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<channel>
	<title>Usman Shahzada</title>
	
	<link>http://usmanshahzada.com/blog</link>
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	<lastBuildDate>Fri, 20 Jan 2012 14:47:13 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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		<title>vWorker Adds Skrill (Moneybookers) payment method and On-the-job Trials</title>
		<link>http://usmanshahzada.com/blog/vworker-adds-skrill-moneybookers-payment-method-and-on-the-job-trials/</link>
		<comments>http://usmanshahzada.com/blog/vworker-adds-skrill-moneybookers-payment-method-and-on-the-job-trials/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 04 Jan 2012 15:56:14 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>ianippolito</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Freelancing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[crowdsourcing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Moneybookers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Skrill]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[trialsourcing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Vworker]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://usmanshahzada.com/blog/?p=101</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The January release of vWorker included some great new changes. 1) Skrill/moneybookers: As requested by our Pakistini virtual workers, Skrill (formerly known as Moneybookers) is now available as a payment method on the site.  Although PayPal pays to 99% of countries and is very cheap, it is not available in a few countries, including Pakistan.  [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The January release of vWorker included some great new changes.</p>
<p><strong>1) Skrill/moneybookers:</strong></p>
<p>As requested by our Pakistini virtual workers, Skrill (formerly known as Moneybookers) is now available as a payment method on the site.  Although PayPal pays to 99% of countries and is very cheap, it is not available in a few countries, including Pakistan.  This new option gives Pakistani workers a new option to get paid (in addition to the existing methods of Payoneer direct transfer, Payoneer debit card and Western Union).</p>
<p><strong>2) On-the-job trials (trialsourcing and next generation crowdsourcing):</strong></p>
<p>Employers, you can now hire the best worker for your project every time&#8230;without interviewing!   Our new &#8220;on-the-job trial&#8221; feature eliminates all the guess work of trying to divine who the best worker will be, using just unreliable resumes and portfolios.  Instead the workers audition by performing a portion of the work (or all of it, if the project is a tiny one).  The best one wins a prize. Ultimately, you know *exactly* who the best worker is, instead of guessing and can then work further with them.  This is done with trialsourcing (for projects 2 days or more) and next-generation crowdsourcing (for tiny projects less than 2 days).</p>
<p>Our crowdsourcing is very different than competitors.  Other sites restrict your crowdsourcing to design projects and small projects.  They also burden the process with clumsy fixed pricing, which is almost always too high or too low. Ours works on every category and size of project.  And our market-based PerfectPricing(tm) uses the power of the marketplace to ensure the right price, every time.</p>
<p>Workers: Crowdsourcing offers top workers the chance to earn 6-10x more than they would earn in a direct outsourcing project.  If you&#8217;ve used other crowdsourcing sites and didn&#8217;t like them because of the pricing, you will love our market-based PerfectPricing mechanism. If the prize is too low, you let the employer know how much you would need to participate.  We notify them and show them your resume.  If they want your bid, they increase the prize, escrow it, and we notify you. Like all other projects on vWorker, you are guaranteed the prize, if you are selected a winner.</p>
<p>Click here for more information: <a href="http://www.vworkerchanges.com/2012/01/site-rollout-2011-12-29.html">http://www.vworkerchanges.com/2012/01/site-rollout-2011-12-29.html</a></p>
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		<title>Funds/Money Withdrawal methods available in Pakistan for Freelancers</title>
		<link>http://usmanshahzada.com/blog/withdrawal-methods-available-in-pakistan/</link>
		<comments>http://usmanshahzada.com/blog/withdrawal-methods-available-in-pakistan/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 05 Aug 2011 12:18:53 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Usman Shahzada</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Freelancing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Moneybookers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Payoneer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Western Union]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Wire Transfer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Withdrawal methods in Pakistan]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://usmanshahzada.com/blog/?p=85</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Update: January 03, 2011: VWorker has also added skrill (moneybookers) as a new payment method for countries where Paypal is not supported. Since Paypal is not available in Pakistan, you can withdraw money from your Odesk and VWorker accounts using the following withdrawal methods. Skrill (Formerly Moneybookers): Odesk: Simply sign up at moneybookers and then go [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em>Update: January 03, 2011: VWorker has also added skrill (moneybookers) as a new payment method for countries where Paypal is not supported.</em></p>
<p>Since Paypal is not available in Pakistan, you can withdraw money from your Odesk and VWorker accounts using the following withdrawal methods.</p>
<p><strong>Skrill (Formerly Moneybookers):</strong></p>
<p>Odesk: Simply sign up at <a href="http://www.moneybookers.com" target="_blank">moneybookers</a> and then go to your odesk &gt; Wallet &gt; Payment Methods , here you have an option to sign up for skrill (formerly moneybookers) and the other option is &#8220;Already registered with Moneybookers? Click here.&#8221;, choose the later option as you will be already signed up by now. Remember to use the same email id that you use with your odesk account. For this method you are charged $1 per withdrawal.(Additional currency exchange and commercial fees charged by Moneybookers.)</p>
