Rob Thomas - Her Diamonds Saturday, May 29, 2010

I like a lot of songs from Matchbox 20 and Rob Thomas, but this has to be my favorite of all. :)

May's Online Earnings Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Including the bank transfer from PayPal I just made earlier today, I made a total of Php 62,145.81. It's a bit lower than the 71k I made last month, but it's a pretty good amount for someone who just sits in front of a laptop and works from home. :-)

Disaster Turned Success Sunday, May 23, 2010

I was supposed to cook pork adobo today, but since I was really, really short of sleep and I wasn't in the highest of spirits when I woke up, I accidentally cooked the beef we had in the fridge instead of the pork. I only realized until later that it was beef I was actually cooking when I had the pot boiling and I was throwing away garlic cloves and the wrappers. The bag read - beef cut ups and I was like, oh no.

I've been thinking about expanding our menu since I always end up cooking the same meals, and I've been browsing the internet for dinner ideas. I didn't think my new menu would happen today, lol!

For the beef adobo I ended up making, I used half a kilo of cut beef, garlic, pepper, soy sauce and vinegar. You need to take equal parts of soy sauce and vinegar, and then some pepper. Combine this and the beef in a bowl and marinade for 30 minutes to 1 hour. Then, take out the beef (but don't throw away the sauce where you marinated it) and saute it with finely chopped garlic and cooking oil. Once all sides of the beef is brown, pour over the soy sauce with vinegar combination you used to marinade the beef with and that's it! Serve it hot.

I honestly did not know beef adobo tasted really good. After I tasted the meal, I was surprised that it actually tasted great and then I decided to search the internet if this recipe was even possible, or if someone has already made it. I know chicken can also be made into adobo, and I was pleased when I found the same recipe for beef. What I thought would be a disaster ended up in a successful meal for my family.

Telesales with Base Pay of 15k over Skype? I don't think so. Saturday, May 15, 2010

The other day I declined a job interview over at oDesk, not because I was too busy or because the buyer was new, but because the pay as I estimated it was too low and that I felt that if I got hired, this would become a problem.

Here's what the guy offered: a base pay of Php 15k monthly, work is from 8am - 4pm with a 1 hour lunch break, fast PC and internet for Skype calls, and "up to" Php 15k commissions. Anyway, for those who have an oDesk account and would like to see this job opening, you can read more about it by clicking this link.

Now, the major reason why I declined is the fact that this job was posted as an hourly job, which means to log in and count your hours, you would need to log into the oDesk time tracking tool. What I was concerned about is the fact that my hourly rate is $8/hour, and if I was to work for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week as in the job description, I would make a whole lot more than the Php 15k budget the buyer had. Now my question is, how would they hire me without paying me my real hourly rate and logging into the oDesk time tracking tool? I somehow had this bad feeling about the job wherein either my hours will not be logged properly, or they won't get paid at all. I don't know about you guys, but a second opinion wouldn't hurt.

Thank You SocialSpark Thursday, May 13, 2010

I would like to take this opportunity to say a big thank you to the guys over at SocialSpark. For those of you who aren't familiar with the site, it's one of the get paid to write websites out there. Now, why am I thanking them?

Well, since I started focusing my career over at oDesk, I admittedly neglected posting on my blogs as well as grabbing paid post opportunities. There were weeks when my blogs would go without any updates, and I wasn't even aware that they changed the payout rate from $20 to $50. For several months already, I had a balance of $12 and some change, and I wasn't getting any further opps from them. I think it has been half a year since I got an assignment from them, and I seriously did not think I could get other opps to make it to the payout amount.

So I decided the other day to send customer support an email to request for an early payout and the closure of my account. Today, when I woke up and checked my email, the PayPal payment was already there with an email from them that my request was processed and that my account would no longer be accessible.

I didn't even have half of the minimum payout amount, but they still fulfilled my request. And for that, I will always be thankful for SocialSpark and what they did. Thanks again, you guys will always be one of my favorite get paid to write sites.

Historical Philippine Elections 2010 Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Yesterday was the first ever automated elections in the Philippines, and it is literally history for the country. When before votes were manually counted, this is the first time that technology was used, making the entire process relatively easier. Results in most major cities were announced and winners were already proclaimed in some, but there are some of the 'troubled' places like Mindanao where some teachers were harassed, and results have not been transmitted yet.

I am personally not a registered voter of the country, as I was pregnant with my eldest child when I fell in line to register. Unfortunately, the line was absolutely long, and no one bothered to let me go first despite my bulging belly and the scorching heat of the sun. So after a few hours of waiting, I decided to go home and I wasn't able to register.

If I had been given the chance, I would have voted for either Dick Gordon or Gibo Teodoro, as these two have already contributed to the country in major and favorable ways. But what saddens me about this year's elections is the fact that previously impeached president Erap Estrada made it to #2, which is a frightening fact. Did we Filipinos not learn anything about the previous EDSA revolutions?

