[oDesk] Do you check the background of your buyer?

I do.

Well for most of my buyers. Yes I try to check them out other than their working feedback from oDesk. Let me tell you a story I experienced few minutes ago. Yes. Just minutes ago.

I applied for a very lucrative job posting. The buyer’s payment method is verified, working feedback is 4.43/5.00 (still passable) and the very nice thing is: I can design! Yep. I’ll be using my graphic skills finally. I want to graduate as an administrative support! heh~

The buyer responded immediately. And told me straight ahead that she can pay me below my rate. Note that its not less than 50% – IT IS A 90% DROP OF MY RATE. Hmmm. I'm quite hesitant but immediately relieved to see that I have less than 50 hrs a week to work. Come to think of it, its still a good deal IF I'm guaranteed to be paid for 50 hrs a WEEK. But it didn't work that way.

We exchanged few messages while I checked this buyers background. I read the feedback of his hired providers. I was not that satisfied with the comments. Something is really lacking, i felt. I researched for her name on Google. At first, there are no relevant searches. Until I have clicked a link with my buyer’s name.

At this moment, I am already negotiating about my rate. The buyer obviously doesn't want to talk about it. I am not liking the mood of our conversations. I don't like the feeling that I am not worth my rate.

THEN THIS *ODESK DEPRESSION SUDDENLY HIT ME.

*a relative psychological emotion of freelancers whenever he/she feels inadequate, unloved, unimportant, PLUTOED. Commonly cause of distress are prick, low IQ and EQ buyers.

So my inner Oprah talked to me. Child, No don't feel depressed. This buyer is not worth your time. You know you’re more than that. But of course the oDesk depression didn't stop that way. It only stopped until I found a great information about my potential buyer. Thanks to Google.

In case you didn't notice: There are words like criminal and termination in that website. I wont provide the site name anymore for privacy sake and I don’t believe in attacking because my buyer didn't directly do anything wrong to me.

In short, the buyer’s family members were involved in a serious case. One involves death. Erm ye morbid. I am not sure of the resolution. I am assuming they have changed their company name cause they still have a common word in both their new and old company names.

In short, I don't want to be associated with a company like that.

In short, it was not my loss if my buyer didn’t hire me.

In short, I was able to relieve my oDesk depression.

In short, I'm back again to scouting other buyers. Potentially GOOD and with clean slate backgrounds.

PS. The buyer didn’t reply after my last question. The candidacy has not yet ended but I am assuming it will be after the buyer has found another provider that will agree with her terms.

PPS: The buyer replied but I didn't bother to answer again.

Lesson learned:

1. Know your worth. Don't go way below your rate.

2. RESEARCH. RESEARCH.

3. Don’t Settle for LESS. (I know it sounds like #1 but I really want to stress this out)

4. Call your inner Oprah once oDesk depression strikes!

xoxo

[Homebased Job] Good Odesk Buyers

Hello I’m back once again blogging about my Odesk experience. Well two days ago, I said, I will apply for my Unionbank EON card and to have my hair rebonded. I didnt pursue any yay. An old buyer contacted me the night after I posted that entry. So I have no choice but to cancel my plans. I know that this Buyer is strict when it comes to deadlines. The deadline was this afternoon, 12pm.

Again, its about editing audio stuffs. Segue: I am really thinking of buying a netbook so that I can do any homebased job anywhere and I can hang out with friends at the same time. I want to use my oDesk savings.---yes I have saved enough. Homebased job rocks!!!

I think I am already an expert when it comes to editing. I can do 600 audio in 14 hours. Woot. in short 43 audio in 1 hour and these are all cutting, adding additional audio’s, making it shorter at the same time. It’s quite a workload and my right hand mostly do the work so after 8 hours, my right thumb is getting numb and shaky. But all for the sake of this buyer, I am going to do my best and follow the deadline.

And it paid off.

Lol its quite cute. I am so happy I received this. Then after a few minutes I have received my payment plus a surprise.

WOOOW. I am really jumpy when I received this and I can’t thank him enough for it. Don't worry, I kept myself calm when I replied back ahahaha. For my one and a half day work, I was paid almost a price of a rebonded hair. LOL I am so happy!

Yeah, he said, he has one more project for me. I really love this buyer of mine (not in a romantic way lol)

I also want to share another loved buyer of mine. Surprisingly, the above buyer and this one has the same name. But different spelling though. Haha I love this one even though he doesnt have projects for me recently. Why? Because he uses smiley in his emails haha.

It really pays when you are honest with your buyer and if you do not just work with them for the sake of money. I have all the opportunity to stay long for an hourly job with this buyer. I can stay in the internet, strolling. Clicking any unnecessary tabs in my keyboard so that it counts as a high green bar in my work diary lol but I didn’t. In the end, we have a good relationship and I didnt abuse his credit card hehe.