WAHM Forums

Does anyone use Odesk?? Have you been successful?Edited by: jm123

I have .... but you do have to wade through a lot of junk jobsto get to the decent ones. You will need tosell yourself because of the heavy competition and don't get discourage with the oversea bids.

Hiya,

I use odesk with great sucess. Its currently the only thing I use to get WAH jobs atm, and I have found several great long term jobs from there. I have recently started posting about it on these forums.

I used to work hardcore for ChaCha but since I have got started with odesk and its so much better. I currently have 4 jobs atm from there, 1 as a personal assistant, 1 as a website content admin, 1 as a transcriber, and 1 as a data auditor. They all pay between $5-$7 an hour with bonuses. No schedule and No phone work which is just wonderful.

I also have 3 more interviews this week and just had 2 interviews this past week that Im waiting to hear back on to see if I got those jobs as well. Pay ranging from $5-$9.50 an hour.

The work I have been doing is so easy and I have no set schedule. Im already getting 40 hours a week in but Im hoping to get around 60-70 hours a week with the jobs I interviews for now.

If you need any help getting started, I can give you some tips about getting going, show you my profile and other things that can help you. Just send me a PM. if you dont have an odesk account yet you can sign up for one using the link in my signature.

Good Luck!

** I wanted to update this thread as of June16, 2009** Most of my jobs are now in the $7-$12 range, and Im still using odesk with great sucess.**</font>

Edited by: Lilly33

I would love some info on odesk. I have set up my info but still need to do the training. I am fighting a cold, so my head is not clear. Any advice would be helpful. Thanks. Please PM me with the info.Edited by: mom4laaj

I post a lot of jobs from oDesk that look legitimate. If you just search through the US opportunities and do not sell yourself short then you should be fine. It is terrible that many people will try and pay a buck an hour and people will actually take it. *shakes head* If people continue to take the very low paying jobs then the jobs will continue to be low paying jobs.

I agree with ladyboo. The $1 an hour jobs are not for me and I do not have time to sort through all of those types of jobs. I am well worth more because of my consistent and high production on sales with inbound calls with past employer.

The $1 jobs are mainly the data entry ones. Usually simple copy and paste stuff.

The average VA, and Admin Assistant job on odesk pays anywhere from $5-$10 an hour.

Most telephone work Inbound or Outbound pays $5-$15 an hour especially if you have good english.

Writing and blogging jobs can go either way. The average rates on them are $2-$15 an hour.

Most website design, logo, coding work etc pays $16+ an hour.

Voice Talents get paid on average $25 an hour.

If you dont want to be paid $1 an hour, then dont go after the super easy jobs.

Heres a screenshot of my area of odesk, from last week and some of the interviews I had:

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a5/catica314/interviews-2.jpg

2 interviews for $5 an hour.
2 interviews for $6 an hour
1 Interview for $7 an hour
1 Interview for $9.50 an hour
And a fixed price job that would take me about 3-4 hours to do for $20/ roughly $5-$6.50 an hour.

I base the bid I put on off of how easy the job is and what they expect me to do. All of the jobs I have applied for require NO phone work, NO set schedules, and NO selling of any type.

As far as how they have turned out, I ended up taking 1 of the $5 jobs( the one to type out the word document), and had an interview last night for an extremely easy copy and paste job for $5 and got hired for it too, I start it tonight. I turned down 1 of the $6 ones, and am still in the interview process for the customer email support one. I also turned down the $7 job and have an interview thursday for an $8 an hour one. I am also still in the interview process for the $9.50 an hour one. He is checking my references now. I did get the $20 fixed rate one and completed in the same day.

In the past month I have sucessfully completed 7 work assignments, and I am currently working 4 right now not counting the interviews I still have in progress and the new ones for this week.

I can definetly say the work is way easier than anything I have done for chacha, kgb, westathome, and quicktate. And in alot of cases pay more.

I think anyone thats willing to put the time into it will be surpised at the results they can get.



