Back in the company where I previously worked, I attended a seminar where the speaker, unknown to me at that time, began the talk by asking: “Do you want a life free from worries? Do you want to wake up everyday not having to think about paying the bills, your kids’ tuition fees and other daily expenses? Do you want to have a comfortable life for your family, enjoy vacations, buy the things that you need without worrying about where to get the money?”

Then he went on to tell his story.

He started, like most of us, as a regular employee. But early in his career, he already knew that he doesn’t want to work all his life but still want to continue earning. So he turned his gears on becoming an entrepreneur. He went to work during the day, but spent his nights building his business.

He even enumerated the ways he employed to source money for capital, including withdrawing cash advances from credit cards, to get things moving for him and his ideas. It took him 2 years to pay his credit card debts, but he said he didn’t regret the decision because that gave him something to start with. Later on, needing a bigger funding for his budding company, he drew a business plan, which according to him is a very lousy document by today’s business standards, and presented it to a rich couple who eventually lend him the money he needed to fund his business.

It was an uphill battle, but unrelenting determination, sheer hard work and unwavering faith in himself carried him for so many years until he was satisfied with how the company turned out. Then when an opportunity came along, in the form of a larger company offering to buy his company for $100 million, he knew his efforts finally paid off.

With that huge sum of money sitting comfortably in his bank account, he and his family was set for life. But so strong is the entrepreneur blood that runs through his veins that he decided to start again, venturing on a new company and hoping it will duplicate or surpass the success that he had with the previous one.

Just recently, I got a copy of the book “Go Negosyo” which lists the Top 50 successful and breakthrough entrepreneurs in the Philippines. And I recognized that it was Joey Gurango, the same Joey Gurango featured on page 132 of the book, who was speaking in front of us that day and imploring us to dare to dream and move to make that dream come true.

* * *

The post above is an excerpt from my other (now defunct) blog.

I realized much later that Joey Gurango was introducing to us the concept of passive income. Like web copies that proliferates the Internet today, he started his talk with a question that prodded us to dream. Suffice to say, he instantly captured my whole attention. But unlike the same web copies that proliferates the Internet today, he didn’t pepper his talks with less-work-more-pay illusions. He told the truth.

So how do you earn a passive income?

If you’ve known passive income through sites promising you $$$/day by signing-up to a membership or buying an eBook, you are terribly misled. While it is possible to earn $$$ a day, putting up a one-page website and waiting for people to click that same button and make the same mistake that you did is not the best way to earn that much. Certainly, those sites won’t tell you that to earn a handsome, free flowing passive income, you’ll have to work really hard because if they did, you won’t be enticed to buy their ultimate working-for-2-hours-and-be-set-for-life secret.

When I unearthed that blog and read the posts that I have there, I suddenly realized that I haven’t exerted substantial efforts towards my goal of earning a decent passive income. I am trapped by the urgency of the things that I want to do now. So my passive income, or the ways that I envision I would earn it, is pushed to the side. Occasionally, I will be inspired and I will remember it. But when it comes down to actually getting down to work, I always end up giving in to procrastination.

Procrastination is an ugly habit and it’s a lot like getting drunk. It feels okay while you’re doing it, but you’ll regret it the morning after. But it’s a reality that happens to every people who dreams. We experience resistance. We slack, we doubt, we fear. And it’s normal but you can’t let that stop you from working because there’s no other way to get around that dream. You have to consciously remind yourself, everytime you stop to give way to some nasty little vices, you need to get back to work.

But work alone is the not key. Online freelancers and even regular employees are often limited by the idea the working is the only way to earn money. So their focus is to find more work. Sadly, with this scenario, the moment they stop working is the moment they stop earning.

Passive income changes all that but you must carefully choose where you will direct your efforts. Remember that passive income is a positive cashflow that is consistently generated with minimal or no input at all from you. So work to invest rather work to earn. Investment doesn’t necessarily mean money that you put in a bank or a financial firm for the purpose of earning interests. It can also come in the form of time and hard work invested in an idea that will become a self-sustaining business in the future.