<p>Vworker: To setup skrill (moneybookers) in vworker, login to your vworker account and then go to My Account &gt; My registration/Settings &gt;My Pay Option and then choose Skrill and click next. The minimum amount you can withdraw is 3$ while vworker.com withdrawal fee is 2$.</p>
<p>By now you have added your moneybookers account as your withdrawal method, question is how to withdraw money from moneybookers, well for this you need to verify your address and then verify your bank account.  To verify your bank account you will need the swift code, you can get the swift code by calling your bank for example swift code of Bank Alfalah Abbottabad is ALFHPKKA068.</p>
<p>In moneybookers account go to My Account &gt; My Profile &gt; LIST OF BANK ACCOUNTS and click manage to add your bank account. The last time I withdrew money from moneybookers to my bank account I received the payment on 5th day. I withdrew the amount on 30th July and the amount was credited to my bank account on August 04.</p>
<p><strong>Wire Transfer (PKR)</strong></p>
<p>Using this method you can withdraw money from odesk directly into your bank account. For this you will need the swift code again.  To add this method go to your odesk &gt; Payment &gt; Payment Methods (Old Navigation) and click &#8220;Setup Wire Account&#8221;, you will be then asked for Swift Code, add swift code and click go. Now add your account number, branch name and address and account holder information. (Please make sure that you enter your name exactly as it appears on your bank account. Name mismatches can lead to delayed or failed payments.)</p>
<ul>
<li>$4.99 per withdrawal in PKR.</li>
<li>Highly competitive exchange rates.</li>
<li>Direct transfer. No need to deal with 3rd party-payment providers.</li>
<li>First withdrawal is <strong>FREE!</strong></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Payoneer Debit Card</strong></p>
<p>You can get an account and card by signing up through any of the payoneer partners (odesk/vworker.) Once you sign up a card will be sent to you within 28 business days. The activation process is an easy 2 step process.</p>
<p>1) Once you receive the card you will go online to <a title="http://payoneer.com" href="http://payoneer.com">http://payoneer.com</a> and activate it there.</p>
<p>2) The process is complete once you receive your first payment from a partner. (Odesk/Vworker)</p>
<p>Pakistan, along with a few other countries (Angola, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Turkmenistan and Sao Tome and Principe) was listed by the US government as carrying an increased level of risk and having strategic Anti Money Laundering (AML) deficiencies. Payoneer still offers its services in Pakistan (unlike many other payment providers) and to comply with the new regulations Payoneer requires a copy of your government photo ID.(Please use the same ID that you provided during the registration process.) However, offering this special service requires them to adjust some of their fees, to cover their cost of addressing the increased level of risk. Thats why the enhanced service to Pakistan and few other countries incurs an activation fee of $24.95 that will be charged as soon as funds are loaded to the new card.</p>
<p>Once you have activated your Payoneer Card, there will also be a Monthly Maintenance Fee of 3$. Payoneer Card is a debit card and can be used at ATMs, at stores and online.</p>
<p>Payoneer Card Limits:<br />
The daily ATM withdrawal limits is $2,500.<br />
The daily purchase limit (at stores/online) is: $2,500<br />
Total daily spending limit – $5,000</p>
<p>On vworker.com minimum withdrawal amount is 50$ while odesk withdrawal to Payoneer  is 20$</p>
<p><strong>Western Union</strong></p>
<p>I dont personally recommend this method as this is very costly. This method is available in vworker.com. When you withdraw money using this method you are charged $10.00 Processing and/or postage fee by vworker.com. After that Western Union&#8221;s sending/conversion fee will also be deducted from the amount.</p>
<p>To claim your Western Union payment, you will need to go to your nearest Western Union office (see www.WesternUnion.com for locations) and give them the following information:</p>
<p>Sender&#8217;s Name: Exhedra Solutions Inc.<br />
Sender&#8217;s Address: 1209 La Brad Lane;Tampa, Florida 33613;United State of America<br />
Sender&#8217;s Phone #: (813) 908-9029<br />
Money Transfer control (MTCN) #: (Your MTCN No here)<br />
Other wire details</p>
<p>You will need a copy of your CNIC and your MTCN No to collect the money. Western Union rates are</p>
<p>&lt;= 123 $15<br />
&lt;= 230 $22<br />
&lt;= 334 $29<br />
&lt;= 444 $34<br />
&lt;= 551 $43<br />
&lt;= 682 $50<br />
&lt;= 813 $56<br />
&lt;= 945 $62<br />
&lt;= 1084 $68<br />
&lt;= 1343 $83<br />
&lt;= 1594 $92<br />
&lt;= 5000 $100<br />
Others $125</p>
<p>So if you are withdrawing suppose 550$ from vworker.com via Western Union you will end up getting 550$- $10.00 (Processing and/or postage fee vworker.com)- 43$= 497$</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
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		<title>Top 5 Ways to Turbo Charge Your Freelancing Career</title>
		<link>http://usmanshahzada.com/blog/top-5-ways-to-turbo-charge-your-freelancing-career/</link>
		<comments>http://usmanshahzada.com/blog/top-5-ways-to-turbo-charge-your-freelancing-career/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 24 May 2011 14:35:14 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Usman Shahzada</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Freelancing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[5 ways]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://usmanshahzada.com/blog/?p=78</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[As the CEO of vWorker.com, I have close contact with many of the 300,000+ freelancers who use the site to earn a living. I’ve seen virtual workers of all temperaments, nationalities and ages. But the thing that always strikes me is how there seem to be two distinct types of freelancers. The first seems to [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>As the CEO of vWorker.com, I have close contact with many of the 300,000+ freelancers who use the site to earn a living. I’ve seen virtual workers of all temperaments, nationalities and ages. But the thing that always strikes me is how there seem to be two distinct types of freelancers.</p>
