Virtual Work, Virtual Pay?

Four months ago I had a thriving music studio and social life in Estevan, SK.  The phone never stopped ringing and dinging, the emails never stopped coming and in typical small town SK style people would often show up on my door unannounced (usually with baking).  Fast forward to the present and our new life in Winnipeg, MB and my week looks very different. I have had exactly 3 texts this week- and one of them was from my phone service provider, whom I actually have the most developed relationship with since moving here. Leaving behind my 50 students and thriving social life in SK  has at least allowed me the time to watch 5 seasons of the Big Bang Theory and the entireMasterpiece: Downton Abbey Complete Seasons 1, 2, & 3 DVD Set (Original U.K. Edition) (and I am still not over Matthews death- when is Lady Mary going to catch a break?). In a nutshell- I am bored and pretty much unemployed.  So what does a 21st century hip brit chick do when she is bored, unemployed and run out of Donwton episodes? She blogs. She drinks tea, she eats chocolate (Cadbury of course) and blogs. First blog topic- income. 

Plan A: Move life to Manitoba
When I started my music business in Estevan I asked schools, daycares and pre schools if I could send home flyers and the answer was always yes. The program I taught, Music For Young Children  was one of the main tables at the citywide registration. I did have to work hard to find and retain my students, but the opportunities were easy to find and just required a bit of effort. I didn't think things could be that different a short drive away in friendly Manitoba! Reality is  things are different in the big city and "free" advertising options aren't so easy. Schools and daycares are inundated with requests to advertise (at least those that would take my call), couple that with a late start (we arrived here in July, about a month after my peak advertising season for the fall), and my class load isn't going to cut it for this year. I need to rethink my marketing strategy but in the meantime I have to make some money, Big Bang Theory season 6 isn't going to buy itself from iTunes. 

Plan B: Get a part time job!
Turns out a Bachelor of church music won't qualify you to do much outside the Church (or that much in the church for that matter). Though I have interviewed for a couple of jobs with three kids and daycare rates what they are I have yet to find a job where I will actually bring home any bacon (real or metaphorical). 

Plan C: Possibly dreaming- make money online!
Can you really make money working from home online? According to some websites I could make thousands of dollars in my spare time only working a few hours a week- totally believable- and apparently I don't need to have any skills or knowledge and Susan who lives in the same city as me already paid off all her debt and is booking her family a cruise. I'm not out to make thousand,  just a couple of hundred a month so this technically I should be able to do this in my sleep. A quick google search came up with a plethora of different ideas I get to try out over the next month or so. So here is the first one:-

Virtual work!

I'd never heard of virtual assistants before I read A J Jacobs "My life as an Experiment" in one particular chapter he tries to outsource as much of his life as possible, and one way to do that is through virtual assistants in countries such as India, who for cheap rates will do everything for you such as researching holiday destinations, ordering groceries online and, in A J Jacobs case, reading bed time stories to your kids. In my google search I came across Odesk, free to join (I always love free) so worth a try. 

Odesk is a website where people can recruit online workers for jobs and online workers can find virtual jobs. The jobs come from all over the world as do the workers, and you will find "contractors" as they are called charging everything from $3- $70 an hour. There is lots of work for web designers, research assistants and technical work as well as some more adventurous and specialized work such as translation, voice overs and artistic endeavours  It works a lot like ebay in that clients and contractors leave feedback for each other and there is some control over situations by Odesk as long as you are getting paid by the hour (fix fee jobs you are taking a risk!). So I create a quick online profile take a few online tests to show my skills and start applying for jobs. I applied for  several different jobs and got an email response known as an interview right away- "yes" (fist punch in air). The client wants me to do a bunch of work for free first to test me out (darn) and he wants me to set up a bunch of email addresses that look suspiciously like the email addresses I receive multiple scams from (double darn) the client also has no verified payment information and no history with Odesk (triple darn). I decide at that point to start looking for jobs related to areas I work in, I search for jobs involving music and apply for a few including transcribing videos of vocal lessons and some voice over work. I try not to get distracted by the contractors who are only charging a $1 an hour and wondering what I could outsource to make my life easier. - can you do virtual laundry? 

Next morning - success! I get an interview from a client asking for a review on a jazz album. I'm a music major, I like music, I have ears- it's a winner! It's a one-two hour job for which I will make about $10 per hour, but considering most of that involves sitting there listening to what turned out to be a not bad jazz album I can't complain. A cup of tea,  a short break while I vacuum up the popcorn my kids spilled all over the floor and presto- done!  We will see how the payment works out but at least I won't be an Odesk newbie anymore. 

What you need to know about Odesk
1) There are lots of people from places such as the Philippines and India that are willing to work for only a couple of dollars per hour doing research work and web programming. Unless you are willing to work for the same price, you will have to find jobs requiring more skills. You are better off to try and specialize in a few areas than be a Jack of all Trades.

2) Fixed price jobs are not as secure as pay by the hour jobs because Odesk will not ensure payment. Personally I wouldn't apply for a fix price job from a client with no history without asking for an upfront payment or deposit.

3) You might have to work for less for a while to build up your Odesk history.

4) Watch out for Clients who interview a high number of applicants and ask you to do some test work for free. They are usually splitting the job into numerous amounts of smaller jobs and will not actually hire anyone.

5) It's hard to make decent money on Odesk, and though I've made $20, I've spent several hours taking tests updating my profile and applying for jobs I'm not getting. I'l report back again in the coming months but as of right now I won't be booking any cruises with my earnings.