Blogs

The oDesk Online Jobs Report was released last week, and after having a chance to review the numbers, there is a very interesting trend that popped up. The skill “web design” is down 26 places from last year, however the category “Web Design” has remained unchanged in its #2 spot. Below we’ll see if we can shed some light on why the skill and category results are so different.

A Narrowed Scope

Several sub-skills outrank the parent level “web design” skill: HTML (#2), CSS (#3), Photoshop (#4), Wordpress (#8), Flash (#12), Joomla (#16). It appears that buyers are getting more specific with their hunt for skills.

This isn’t to say that you should stop billing yourself as a web designer. However, highlighting your specific skills under the umbrella of web design is a must. As buyers become increasingly aware of the specific skills their project requires, honing these skills, and highlighting them on your oDesk profile is essential.

Showcasing Your Niche

You may be a highly diverse, “Jack/Jill of all trades,” which can make it difficult to find your niche. Although you may be skilled enough to advertise yourself as such, try giving your strongest, most in-demand skill top billing on your profile title, and let your profile and portfolio speak for your diversity.

Be a Team Player

The move towards hiring specialists to complete individual pieces of a web design puzzle is nothing new, its the same approach you would find internally at a large design firm. There you might find artists, designers, and various specialty coders, working along a pipeline. Being part of the oDesk marketplace means that you may be asked to be part of a such a team.

Skills like building themes and templates are increasingly popular as buyers become increasingly educated about the use of Content Management Systems, and come to expect them and depend on them.

In addition, web programming skills like PHP are the most in demand skills on oDesk. The hefty supply and efficiency of PHP specialists makes it very difficult to justify hiring a “Jack/Jill of all trades” to do both coding and design work. The same is true for other specialties and languages, so be prepared to specialize.

Closing Thoughts

While being able to see a web design/development project through from start to finish is a valuable and admirable skill, it may be unrealistic to expect that it is the expected norm. While there is no single “right” way to get a project done, the data suggests a trend towards specialization within web design/development. Let us know in the comments if you’ve experienced this trend yourself!

Alex Hornbake is one of several freelance writers on the oDesk Blog team. He joined the oDesk marketplace in 2009, and brings more than a decade of technical expertise to his clients. On Wednesdays, Alex shares his point of view on the tech industry to help you make informed decisions for your personal and business technology choices.

There’s a general attitude in many freelance associations, meetings, conferences and blogs that’s becoming increasingly popular. It’s what I call the “starving artist” mentality.

Basically, it’s the general feeling that good-paying freelance work is hard to come by. That it’s a struggle to make a good living as a freelancer as companies lay off employees and hire freelancers (without paying them benefits). That clients beat you down on price, expect you to bend over backward and then take forever to pay you.

That it’s a “war” out there, and you need to do everything you can to survive.

There’s a reason why we like to engage in these conversations. We create a bond with someone when we talk about a struggle we share. Especially if there’s a lot of emotion around the issue.

But guess what? If you engage in these discussions, they will absolutely KILL your performance!

And your income.

They will lead you to even more situations where you’ll be forced to work for peanuts. They will help attract even more terrible clients. Which will make you even more miserable. And so the endless cycle goes.

Here’s a fact I’ve learned the hard way: You get what you think about most of the time.

If you talk and think about the struggle, you’ll get struggle. If you engage in discussions about lousy clients that don’t appreciate quality work, you’ll get more lousy clients.

Conversely, if you focus on the fact that organizations everywhere are hiring freelancers at a faster pace than ever before—and the fact that millions of freelancers have figured out how to make a very nice living while enjoying more freedom and flexibility—you’ll start getting the kind of success you want.

I don’t know why that is. And frankly, I don’t care why it works. I just know it does. Just like I know my cell phone works and my MacBook is running fine (even if I have no idea what’s going on under the hood). So I’m mindful of what think about, what I talk about with others and what I feed my mind.

And I stay the heck away from people who want to get down in the mud and talk trash. You should too.

I know, I know. Those “let me tell you about this clients that screwed me over” rants can be cathartic. But engaging in them is like having a big fat slice of triple-chocolate cheesecake. It tastes wonderful. But you feel like crap an hour later.

What do you think? Am I crazy, or do the conversations you have with others affect you at a deeper level?

And isn’t it better to spend time thinking about how to improve your situation and your freelance business rather than waste valuable time complaining about it?

—————

Ed Gandia is the co-founder of TheWealthyFreelancer.com and co-author of “The Wealthy Freelancer: 12 Secrets to a Great Income and an Enviable Lifestyle”. As part of their book launch celebration, Ed and his co-authors are giving away $321 worth of products to freelancers who grab “The Wealthy Freelancer” by midnight this Friday, March 12. To learn more, visit www.TheWealthyFreelancer.com/amazon.