Putting it all together, earning a passive income looks like a long, arduous task. It is in most cases. But people have proven that it can be done. And what’s possible for them, is possible for you too, if you are willing to give what is necessary.

* * *

Okay, no expert here. I’m just sharing my thoughts on passive income. But actually, this post is for myself, sort of like throwing my thoughts against a soundboard and hoping that when the words bounce back to me, I’d finally get the message that it is TIME TO START MOVING!

Sometime in 2000, my friend asked me, while we were discussing jobs and job applications, if I know anything about PayPal. He said that it’s some sort of internet bank account. He added that some people were earning from the internet through surveys and ad-clicking and PayPal is what they used to receive their payments. I found the idea too good to be true. Why would anyone pay people to do surveys and click ads? I told him I’d research about that.

If I had found out about online money-making opportunities that early, I would have been earning money from home through the internet for 11 years now. Yes, 11 years and perhaps, a lot of money.

Only, I didn’t because I didn’t research about it like I promised my friend. I didn’t believe that it is possible to start with. Money, in my opinion, should be hard-earned and I thought he was just making an excuse not to pursue our job applications.

Of course, I know better now.

It is often safe to be critical of the things being presented to us . But sometimes it also shields us from disguised opportunities. Times are changing rapidly, and a lot of opportunities are being created constantly, off-shooting from things we never thought viable, until today. One can never truly predict if an idea will hit big or if an offer is a real deal, unless we try.

It pays to try.

Try them out with an open but critical mind. Don’t let yourself be blinded by skepticism but be careful not to get burned by being too accepting. And if it doesn’t turn out the way you want it, be ready to move forward. Move to the next task quickly and don’t lose the spirit. The next opportunity might be the next big thing.

While checking for the top keyword referrer (keywords that people used to find this site via the search engines), I noticed I’m getting a number of visits from people searching for “how to find my odesk url“. I’m not sure if what they meant by “odesk url” is the URL of their oDesk profile, but I think this is a good topic to discuss.

I know of four ways to get to your oDesk profile and “find your oDesk URL”.

The easiest is via your homepage account. You will see a Contractor Profile link at the top right screen, just under the Search text field. This link will direct you to your profile page.

Second, on lefthand sidebar of your User Profile page, there’s a My Contractor Profile link. When you click on that link and scroll a little down to the My Public Profile section, you will see another link that says: View My Profile as Others See It. Get to your User Profile page via the link in your homepage account (the User Profile link is just beside the Contractor Profile link) or via the username link at the topmost right corner of the screen.

Third, click the Find Contractors link (under Find Contractors & Jobs tab) and search for your complete profile name or username (the one you use to login to oDesk). You can also use the Search field for this purpose, just choose Contractors on the drop-down menu. Either way, the search will return a list of profiles that matches your query and your profile will most likely be on the top of the list.

Fourth is similar but you will be using a search engine instead. Just type in your username or profile name + “odesk” on Google and other search engines.

But remember that your profile’s visibility, whether in oDesk or in the search engines, will depend on the settings that you defined in your Profile Access. There are three levels of accessibility that you can choose from:

1. Public – Available to everyone (including the search engines)
2. Employers only – Available to oDesk Employers when they are logged in
3. Private – Available only to employers with your permission (i.e. when you apply to job posting)

You can change your Profile Access in your Contractor Profile page, under the My Public Profile section.

Which is the Best Profile Access Option?

This depends on your preference and how you intend to find jobs on oDesk. If you want only oDesk employers to find you, choose Employers only. If you want to be the one to initiate the application instead, go for the Private option. But if you want to be visible to non-oDesk but still potential clients, make your profile page Public.

And to those asking “How to find my odesk url?”, I hope this post answers your question. I also encourage you to continue browsing this blog as you might find something interesting or helpful. Good day to everyone!