Edited by: Lilly33

I wanted to update everyone too, cause Im so happy lol. I just finished my last interview for this week and out of my interviews I got hired for 2 more VA jobs.

One pays $7 an hour and the other pays $8.

Im just hoping I dont kill myself with work now lol. Im still waiting to hear back from the $9.50 an hour admin job but I think I might just pass on it now.

I now have 7 current jobs all through odesk.

1 at $5 an hour that I currently do less than 1 hour of work with per week.
2 at $5 an hour that I do anywhere from 10-20 hours a week.
1 at $6 an hour thats currently less than 1 hour of work a week.
1 at $6 thats currently 8 hours a week.
1 at $7 thats currently 10+ hours a week
1 at $8 thats 10+ hours a week.

Kinda seems confusing but I like having lots of different things to do and people to interact with. Keeps things from getting boring. They are all non phone and no set schedule :D I think Im done finding jobs for a bit lol, time to sit back and just get some work done.

Anyone else still wanting help to get started on odesk feel free to PM me or sign up through the link in my siggy if you need an odesk account.

I really dont mind helping you get started either. For me its been a lifesaver and I dont mind passing on my good fortune.

Yea i used them when I first started freelancing but quickly realized it was not the site for me.
They cater to overseas contractors. There are very few jobs that pay minimum wage for US contractors. The jobs that do pay "ok" are ones that require you to have a lot of completed ODesk projects (which is difficult because they want so much done for $3-5/hour.)
I use Guru.com. Much higher caliber of employers, the site is better, and the pay is much higher as most employers request US contractors.

I never had any problems getting started or outbeating the people overseas. Its all about having a good resume and portfolio. I just got really going with oDesk in mid February. Trust me if you have the skills and can show that in your resume and portfolio, most employers will choose an american with good english over any of the overseas people even if you cost them more. You just have to show them your worth paying more.

In a little over a month, I have accepted and completed or am still working 14 different assignments/jobs. The cheapest one I worked was for $4.44 an hour and all I had to do was look at an excel sheet and compare the names on it to the names on a website and mark if any were wrong. Not exactly rocket science lol.

On average I probably had at least 5 interviews a week from jobs I applied on and at least 2 job offers a week sent to me without me applying just based off them seeing my profile in the provider search.

I really think where people go wrong is there profiles. I see alot of really bad profiles on there and thats the what the potiental employer sees. You got to take the time to make sure yours looks good, just like your resume.

Then you have to put the effort into finding the job. Checking the site once a day and just scanning over stuff isnt going to cut it.

Most of the good jobs and serious employers post and hire in just a few hours.

Obvisouly I think its very rewarding for those who put the time into it and dedicate themselves.

Edited by: Lilly33

The only thing I am concerned about with odesk is that it seems that my desktop and computer is not very secure with the odesk team software...Anyone have any thought to this?

Im not sure what you mean by secure?

I have 3 anti-virus running, Nortons, Avast, and avg. I also have up my personal firewall and another firewall through nortons. I havent had to cut any of them off to run odesk. Nor have any of them had any issues with odesk running.


**Side Note**

I posted some guides and more information on odesk in this thread as well:

http://www.wahm.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=660785

Edited by: Lilly33

Lilly33 I just want to say THANK YOU VERY MUCH.
everyone she helped me today get my profile up to par. Let me tell ya what i have received a few hits already. So nice of you lilly33.
I had a profile on odesk but i was clueless of what i was doing lol. and here come my savor. God Bless anyone need help just give a shout.

Yea i used them when I first started freelancing but quickly realized it was not the site for me.
They cater to overseas contractors. There are very few jobs that pay minimum wage for US contractors. The jobs that do pay "ok" are ones that require you to have a lot of completed ODesk projects (which is difficult because they want so much done for $3-5/hour.)
I use Guru.com. Much higher caliber of employers, the site is better, and the pay is much higher as most employers request US contractors.