Going to SXSW this year? Party in style with oDesk and the other members of the Small Business Web! Come for food, drinks, and great networking with hundreds of small businesses and web application vendors just like yourself.

When: 4-7pm Saturday, March 13

Where: The Pure Volume House at 504 Trinity St, Austin, TX.

Who: The Small Business Web– we connect web apps to help small businesses bloom and grow!

You must sign up here for the party. (Austin law requires us to have a guest list)

_____

The Future of Work at SXSWi

oDeskCEO Gary Swart (@garyswart), will also be presenting on the panel “What Coworking Tells Us About the Future of Work” on Monday, March 15, along with Clay Spinuzzi (professor at University of Austin), Liz Elam (of Link Coworking), and Drew Jones ( from Shift Workspace)

Are you heading to SXSW? Let us know – we can’t wait to see you all there!

Most remote workers don’t have an “IT Guy” or an assistant on hand, so it’s important to be sharp and self-reliant when it comes to the basics. Here’s a list to help you evaluate and hone your own skills – let us know in the comments if we’ve overlooked any skills that you’ve found indispensable!

1. Email - Knowing how to check your email, and how to write an effective email are two entirely different topics – but both are useful to know! Your email provider should have a “How To” on checking your email through webmail and setting up an email client on almost any platform, but if it’s over your head, consider using a flexible, free service like Gmail, and forwarding your old email to your new one. Although almost any email address can be configured so that it’s accessible over the web via browser or smartphone, Gmail apps make it easy for even the non-technically inclined to access their email anywhere.

On the writing effective emails front, check out mindtools.com’s article on Writing Effective Emails.

2. Networks and Wi-Fi – Being unable to connect to the internet can derail a remote worker’s entire day. Being able to troubleshoot basic network and wi-fi problems is a must. Also, consider a backup plan, if a tree falls on the telecom lines outside your house, where is the closest wi-fi hot spot?

C-Net has a good primer video on basic wi-fi troubleshooting, which is worth a view if your productivity (and your paycheck) is dependent upon a wireless connection.

3. “Instant” Communication, Skype, IM, etc. - Availability via IM can be either a blessing or a curse for a remote worker. Consider separating your business and personal life with separate logins for IM services so that you can tune out the chatter from friends, harness this tool for productivity, and gain a sense of “being there” with your colleagues even if you’re far away.

4. Tele- and Web conferencing – Be sure to familiarize yourself with your client’s preferred method of meeting. You can’t blame it on traffic when you’re late to a virtual meeting, and depending on your field, citing technical difficulties might make you look incompetent.

5. Collaborative Tools – Whether its as simple as Google Docs, or as involved as project management tools like BaseCamp, it’s important that you can effectively use the tools that you have at your disposal.

For more a quick primer on Google Apps, check out Google’s very own Google Apps Training Tutorial, and for some quick tips on how to use Basecamp more effectively, see Flatsourcing’s “We <3 Basecamp. How we use it effectively.”

6. Document creation and sharing – Being able to generate clear and concise documents, create the necessary delivery formats (ie, .doc, .pdf, .jpg), and share them via email attachment, web, ftp, or the collaborative tools mentioned above is an essential skill for any remote worker. A great free tool for creating PDF files is CutePDF, it’s free and, once installed, is as simple as clicking “print”.

7. Digital organization – Since the majority of remote work is digital, your computer desktop and local file structures are just as important as the desktop and filing cabinet you would keep at the office. It’s easy – create new folders by right clicking on the desktop, select “New”, select Folder, name it, put files and other folders in side of it according to the organizational structure that makes sense to you.

8. Screencasts/Screenshots - Sometimes its easier to just show someone what your talking about rather than trying to explain it. Being able to take a screenshot, circle part of the image and write notes can be a helpful way to illustrate a point. For explanations of more in-depth procedures, screencasts can be invaluable.

For more info, see About.com’s How To Capture a Screen Shot of your Desktop or the Active Window in  Windows.

For getting started quickly and easily with screencasts, check out NorthStarNerd.org’s Tutorial on Camstudio.

9. Maintenance - Keeping a good eye on the health of your computer can prevent disastrous delays. Anti-virus and anti-malware are a great start, but your hardware’s health is important too. Don’t ignore noisy fans and cranky sounding hard drives! Most hardware failures give warning signs, don’t ignore them.

For more info on computer maintenance see, Optimizing Computer Performance for Online Work Success, featured previous on the oDesk blog. For more advanced users, consider a hardware monitoring tool like SpeedFan, which can help you monitor CPU temperature, and overall hard drive health.

10. Security - Keep your sensitive data private. Run a good firewall, and keep your OS and browser up to date with security updates. For more security tips see, Securing Your Home Network, featured previous on the oDesk blog.