The idea of earning money from home through blogging is not something new. I may be a little late in the game, but this is one of my priorities this year. I really want to make my blogs earn decent income and gain some sort of popularity or recognition, whichever comes first. And I know that in order to do that, I have to work on it. Like seriously.

I have resumed blogging, albeit inconsistently, for almost two years now. I think half of it was spent leaving my blog un-updated or changing niches, themes and moving content. Since then I’ve made, well, not much: $30 from 3 paid blogging posts and $48 from Google AdSense (but I won’t be able to cash out until it reaches $100) and a recent offer for a link on my wedding blog in exchange for a tungsten ring (I haven’t received confirmation that the ring was already sent though). These incentives, however measly they seem to be, are enough for me to believe that blogging can be more rewarding. So, like what I said in my previous post, I plan to be a more devoted blogger now and hopefully, the devotion will pay off in the end.

Besides updating my blogs consistently, I also plan to make money out of these:

1. Advertisement. Not for all 4 blogs, but I think the wedding and review sites have more potential for this. But who knows, the others might turn out better. My technique to get noticed by advertisers? More traffic, of course!

2. Paid blogging. I know, it has a bad reputation but I choose my offers and try my best to make paid posts look like they belong in my blogscape. Not like an odd, irrelevant post sticking out from the rest of the bunch. I just need to up my PageRank, (something I’ve been meaning to do but haven’t gotten around to doing just yet) because most of the time, the paying sites are not really after the article but the backlinks. The higher the PR, the more link juice, the better for their site’s SEO.

3. Google Adsense. I still have a long way to go to crack the mystery of huge Google AdSense earning. But I think I had a glimpse of it. While maintaining my previous client’s sites that have AdSense running, I noticed that majority have high Click-Through Rate or CTR–as high as 25% on some days. They have pathetic traffic, but having a high CTR, they continue to earn small amounts everyday. They are mini websites with only at most 10 pages of content, don’t get updated at all, and yet they keep getting clicks.

The secret? Basically, their tight niches, the keywords that they’re targeting and the way the posts were written. I will expound on this when I have tested the theory on my own blogs.

4. Affiliate Marketing. Still looking for suitable products that are related to my niches. I don’t want the usual internet-marketing-make-money-online stuff, but real products that people can buy. Amazon Affiliates is the only one that comes to mind but I’m looking for something more targeted. Any suggestions?

I know that the easiest part of earning money through blogs is the planning stage. So everything from here will require hard work and persistence. But I’ve never been in involved in blogging as much as I am now. I guess, that will fuel me up until I see significant improvements. Then these significant improvements will fuel me up further until I reach the next milestone and so on and so forth until I realize my ultimate goal: earn enough money from home by blogging and live off of my blogs’ income.

Life happens. Bloggers go into blog hiatus until they realize, “Hey, I should update that blog!”

So, here I am, updating this blog.

A lot of things has happened since my last blog entry and I thought you’d be interested to know:

1. Husband and I went on an 8-day delayed-honeymoon/first-wedding-anniversary/we-owe-it-to-ourselves-to-have-a-break trip. I did bring my laptop hoping I can sneak in some work while vacationing, but I couldn’t connect to the Wi-Fi access in the place where we stayed.

2. I invested in a Mutual Fund. Part of my efforts to ensure financial stability while working at home, I plan to deposit a portion of our savings to this fund on a regular basis. Short term goal is for the money to earn bigger returns than it would in a regular bank account. Long term goal is to save enough to buy our own house.

3. We’re in the process of getting a health insurance. I’ve spoken to an agent, I’ve filled out the forms and the only thing that’s in the way is the evaluation process that the insurance company will be conducting based on the information that I provided in the application form. If all goes well, then it will be another goal that I’ve accomplished this year.

4. My other job has ended. Well technically, it hasn’t because I will still work for that client on an “as needed” basis. But that means only a few hours in a week. So in a few days, I will be actively looking for a new part-time job (I still have my fulltime job). I think I’m going to give writing a try.