<p>The first seems to enjoy a charmed life. It’s not unusual for such a freelancer to be brand new to the site and yet win not just one, but several jobs in the first few weeks. They enjoy great success, build up repeat business and enjoy an easy and constant stream of projects and income.</p>
<p>The second struggles for weeks just to win their first job, and don’t understand what they are doing wrong. Then when they finally do wine one, they don’t manage the project properly and have numerous problems with it and their employers. They usually end up with a dissatisfied client and no chance of getting repeat business, and have to start all over again at square one.</p>
<p>I’m writing this article to help you be the former type of freelancer, and avoid the fate of the latter.</p>
<h2>1. Successful Bidding</h2>
<p>Put yourself in the employer’s shoes for a minute. You’ve just posted a job on vWorker.com to create your asp.NET company website and are evaluating bidders. Which one of these bids would make you want to correspond with the bidder further?</p>
<p>Bid #1:</p>
<blockquote><p>Description:<br />
Hi, I’m Andre Jones and I’m an expert in the following:<br />
a) Web site design<br />
b) PHP<br />
c) ASP.NET<br />
d) Java/Javascript<br />
I also am a fantastic photojournalist and marketer.<br />
Here are example of my work:</p>
<p>http://example1.com</p>
<p>http://example2.com</p>
<p>http://example3.com</p>
<p>Please see my resume for more details. I’m looking forward to working with you!<br />
Bid amount: $2,000</p></blockquote>
<p>Bid #2:</p>
<blockquote><p>Description:<br />
Hi, I’m Andre Jones and I have 5 years of experience in ASP.NET.<br />
I read through your description and think this is going to be an excellent way for you to attract new clients.<br />
What kind of security did you have in mind for this project? The reason I ask is that, I can build whatever you want. But I don’t want to quote you the price of the equivalent of a “limosine” if you are really looking for an economy car. For instance, are you expecting a special admin section that only you can access, or will it all be public?<br />
Bid Amount: None</p></blockquote>
<p>Who will the employer prefer? It’s not even a close competition. 99% of employers will respond back to bid #2, while deleting bid #1. Why is there such a difference? The main problem with bid #1 is that it gives off the foul stench of a copy-and-paste spam bid from an amateur. Bid #2, on the other hand, comes across as engaging, interested, enthusiastic and competent. Look at the differences:</p>
<ol>
<li>Bid #1 has listed every skill he has, including most that are not asked for in this project. Why would the employer care about this? He’s making the classic mistake of talking about what’s interesting to himself (his skills) rather than what’s interesting to the client (how he can help the client solve his problem). Bid #2 on the other hand shows respect for the employer’s time by only talking about the relevant skills.</li>
<li>Bidder #2 showed the employer that they actually read the description by asking specific questions about it. Pertinent questions compel a person to answer them. Bid #1 on the other hand has no questions and is not compelling. Incidentally, it is so generic that it gives the impression it was probably spammed to everyone on the site with similar projects (and it probably was).</li>
<li>Bid #2 expressed enthusiasm for the project itself. When an employer has to choose between two equal candidates: the more enthusiastic has a huge edge. Note that he did this in a sincere, honest and specific way. He didn’t throw out platitudes (which can be even worse than not saying anything at all). So if you can do this sincerely, then it’s a powerful tool. If you’re not sure about this, then don’t take a chance of doing it incorrectly.</li>
<li>Bid #1 put in a $ amount on their first bid. This is usually a huge red flag to any knowledgeable employer. 99.999% of the time, there’s no way someone can make an accurate bid without getting additional information. This reeks of a freelancer who is too inexperienced to realize how bad this is. Bid #2 didn’t make this rookie mistake.</li>
</ol>
<p>(Insider scoop: Speaking of bids, I’ll give the readers of this blog who use vWorker an exclusive “scoop” on an upcoming feature that will be of interest to you. Currently when you make a bid (say $1000), the vWorker fee is deducted from that. But in a few weeks, that will change and instead we’ll raise the amount the employer escrows to cover the fee. So if you bid $1000, you’ll get $1000 and you no longer have to worry about the fee during you bid. See <a href="http://siteupdates.vworker.com/" target="_blank">vWorker updates</a> for info on this when it becomes available.)</p>
<p>Alright! You’ve followed the above tips and you’ve now won the bid! Working properly during the project is the key between a client who comes back to you over and over again for a long time, and one who can’t wait to get rid of you. The key is to remember to think long term.</p>
<h2>2. Managing client expectation</h2>
<p>Even on a very well laid out project, you can expect 10-15% of a contract to be unclear. This means you will have to work out the details during the project. Go through the project at the beginning to find these areas and get them hammered out.</p>
<p>Don’t make the mistake of ignoring things, or worse: getting no input from the client and instead implementing them in the easiest way possible and hoping the client won’t notice. Communication is key to working out these issues and avoiding an unhappy client later.</p>
<h2>3. Managing deadlines</h2>
<p>Deadlines are real and should be treated as such. But every human being misses at least one deadline in their lives. If you can’t make a deadline, don’t wait until the day before and say “Oh, by the way I won’t make it. Sorry, dude!”. The last-minute surprise (when you’re expected to be finished) can cause your employer a premature heart-attack, and cause you to lose all credibility.</p>
