the exploitation explanation, after travelling much of Vietnam and Thailand, the cost of living is much less there and the wage much much less (EG A friends housekeeper is paid 700baht a month the equivalent of 30AUD and that’s for her working 6 days a week, this is quite normal) someone who is putting in the effort to increase their skills and work themselves out of poverty should be given the opportunity to do so. They all have families to feed too.
As I use my blogs as a way to increase my own skills in Web Design and Coding though, and certainly as more of a hobby than a full time career, I prefer not to Outsource. Perhaps if I come across a task way out of my skill set I would Outsource.
8. May 2010 at 12:36 pm
Hi Erica,
Thanks for the wonderful article. I never thought about outsourcing tasks before (maybe I am behind the times), but your post got the wheels in my head turning.
I think some of the research and maybe even writing for my blog posts could be outsourced. However, I wonder whether it will be difficult to find individuals with excellent writing proficiency.
9. May 2010 at 6:19 am
I got scammed on elance, so outsourcing is still a sore subject. The provider kept asking for delays and delays and delays and eventually stopped communicating with me. Strung me out beyond the time limit to file.
I’m wiser now, but still have some concerns about VA.
Access codes and login.
1. Moving an email list — requires logging into two different on-line services.
2. Updating Plug-ins on wordpress — i’d be concerned about protecting my content while a person is logged in updating my stuff.
VA’s are not new to me, but this security is a missing piece
10. May 2010 at 4:20 pm
Hi Chris,
For WordPress plugins, you can make a second Administrator account. In fact, I’d recommend doing this for any VA situation–separate FTP accounts, etc.
As far as security goes, I’d say the incidence rate of security issues is virtually 0. You’re actually at a higher risk if you leave your WordPress & plugins unpatched due to time constraints than if you hire someone to do it for you.
Of course, if you are concerned about it, you can always get references from the person you’re about to hire. But…I know a whole lot of people who outsource, and I don’t know someone who’s ever gotten burned.
-Erica
10. May 2010 at 12:31 pm
Hi Erica
Please don’t take this as a criticism it isn’t but there is a difference in understanding between the USA and the British view on things but…
Are you trialling the ‘soft sell’ approach with the affiliate link to John Reese’s product to ‘see how it goes’?
Regards
Derek
10. May 2010 at 4:12 pm
Hi Derek,
Great question! So here’s what happened…I received several emails from folks with the first video link. David Risley (a problogger, genuinely awesome dude, and friend of mine) was one of the people who promoted it.
I sent David an email asking him how he felt comfortable promoting it when he hadn’t seen the product. Turns out David has bought John Reese’s stuff in the past and has been happy with it, and felt OK promoting this.
By the way: As far as I know, NO one who is promoting John Reese’s product has actually seen the product. In fact, I joined his affiliate email list and Reese hasn’t said anything about what the product will be to that list! Our only clue came in the third video; now we know it’s a coaching program about outsourcing.
Of course, John Reese sends out to his affiliates email templates to use. But I am not comfortable pushing something hard if I don’t know what it is. I decided the only truly ethical thing I could do would be to write a post and be open and honest–I haven’t seen the program; I don’t know what it does, but the videos are good.
The people who do the hard sell and carpet bomb their list (and they’re out there; I’m getting emails from them) about this stuff will do pretty well. The people who do low-key stuff like me probably won’t; I’ll be happy to get 1 or 2 sales from it. But I’m OK with that, because I really want to develop a reputation for not just promoting whatever the “hot s**t” is, and instead really making an effort to review and have an open discussion about the products I promote.
This may be worth a blog post. I know a lot of people struggle with this. I hope this helps you see some of the thought process behind my decision to go “low key” but 100% transparent.
-Erica
10. May 2010 at 8:48 pm
Hi,
Great article.
I’m from the Philippines and working freelance part time at odesk too.. I still keep my full time job though while doing part time at odesk for about 2-3 hours/day and about 5 hours on saturdays.. I’m actually receiving more from odesk in a month compared to my full time job LOL ..
To me beloved employers in Odesk and to the founders of Odesk, thank you! you were all a great tremendous help for me and my family
11. May 2010 at 8:33 am
Hi Erica
Thanks fot the detailed reply. I agree transparency is the way forward as I have proved to myself clarity ALWAYS trumps persuasion. I was a subscriber to the Reese Report for many years although it did tend to repeat itself every few months which is why I stopped the subscription.