5. I also want to concentrate on blogging. I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned here that I’m maintaining 4 personal blogs, which  I plan to monetize eventually. Unfortunately, this blog is the one the gets updated the least often. Let’s just say that I’m more passionate about the niches of the other 3 blogs and I find that they’re easier to update even with just snippets of information and a lot of images. But I’m not abandoning this blog. I’m thinking of a few strategies to up the frequency of new posts. Hopefully, something crops up.

That’s all I can share for now

To those who are already working at home, I’m sure you can relate to this post.

I received a letter from a bank last week, denying my credit card application. I wasn’t disappointed or anything because I’ve got other plastics that I can use. But the letter reminded me of how our short application interview went, which is most likely the reason why I got denied.

Agent: Ma’am who would like to sign up from a credit card?

Me: Sure, what are the requirements?

Agent: Not much, just fill out this application form and present a valid ID and an existing credit card from another bank.

Me: *took the application form and fill it out* Ok.

Agent: *after I handed her the form* Ma’am, what is your job?

Me: *in the form, I indicated freelancer* Mmm, I’m a freelancer. Most of my work are done over the internet.

Agent: What sort of work do you do?

Me: Different types of things. I write, I maintain websites. But basically, I assist clients, majority of which are overseas. Everything happens online.

Agent: Is it like an online business?

Me: No, not really.

Agent: Are you self-employed?

Me: Yes, that’s one way to put it.

Agent: What company do you work for?

Me: Mostly, I work for people not company.

Agent: Who are you working for right now?

Me: I work for *mentioned the nationality of my current employer and the type of business he is in*

Agent: Ok, let’s just put his name as the company name.

Me: *shrugged* Ok.

Agent: Is it ok to talk to him? Can I call him on the phone?

Me: Ah, he’s in *mentioned employer’s country*. Can you call overseas?

Agent: He doesn’t have an office here? How do you work for him?

Me: Uhm, no. Our work is done through the internet. We communicate via chat, email. Everything is done online.

Agent: So where is your office?

Me: At home. I work at home.

Agent: *looked confused and uncertain* Ok, let’s just put your phone number in the company number field. And let’s just say you’re self-employed.

Me: *shrugged again* Ok.

Another agent, who was probably listening to our lengthy conversation about my job, looked over at my application form and said:

“Her company name is *name of my client*?”

“She’s self-employed.”

Explaining to other people what I do for a living can be a little challenging sometimes, especially in cases like this when I need to make an impression that I earn ‘enough’ to be qualified. I guess a lot of people (especially where I am) still don’t get the concept of working at home and to them, the only way to earn money from home is to have a homebased business. Without one puts you in “job limbo”.

So why did the bank reject my application? Hmm, a bank officer rang my office phone number, which is actually my home phone number, and talked to my Dad. I don’t know what my Dad said, but I know to this day (been working online for more than two years already) he’s still somewhat clueless about what exactly do I do for work. Whenever someone asks him, he’ll just say I work on the internet and mentions oDesk. So, go figure.

Do you have your own amusing anecdote about explaining the nature of your job to other people? Please share them below, I’d love to hear about it.

That’s not a wish. That’s a statement–no, make that a goal!

Yep, you’ve guessed it right. This is supposed to be a new year post–the kind of post that everybody seems to be making as the new year heralds its presence. And I may be late, but it’s never too late to set a goal.

In my previous post, I counted the things that made year 2010 a good year, not only for me, but for my husband as well. If last year was when we started our journey together as a couple, this year is when we start to build our dreams. This is when the plan becomes actions and our first action is to establish a solid foundation for our dreams. In order to do that, we of course, need funds. And since our online work is our main source of income, we need to continue earning money from home in order to have a steady supply of funds.

I know a lot of you are aware how unstable working at home can become. There are no guarantees, no contracts and no tenures. All it can promise is a handful of possibilities, including even the possibility of  losing a job. This is why the idea of going back to being employed has persisted in my head since last year. Sometimes I get those moments, when I feel scared of the future and of the new things and situations it will bring.