I feel the same way. I signed up for both sites, but I couldn't believe how poorly oDesk jobs paid, especially for all the hassle they make you go through to sign up, take tests, upload their software. Why do I want to get paid $1/hour? It isn't enough to justify the time, energy and electric and internet bills. Maybe it's great for other countries, but here it doesn't seem to be justifiable.

I've had better success at Guru.com, at least getting $8/hr for all jobs I've had. I am also impressed by how many US employers will state that they only want US people, due to the economy - there are a lot of people there that want to help keep our country going.

I sent a message to them telling them I only market to US people and the jobs that pay lower than a certain amount are actually kind of insulting and if they could create a way to put an RSS feed with anything over a certain amount per hour and they said "thanks for the input."

Maybe if enough people get in there and say something they're realize they need to create a better system between international and domestic.

Im sorry but I still have to say and its from my own experience, odesk is a great place. Sure there are some employers who want cheap labor and want to outsource, but there are more who DO pay good rates and want people who work in the USA.

I have looked at guru.com as well and have an account there. It was just as much work to set up a good profile with them as it was for odesk. Tests, resumes, skills, etc, just like odesk. On top of that I look for jobs in the admin support catagory, that is where my skills and qualifications are.
So far I havent been able to find a single job on guru.com that I could apply for as a basic member. I could apply if I paid the hefty annual fee to become a "guru" which was anywhere from $60 to $120 a year.

In fact out of the 164 Admin Support jobs posted currently on guru as i make this post, 0 were for basic members. You have to pay the fee to apply for any of them.

Sorry but Im not paying for a job and Im definately NOT paying just to look at jobs and have a "chance" to get one.

There might be low paying jobs on odesk and I might have to compete with people outside of the USA but I dont have to pay anything to be able to apply for ALL jobs on odesk, and out of the 17 jobs I have had or am currently working now, I havent had to work for less than $5 an hour for any of them.

Edited by: Lilly33

Lilly33, I am interested in learning more about Odesk. I am new to this forum and trying to do part-time work this way. Could you help me out with some information on this?

I do work full time and have spent many years working part time jobs away from home. I really need the extra income but do not want to work out of the home. I have 10 years of legal secretary experience and about 5 years of admin. assistant experience in education. I am just telling you all of this to see if you can tell me if Odesk is for me. Any help you can give me is much appreciated.

Hi Everyone, Lilly33, I would love some information on Odesk. Will you help me? Thanks.

I do pay the fee for Guru.com ($29/3 months) but I did it only after I acquired my first job. From that point I use the money that I make from any job to pay for the fee, which I find fairily insignifcation. I work between 1-3 hours to pay for the three months, and it gives me the ability to have access to a lot ofjobs.I don't normally like to pay for things of this nature, but I found it a good investment on my part.

can someone email I dont understand how this works if you can give me some steps to do that would be great I dont understand how you bid on jobs thank you

If you could help me and teach me how to bid on jobs that would be great I really dont want to be on the phone since my son is always yelling MOMMMMM..hehe thank you

I do pay the fee for Guru.com ($29/3 months) but I did it only after I acquired my first job. From that point I use the money that I make from any job to pay for the fee, which I find fairily insignifcation. I work between 1-3 hours to pay for the three months, and it gives me the ability to have access to a lot ofjobs.I don't normally like to pay for things of this nature, but I found it a good investment on my part.

Guru.com boggles my mind! I know that alot of people on there are bidding for $2-3/hr. I think that marketplace is oversaturated (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong). Odesk is something I would need to take my time building my profile but so what I have had to do it with plenty of other sites just as long as I get decent paying freelance positions from them.

I also sincerely hope that it is not our own WAHM's from this board and other similar WAH forums that are bidding $1-3 per hour. As long as we continue to accept that type of pay, the lower employers will go with the pay and higher with job quotas/expectations which would be detremintal to those of us that really need/have to work from home.

Anyway, that's my mini-speech for the day! I need to go grab a cup o'java. smileys/smiley36.gif