Never made a cent or as we say a penny from following any of the reports suggestions but certainly found lots of ways not to do things so on balance the subscription was a success.
Your approach is a breath of fresh air and I heartily recommend getting of the e-mail bombers lists.
My blogroll is down to
Tim Ferris
Jeffrey Friedl
mnmlist
I will teach you to be rich
Yours of course
The Art of Non Conformity
Millionaire Mommy Next Door
and finally
worryfreeisland.com
All inspirational in different ways and not a ‘pitchy’ e-mail from any of them.
11. May 2010 at 3:01 pm
Thanks so much, Erica – I had no idea that ODesk even existed…I was having so-so luck trying to outsource using Elance. Most of the time it took forever to find the right person, and it was enough of a hassle that I found myself wondering if trying to outsource was more work than just doing the task myself.
In contrast, I used ODesk today to outsource my first WordPress data entry project, and I found the right person in under 45 minutes – and I’m only paying her $3.00/hour! I couldn’t be happier.
Thanks for making my life easier!
cheers,
Beth
12. May 2010 at 9:24 am
Oh, my gosh, Erica! What a detailed blog post. Super information. Very interesting reading through all of the replies and seeing so many opinions. Both positive and negative.
I’ll be back! Lol! I can tell that I will get a lot of great info here.
Warmly,
Mary Ann Pine
p.s. We had lunch one day at Unseminar7 where you were a speaker. You are a great trainer!
twitter.com/maryannpine
12. May 2010 at 6:20 pm
I had a different kind of outsourcing experience. I walked to my local shopping square to make a local purchase from a local vendor who makes the product locally. I was debating driving to the local shopping square but thought a walk made more sense. On the way there, I noticed water on the sidewalk and that it was seeping through a brick wall.
On the way back home I went to that homeowner and let them know that way in the back of their yard that faces the street it appears they have a leak. It turns out the weekly landscaping service had left the hose on that morning and it would probably have stayed on for an entire week if I had not said anything.
This actually happened to this homeowner another time and nobody told them about the leak and it apparently doubled one of their water and power bills and they were STILL PAYING THAT ONE OFF in month payments.
My point is, lets not stay so cloistered in our cybernet world that we do everthing via the internet or by car. And when using internet services, find people locally to do your jobs. Even if you use the same internet service as described above, use people near your own zip code.
Or, at the very least, split your outsourcing tasks in half. Do half locally, and half internationally.
13. May 2010 at 4:44 pm
The links to Reese’s videos now just point to a sales pitch for his coaching program, do you have a link for the other videos?
13. May 2010 at 5:42 pm
Hi Tim,
I download them as they show up–I’ve learned from previous launches. See my “Double your productivity” blog post:
http://www.erica.biz/2010/how-to-download-videos/
I use this exact method (and then speed them up to watch them.)
Unfortunately, they are “gone” now…but next time someone does a launch, grab the videos and download them if you want them.
-Erica
13. May 2010 at 10:40 pm
Be aware that if you are supervising to see if they are actually working at a particular time, you are an employer, and the person is NOT an independent contractor under IRS rules. Therefore, you must pay their taxes and give a W-2, pay Social Security,and so on.
14. May 2010 at 3:52 pm
I’ve just signed up to oDesk as a Provider, I know it will take a while to get some work, but I’m hoping to earn some extra money to help pay for bills whilst my partner is unemployed due to illness.
I hope that I can land some assignments that pay more than Amazon’s Mechanical Turk. I have been trying that this week and I dont think it’s for me.
15. May 2010 at 5:20 pm
Thanks Erica – I’ve used Elance but I hadn’t heard of oDesk so I’ll be checking it out. Outsourcing is really important to me, because I live in a low skilled area which relies heavily on tourism.
When I employed folk full-time, it was tough to find people with decent admin skills, never mind anything technical.
I like how you’ve given the average incomes and cost of living in different areas. I wish I could get a visa to move to America instead of Canada – I would love to be able to buy a 3 bedroom house for $80,000.
15. May 2010 at 5:32 pm
Hi Cath,
Good to see you here
The parts of the country with houses for $80,000 are nothing to write home about…over an hour from the nearest city and very little culture/activities to speak of. Here in San Diego it’s more like $300,000-$600,000 for a house (but at least you do get a house for that price, unlike some bigger cities.)