<p>Instead, you should be communicating with them constantly during the project. As soon as you notice you are behind schedule (weeks before), let them know and let them know why (i.e. “we ran into xyz because it was more complicated than expected”). With advanced notice your employer can often make other arrangements.</p>
<p>And never just say “Oh it’s going to be late,” and not say when you think it *will* be done. Just like you don’t like to be left in limbo…neither does the employer.</p>
<p>These are all small but important things that make the difference between keeping your client’s trust or losing it completely and never working for them again.</p>
<h2>4. Uploading deliverables</h2>
<p>Disputes happen… even to the best of freelancers. They key is to be prepared so you can avoid problems when they do occur.</p>
<p>For some reason, many freelancers hate uploading their work to the vWorker site. Yes it does take a little more time to do this. But ask yourself this: would you rather do that, or would you rather lose the funds for the project you worked so hard on, simply because you didn’t take the time to do this simple task?</p>
<p>On a site like vWorker we guarantee that you will be paid if you complete the project to the contract, on time and in the industry expected manner. However, without the upload, you have no proof of what and when you delivered. And without that, we cannot enforce that guarantee and you can end up not getting paid. So you can easily avoid the entire situation by just uploading the deliverables. Then you are fully protected in a dispute and can get paid for the work you did.</p>
<h2>5. Repeat business</h2>
<p>You finished the job and have a happy client! Congratulations! Now that you’ve earned their trust, you can look forward to a recurring revenue stream from future projects. However, many people don’t think about how to save money by structuring that repeat business properly.</p>
<p>For example, if you won your first project from the employer via an open-auction pay-for-deliverables project, we charge a 15% vWorker fee. On repeat projects, the employer skips bidding, which saves us money (bandwidth costs, advertising to bring in bidders and employers, etc.) and we pass that savings on to you. The key is to make sure the employer posts the project to you as a “one-on-one” project. This cuts the cost to 12.5%. On a large project this can be a significant savings. If you both trust each other so much that you can forgo escrowing, you can set it up as a bonus and only pay 10%! And there are other ways to save as well.</p>
<p>Once you’ve established trust with the employer, you can have the switch from pay-for-deliverables to pay-for-time (PFT). In PFT, you clock into a timecard and are guaranteed payment for every hour you work. This is a really good deal compared with PFD, where any cost overruns (or bad estimates on your part) are your responsibility. On top of that, the fee drops to just 9%! So this is a fantastic way to give you more flexibility AND save money at the same time.</p>
<p>And on all the above options, you can drop the cost by another 2.5% by asking the employer to use a preferred payment method (snail mail check or wire). These are cheaper for us to process, so we pass it on to you. Note: Once the bidding change I talked about earlier is in place (in a few weeks) we expect employers will be much more likely to use a preferred payment method, because they will actually see the difference (will not have to escrow as much).</p>
<p>Using the above tips, you can have a very successful freelance career. I hope these tips were helpful!</p>
<p><em>Note:  This post is written by Ian Ippolito, CEO and founder of <a href="http://www.vworker.com/" target="_blank">vWorker.com</a> and has been posted here with his permission.</em></p>
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		<title>An Interview with Ian Ippolito, CEO of vworker.com</title>
		<link>http://usmanshahzada.com/blog/an-interview-with-ian-ippolito-ceo-of-vworker-com/</link>
		<comments>http://usmanshahzada.com/blog/an-interview-with-ian-ippolito-ceo-of-vworker-com/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 24 May 2011 13:32:54 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Usman Shahzada</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Freelancing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[CEO VWorker]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ian Ippolito]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Vworker]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://usmanshahzada.com/blog/?p=68</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Usman Shahzada: Where are you from and tell something about yourself? Ian Ippolito: I grew up in Merritt Island, Florida, which is the home of Kennedy Space Center. Most of the people who lived there worked for NASA and my dad did too. He first worked in the Apollo control room, and then later became [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong><a href="http://usmanshahzada.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/ian_ippolito.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-76" title="ian_ippolito" src="http://usmanshahzada.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/ian_ippolito-169x300.jpg" alt="" width="169" height="300" /></a>Usman Shahzada:</strong> Where are you from and tell something about yourself?<em><br />
</em> <strong>Ian Ippolito:</strong> I  grew up in Merritt Island, Florida, which is the home of Kennedy Space Center.   Most of the people who lived there worked for NASA and my dad did too. He first  worked in the Apollo control room, and then later became the director of the  U.S. shuttle tracking station.  It was an huge inspiration to see my dad (and  his co-workers) use their brains and technology every day, to conquer huge  challenges and push the boundaries of human knowledge.</p>
<p>After  college, I moved to Tampa, Florida for my first job.  I loved the weather,  lifestyle and affordable housing and decided to stay.  It also became an  excellent place to start a business, because of the lost cost of living and ease  in bringing in new recruits.</p>