Alex Hornbake is one of several freelance writers on the oDesk Blog team. He joined the oDesk marketplace in 2009, and brings more than a decade of technical expertise to his clients. On Wednesdays, Alex shares his point of view on the tech industry to help you make informed decisions for your personal and business technology choices.

The oDesk Dashboard is a new page designed to be “home” for all oDesk users. It shows, at a glance, a snapshot of your entire oDesk account, with links to key pages like the team room, your financial account, your open jobs, and more. The initial includes the all-new Notifications, My Teams, Payments, My Job Openings (for buyers only), and the oDesk Learning Center. Next up is a “My Provider Activity” module, which is in development now. Every oDesk user can find their dashboard at odesk.com/dashboard.

What else would you like to see as part of your dashboard? What’s missing or needs work? Share your thoughts in the feedback forum.

A rebound in the economy could lead to the emergence of new startup companies and result in an uptick in tech-industry hiring.

Last Friday, the Commerce Department revised upward its already impressive gross domestic product growth estimate for the fourth quarter of 2009. Previously, the department said that growth was 5.7 percent on an annualized basis: The new figure is 5.9 percent – the best observed in six years.

While most experts anticipate that that red-hot growth will cool off in the coming quarters, the late-2009 GDP growth surge shows that there’s still life left in the American economy. Some startup innovators may advantage of the fact, following the tactic proscribed by Procter & Gamble chairman A.G. Lafley – who was quoted in a recent Newsweek article as saying that “that the best time to gain ground on competitors is when they are retreating.”

The tech sector is a likely breeding ground for new companies. There is a market for small tech firms, as Google demonstrates – many of the tech giant’s current offerings were conceived by smaller companies that Google bought. The company’s ad sales platform, AdSense (which gives website owners a share of ad revenue), was created by a Los Angeles company called Applied Semantics.

And, more recently, Google bought mobile ad sales firm AdMob for $750 million – one of the company’s more expensive acquisitions, but also one with the potential to be extremely lucrative. Mobile ad sales are poised to take off: Research firm Gartner said last August that the mobile ad market would grow 74 percent in 2009 and explode after 2011.

Twitter, too, will begin hosting an ad sales platform in the near future – making internet advertising a growth industry.

It’s not just rapidly expanding sectors that would benefit from a proposed jobs bill, though.

Political website The Hill reported Thursday that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was working on a small-business bill that would help startups in particular.

“Zeroing out capital gains taxes for budding companies has been mentioned and could gain traction,” The Hill said.

Even in the absence of aid bills and government stimulus programs – which are expected to be wound down this year – private investors may be stepping in to promote startup incubation.

Last week, tech titan Intel reported that it would partner with 24 venture capital companies to offer $3.5 billion to tech startups over the next two years. Their partnership, called the Invest in America Alliance, will “target key innovation and growth segments such as clean technology, information technology and biotechnology.”

On top of its provision of multibillion-dollar tech-firm investments, the alliance has received commitments from 17 large corporations to hire more college graduates – “an investment,” Intel CEO Paul Otellini said, “in the country’s innovators and a signal to the global marketplace about America’s commitment to innovation and future competitiveness.”

While Sand Hill Road VC firms may be an integral part of Intel’s plan to boost tech-industry innovation, it’s not just California companies that will benefit. The Boston Business Journal reported on Friday that Boston-area companies raised an aggregate of $87 million in private funding this week.

It was, the newspaper said, “a solid investment rebound for local tech and life sciences companies after a tepid funding stretch earlier in the month.”

As freelancers, many of us overlook the value of commenting on blogs as a means to boost our visibility within the right circles.

Making valuable, intelligent commentary on blogs is a great way to get your name and website link out there, and in front of someone else’s nicely targeted audience of readers. As a reader, I frequently click on the personal links of those who post comments to blogs I like, and I bet you do too.

But obviously some blogs are more effective places to make your comments than others. And what you say matters as much as where you post. Let’s look more closely at both sides of the commenting equation.

The Best Places to Comment

Commenting takes time, so you may want to expend your commenting energies on blogs that offer high visibility, and not too much “comment competition.”

You probably already know the guiding-light personalities, blogs and sites within your field. These can seem like good places to post a comment, but all too often I find, as a user, that the multitude of comments that tend to follow any post on the most popular blogs is overwhelming.

Usually I end up suffering information overload, and avoid looking in detail at any of the comments or commenters. It might be a better bet to comment on posts that have fewer comments, but a lot of tweets — less comment competition, but more attention.

Keeping abreast of new developments — and new players — in your particular space, and associated spaces is also important. That new blog or site being touted as worthy by others may be a great place to be seen. It may attract fewer comments than appear on the longer-standing blogs, and provide higher visibility than the older industry favorites.