Canada has a huge housing bubble that’s destined to pop, so you may be able to find bargains there in a few years. In the meantime, it is cheaper to rent!
-Erica
15. May 2010 at 7:41 pm
Hi Erica,
I came across your post through Twitter. And I love your blog.
I am a Virtual Assistant and Odesk has helped me jumpstart my career. I even always recommend it to first time outsourcers as it gives the security to both the client and the provider.
Good job on the Exploitation stuff also. I have been rejected in the past because some clients think that $7 an hour rate is really low, so they assumed that the work is of low quality also. Well, they just don’t know where $7 in my country could take me. Or sometimes, they would convert the amount into my currency and demand for a lower rate. Odesk often resolves this by having clients see my feedbacks and previous works.
Will keep coming back here Erica, again, great post!
~Kei~
Virtual Assistant at Kreate Business Solutions
18. May 2010 at 7:52 pm
Excellent post Erica.
What do you think about outsourcing a list builder for a beginning blogger?
I’m working two jobs now, and am having a hard enough time keeping up with webinars, and all the books I’m trying to get through.
Frank
20. May 2010 at 10:17 pm
300 USD is only minimum wage equivalent in the Philippines for clerical/administrative work for those fresh out of college.It is not true that outsourced workers who are paid this amount can live like a king in our country, that’s even barely getting by for people who live paycheck to paycheck.The quality of work any outsourcing employer can expect from 300USD can be good enough depending on your standards.If you want high-quality work, such as outstanding writing and computer engineering and design, then that 300USD is not enough to attract the really high-quality workers, because the really high quality workers also know how to demand the compensation they deserve. No one can exploit if no one allows him/herself to be exploited. An employer exploits when the conscience tells you you’re not giving what is fair. In the same vein, an employee is not exploited, if he/she feels he/she is receiving what is fair treatment.
21. May 2010 at 8:08 am
Hi,
I discovered your blog via FreelanceFolder.
I’m a freelance web designer/developer who gets most of my work through odesk, and I also occasionally hire other freelancers. So here are my tips to find the good match:
first, look at the feedback to hours or jobs ratio, a good freelancer will have many hours and a consistently good feedback. You’re looking for above 4.5 in average.
Also very important are the English skills, you can also see that on the profile, but it’s best to have a quick email or IM exchange.
If you hesitate between several providers, give them a cheap and quick task to see who does it the best/quickest.
Look at their test results for the skills you need, they should be top 10 or 20 percent.
Also, make sure they aren’t too busy to take on your project, or agree to start at a later date if you want to work with them, otherwise they may not be giving all their attention to your project.
communicate everyday at the beginning, after that, you can do it every other day, but do it as often as required.
use basecamp or another project management tool to effectively communicate and share documents, etc…
Also, search for “Outsourcing Webinar with Ed Dale and John Reese”, it’s a youtube video with lots of useful info about outsourcing.
Hope that helps
Paul
22. May 2010 at 3:17 am
I would love to offer my services on odesk as a freelancer. I’m just a little confused as to how/where do I start from?
22. May 2010 at 9:22 am
Great post. I regularly use rentacoder for my jobs. Also I find forums such as digital point forum better for finding real talents. Have used odesk only a few times and I must say they are good.
Coming to exploitation. $3/hour is not bad. In India here, people are paid less than that to work in IT companies like Infosys. So most people would be happy to earn that money from home.
24. May 2010 at 12:30 pm
I have worked on RAC and Elance. RAC was a complete waste of time, since, even if my rates are pretty small, I still don’t work for 3 USD/hour. Elance proved to be the best choice as a freelancer. I don’t like oDesk since I am not comfortable at all with having an application monitor my work. I am paid by project, it’s my job to make it work and I dislike the idea of having someone monitor my work. I also multitask in a day and wouldn’t like this intrusion in my privacy, no matter who “careful” odesk would be.
Guru.com cost me 75USD. After 3 months of bidding to projects, with a portfolio that gets me in the top 15 WP designers on elance I wasn’t able to get any job. No, I lie, got a client who claimed he’s fed up with the system and wanted to work “outside”. I refused.