But I always tell myself to snap out of it.

We’re already doing it. We’ve already crossed the threshold between being regularly employed and earning on our own. To turn back would mean, for me, finding something that you love to do but leaving it behind because you’re not brave enough to face the challenges that it entails.

It just human nature, I guess, to be afraid once in a while, to want to feel secure–all part of our ever-pressing need to survive. Although, today’s modern society requires more than just surviving. There’s a lifestyle to live up to. And it takes a strong human spirit to triumph over this apprehensions, to embrace the possibilities, whether good or not, and to believe that all things are possible to those who believe they are.

I WILL continue earning money from home in 2011! I will say that with conviction because I know it will happen. In fact, it is already happening.

A prosperous New Year to all!

After I resigned from my regular work, there had been times when I doubted if I can consistently earn money from home by working online. But it was more than two years ago and so many wonderful things have happened. Now, more than ever, I am confident that we’re on the right track, my husband and I. And as long as we believe in ourselves and in our abilities, we’ll stay afloat and wade in the water comfortably. And hopefully, achieve our financial goals soon.

And because Christmas is just around the corner, I thought this would be the perfect time to count our blessings and be thankful for all the good things that happened to us this year.

1. I may not have sustained my lifestyle, but I don’t feel deprived. I learned that there are a few things that I really need and should spend for. But more importantly, I learned the value of money and the benefits of saving.

2. My husband and I got married early this year, had a beautiful but modest wedding and 75% of our budget was from our online income. Our online jobs made this all possible for us.

3. We feel less stressed, less pressured and more free. For more than two years now, I didn’t have to drag myself out of bed, get frustrated with the traffic and count the hours at the office. I didn’t have to live for the weekend. My husband, on the other hand, works at his own schedule, at his own pace.

4. We love what we do. Both of us are learning the things that we want to learn and doing the things that we want to do and are still earning a decent income.

5. We spend more time together. Because we are working literally inches away from each other, spending time together has never been a problem. It’s like working in the same office, but not really working on the same things, therefore no work-related conflicts arise.

6. We have (and have had)  great employers, who see our true worth, respect our skills and capabilities, and made us feel a valuable member of the team.

7. We are also blessed with very supportive parents, who despite us being old enough to stand on our own, are still behind our backs and are always ready to help and support us.

8. As unstable and fleeting our jobs are, we continue to find one job after the other and even have long-term jobs that have sustained us for quite sometime now.

9. We learned how important time management is, especially for us who normally hold more than one jobs. Having more time is a misnomer. It’s really just about having an efficient work schedule and sticking to it.

10. We are generally happier. We delight in both big and small pleasures — bonuses from our employers, the news of more projects to come, “good job” or “job well done” remarks, short break from work, etc. These kind gestures from our employers made us feel better. Thus, we deliver better work, too.

I’m just so glad that our transition to being regular employees to online freelancers was smooth and easy. That’s also one thing to be grateful for!

You are working and earning money from home. And you are successfully doing this for a while that you’ve decided to quit from your regular job and concentrate on being an online freelancer. You are more comfortable in this setup. You feel you can work better and are probably earning more. Or spending less. Either or both translate to a bigger income. You relish with the new sense of freedom (from the office, that is) that comes with working online.

Now what?

Working online is not all about earning money from home. If you’ve been doing this for quite some time now, you will realize that you cannot be totally carefree because online work is not exactly the most stable career in the market. Projects and contracts end, abruptly sometimes. One day you have work. The next day, you’ll suddenly receive an email from your client or employer that your services are no longer needed or they are abandoning the project or shutting down.

Things like these are common when you are working online. And it can happen even to the most seasoned of us. So you’ve got to get your act together and start forming a plan to ensure you’ll have enough to get through the low/no income months.

1. Start saving. Savings are valuable, such that when the inevitable happens, we are prepared and have stored enough food in the anthill for the rainy season. When I was still working as a regular employee, my mentality was it’s okay to spend because I have a regular stream of income. I use my credit cards anytime and I purchase big ticket items on installment whenever I want to. But all that changed when I started working online.

