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Changes isn’t just a David Bowie song.

Not one of us hasn’t had to make one or more changes to a project before a buyer would accept it.  It happens, sometimes it’s because the buyer was vague about what they wanted, sometimes it’s because they change their mind part way through, and sometimes it’s because they wanted something different from what I delivered.

As many of you know, I spend a fair amount of time on the oDesk Community boards, and one question I’ve seen come up more than once is whether or not you should charge the buyer for changes.  Some providers, especially new providers on their first job, are concerned that if they do not make the changes for free, the buyer will give them bad feedback and effectively blacklist them.

It’s a valid fear, especially when someone is just finding their feet and doesn’t feel confident about working within the oDesk system.

The problem is that except in one specific case, making changes for free simply devalues you as a provider.
You, your work, and your time are not free.

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This scam has been mentioned before, but I want to highlight it in this post. It has been thrown at me a few times (even recently), and I bit the hook a couple times when I was younger. Also, it’s not just on oDesk–it’s widespread across the freelancing networks and …

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I was reading an article on the Inquirer the other day that was talking about how the graphics chip maker Nvidia was responding to a spate of problems they’ve been having with some of their laptop chipsets.

The thrust of the article was that Nvidia is blaming everyone from the chip foundry to the companies that make products based on their chipsets and even end users for a problem with their chips that appears to be their fault.  The basic problem is that a number of their notebook chips are running very hot which leads to a greatly increased failure rate.  Some of their desktop parts may also have the same problem.

Now hot-running chips are nothing new in the computer industry.  One look at the aftermarket cooler industry shows that they’re very common.   The more transistors they pack in a single chip and the faster it runs the more heat it has to dissipate.  That’s why computers come with heatsinks and fans and all sorts of other cooling gear built-in.

The problem is that according to this article Nvidia does not appear to be accepting any of the responsibility for the issue itself.
That’s a big problem and it directly reflects on both you and I as freelancers.

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I’m still fairly new at writing for money. I took the plunge January 1st, this year. In many ways, I’m still a rookie. So when buyers contact me directly with an invitation, I am delighted and a little amazed.

The usual pattern is: read the job board, find something that I can do within a buyer’s budget, construct a cover letter, submit samples, apply, and wait. And wait.

The thrill comes when this process is turned upside down and interested buyers email me. Yippee!

What was it about my profile or my portfolio that had them picking me (and maybe a few others) out of the vast herd of writers at oDesk? Whatever it was, it’s a great feeling when it happens. I’m suddenly no longer a 5-drink Lucy (the one who only gets propositioned at the bar after suitors have had a few) and I’m the budding starlet plucked from an obscure waitress job to work on the big screen. (That would be a better set of metaphors if I were female.) Anyhow, it’s really nice.

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It’s a simple question, do you answer your phone, or do you let it ring through to voicemail?  For that matter, do you leave voicemails or just send emails or texts?

When you’re running the oDesk client you usually don’t want to be interrupted.  It can be annoying to suspend and restart the client half a dozen times an hour because you keep getting interrupted.  Since six-year-olds don’t always leave Daddy alone even when they know they’re supposed to be asking their sister for anything they want, the temptation to ignore the phone when it rings is just that much stronger.
You might want to think twice before you do that, or at least check the caller ID.

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In a previous post, Becoming Invisible I mentioned some errors that shock readers out of the spell you are casting with your fine writing. I’ve accumulated more for my list and here they are.
Gaffs to avoid
These are mistakes I have collected from writing I have read or edited (and some I’ve made myself).

accept/except - She accepted (agreed to) the gifts, all except (excluding) the one from me.
principle/principal - The principle (rule) of parsimony was the principal (first, primary) reason I kept the article short.
discrete/discreet - The one means circumspect or prudent (discreet) and the other means separate from some group or category (discrete).
belief/believe - My belief (noun) is that you believe (verb) things I do not.
proceed/precede - To proceed is to continue or move on, precede means to go before in space or time, as an introduction might precede the main body of a book.
illusion/allusion - She mentioned the magician’s illusion (a false impression of reality) when making an allusion (implication or passing indirect reference) to how fake my passion seemed.
lay/lie - Lay is the action of placing something down (usually horizontally), while lie is the condition of being there. So, if I lay a book down on the table, it is lying there and it lies on the table.
to/too - The second means extremely, very, or in addition to. I am too (very) short for dancing and I am roundish too (in addition).
capital/capitol - Capitol is the building where the legislature meets, either in Washington D.C. or in a state. All the other meanings are capital.
then/than - Then is used for time and than is used in comparisons: I had more sense then (time) than (comparison) I have now.
accede/exceed - Accede means to agree to and exceed means to go beyond some measure or expectation.
access/excess - I had access to the secret vault where I found an excess of top secret documents.
all ready/ already - It’s already noon, are we all ready to go?
all together/altogether - We were all together on the train, although it was altogether too crowded to breathe.

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I don’t do all my work through oDesk.  Like many freelancers I use other sites too, and while I was checking out one of those other sites I came across an interesting piece of advice:  Don’t put a bid in your original comment.

This was on Rent-a-Coder which uses  a different system than oDesk, but it got me thinking.

Before I go too much further I’ll give you a quick breakdown of how their process works.  Essentially the bidding process on RAC works like a private message board.  If you are interested in a project, you make a comment on it.  There is a place where you can put in a bid with your initial comment, or you can leave it blank.  If the buyer likes your comment they can reply, starting a dialog.  You can put in a monetary bid at any time, so if you end up deciding the project isn’t for you, you don’t ever have to commit to a price until you know what the job entails and whether you really want to do it.

There are some definite advantages to this system, especially when dealing with fixed-price rather than hourly jobs, and while oDesk doesn’t do things the same way, there are aspects of this that you can take to any site.

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I was reading a writer’s forum the other day, and came across a post by someone who had been receiving files in .docx format and wasn’t quite sure how to handle them.  At it’s a helpful forum, various other people chimed in and explained that it was the new format …

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So, the other day I was looking though my interview invitations and was surprised to see one in web programming.

I’m a writer, not a web programmer, but I opened it anyway in case it was someone wanting content who just happened to cross-post a writing job under web programming because it was for the web and some people do do both.

The cover letter opened with an invitation to take part in an “investment opportunity in your country.”

Well that funny robot I inherited from my cousin started screaming “Danger Dave Robinson! Danger!”   Over the years I’ve learned to listen to the robot so I took another look.  What I saw was the opening to a classic scam.

The basic outline of the letter was that the writer was a financial consultant who had investors who wanted to invest in my country through me.  Last I heard that meant they wanted to have me deposit rubber checks for them and funnel the money to their agent over here.
So, what did I do?

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So here you are, spending some time searching out work on oDesk and you keep seeing references to “Affiliates.”

That leads to two questions:  What’s an affiliate?  And, is it good for me?

The principle behind oDesk affiliates is simple:  more people can do more work than one person.  That’s why some people on oDesk band together to work on jobs that are too big for one person to handle alone.  Another advantage to affiliation is that you can have someone with a good reputation find work and manage quality control while you’re finding your feet.

I’m not a member of any affiliate companies on oDesk and right now I don’t intend to join or start one.

I’ve seen a number of people succeed that way on oDesk, so it’s not a decision I’ve taken lightly.

Read on to see why I am not doing it, and why it may be the right idea for you.

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