I prefer to comment positively on blogs I like, rather than try to scrape together something to comment on a blog that provides lesser quality advice. Life’s too short to waste time telling people why you think their idea or attitude stinks, or pointing out the many important factors they’ve overlooked in formulating their argument. Instead, I prefer to contribute constructive comments where I can, and ignore the rest.

Of course, the flip side to the comment competition issue becomes clear on blog posts that have attracted a lot of comment, but all of it’s in the same vein. In these cases, you might be able to present a perspective that no one else has contributed — to make yours a clear, unique voice that will sound like a bell above the hubbub of the crowd.

The Best Comments to Make

Obviously, you’re representing yourself when you make a comment on someone else’s blog. You’re trying to build your reputation and establish your credibility. So there are a few golden rules we should all follow in making comment on blogs:

• No profanity, personal attacks or anger. You need to appear balanced and professional; none of these tactics supports that aim.
• No spam. Avoid making spam comments, and pointing people to your own blog without adding anything to the conversation. Better to outline your position on an issue intelligently than simply link to your own blog with a comment like: “Here are my thoughts on this.”
• No “me too” or “great post” comments. “I agree” on its own isn’t a really valuable contribution to make to a discussion. Neither is a pure “great post” comment. Above all, these comments garner no discussion — they create no opportunity for engagement with either the blogger or other readers.

Don’t just comment for the sake of getting your link onto a site — think through what you have to say, and work out how to say it in a way that presents you as a thoughtful, well-informed professional.

I think of my comments as being like calling cards — teasers that allow readers an insight into what I offer, and go some way to prequalifying those who click through to my site.

Don’t waste a word: make all your comments count. Use them to:

• provide a new perspective
• make a different point
• add more information to the debate
• contribute by leveraging some work you’ve already done
• alert the blog’s author or readers to additional resources (not on your site) on the topic
• constructively respond to questions posed in the blog post or by other commenters
• present your own, honest queries about the topic in an informed, constructive way

By using blog comments in these ways, to create meaningful dialog with bloggers, readers and other professionals who are active in your chosen field, you can publicly assert your talents and skills in a subtle, non-promotional format that’s really effective.

How do you go about ensuring that the comments you post
to a blog represent you in the best professional light?

Georgina Laidlaw has more than ten years’ experience writing and editing for web, print and voice. With a background in marketing and a passion for words, the time Georgina spent with companies like Sausage Software and Sitepoint.com cemented her lasting interest in the media, persuasion and communications culture. She lives in Victoria, Australia and writes for Web Worker Daily.

Checking out the blog buzz, it seems oDesk is doing well in taste tests. First, buyer Simon Bunker compares our marketplace to a competitor and declares we’re “now the site of choice for all my outsourcing activity.” Then for the provider perspective, the remote-work gurus at CertifiedFreelance.com provide “Five Reasons Why oDesk Tops Other Freelance Sites.”

Network Solutions blogger Steve Fisher talks about using oDesk with your iPhone, and a provider writing as “Sufidreamer” offers his fourth in-depth post about getting started on oDesk, this time focusing on cover letters and interviews.

If you’re tired of reading websites, here are a couple of YouTube videos you can watch: Camitta Davis offers a video intro to becoming an oDesk provider, and “MrWebMarketing” asks, “Is Outsourcing Just a Fad?” Watch and learn, folks — and remember to send us your links when you talk about oDesk online. For a few lucky winners each month, there’s a free T-shirt in it.

Over at the developing oDeskGuide.com, Rikki John De Castro continues to create an independent resource for oDesk providers. Recently he offered a friend advice on dealing with a difficult buyer who kept demanding broad revisions on a fixed-priced project (check it out just for the cartoon about a web design project gone awry), and he finished January by celebrating his first $1,000 in earnings through oDesk. Congratulations, Rikki!

Your butcher wouldn’t let you take a roast home, cook it, eat it, and then only pay if you enjoyed the meal. So, why would you ever consider doing the same with your own time and resources?

Working speculatively has become unfortunately too common in today’s economy . The advent of “design contests”, and other euphemisms for working without a secured payment, are only making matters worse. If you’re a freelancer, it’s important to value your time appropriately, and if your a consumer of freelancer’s services, it’s important to understand that only amateurs work for free, and you get what you pay for.

Let me quickly clarify that I don’t consider RFP’s (requests for proposals) as spec work, unless they make requests for spec work, and that although they do take time to respond to, they are part of a dialogue between you and your clients. Also, the term amateur doesn’t as a rule exclude talented people, but does generally exclude the kind of experience needed to guarantee success in a project. Additionally, I’m going to assume that if you have no portfolio, are a student, or have no track record in a particular field – be it design, programming, writing, etc – then working on spec, or on passion projects that are unpaid, is not “stupid”, it’s a normal part of building your reputation as a pro who can command top rates in the future.