After inactivating my account, I still receive some invitations on Guru. Am not willing to work on it anymore, since 75 USD were a waste of money and no project to work on.
Tried other sites too, but Elance is still my favourite.
Got a content writer on RAC, who did a bad job in the end. Wasn’t willing to kill his rating, but it was clear to me that RAC means cheap bad labour. Not to mention the site is so sinisterly ugly, I cringe everytime I see it.
Am hiring through elance too and so far I am pleased with it. The rates are still OK. 50 USD is not such a big deal, let’s face it. Of course any outsourcer would like to get work for 1USD/hour, but this system forced the bad quality clients and freelancers to go elsewhere. So, for me at least, elance is the place to get decent clients and professionals that are not selling their work for pennies.
3. June 2010 at 8:53 am
“Third world country” – the term itself is offensive.
I have been following your blog for all these years and frankly speaking I am disappointed to find this term in your blog post.
18. July 2010 at 4:26 pm
Odesk changed my life. And also I’m so thankful to have known great people in there and one of them is Erica!
22. July 2010 at 11:12 pm
Hi Erica,
I am from India. I am a new member on odesk.com and I have been looking for job. I am not sure as to how to get jobs there. I have taken up a few tests and now I can apply for jobs. But, I dont seem to get any response inspite of good experience in this field. Please let me know how to bid there and where how to find job.
I have almost 9 years experience in the field of medical transcription (both US and UK) with very good typing speed (78 wpm) and good accuracy. I am currenlty working as a process trainer, training freshers on medical transcription for one of asia’s largest medical transcription company. I want to work from home in the evenings when I am free (maybe around 3 hours or so) and earn extra money. Can you please help me out with this.
23. July 2010 at 11:23 pm
Hi Erica!
My brother told me about oDesk. Before signing up, I searched over the net on oDesk reviews and landed on your page here. After being “enlightened” by you, I signed up a few minutes ago for oDesk. I’m a newbie!
So… in case you’re in need for accounting/bookkeeping jobs, feel free to contact me. It will be an honor to have you as my first employer in oDesk.
Hope to hear from you! God bless!
Best regards,
Rocelyn
1. August 2010 at 3:45 pm
Here are a few best practices I find:
1. Try not to hire someone with less than 100+ hours of odesk experience, let someone else deal with the newbie and train the person.
2. Try to find a contractor that is in the same timezone so you can monitor the progress and not wake up realize he went down the wrong path and you are billed 8 hrs.
3. If you interviewed someone will good review, insisted on dealing with that account, don’t get talked into bait and switch to deal with an unknown account. People with good review cares about their reputation, people doesn’t have any review can create a new account.
4. Review the work every day and dispute it right away, once it falls outside the disputable window, it will be difficult to dispute.
5. Give very detail instructions. Use Skype as much as you can. English comprehension skill is important.
6. Ditch the guy if he is not good. It is meant to make your life easier, if you ended up spending more time communicating or getting frustrated, it is not worthed, put up a craiglist ad at your local college. As lot of smart local kids out there.
27. August 2010 at 11:33 pm
Erica .. you say “don’t take a risk on a new oDesk person”
How about all the coders decide the same for all the new employers .. and ditch all the new employers who do not have a payment history.
Employers enjoy a liberty at oDesk since there are lot of options available for them, and coder are willing to work for as low as $2 per hr.
oDesk has become more employer centric recently. where people are hiring only those coders who have good hours .. I really do not prefer this approach.
Im a Coder and I’ve been using oDesk since it was new .. back in 2003-04 and have hundreds of hours on my account however I do not agree that you should not prefer new guys. Imagine when you sold your online business for a million plus .. no one took you seriously saying that you are only 26 years old and the business is new …
I’m not criticizing your talent .. just showing a new way to think …
31. August 2010 at 4:40 am
Agree, I ditch employers with no payment history. I’m scared.
31. August 2010 at 4:36 am
Great post there Erica. I also work on Odesk as an article writer and I can definitely agree with you regarding us not feeling exploited at all (I’m from the Philippines). Oh well, honestly, sometimes there are a**es who pay like $.50 per hour whom we don’t like. But $3.00 per hour is way way lot of money here. The average worker (in an office here) earn about $9.00 a day so I am really happy with my job in Odesk. Thanks for this great site, will surely visit you again.