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So there I was: middle of the jungle with a Pringles can, a laptop, three pieces of chewing gum, and roll of duct tape. I had already tried bartering with the natives, but they only accept USD cash. I’m not sure what they would do with it since the closest …

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Well, there it is. The referral ad. Click it and then sign up for oDesk and I get credit. Earn (or purchase) a thousand dollars and I get fifty. Rank commercialism.

If you haven’t looked into this, the code and referral form can be reached after signing in to oDesk. Go to: My oDesk–> My Stuff –> Referrals.

I’m anti-sales. The whole idea of talking someone into something strikes me as disingenuous and shady. I couldn’t sell you a band-aid if you were bleeding. I could give you a band-aid, sure, but selling it (or anything) is distasteful to me. Thankfully, referring someone to oDesk doesn’t seem the same. I suppose it’s because for me to make any money, they have to make money first.

Sure, oDesk is going to make money from users- both buyers and sellers.

Sure, I might eventually get a cut if I sign someone up.

Sure, it’s selling of a sort.

But I’m not allergic to it. Because I’m so enthusiastic about oDesk and freelancing in general, and because I don’t rely on making any commission, it’s more like recommending a good restaurant than selling a product or service. I do more selling in an average cover letter than I do when inviting a writer or programmer to oDesk.
How does it happen?
Well, I meet a fair number of people. The “What do you do?” question comes up. When you tell people you freelance, there’s an interest. I think it has to do with the supposition that freelancing is an edgy way to make a living. Freelancing sings songs of freedom and excitement– the master of your own ship in a wild sea of thrilling employment opportunities.

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I’ve been writing this series on bulk articles because there seems to be a demand for them. Buyers who want to create a ‘wordy’ site need them and they pay by the pound.

“I need someone to write 20 articles on dog grooming”

OK. So you knuckle down and write five or six a day until you are done. Finally. And you are sick of dog shampoos, nail clipping techniques, and all things having to do with dog hygiene.

Now what? Well, aside from collecting your money for this job, you ought to save your work for cover letters and resale.

First, lets dispense with the legal and ethical issues. When you sell an article to a buyer on oDesk, you are usually selling all rights. Legally, it is considered a ‘work for hire’ and you don’t retain even the right to reuse it in your profile. Unless you ask and get permission to do this. You should ask.

A special note though- If you don’t get paid for some reason, you retain all the rights. Sometimes that is the only silver lining if you get burned on a fixed-price no pay.

What isn’t copyrighted and what you can reuse and resell is the idea the article embodies. After I write this post about reselling articles, I can rewrite it and resell it as long as the expressions I use aren’t straight plagiarism.

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As I mentioned in the first post of this series, I’m not a particularly fast writer. But there is money to be made on oDesk if you can produce low quality, high volume material for buyers who need bulk to increase SEO ranking for their website or blog. Here’s how I crank up my volume.
Write smart, not hard.
(Yep, that’s a cliche. More on that later.)

I follow this strategy:

Get comfortable with the subject area by reading enough to get a feel for the verbiage, the style and the tone. Ideally, your buyer will provide you with a blog where your writing will end up. If not that, they may have previously written articles you can browse through. Failing all this, I submit a trial article so they can tell me if my best guess matches what they had in mind.
Write as many starter ideas down as you can. I mine these from the examples and my reading. These notes will guide you and save time later. Write provisional titles, subjects, and useful phrases. Each of these can be an article on it’s own or added as filler when an idea runs short in word count.
Find a structure that seems to fit the articles you want to write. I’ll give you one common structure I use in the last section of this article.
Get your ‘head right’. Set yourself on a goal that is realistic and then meet that goal. Forget that you are an artiste. In this line of work you have to push yourself to vomit out text. You need to produce to make a buck at this. If it’s an article every half hour for five hours, then stick with it- git ‘er done.
Edit as you go. No room for extensive edits or rewrites in the volume game. Once you have a paragraph on the screen, spell check it and edit it right then. Your first draft is likely to be your final draft, except for:
Put subheadings in last. Just before you save article 6 of 20, give it the once over and put some subheadings in. Check quickly for opening and closing tag lines, and then save it and move on.

Organization is key.
Here’s the structure I am using now for a bushel basket full of blog articles:

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“How fast do you type?”
That’s what the buyer wanted to know. A better question for a writer or programmer would have been, “How fast can you think?”

I’m writing this on a legal pad while sitting in a tow truck. The time between calls is ideal for quick notes. I’m calling …

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So, I was cruising down MLK Blvd in my lowrider like usual, and T-Dog and Big Mike were riding with me. While T-Dog loaded his 9mm with a fresh clip, he turned to me and asked, “What’s this open source thing I keep hearing about? Sounds kind of lame, holmes,” and proceeded to empty said clip out the window at pedestrians.

I was busy checking the rear view mirror because Big Mike was in the backseat having a fit of the fear–all twisting his arms and legs while foaming at the mouth. He kept saying something about squirrels.

The question finally registered and I go, “Oh, it’s just a way to streamline your computer needs with superior software at zero cost to you.”

T-Dog stopped firing and got this look of awe, “So, you’re saying I can increase the productivity and viability of my business, work less hours for more money, and it’s completely free and @$!#, holmes? Tell me more!”

So the following is the precise thing I told him:

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While in the middle of one of the worst moves I’ve ever experienced, and I move around a lot so there have been far too many of them, I ran across a great new instant messaging (IM) client. It’s called Digsby, and is another attempt at creating a multi-protocol IM client. I decided to post about it after reading this thread on the oDesk Community.

For those who don’t want to follow the link, the gist of the thread is that some people don’t like oDesk’s stated preference for Yahoo! Messenger over other instant messaging services. Instant messaging has become as ubiquitous as email: everyone uses it.

As a freelancer I find it’s great to use for quick points of clarification. The problem is that I normally have contacts on MSN, Yahoo! and GoogleTalk, and even with dual monitors three buddy lists take up a fair bit of real estate on my screen. If you’re like me, you’re in the same boat. Some people you talk to in one client, some in another. Some people you may have on multiple buddy lists, others only on one. If I load up all my messengers I have one person who appears seven times!

It’s a mess.

Digsby helps sort that out.

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Hold on, I’m filling up my coffee before I write this. Okay, got it. Time to rock. Wait–I’m going to go smoke a cigarette before I start writing. I don’t want to have to get up in the middle of it because I’m going to write a post that’s going to knock you off your socks. Alright time to go–oh man, I don’t want to miss this TV show…

That’s how it is, and every freelancer knows it. It’s a pitfall that comes with the freedom to work when and where you want, but if you let your time slip away from you, you’ll regret it when the time crunch to get everything done comes.

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