<p><strong>Usman Shahzada:</strong> When and why you started rentacoder.com (now called vworker) and what was the  reason behind it?<br />
<strong>Ian Ippolito:</strong> It  was back in 2001.  6-7 years earlier, I had created a site called  Planet-Source-Code.com, which was the first site to enable programmers to share  source code. As the webmaster, I was bombarded by people asking me to help them  with their code.  I was an independent programmer/consultant at the time and was  happy to be getting so many requests for paid work.  But it also hurt to have to  tell so many of them “Sorry I can’t help you, because I’m too busy.”</p>
<p>I  realized there was a need that wasn’t being met, so I decided to create a  marketplace that would connect people to programmers.  But I didn’t just want to  create a copy of the same thing that already existed in the real world.   Traditional freelancing/consulting has a lot of serious problems and I felt it  was a broken model.  I saw many good programmers work very hard and end up  getting ripped off by clients, who never paid them. I also saw extremely bad  programmers ripping off good clients by walking away with their deposits and  never delivering…or by delivering shamefully buggy code and never fixing them.</p>
<p>So I  wanted to create something much better.  I came up with the idea of a  marketplace where the employers would not pay the programmer directly, but  instead would escrow the funds in advance.  This would prove to the programmer  they had the ability to pay, and relieve them of the worry about being ripped  off.  And if the employer acted poorly and refused to pay them, we would test  the deliverables and pay them anyway.  And by the same token, we would protect  employers from bad programmers who would otherwise walk away with an advance  payment or who didn’t deliver the final work in a quality format.</p>
<p><strong>Usman Shahzada:</strong> Now vworker has more than 300,000 registered workers but when you started it  what was the initial response of the people?<em><span style="font-style: normal;"><br />
<strong>Ian Ippolito:</strong> I  created the first version of Rent a Coder in 2001 on my laptop during a long  plane ride back from Italy, and it went live a few months later.   We were  profitable in the very first month, but it was not much of a profit (less than a  few hundred dollars).  But every month was better than the last.  The company’s  first big break came when a Wall Street Journal reporter used the site to have  some programming work done and wrote a very glowing article about the  experience.  After that, more customers and publicity from others followed, and  we grew very rapidly.</span></em></p>
<p><strong>Usman Shahzada: </strong> How did you market your business/website after the launch?<br />
<strong>Ian Ippolito:</strong> This  was back before Google adwords even sold PPC ads, so that option wasn’t  available to us.  We marketed on Overture to get a jump start, but soon  word-of-mouth became a much better source of new business.</p>
<p><strong>Usman Shahzada:</strong> How many teams members you have at vworker?<br />
<strong>Ian Ippolito: </strong>12  full time employees, 3 part time and a team of another 10-12 virtual workers  from the site.  Staffing is a significant cost, so I purposefully keep it to a  minimum, so that we are able to pass the savings on to our  customers.</p>
<p><strong>Usman Shahzada:</strong> Do you have other businesses/websites other than vworker?<br />
<strong>Ian Ippolito:</strong> Yes,  I own Exhedra Solutions, Inc. which is the parent company of vWorker.  It runs  the Planet Source Code website, sells some shareware products and offers  consulting services.  However, after 2002 or so, 99% of my time has been, and is  continued to be taken up by vWorker.</p>
<p><strong>Usman Shahzada:</strong> How do think makes vworker different from odesk, elance, freelancer, getacoder,  guru and other online market places?<br />
<strong>Ian Ippolito:</strong> The online  marketplaces are as different and unique as if they were real people!  There are  about 50-60 major differences between us and the rest.  I don’t want to bore  anyone, so I’ll talk just about the top two differences between us and the first  two you mentioned.  Then I’ll give links where they can more  details.</p>
<p>1)       oDesk: oDesk offers two  services: pay-for-time where the employer pays by the hour (they call it  “hourly”), and pay-for-deliverables where the employer pays for the entire job  (they call it “fixed price”).  I take my hat off to them for inventing the idea  of pay-for-time, and first enabling the employer to monitor the workers’ desktop  and webcam so they know for sure they are being billed accurately.   However,  today, we also offer this service, the exact same guarantees, but charge  customers 10-35% less for it.  On pay-for-deliverables: their tagline is  “Guaranteed Work. Guaranteed Payment”, but they actually don’t guarantee either  party on it.  This makes that sort of work much riskier than on vWorker where we  guarantee safety to both sides. More info is at: <a href="http://www.vworker.com/RentACoder/oDeskVersusVWorker_ForWorkers.aspx">http://www.vworker.com/RentACoder/oDeskVersusVWorker_ForWorkers.aspx</a></p>
<p>2)       Elance: has improved a lot over  how they used to be several years ago.   They emulated our ideas of escrowing  and arbitration, and today offer a base-level pay-for-deliverables guarantee.   However, it still is not ideal.  First, arbitration isn’t free like it is on  vWorker: it costs $99 or $199.  And if the other party wants arbitration and you  don’t want to automatically lose, you are forced to cough up the fee, just to  avoid forfeiting.  This doesn’t happen on vWorker.  They also charge workers  $10-$40/month for bidding privileges.  Again, there are no fees for doing the  same thing on vWorker. More info is at:   http://www.vworker.com/RentACoder/ElanceVersusVWorker_ForWorkers.aspx</p>
<p>For 50-60 other  differences, with elance, Odesk and the rest, your readers can read more  at:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.vworker.com/RentACoder/DotNet/misc/CompetitorInformation/WhyRentACoder_ForBuyers.aspx">http://www.vworker.com/RentACoder/DotNet/misc/CompetitorInformation/WhyRentACoder_ForBuyers.aspx</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.vworker.com/RentACoder/DotNet/misc/CompetitorInformation/WhyRentACoder_ForSellers.aspx">http://www.vworker.com/RentACoder/DotNet/misc/CompetitorInformation/WhyRentACoder_ForSellers.aspx</a></p>
