Virtuality

Working Online is NOT as easy as it used to be...

2010-04-08T22:38:00.000-07:00

If you're a current online worker or just starting to get your feet wet... you need to be very careful.

It's just not as it used to.

There may be tons of work out there on Craigslist but those may not always be the kind of work you want.

First of all, most of the employers (foreigners outsourcing their work to Filipinos) think that we are just worth $2.50/hr or even less. Some will list various tasks for a single position and give a bottom-feeder rate of $200/month.

WE ARE WORTH MORE THAN THAT.

If you're thinking because you're just starting out online that you can accept that kind of rate, think about it... You're going to have to work full time on a job that has you paying Internet access, electricity, computer maintenance, etc.. And if you have prior experience on that area or even a degree, you definitely deserve more than that measly amount.

The US Dollar rate is declining. You can't expect to earn good money if you accept very low rates.

And now there are posts popping everywhere from sleazy individuals... SCAMMERS!

Unfortunately, these will have high rates and professional looking requirements and will in fact ask you to do legitimate work for weeks to a month - but come pay day, they will suddenly vanish. Never to be heard from again.

It's so amazing to think that these types of people can even sleep at night knowing that they've scammed hard working people of their hard-earned pay.

And what's even more disheartening is that most of these scammers are fellow Filipinos who don't want to lift a finger and actually do the job. What they do is apply for a legitimate job (with possibly good pay) and outsource that to other people but in the end take all the credit for himself.

Such sleaze-bags!

So, be wary my fellow online workers...

Always double check if the job your applying to is the real deal. Check the email address if it's connected to any scam or similar. Does this person/company have a real website? Google his/her name or the company. Find out as much as you can... but even if you don't find any dirt, tread lightly..

Good luck and happy job hunting!

Online... working!

2009-11-23T01:28:00.000-08:00

I’ve been working online for almost 4 years now. I love the flexibility and how I can be close with my family whilst still trying to earn for a living. For a mother like me, being away from your child is hard. I can’t imagine myself going to work, spending all my day in an office and wasting valuable time traveling to and fro – with very little time left to offer my kid.

Getting an online job is not difficult at all. You just need to go ahead and search for jobs that are being offered as “work from home” or “telecommute.” There are hundreds of them out there - with a variety of fields to choose from. You can go to Craigslist.org or sign up in Getafreelancer.com to search for one.

Of course, like in any other job, you need to play on your strengths and skills. You’re not going to apply for a programming job if writing is really your strong point, are you? Besides, the current trends now are jobs that deal with data entry, research and writing.

In fact, if you know how to use the Internet, have average computer knowledge and average English skills – you are as good as hired!

Most employers (and I am specifically talking about those outside the Philippines) look for so-called “Virtual Assistants.” These are people that they hire to do the tiresome and miniscule work for them. Tasks like sending out email to prospects, searching for contacts, creating email or social networking accounts – things that they don’t have to bother doing themselves, in other words – easy jobs.

I’m sure most people can do these tasks and some employers wouldn’t even bother if you have previous experience or not. They can test you out for a week or even a month, and if you give them solid results – you’re in!

When it comes to getting paid, there are now several ways to get them. But it is advisable that you already have a bank account that allows fund transfers, especially from Xoom or PayPal. If you don’t have one, you can still get your payment via local money remittance companies like, Cebuana Lhuillier or LBC. I prefer to have it go straight to the bank, though.

The best I’ve tried so far is PayPal, more so now because it has allowed withdrawals to Philippine banks like BPI. Once my client sends in his payment, I can withdraw that and have it sent to my bank automatically. And in less than 3 days it’s deposited in my bank account.

Aside from accepting online payments, it too works great if you need to transfer money or make purchases – as it is the most safest and popular service out there.

All you need to do is sign up to PayPal for either a Personal or Premier account. However, if you’re going to be working from home, Premier is the way to go. It has all the benefits of a Personal account like; sending money, receiving money, purchasing online AND you can get paid by credit/debit card. That last part allows for prospective clients to have more flexibility when paying you.

If you want to keep earning and also have lots of bonding time with your family, like me, you may want to give working from home a shot.

Where to find online jobs?

2008-12-17T23:12:00.000-08:00

If you are looking for an online job, either for part time or full time, it's best to know where to look. Here are a few of my go-to sites where I usually find good online jobs.

1. Craigslist.com - This is a great place to look for online jobs and certainly eliminates the hassle of signing up for an account. All you need to do is to check out the jobs section and make sure that the location is not at all specific; i.e. home, global, virtual. The post might also say that it allows Telecommuting, which is another way of telling that the job is for an online position.

