Low Tech Writing

I find it hard to deviate from old-fashioned writing rituals. I try hard to compose directly on a computer, but my mind blanks out most of the time. I cannot focus. When I use the yellow pad and pencil, it's as if my hand can think on its own, mining all the thoughts in my head, writing away the words inside. I even use an old-style thesaurus. You know, in actual book form, not the online one that you search for in the internet.

Personally, I find the computer a distraction to my writing process. Since it contains most of my work and personal data, I cannot resist clicking on things I'm not currently working on. I love browsing through old photo albums! Once I get connected to the internet, it's hard to disconnect. Email, Facebook, Twitter. In that order. All the information available that might not be important and urgent, but you would like to know at once anyway.

So when faced with deadlines, I don't connect to the computer until after I've written a major draft of a current writing project. That's when I type the document and editing comes in and I use grammar check and spell check and word count.

I know some people might say that the computer offers more convenience to the writer. I say it really depends on your personal style. For me, low tech writing still works.

The Sweet Smell of Coffee

Would any kind of coffee keep you awake when you need to be awake?

I've had to stay up late a lot these past few weeks because of online work (and trying to find online work). But because I work at home, and I work on the bed at night, of course I get sleepy most of the time. If I do get very sleepy, I just give in. Before going to sleep, I set up the alarm on my cellphone to wake me up in the very early morning, around 2am. That way, I could resume my work after a few hours of shuteye. At 2am though, the same battle for wakefulness begins. It's so hard to fight your own body clock.

I'm not much of a coffee drinker but I'm wondering if coffee would help me stay awake late at night and very early morning.

At times that I do drink coffee at home, it would mostly be the instant kind (that would almost always be Nescafe). Outside the house, it's a choice between Starbucks and Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, depending on where I am although Starbucks usually wins as they have more branches. And having a sweet tooth, I would prefer coffee varieties to be on the sweet side. But these never help in keeping me awake and alert. On the contrary, these make me sleepy. Maybe because I would usually order iced coffee, with a slice of cake or pastry to go with it. Haha!

Espresso is supposed to be strong, right? Well, I read in the Starbucks website that my usual drink there, the Caramel Macchiato, is espresso-based. So why doesn't it have the effect of keeping me awake?

Maybe drinking the right coffee variety would help. What are those strong coffee flavors? Maybe just plain coffee would do the trick, without the cream and the sugar and all those sweet, aromatic, oh so delicious flavorings? Good luck to me on that! I can't drink coffee without sugar!

Anyways, Starbucks would not solve my present problem because I now work at home, where the nearest Starbucks is in a mall that is a 30-minute ride away. I would have to do research on the available instant coffee varities in the supermarkets. I also would have to learn about coffee, espresso, coffee beans, etc. to know which might help me on this keeping awake problem. Suggestions are most welcome!

Confused over coffee or espresso? Here's a link that tells you the difference between coffee and espresso.

How To Use Backupify

If you'd like to back-up your online data, you can use Backupify (www.backupify.com) to do this. You never know when you might need to retrieve previous status posts, emails, photos and tweets. I personally use Backupify because it is easy to use, plus there's an option for a free account. I'm currently using this to backup my data in Blogger, Google, Facebook, Twitter and Flickr. Of course, you have the choice to upgrade to a paid account with many more features.

Here's a tutorial on how to use Backupify:


How to Use Backupify

Got an oDesk Gig!

Guess what?! I got an oDesk gig! The day after my last blog post, I got a message from oDesk saying I got hired for a writing project. It's a small, fixed price job, but it's a good start. Talk about timing! I was feeling depressed the previous day, ending the month still with no work. Mightily trying to stay positive, but sadly disappointed. And what do you know? The very next day, the start of the month, I get to start a new job. Now I can proudly say, "I'm a freelance online writer!" Amazing!

But just because I badly want to work at home doesn't mean I'll sign up with the first employer who will hire me. I got offers from a couple of employers, both for writing projects, which I turned down. One was for a technology blog, the other for a make-up samples blog. I didn't pursue those projects because I don't know much about those subjects. I'm not a techie and I don't think there are make-up samples here in the Philippines. It would be hard for me to write about things I'm not very much interested in. It's only a blog, you may say, but I don't like reading anything where the writer clearly doesn't know much about the topic. So I won't impose my uninformed knowledge or opinion on others.

That said, I'm excited about my first online work. I'm now working on the first batch of the project. And I'll celebrate this good start with an ice cream treat for myself this weekend.

Rejections and Affirmations

It's been more than a month since I started an account with oDesk and Remotestaff but I haven't landed a job yet.

I've received a few inquiries from employers at oDesk, but nothing has come out of any of it yet. Worse, at Remotestaff, my resume has not been viewed at all! Since Remotestaff's website shows a Chat function, I try to check what may be wrong with my application. But the chat page isn't working properly.(Sigh.)

I regularly receive notifications from oDesk regarding the status of my applications. So far, all of it are "Your application to the job ___ has been declined." Clicking further, the message reveals the reason for the thumbs down. It may be "cancelled - job posting expired" or "cancelled - project was cancelled" or "closed - job posting has been filled."

It's easy to get discouraged by these setbacks. But I must always be positive. And stay focused all the time. Applying online is just like applying offline. Try and try and try again, until you succeed.