<p><strong>Usman Shahzada: </strong> Where do you see vworker after five or ten years?<br />
<strong>Ian Ippolito:</strong> We’ll  have expanded into other areas of work, beyond what we do today.  We’ll also be  taking advantage of better bandwidth to allow better and richer communication  between employers and virtual workers.  And finally we’ll have expanded the  model to other countries and languages as well.</p>
<p><strong>Usman Shahzada:</strong> Any upcoming and new exciting features that are to be launched in vworker that  you wish to share?<br />
<strong>Ian Ippolito: </strong>Yes,  we are putting out about 100 new changes every month.  Here are some that your  readers might be interested in learning about:</p>
<p>1)  Change to bidding: Right now if a virtual worker bids $100, we take out our fee  (say it’s an open auction project, so that is $15) and they receive $85.   However, after this change, if the worker bids $100, we’ll add our $15 fee to  it, and the employer will escrow $115.  (Many workers are currently in the habit  of adding the fee to every bid.  So after this change, they’ll have to remember  that they will no longer need to do that.)  This will make it easier for workers  to bid.</p>
<p>It will also give employers an incentive to save money with a  preferred payment discount.  The PPD is a discount for them sending us funds via  a cheaper method (wire or snail mail check).  Since it’s cheaper for us, we pass  the savings on to the customer.  Currently the employer doesn’t really “see” the  affect the discount very clearly, so they don’t take advantage.  After this  change, they’ll see when they escrow the fund that doing this can save them  significantly (because it will require less to escrow). So I expect we’ll see  employers saving considerably more money this way than they currently  do.</p>
<p>2)     Tech  Sherpa:  Non technical employers with no experience managing programmers have a  very difficult time using any online marketplace. That’s because effective  supervision requires a combination of skills they don’t have: the skills of a  technical lead, outsourcing manager, project manager, and quality control  manager.  We currently have in beta a feature where these people can hire a  pre-screened Sherpa to manage their project for them at just $25/hour-$90/hour  (depending on location in the world and skills).  This is going to enable  entrepreneurs to finally be able to take advantage of outsourcing and make it  mainstream.</p>
<p>3)     Worker  qualification: The best virtual workers are 10x more productive than the worst,  so choosing the right one is crucial.  However, most employers don’t have the  skill and ability to choose effectively.  In a few months, we’ll be putting out  a way that will enable them to do this, while drastically cut the time and cost  required to do so.  I encourage those interested to subscribe to <a href="http://siteupdates.vworker.com/">http://siteupdates.vworker.com</a>, to be  notified when it’s ready.</p>
<p><strong>Usman Shahzada:</strong> Any message for the newbies who want to start their freelancing  career?<br />
<strong>Ian Ippolito: </strong>That’s a great  question, and to answer it well, would require a whole article in itself. The  main keys are effective bidding, managing client expectations, managing  deadlines and doing things to protect themselves in case of a dispute.  For  those interested, more details can be found here: <a href="http://imtips.co/freelancing-career.html">http://imtips.co/freelancing-career.html</a></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
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		<title>An Interview with Gary Swart, CEO of odesk.com</title>
		<link>http://usmanshahzada.com/blog/an-interview-with-gary-swart-ceo-of-odesk/</link>
		<comments>http://usmanshahzada.com/blog/an-interview-with-gary-swart-ceo-of-odesk/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 22 May 2011 04:21:31 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Usman Shahzada</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Freelancing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[CEO Odesk]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gary Swart]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Odesk]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://usmanshahzada.com/blog/?p=54</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Usman Shahzada: Where are you from and tell something about yourself? Gary Swart: I grew up in the New York City area and moved to the Bay Area of California almost 18 years ago. I moved to Palo Alto to work for Pure Software, and through a series of mergers and acquisitions, I ended up [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong><a href="http://usmanshahzada.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Inc-Cover.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-64" title="Inc Cover" src="http://usmanshahzada.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Inc-Cover-228x300.jpg" alt="" width="228" height="300" /></a>Usman Shahzada:</strong> Where are you from and tell something about yourself?<br />
<strong>Gary Swart:</strong> I grew up in the New York City area and moved to the Bay Area of California almost 18 years ago. I moved to Palo Alto to work for Pure Software, and through a series of mergers and acquisitions, I ended up at IBM. After 1-1/2 years at IBM i recognized that I was happier in a smaller company environment and the opportunity to make a larger impact in the world. oDesk provides me with the ideal opportunity to have an exciting career while doing something meaningful for the world.</p>
<p><strong>Usman Shahzada:</strong> When and why you started odesk.com and what was the reason behind it?<br />
<strong>Gary Swart:</strong> I was not a founder of oDesk although I did come in very early, over 5 1/2 years ago. oDesk was started by our cofounders Odysseas Tsatalos and Stratis Karamanlakis with the goal of enabling people to work on the jobs they want from anywhere in the World. From day one we have been maniacally focused on our vision of enabling people to work from anywhere on the jobs they want, helping employers to access qualified talent anywhere in the world, and making online workers and teams just as effective as on-site, and not just early adopters utilize them.</p>