The Buyer: Back to the Drawing Board

If you are currently or are considering being the consumer of spec work, then you’re an amateur too. It doesn’t mean that you won’t be successful in your project or search for a solution on spec, it likely means that (a) you don’t know what you want, (b) you aren’t sure if you know how to get it, or (c) you can’t recognize what skills are needed to get the job done. Your project may lack direction and vision, and it’s time to go back to the drawing board and get a better grip on the situation.

The Provider: How to Say “No”

Saying “No” to spec work doesn’t have to close the door to potential work. Here are some tips on how to turn speculative clients into a paying client.

Know your worth. Be realistic about your rates, and be clear what your work process entails. Your clients will respect your process if they can see the passion that you put in to your work.

Be Firm. Confidence in your abilities and the value of your time will send the the message to your potential client that they’re working with someone that means business, and can get the job done. Spec works assumes that you “mehh… might do good work.” Accepting work under those conditions shows a lack of confidence and decisiveness on both your part and your client’s part.

Put it in perspective. Tell the spec client that you don’t work for free, use their field of work as an example. If you’re a graphic designer asked to do letterhead work for a woodworker, ask them if they make a habit of building and installing custom kitchen cabinets for free, hoping that their clients might approve and pay for them later .

Your honesty will show your integrity and confidence, and if they decide not to use you, then rest assured that they were not a good fit for you as a client. If they can’t afford a proper solution, don’t know what they want, or are just too inconsiderate, then they aren’t the kind of clients that you’d want to build long term relationships with.

Resources

Not sure how you feel? The spec debate has been roaring for some time, particularly in the world of design. Below are some links to some other opinions that you may find interesting. Share your own opinions in the comments:

“Is Spec Work Evil? The Online Creative Community Speaks” – a podcast of a SXSW panel of the same name.
“Spec Work Analysis: Here To Stay –But Not For Everyone” – Jeremiah Owyang-a panelist in the above discussion-offers a levelheaded analysis of the spec marketplace.
“The fine line between laziness and crowdsourcing” – Jefferey Kalmikoff’s notes the differences between spec work and community-based crowdsourcing.
No-Spec.com – an entire site dedicated to not working on spec.
“The Rise of Crowdsourcing” – The wired article by Jeff Howe that coined the phrase “crowdsourcing”-also his blog is worth a visit.

Alex Hornbake is one of several freelance writers on the oDesk Blog team. He joined the oDesk marketplace in 2009, and brings more than a decade of technical expertise to his clients. On Wednesdays, Alex shares his point of view on the tech industry to help you make informed decisions for your personal and business technology choices.

Finding just the right oDesk providers got easier! We’ve unveiled a new advanced search box for Provider search to let you drill down into your search and find candidates who match more specific criteria. You can choose multiple categories, locations, and more.

We have a lot more improvements planned for provider search, and we’d love to hear your feedback and feature requests.

Perhaps you expected the layoff. Even so, your knees turned to water when your manager says, “Can you come in here… and close the door?” if the HR person (whom you haven’t seen since the day you started at the company) is in the room. But it’s not the layoff that’s the problem. It’s the great gaping hole in your life that starts right now, and the wail that begins with, “How am I going to earn a living?!”

Many people, especially software developers and other techies, automatically think, “I’m going to find myself another job.” A few consciously consider, “Maybe this is the time to go into business for myself; I’ve been thinking of it anyway.” More commonly, I suspect they take on freelance work to tide them over, only to discover that by the time another “regular job” comes along, they’re too busy, making too much money, and having too much fun to consider it. You can count me in the latter category… on multiple occasions.

Yet, making a transition to the freelance life isn’t as simple as ordering a set of business cards that say Your Name & Associates.

Here’s a few of the things I learned.

The hardest or at least the most obvious task is finding someone who’ll pay you to work for them. I hate to bring up the nasty word, but this means marketing. It is an absolute necessity that you learn the skill of tasteful and relentless self-promotion. You don’t have to have this skill, to begin with, but you must be willing to learn it. The notion of talking-oneself-up does not come easily to many techies, which is one reason that sites like oDesk are so useful. At least here, clients know that they need help and they are ready to pay something for it. Still, you need to convince the prospective client that your experience is a perfect match for their needs — which means communication skills.

The very first thing any would-be freelancer needs to do after a layoff is give herself 24 hours to grieve and deal with her emotions. In my case, however, I had three freelance assignments within 24 hours of my layoff because I did one very simple thing: I sent out an e-mail message to every single business contact (primarily through LinkedIn) saying that I was, ahem, newly available, and did they happen to know of anyone who might be interested in my writing, editing, or technology skills? It does help that I’m reasonably well known in my corner of the industry, and that I’ve invested time in helping other people when they needed it. But the key is that I wasn’t shy about asking for work. The karma payback was emotionally cheering, and the checks that arrived a month after those first assignments were even more cheering.