On a side note, I've been thinking that Erap's candidacy could have been planned, as majority of the poor people of the country would have voted for Manny Villar, a rags to riches presidential candidate. If Erap had not ran for office, majority of his votes would have gone to Manny Villar instead. Villar on the other hand, already conceded to Nonoy Aquino, the current leading presidential candidate (and definitely not my personal choice).

Noynoy Aquino is another presidential candidate I would not vote for, not even in my nightmares. He's been in the senate for years already, and has not passed even a single bill during his term. How can someone who sat in office and did nothing have the guts to run for president when he hasn't done anything even though he was already in the position to do so? But then again, Filipinos are known to be an emotional type of people, and his campaign ads have all been directed towards the hearts and emotions of people, not to mention the fact that he is the son of a former president and another senator who is viewed as a hero.

Democracy certainly has its price, and we all have to live with the choice of the majority. All I can say to those who complained about how long they fell in line just to vote and the process took only 5 minutes or less,  waiting hours in line to vote is better than waiting for another 6 years for change.

Happy Mother's Day! Sunday, May 09, 2010

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there!

Writing a Cover Letter for oDesk Saturday, May 08, 2010

When applying for jobs at oDesk, you will be required to write a cover letter together with your application and your bid for the job. A lot of people who know I work at oDesk ask me what they should write in the cover letter, and here's my response:

• Express your interest for the position. You should write in your cover letter that you are interested in the job, like a line or two that states your interest and willingness to perform the job at hand.
• State any relevant experience for the opening. If you are applying for a customer service job, an article rewriting position, or perhaps a web content writer, state what experience you have in this field. In this way, the potential buyer will become aware that you know what the job at hand entails.
• Recommend that the buyer review your profile. You can do this by making sure that your profile has samples of your work attached to it, or provide the links to them. If you already have feedback built on the site, ask them to review it as well so that the buyers are aware that you deliver quality work.
• Set a time frame for the completion of the project. This is particularly true for fixed price jobs. If you can complete it within a week or less than a month, state it in the cover letter as this information will be very useful for buyers who need a certain project completed as soon as possible.
• Don't forget to thank the buyer. At the conclusion of your cover letter, do not forget to thank the potential buyer for the time they spent reviewing your application. This not only goes to show that you are interested in the opening, you also have good manners.

These are just some of the things I do include in my cover letters, but if you would like to add anything else to it, feel free to do so.

Why I Don't Recommend Data Entry Jobs Saturday, May 08, 2010

A lot of my former officemates in the call center I used to work for as well as old college and high school friends I get reconnected with over at Facebook have been asking me what I do to make money online.

Writing is the main thing I do over at oDesk, and I make a considerable amount out of it. However, I really feel awkward when telling someone what I do when I know that they do not speak/write English very well, which is perfectly understandable since it's not our first language.

One of our neighbors popped by and asked me if I knew of anything she could do online to make money (my mother in law and my husband had their fair share of telling the neighbors what I did and why the only time I go out of the house is to buy an energy drink from the store). I asked her to rate her English skills honestly as the work I did entailed a lot of writing, and I would have been more than happy to have her write some of the articles I needed done. Unfortunately, her self-assessed English skilled were, let's say not so well, and she asked me about data entry.

I've seen a lot of openings for data entry jobs over at oDesk, but this is definitely a path I will not tread. The pay is extremely low (like a couple of cents for an hour's work) and it's a no-brainer job. I have always viewed work as something you enjoy and learn from at the same time, and if it's not any of the two I mentioned above, then it's not worth it.

Sure, data entry jobs are easy, but come on! Who wants to spend all day clicking CTRL + C and CTRL +V? It's a hilariously redundant job, and there's no challenge and fulfillment in it.

One of the things why I love writing online is the fact that I get to learn and research when writing articles. Before we bought this netbook I'm using, I wrote an article about LED lights, and I of course became aware of the many benefits of LED lights, particularly energy-efficiency. When the guy we bought my netbook from informed me that the screen was made up of LED lights, I told him I was taking it while my husband gave me a puzzled look. I then explained what LED lights were (and the sales guy was pretty impressed) which made my husband nod in agreement.

There are many other things when the topics I've researched and written about came to be of use in real life, like when we chose an LCD TV to buy, mobile phone applications, and even digital cameras. I like how I can learn and earn at the same time, which is why I really do not recommend data entry jobs. These are just the type of jobs you won't learn anything from.

I got featured on loqal.ph! Tuesday, May 04, 2010

Alexander Villafania of the website loqal interviewed me yesterday about my freelance work, and a few minutes after the interview, the interview was live on the site. I'm really flattered about it. Thanks!

oDesk April Earnings Saturday, May 01, 2010

I'm back again for another post on how much I made online on April 2010. This month is by far my best month for the year 2010 as I made a total of Php 71,126.47. I'm making these posts not to brag or show off that I'm doing well online, but to prove and inspire others that this can be done. Making money online is not all a scam, especially if you have a skill like writing. There are plenty of other things you can do online, like translation for example. There's a lot of things you can do online to supplement your income, and perhaps like me, focus on working full time online so that you can spend time with your family and kids like I do.