<p><strong>Usman Shahzada:</strong> When you started it what was the initial response of the people?<br />
<strong>Gary Swart:</strong> The initial response from our community was extremely positive. Our employer customers told us that they liked access to hard to find talent outside of their local geographies, guaranteed work through unprecedented visibility into work as it happens, and the ability to pay without the hassle of payroll. Similarly, our contractor customers told us they liked access to jobs and the guaranteed payment that oDesk provides, whether or not we collect the money from the employer. The positive response from our community continues to improve each year as our marketplace strengthens with more quality jobs and even more highly qualified contractors.</p>
<p><strong>Usman Shahzada:</strong> How much you invested initially to setup everything? Were you able to find venture capitalists?<br />
<strong>Gary Swart:</strong> oDesk has raised 3 rounds of venture capital to help us to build our business to where we are today providing $18M per month in payroll to over 1.4M contractors from around the world.</p>
<p><strong>Usman Shahzada:</strong> How did you market your business/website after the launch?<br />
<strong>Gary Swart:</strong> oDesk is primarily marketed via referrals from our customers. Our employers get great results and tell other employers how great oDesk is for getting work done cost effectively and contractors also bring other contractors to oDesk to make money. In addition to referrals we also leverage Search Engine Marketing, PR, and social media.</p>
<p><strong>Usman Shahzada:</strong> How many teams members you have at odesk?<br />
<strong>Gary Swart: </strong>We have 55 employees at oDesk and 170 full time equivalent contractors that we have hired from our network to help us to build and run our business. We are proud of the fact that we use our own service to get more work done.</p>
<p><strong>Usman Shahzada:</strong> Do you have other businesses/websites other than odesk?<br />
<strong>Gary Swart:</strong> I do not currently have other businesses in addition to oDesk.</p>
<p><strong>Usman Shahzada:</strong> How do think makes odesk different from vworker, elance, freelancer, getacoder, guru and other online market places?<br />
<strong>Gary Swart:</strong> oDesk is the largest and fastest growing company in the eWork space. We are the only marketplace that offers guaranteed work and guaranteed payment and as a result we have the worlds largest network of highly qualified rated, ranked, tested contractors and the most employers looking for long-term, time-based workers.</p>
<p><strong>Usman Shahzada:</strong> Where do you see odesk after five or ten years?<br />
<strong>Gary Swart:</strong> oDesk will be a globally mainstream way to hire and work. People can work from anywhere on the jobs they want.Employers can access qualified talent anywhere in the world.Online workers and teams are just as effective as on-site, and not just early adopters utilize them.</p>
<p><strong>Usman Shahzada:</strong> Any upcoming and new exciting features that are to be launched in odesk that you wish to share?<br />
<strong>Gary Swart:</strong> Stay tuned for even more continual innovation in all areas of hire, manage and pay.</p>
<p><strong>Usman Shahzada:</strong> What do you think is the main reason behind your success?<br />
<strong>Gary Swart:</strong> oDesk is successful based on the continued innovation and execution by our highly qualified and capable team.</p>
<p><strong>Usman Shahzada: </strong>Any message for the newbies who want to start their freelancing career?<br />
<strong>Gary Swart:</strong> My advice to new contractors that would like to start a career on oDesk is to recognize that it may take some time to get your first job on oDesk and not to give up too soon. Here are some tips to get started,</p>
<ol>
<li>Complete their profile including uploading a photo, adding samples of their work to the portfolio and take a few tests to demonstrate that they have the right skills and knowledge.</li>
<li>Look through the 80+ jobs posted on a monthly basis to identify those most targeted to their strengths.</li>
<li>Apply to jobs of interest with a very focused and relevant cover letter, clearly articulating how your capabilities will be an ideal fit for what the employer needs done.</li>
<li>Be flexible on your desired hourly rate to get started</li>
<li>Don&#8217;t give up!</li>
</ol>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
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		<title>A complete guide to Freelancing</title>
		<link>http://usmanshahzada.com/blog/a-complete-guide-to-freelancing/</link>
		<comments>http://usmanshahzada.com/blog/a-complete-guide-to-freelancing/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 17 Dec 2010 17:22:48 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Usman Shahzada</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Freelancing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hourly Jobs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Moneybookers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Odesk]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Payment Methods]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Payoneer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Vworker]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://usmanshahzada.com/blog/?p=50</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[There are many online market places such as odesk, guru, scriptlance,getacoder, freelancer, elance and vworker but I will focus on VWorker.com and Odesk.com only. So I will be discussing how to Setup profiles on vworker and odesk Comparison of vworker and odesk (Arbitration/Mediation, Escrow ) Fixed Price vs Hourly Jobs on Odesk How to use [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>There are many online market places such as <a href="http://www.odesk.com/" target="_blank">odesk</a>, <a href="http://www.guru.com" target="_blank">guru</a>, <a href="http://www.scriptlance.com" target="_blank">scriptlance</a>,<a href="http://www.getacoder.com" target="_blank">getacoder</a>, <a href="http://www.freelancer.com" target="_blank">freelancer</a>, <a href="http://www.elance.com" target="_blank">elance</a> and <a href="http://www.vworker.com" target="_blank">vworker</a> but I will focus on VWorker.com and Odesk.com only. So I will be discussing how to</p>