Please note that “marketing” does not mean, “Behaving like a boor.” It is simply the process of making others aware that you have useful skills for hire. The best way to go about that (for me — it might be different for you) is to demonstrate my knowledge, while quietly letting it be known that I do this stuff for a living. For example, I participated in an awful lot of online communities, helping other people figure out how to use their software and sharing my passion for the technology. People saw that I knew what I was talking about, so I never had to “market” to them to convince them of my skill. I know plenty of software developers who created consulting businesses by participating in open source projects and helping out in community technology efforts. Any of these community activities are worth doing in their own right, not merely as a stepping stone to a career… but they sure can help with your career.

However, plenty of would-be freelancers don’t make a mindset change from “I’m just here to follow orders” to “I am a consultant hired to solve a problem.” As Jerry Weinberg so eloquently explained in Secrets of Consulting: A Guide to Giving and Getting Advice Successfully (still my favorite book on the topic, after 25 years), clients think they brought you in to solve a technology problem, but it’s never a technology problem. As an employee, you can relentlessly pound on a user in your company until you can get him to explain what he really wants in the software you’re building for him (as opposed to what he thought he wanted, or what he asked for — which alas are far more common). Consulting clients usually are sure that they know what the problem is, and they called you in simply to plug a gap. Often they have unrealistic expectations because, after all, they don’t know the technology or problem domain so they have no way to estimate its effort or worth. I’ve found that the less they’re willing to pay, the less they trust you to know your knowledge domain and the more annoying they are. (There’s a whole website devoted to these clients from hell. That may be required reading before you take the plunge. Ask yourself, “What can I learn from this?” after you laugh or cry at every item.)

There is, however, a difference between a contractor and a consultant, and the wise freelancer figures out which role she wants to adopt (or at least which one this particular client will pay for). Contractors are indeed warm bodies brought in to plug a knowledge or technology gap (such as “meet this unreasonable deadline”). Such clients don’t need or want actual consulting (by which I mean, “Solve the real problem, not the apparent one”). Contracting is a lot like salaried employment, except that you don’t get medical benefits and nobody invites you to the holiday party. Also, there’s no promise of the job continuing past the contract date, but it’s not like you expected that from your “permanent” job anyhow. If you imagine that you’re supplying one kind of service (contracting, whether it’s for 40 lines of code or 40 weeks, versus the giving-advice-and-expertise that comprises true consulting), and the client expects another, both sides will be unhappy.

Contracting is a common transition for the recently-laid-off and it’s not a bad option; but please don’t imagine that it’s the same thing as being an independent consultant or freelancer. For example, a true freelancer must have (or acquire) the ability to switch from one project to another, because clients have an annoying habit of all wanting you to deliver on time. You must ensure that every single gig has an agreement in writing about what will be done, by whom, by what deadline (otherwise known as a contract — the source of most new-freelancer mistakes). You must take care of your own invoicing and accounting (and from the editor’s side of the desk, I can tell you how often freelancers are slow to send their invoices… it’s really astonishing). That includes setting aside money for insurance and taxes. Part of the frustration is an always-uneven cash flow; there will come a day, I assure you, when you are owed five-figures from clients who are good for the money, but you don’t have the cash in the bank to pay today’s bills.

For some brand-new-freelancers, the hardest part of the transition is figuring out what your rates should be. It’s especially tough to do that right after a layoff, when your ego is as beat-up as the loser in a boxing match, and in your heart-of-hearts you’re sure that you aren’t worth anything. That’s understandable, but I urge you to seriously consider your value and “the going rate” before you answer anyone’s question of “What do you charge?” Raising rates is one of the hardest things anyone can do, and your self-confidence will return before long. It’s okay to take on a couple of short gigs at a low rate right after the layoff (particularly if a severance package is helping with the finances) but choose something easy that you know you can finish with no effort. You need to give yourself a personal victory; it helps to focus on something other than the layoff; and you’ll have evidence ready-made that you are, indeed, in business.

That’ll be your first business reference… but surely, it will not be your last.

Esther Schindler’s first computer consulting job, in 1986, paid “two folk music albums per hour;” she still has those albums. Since then, she’s optimized compilers, written SQA tests, designed small business computerized accounting systems, and owned a computer store. Once a sysop of the CompuServe Computer Consultant’s Forum, Esther has been a computer industry journalist since 1992, both on staff and as a freelancer. You can reach her at esther@bitranch.com, especially if you mention chocolate.

While most amateur bloggers make their fair share of internet and blogosphere faux pas before they learn the ropes, professionals can’t really afford to make too many mistakes — especially when it comes to copyright infringement and libel.