2. Freelancer.com GetaFreelancer.com - This is a site both for providers and buyers. You need to register and setup some of your skills so that buyers will be interested or might even invite you to bid on their projects. You can search through its huge database of jobs/projects for ones that suit your skills. It's important to know though that if you do get a project through Freelancer GAF, the payment may go through their escrow. This means the buyer will pay but it is temporarily in Freelancer's hands, and once the buyer is assured that the job is well done this is then released to you (minus their service fee). Although, it is also possible that the buyer can contact you directly after the bid and negotiate outside of Freelancer.

3. Best Jobs Philippines - This is a local website that also posts some online jobs. No need for membership, just contact the job poster and hope for the best.

I'm sure that there are tons of other sites out on the Web that you can go to. Google it if you like, just always remember to be wary of job posts that appear to good to be true. Chances are... that's exactly what they are.

Happy job hunting!

What is Data Enty?

2008-12-12T23:45:00.000-08:00

If you have just started looking into working-from-home or online jobs, then you most certainly have come across job posts that offer data entry positions. It may sound a bit vague and yet it is quite straightforward.

Data Entry is mainly capturing (either by copy-paste method or typing data) from a source to either from an online database, excel sheet or some other document.

It's the easiest task of all and because of that most likely will be offered for cheap rates.

Typical examples of data entry jobs would be copying pages of scanned data and transferring those to excel format. This is easy but could be quite tricky as there is a possibility for errors and could potentially be bad for your client.

Usually though, data entry goes hand-in-hand with online research wherein you would have to look for the data first via the web. (Google would be a great place to start looking if you're in a bind.) One example of this job would be adding websites in a directory. In order to find the corresponding sites for a particular category, you would have to search for it first.

If you do want to start working online, this would be a great place to start. However, be wary of posts looking for data entry workers offering $5 and above, that may be too good to be true. It's most likely a scam or pyramid scheme that will just waste your time..

How did I get started as a virtual worker?

2008-12-04T20:27:00.000-08:00

Back in 2006, I was still working for a major call center based in Ortigas. I didn't mind it much but I was petrified that we were going back to receiving calls, after enjoying the privilege of answering only email. I have an aversion to receiving calls from total strangers, the mere first ring sends my tummy aflutter.

Me and my boyfriend (at the time), have always talked about how stressful it is to have to endure working in the office. Trying to squeeze in with everybody at the MRT and usually ending up getting late. And the office politics was really annoying me that I question how they do internal hiring in the first place.

I had a pretty respectable salary and the work wasn't that difficult. But it bugs me that I had a large tax cut and I couldn't do anything about it. I was single at the time, but I could've saved a lot more if it hadn't been for all those cuts from my paycheck. (Granted they were for health, security service, etc.. that I never used because I never had to.)

I was already working as a freelance web designer at the time and had a few gigs here and there. And my boyfriend was just about done with his job as a web developer (also in the Ortigas area) - his employer allowed him to telecommute just to keep him from resigning. He just couldn't take going to the office and spending so much on gas.

That got us to thinking on how much better it would be to just get a job where you can do it in the comfort of your own home. No annoying project managers or team leads watching every move you make. And you save a lot on other expenses such as food and gas/travel.

It made perfect sense and so when I got out of my job and bought a new laptop - we got straight to looking for online projects. Small ones that we can manage to juggle with our time. He was already in talks with a web development project that I usually help him out with. Just simple DNN conversion and tweaking.

At this point I still wasn't that into the whole work-from-home thing. Getting a little project was fine but to live off it was still a bit vague in my mind. Especially when we were expecting a little baby in a few months. But my now-husband still went hard at work, looking for the perfect job that I can do as I could not possibly find work pregnant!

He found for me a 9-5 job as a full-time linkbuilder for a Japanese company. The pay was only half of what I got from my call center job, but at least there were no pay cuts and less expense. Linkbuilding was easy enough and mostly was just data entry. No real technical know-how was required. You just need know how to get around the Net.

Payment then was sent via Xoom which then automatically deposits the converted money to my bank account in usually 5-7 business days. My salary was in $ which has it's upside and downside. Upside was my salary was good then, since the exchange rate was high ($ vs PHP) but when the Peso gained... down went my salary. It wasn't that much of a differnce though, but still!

Then after working as linkbuilder for several months, I found that full time work even at home is still tiring. Even if my husband was helping me out.. we just couldn't meet the 500 submission quota per day. That's when we started looking again for part time work and found a job as virtual assistant for Ruffneckwear.

I was then working during the day and night. As my work hours for Ruffneck required that I be up during PST (Washington, USA time.) Although it was for only 4 hours, it took a toll on me since my baby was then crying at all hours of the night.

My work then, involved looking for prospects to sell our product. So, initially, it involved online research of organization websites that may benefit from what we sell and then later on emailing them our introductions. It was great as my rate per hour was quite high and I earn commission as well for sales I've made.

Since then I've worked in various other jobs and would most probably keep going.

Newly born!

2008-12-04T00:00:00.000-08:00

Hello virtual world!

It's a new day and it is the best time to begin setting off to great journeys...