My income now depends on the amount of work that I do, and sometimes, on whether or not I have work to do. I cannot afford to bleed my resources dry because I am no longer sure how much I will make each month. So I need to save. I stash away a fixed portion of my income on a regular basis. I strive not to spend it unless it’s really, really (and I mean REALLY) necessary. And if that’s case, I make it sure to pay back whatever amount I take from the savings on the next “payday”.

2. Spend wisely. Prioritize the necessities first and spend only what’s left after you’ve settled all these. Buy only the things that you need. Working online has made me realized that there are only a few things that go in this caterogy. And sometimes, these needs are not even urgent. So instead of buying right away, I list them down in order of how urgent I need them, and NOT how badly I want them. Knowing the difference can largely influence your spending habits and can help you avoid unnecessary purchases often caused by impulsive buying.

Another rule that I set upon myself is not to buy things on installment unless I have enough money to pay for them in cash. The reason for this is to see to it that I will still be able to pay for the monthly dues in case, heaven forbid, I don’t have enough earning or have no earning at all for the month. This prevents me from incurring interest charges in my credit card bill and from paying more than I have to. Less debts, less expenses. Less expenses, more savings.

3. Get health/medical insurance. I know getting a life insurance can be a little heavy on the budget. But at least have some sort of health insurance–something that will soften the blow in the event that you or anyone in your family gets sick and needs medical attention. The cost of being sick (and getting well) is pretty steep nowadays and can quickly dry up your finances, so every bit of financial aid helps.

For starters, I really recommend that you continue your contributions in government insurances (like SSS and Philhealth). They may not provide full medical coverage, but they can cut down your hospital bills to some extent and provide sickness benefits as well. And you only need to set aside a minimal amount for their contributions.

If you’re earning decently, you can opt to get healthcare insurance from private HMOs. The monthly or yearly premiums are of course higher, but they can provide more benefits and coverage when it comes to your medical expenses.

4. Have another source of income. Being flexible is always a good thing. In the case of online freelancers, it means being able to earn money from home through different means. Through online selling perhaps, or providing services outside of our daily online jobs. If we have other sources of income, albeit small-scale, it can help us get by during the ‘lean’ season.

Flexibility could also mean having a variety of skills. If you know how to write, design and make websites, create logos and graphics, make videos, do a little programming, etc, you can easily find one small job after the other. These small jobs can be sufficient to carry you through until you land your next big project that will give you income for a much longer period.

A few weeks ago, I did something I haven’t done for a long time: I started applying for a new online job. My current client who I work full-time for, has decreased my working hours. She said she is a little cash-strapped and needs to trim down on some expenses. But she doesn’t want to abandon all our projects, so just asked me to work for a few hours everyday until her sources of income become more stable.

I normally don’t want to have more than one full-time job, but I don’t know how long this part-time work setup will last, so I decided to find another job. And the first thing that I did was update my oDesk profile and my cover letter.

Your oDesk profile and cover letter are the two most important things you need to consider when looking for a job in oDesk. Together, they must always highlight your skills to attract the attention of potential employers.

And based on the recent changes that I made, I came up with simple and, I hope, effective ways on how you can beef up your profile and write a compelling cover letter.

How to Make a Killer oDesk Profile

Step 1: List down all your skills. Doesn’t matter if they are related to one another or not. Go from broad to specific.

Example:

A. Writing Skills

1a. knows how to write SEO articles
2a. can write 6 articles in a day

B. SEO Skills

1b. Off page SEO

1b1. can make 20 blog comments in an hour
1b2. can make 20 forum posts in an hour

2b. On page SEO

2b1. optimize the “tags”
2b3. keyword optimization

Step 2: List down all the tools and applications that you’re familiar with. If you’re a graphic designer, being an expert in Photoshop is a must. But if you’re a virtual assistant, knowing how to use Photoshop is a plus. The more applications you’re familiar with, the more plus points you acquire.
Step 3: Group your general skills (i.e. writing, SEO, organizing, etc) and write a short paragraph, 3 to 4 sentences for each general skill, and briefly discuss all related specific skills.