When I was a newbie blogger, I naively thought any photo on the internet that did not state its copyright status was fair game. I quickly learned the copyright ropes (and the importance of embedding photos rather than linking to them) when a “borrowed” photo on my personal blog was replaced with the words: “This photo was shamelessly stolen and used without permission.” I was mortified, but — fortunately — not sued.

If copyright infringement or libel occurs, a blogger might not always be lucky enough to get off with a warning. In addition to legal complications, copyright infringment has the potential to kill your Google AdSense account. What’s more, while being sued for libel might get you a lot of attention, it might also destroy your bank account.

So, to keep you informed, we offer up a handy guide to the libel and copyright standards of the internet in the US. These statements are based on commonly upheld interpretations of the law here in the United States, but should not be confused with the laws themselves, which you can read here.

POSTING PHOTOS, IMAGES  and WORKS of ART

Images, photos, etc., not expressly declared as “creative commons” should never be used without permission of the owner. Once upon a time something had to contain a copyright notice to be considered personal property, but not anymore. Private ownership is now to be assumed unless otherwise stated. No, simply linking to the original or crediting the owner is not enough and may not save you in a court of law if the owner decides to go after you. Regardless of the purposes of your use, you need permission from the owner, unless their permission is already stated or the item is  identified as creative commons. If you are altering a copyright protected image without permission, see our notes about derivative works of art.

Exception: Posting a book cover image, DVD cover image, software cover image, etc.,  in connection with a review of the product itself is an accepted practice and considered fair use if the image is already in circulation on the net. (Translation: Don’t post a leaked cover from a still-unreleased product. To be safe, get permission for anything that is not yet released.) If you link the photo to a site where the item can be bought, rest assured, no one is likely to bother you about their rights–even if your review was negative–because free advertising is the name of the game in this particular arena. (This does not always apply to using quotes or clips from movies, books, etc., so keep reading.)

EMBEDDING or LINKING to VIDEOS

Embedding a YouTube video (or any other video clip) could get you into trouble if you do not have permission from the owner of the rights — i.e., the distributor or the person who uploaded the video. Just as you would with an image, if you are embedding a video, you need permission. In addition, as anyone who frequents YouTube knows, sometimes videos on that site are here today, gone tomorrow — or gone the moment someone brings it to YouTube’s attention that a user has illegally posted copyrighted footage. If you have embedded a video into your blog that was illegally put on YouTube, it could be argued that you took part in the copyright infringement, even if you didn’t realize it at the time and even if the person who uploaded it gave you permission. Embedding isn’t a bad idea, just get permission and be confident that what you are embedding is not going to be later identified as copyrighted material. Use your head. When in doubt, just link and don’t embed.

Merely linking to a YouTube video — or a video on another site – is highly unlikely to cause a legal issue. You do not need permission to simply link to something, and even if you link to something that is later declared copyright infringement and pulled, simply linking (and not embedding) isn’t going to cause problems for you.  This is the perfect alternative to embedding, if you have any doubts about your right (or YouTube’s right) to host the footage in question.

PUBLISHING DERIVATIVE WORKS of ART on the INTERNET

Utilizing someone else’s creative property without permission is only considered fair use in clear cases of parody. That’s right, any creative use that is not mockery or parody is, technically, copyright infringement, and — even in cases of parody — it would not be advisable to earn money off of such works without a lawyer in tow. Many in Hollywood consider derivative works such as fan fiction to be beneficial to the popularity of the original, but not everyone agrees. Book publishers, for example, are much less inclined to see derivative works as flattery and free advertising and may be just a tad more likely to sue. Consider this discussion of the legalities of Lord of the Rings fan fiction, for example.  Also, altering any trademark, photo or work of art is also considered infringement if the intent for parody is not abundantly clear.

REVIEWS and PERSONAL CRITICISM on the INTERNET

Reviewing and critiquing someone else’s actions or works of art is protected by laws of free speech and freedom of expression, except when defamation is involved. In other words, you can talk about how much you don’t like Bill Gates and Apple on your tech blog all you want, as long as what you say is factual, clearly your opinion, or clearly an attempt at humor that no one would take as fact. (Also, don’t publish anything that could get you accused of inciting violence.) If you make statements about someone else (or their products) that aren’t true, you might end up in court.

QUOTING SOMEONE ELSE’S WORK on the INTERNET

You can quote ALMOST anyone and anything for any purpose as long as you give proper attribution and your use of the quote does not damage the work’s commercial value. The key to this area of copyright infringement is not word counts, but the concept of damaging commercial value. Even if I quote an entire page from the book Twilight on my blog, Stephenie Meyer and her publisher are unlikely to care. However, if I quote a page that gives away a the climax of the book, making someone who sees the quote unlikely to buy the book – since I’ve given away the ending — I have potentially damaged the commercial value of the work.