I will let those little affirmations that come my way give me the strength to continue the search for that first job. Those initial inquiries from employers, while not ending in a hire, show a definite interest in my application. After all, how many applicants are there for one particular job? And I don't take rejections personally. I'd like to think that the employer-employee match isn't well-suited at that particular time, and that employer who is the best fit for me is somewhere near.

I received a bit of good news this morning. I got one gem of a comment from an oDesk employer and it totally made my day. Getting ready to go out of the house for the day's errands, I check my email and find this: "I've read through some of your blog posts and your English appears to be at a higher level than your US Basic English score of ___" ... "I believe you should be able to score higher."

And so I happily continue my search for my first paying online job.

The Learning Never Ends

I had just participated in another online call / class of Jomar Hilario, via Ustream.tv, about Virtual Assistants (VA) where a practicing VA shared to listeners how she got started, and what her experiences are in her current work as a VA.

Very interesting, and very informative 1 1/2 hours of discussion. (For FREE!) What I got from the session were sites where I can apply for VA work, tips to increase one's chances of getting hired, and the importance of having an online presence.

According to the resource person, Eihdra, and other participants, some other sites to check out for VA work are- virtualstafffinder.com, freelancer.com, elance.com, and onlinejobs.ph. To get hired, it's important that you know how to "sell" yourself online. A great way to do that is to have a relevant online presence thru blogging and social networking.

And, with all that, I also learned that I have a long way to go! Wow! Got to work on that online presence...

Odesk and Remotestaff

Two websites dealing with outsourcing are Odesk (www.odesk.com) and Remotestaff (www.remotestaff.com.au). I had come across these sites from Jomar Hilario's VA live seminar and webinars (www.jomarhilario.com). These are online job matchmaking sites. From what I have read so far in their respective websites, Odesk contractors (jobseekers) bid for jobs and employers get to directly choose their own contractors, while Remotestaff does the hiring of contractors for their employer-clients.

To have an account with both sites, you need to create an online resume which can be built from their online forms. You can then look at job openings, and apply for positions that interest you. Odesk has an additional feature which lets you take any number of online multiple-choice tests that evaluates your knowledge on a particular subject. Also, Odesk has a mandatory readiness test that one must pass (must be 100% correct) to be able to bid for more than 2 jobs at a time.

I now have an account with both sites and have applied for jobs in both. Patiently awaiting for results.

Homework

Jomar Hilario's VA seminar in April 2010 was very educational, and was designed for participants to get started with VA work right away. (www.jomarhilario.com)

He didn't conduct a seminar just to give us information, but also to help us get into VA work by tapping his network of foreign peers to give us VA jobs! But the job would not be handed to us on a silver platter, of course. We were to complete an assignment to be handed in to Jomar two months from the seminar at the latest. This would gauge our competence to do this kind of work, as it involves learning about different software applications typically used in VA work and knowing how to properly present our research. Most importantly, the assignment would set apart those who really want the job and those still unsure of taking that VA work route.

Sadly, and typical of me, I fall in the unsure group. Life happens, we forget what it is what we want to do, and we keep walking along the same path of familiarity that we're comfortable with.

I had started doing the assignment. I made a list of the applications I wanted to study. I googled them and downloaded them. But somehow I could not get into the next step which is studying them one by one then making a presentation on how to use them.

What kept me from completing the assignment was a nagging fear that I might not sustain the interest to do this VA thingy in the long term. So while reading this and that about VA work and listening in on VA webinars by Jomar, I also looked for traditional employment. But I did so halfheartedly because frankly, I am tired of having to wake up early and take at least an hour of commute just to get to work.

Unfortunately for me, I still don't have a job right now. Neither the regular office kind nor the remote office kind. I don't really think either one is elusive. I just have to focus and intensify my efforts to find work.

And so this is where I am now. With the start of the new year, and the first month of the year just passed us by, I decided to start all over again with this VA work thing. (And hence the blog.) ;)

In the Beginning

I don't remember when exactly, but it must have been sometime late 2009 when I decided to attend Jomar Hilario's seminar for aspiring Virtual Assistants. That time I was still employed, but wanting badly to get out of that particular job. Or it might have been early 2010, and I had already resigned, but didn't want to rush into just any job.

I had read about work-at-home jobs thru internet ads before but most of those were just scams. When I came across Jomar's site (www.jomarhilario.com), I was glad to know that a Filipino was willing to share his knowledge on the subject, to be able to help fellow Filipinos find employment. This was something I was interested in doing because it would give me a chance to work at home, hopefully give me more free time to pursue other interests, and be free of the daily hassles of commuting to work.

So April came and I bravely commuted from Novaliches to Taguig to attend Jomar's seminar. It was a one big (conference) table affair, with around 15 participants of varying ages and backgrounds.

Jomar teaches in an easygoing style, conversationally, full of side stories. He is detailed in his explanations of how things work in the VA world and tends to be generous with info that sometimes I feel there's info overload. Everything you need to know, he covered- the attitude you need to have for this kind of work, what software you need to know, the pros and cons of VA work, and what to do to get started.

It was all good. I felt I could do this work-at-home thing. I could feel the same vibe from other participants. But after the seminar I was in a hurry to leave. After all, I still had five rides ahead to go home.