<ul>
<li>Setup profiles on vworker and odesk</li>
<li>Comparison of vworker and odesk (Arbitration/Mediation, Escrow )</li>
<li>Fixed Price vs Hourly Jobs on Odesk</li>
<li>How to use Team Room (Odesk) and RAC Time Card (Vworker) for hourly jobs.</li>
<li>How to get your first job (Tips for getting your first job on odesk/vworker)</li>
<li>Setting up payment methods (Payoneer, Moneybookers, Western Union etc)</li>
</ul>
<p>So if you are new to freelancing, this probably will help you setup profiles, bid on projects and earn money. You can have a look at my profiles on <a href="https://www.vworker.com/RentACoder/DotNet/SoftwareCoders/ShowBioInfo.aspx?lngAuthorId=2208765&amp;intTabSelectedId=2" target="_blank">worker</a> and <a href="http://www.odesk.com/users/Usman-Shahzada_~~a8b6c5ca231b683f" target="_blank">odesk</a>.</p>
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		<title>vWorker.com new feature “Sub Accounts”</title>
		<link>http://usmanshahzada.com/blog/vworker-com-new-feature-sub-accounts/</link>
		<comments>http://usmanshahzada.com/blog/vworker-com-new-feature-sub-accounts/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 24 Nov 2010 17:43:45 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Usman Shahzada</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Freelancing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sub Accounts]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Vworker]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://usmanshahzada.com/blog/?p=34</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The new feature &#8220;Sub Accounts&#8221; from vWorker.com is really what I was looking for. Now you can give access to your teams members to your company profile.  Once you add a sub account, you can then assign different permissions to that sub account e.g  your sub account can post bids, view projects, private messages, posts [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The new feature &#8220;Sub Accounts&#8221; from vWorker.com is really what I was looking for. Now you can give access to your teams members to your company profile.  Once you add a sub account, you can then assign different permissions to that sub account e.g  your sub account can post bids, view projects, private messages, posts comments and replies etc.</p>
<p><a href="http://usmanshahzada.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/permissions.png"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-35" title="permissions" src="http://usmanshahzada.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/permissions.png" alt="" width="762" height="383" /></a></p>
<p>The sub account will login with their own login credentials, once they login they will have an option to either Sign in as &#8220;Myself&#8221; or as a &#8220;Sub Account&#8221;.</p>
<p><a href="http://usmanshahzada.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/login.png"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-36" title="login" src="http://usmanshahzada.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/login.png" alt="" width="559" height="231" /></a></p>
<p><strong>Plus Points:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>You can have multiple team members to access your profile/your projects and post bids and comments.</li>
<li>You dont have to share your username/password with your team members as they will sign in using their own accounts (their own login credentials)</li>
<li>When a sub account posts a comment or a bid on the main/master account, it shows Sub-account person id as well that can help to determine as which Sub Account posted the reply/comment or a bid.</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://usmanshahzada.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/subaccountid.png"><img class="size-full wp-image-39 aligncenter" title="subaccountid" src="http://usmanshahzada.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/subaccountid.png" alt="" width="612" height="77" /></a></p>
<p><strong>Negative Points:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>The main/master/company profile doesnt show the sub accounts and a sub account doesnt show the company you are working for.</li>
<li>When as a sub account you work on any project it wont show in your profile that you actually worked on that project, the rating will only apply to the main/master account. If we have 4-5 sub accounts working on a single project so it wont make sense that 4-5 people get ratings for that 1 project but atleast it should show in sub account that this worker also worked as a sub account on this project.</li>
</ul>
<p>All in all its a great feature. My account on vworker (<a href="http://www.vworker.com/RentACoder/DotNet/SoftwareCoders/ShowBioInfo.aspx?lngAuthorId=2208765&amp;intTabSelectedId=2" target="_blank">Usman Shahzada</a>) is added as a sub account on my company account (<a href="http://www.vworker.com/RentACoder/DotNet/SoftwareCoders/ShowBioInfo.aspx?lngAuthorId=7184100&amp;intTabSelectedId=2" target="_blank">COMSATS I.T Center</a>).</p>
<p>Features that I am looking forward to have in vworker.com are</p>
<ul>
<li>Profile Widgets (to add to your blogs/websites)</li>
<li>Moneybookers Payment Method (As Paypal is not available in Pakistan.)</li>
</ul>
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		<title>Whats new in wordpress 3.0</title>
		<link>http://usmanshahzada.com/blog/whats-new-in-wordpress3/</link>
		<comments>http://usmanshahzada.com/blog/whats-new-in-wordpress3/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 09 Oct 2010 11:08:52 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Usman Shahzada</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Open Source]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[whats new in wordpress 3.0]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Wordpress]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Wordpress 3]]></category>

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