How my online job helped paid the bills

I have been a freelancer for almost 4 years now. While working full-time in an office, I take sideline jobs for clients in oDesk at night. Most of the jobs I take are for a fixed-priced job so it does not have to mess up with my full-time work. 

oDesk is undeniably the largest online workplace in the web. Savvy - it is where you can find talented and experienced freelancers work. It has around a million online job available and you cannot imagine how many businesses rely on oDesk to find the best freelancers. 

I owe my first online opportunity to my friend, Josie Ann. She has been an oDesk freelancer and have been a data scraping professional for a year for a company. After referring me to her boss, who also happened to be the owner, I started working for $2.50 per hour, 30 hours a week, as a web content editor. In the Philippines, $2.50 an hour is quite big especially the tasks were just so easy. It was so much fun, too! The boss gave me five stars as a feedback score.

With that feedback score (5 stars), I was able to attract other clients and opened my niche for writing and editing contents services. 

My sister works full-time online at oDesk. She has more than four projects now and all of them are 40 hours a week and pays up to $5/hour. Her husband also works online for Google, which also hires freelancers from oDesk. Sometimes, she refers me to her clients who wish to hire her for a writing project. Other times, I get projects on my own.

I must admit that it has been a lucrative gig and I have been able to buy most of the things I like and want (such as an expensive make-up or perfume). It has also paid up some of the emergency bills.

I know that some of you who browse the internet is looking for an online work as a sideline job. My word is that freelancing have been a very proliferated business. You should be wary in picking up catchy advertisements that says, "Extra Income!" or "Work from Home!" which promise big compensation but at the end, ask you for a sign-up fee.

Legitimate sites like oDesk or Elance offer free sign-up. No payment is required. All you have to do is make an account, complete your profile and read like tons and dozens of tips and help links to help you land that first job online.

However, like any other "normal" or offline jobs, you should remember your work ethics. Working online demands more professionalism and integrity, especially that clients and freelances come from a diverse set of professionals. Like the old adage says, "All roads that leads to success have to pass through hard work."