Example:

“I am a writer and I know the power of words, especially when it comes to writing SEO articles. I can produce 6 quality articles in a day and I can assure you that they will be original, unique and will pass copyscape. I have written articles for so and so….”

“I am familiar with both on-page and off-page SEO techniques. With off-page, I can generate 100 links in a day, 10 from blog comments, 10 from forum posting…”

Or

“I am familiar with both on-page and off-page SEO techniques. With off-page, I can generate links from blog comments, forum posts…With on-page, I know how to optimize the tags to make your site SEO-friendly…”

Step 4: Arrange the paragraphs in order of your proficiency, the top being the skill that you excel in most. For example, if you’re more of an SEO assistant, then put the SEO paragraph before the others.

Step 5: Read the resulting article and make sure that everything is clear, concise and well-written. Every paragraph must flow through to the next in a coherent manner. When you’re satisfied, use this in your oDesk profile. You may opt to add another paragraph at the bottom, describing your other qualities that will be useful at work or, a goal or objective, or anything that you think clients will find interesting about you.

How to Write an Effective Cover Letter for an Online Job

I write cover letters in two slightly different ways. When I am the one applying for the job, my cover letter is less detailed and it’s main objective is to get the employer to read my profile. When the application is client-initiated (meaning: the employer already saw my profile and has invited me for an interview), my cover letter provides more details about my skills and the objective this time is to get the client to hire me.

But in both cases, I make it a point that my cover letter answers ALL the questions raised by the client in the job description or in the private message the he/she sent to me. From my profile, I take the skills that I feel will suit the position that I’m applying for, and edit them depending on the situation (as I mentioned above). I will also arrange my skills based on the job requirement.

For example, when I’m applying for a virtual assistant job whose main task is to setup and maintain blogs, I will place the paragraph mentioning WordPress, blogging, Web 2.0 platforms, HTML, CSS and other related skills above the other skills. Then maybe SEO and writing skills will come in the succeeding paragraphs.

When creating a cover letter, it is important that it doesn’t appear “canned”. It must read in a way that it speaks directly to the client/employer. I will discourage using a generalized cover letter because some client don’t find using such impressive.

If it’s too taxing to create a cover letter each time you apply for a job, you can create a guide or a template. A guide or a template will tell you what should be included in your cover letter, and in what order they come. But you have to vary the text and make sure that no two cover letters will look exactly the same.

My cover letters almost always contain:

1. Introduction (includes salutation/greetings, name “I am Juana dela Cruz”, title “a freelance web designer”, country “from the Philippines” and brief work history “I’ve been working as a web designer for so and so years, creating and designing websites for various so and so companies…”). If the client was the one who invited me to apply for the position, I always begin my cover letter by thanking him/her for considering me for an interview.

2. A brief summary of the job description. This is important because it shows that you have actually read and understood the job description.

3. Skills.

4. Availability, schedule and other work-related details.

Most of the questions/items raised in the job posting or in the message sent by clients are about skills and competencies, availability and rate, so make sure you cover them in 3 and 4.

5. End note (“Thank you”, “Looking forward to hearing from you again”, etc) and signature.

You don’t have to follow this guide exactly, but at least you’ll have an idea of the structure and you can be creative with your own cover letter.

Will a Good oDesk Profile and Cover Letter Guarantee a Job

I said in this How to Earn Money from Home thru oDesk post that getting an online job in oDesk involves many factors. But basically, it’s about matching up a job opening with the right skills, the available hours and a reasonable rate. The end goal of writing an effective profile and cover letter is to provide all the information that the client needs to know and highlight the details/skills that are crucial for the position.  And hopefully after doing this, the client will see you as the competent candidate and, given that you can put across the required hours and you have agreed to a fair rate, he/she will proceed to hiring your services.