POSTING SCREENSHOTS on the INTERNET

Posting unaltered screenshots of software, websites, computer/video games, etc., is generally considered fair use (with proper attribution), as long as it does not damage the commercial value of the product. The use of screenshots for purposes of review, instruction, training, etc., with no financial gain on your part, is generally acceptable if you are not damaging the commercial value of the product. It may be wise to seek permission, but not necessary. Screenshots for such purposes are widely regarded as fair use.

Posting altered screenshots of software, websites, computer/video games, etc., falls under the category of derivative works. Making changes to a screenshot before you post it can put you into the gray area of derivative works. Merely pointing to areas of the screenshot with arrows isn’t going to amount to much, but any radical changes to the screenshot that could misrepresent the actual content of the game, software, etc., aren’t advisable unless an intent for humor/parody is clear.

If your freelance writing career involves publishing on the internet, protect yourself and know the laws. I’m not a lawyer, but my unofficial recommendation is a careful look at the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA). When in doubt, don’t take my word for it – be safe! Seek the advice of a copyright lawyer directly.

I’d also recommend studying the legal ramifications of the following important phrases:

• FAIR USE
• DERIVATIVE WORK
• DEFAMATION or LIBEL
• CREATIVE COMMONS

Tamara Rice is one of several freelance writers on the oDesk Blog team and is not a lawyer. She joined the oDesk marketplace in 2009, after more than six years on staff at an award-winning national magazine. On Mondays, Tamara shares her years of experience through tips, insights and resources to help you succeed in your freelance writing and editing career.

In response to provider feedback, we have redesigned the “Apply to Job” form to make it easier to send just the right application.

1. All-new styling brings this form in line with our design direction and sets the stage for future updates and additions.
2. Set your rate right in-line instead of after you submit the application; by default you enter your own pay rate, but you can also set the buyer charge rate (including oDesk fees) by clicking on it.
3. Job qualification matching is smarter, too – if you don’t meet all of the buyer’s preferred qualifications, we tell you which ones

We know there are plenty more opportunities to make this page better. Please speak up if there’s something you’d like added or changed. We are listening!

Thank you all for your fantastic entries in yesterday’s contest! Hearing about your oDesk milestones and successes was nothing short of inspiring. Some of our favorite entries were:

• #oWin #oDesk I’m finishing up another web design/development job today. Its great to work from home! oDesk Rocks! – @getterdonegurus
• made my first major withdrawal from @odesk on the day of my wedding last January 30! #oWin #oDesk – @alexis0fDreams
• Milestone: Was sitting at home this week and got an email from a former client who wanted more work from me. #oWin #oDesk – @dcrwrites
• Today I could die from an excess of work #odesk #oWin #happy – @kovalevd
• #odesk has catupulted my copywriting career, over 13 assignments I’m psyched!! – @Ironsunflower
• Working on overdrive to complete the latest project for my oDesk client for whom I have been working for the last year! #oWin – @sampathd
• Didnt notice that I have 3345 hrs in Odesk since August 2008,amazing how Odesk rocked my world and my bank acct #oWin #oDesk – @kmarvs23

And the winner – by random drawing – is…..

Congratulations, @FoodTravelDiva! And thanks again to everyone who shared their amazing milestones – please keep us updated on your successes, we love to hear about how you are changing how the world works!

Be sure to follow @oDesk on Twitter for the latest information on job and hiring trends, tips on successful remote work and more chances to win!

It’s Thursday, and tweople are talking.

What are they talking about? Your oDesk Milestones!

They are talking, and YOU might be winning.

What could you win? A $50 Amazon gift card and an oDesk t-shirt!

Here’s the deal:

• Tweet about your oDesk Milestones. Passed a personal best for number of hours? Reached a thousand hours in record time? Been active on oDesk for ages now? Made some big $$ through oDesk? Share it!
• Add the hashtags: #oWin AND #oDesk
• Tweet (or re-tweet) by 11:59pm PT tonight.
• Every tweet (or re-tweet) is a new entry.
• Re-tweets count as entries for the original twitterer (so, if ten of your friends RT your original oDesk Milestone tweet, that’s ten entries for YOU!)
• Winner will be drawn at random for a $50 Amazon gift card and an oDesk t-shirt! Winner announcement will be made at 9:30am PT, Friday, February 19, 2010.

@iamdjbrixx, @abhishekdesai, @AishaDansalRN and @tjlytle already have one entry each for kicking us off with their tweets this morning – how many entries will YOU have today?

Courtesy of Apple

The much anticipated release of Apple’s tablet has left many making off-color jokes and scratching their heads, wondering, “How the $%&! did that happen?” Its easy to point and laugh, but the iPad is already joining the elite league of highly anticipated, “game changing”, brilliantly designed failures – such as the Segway and Apple’s own Newton. (See Wired.com’s gallery of Apple’s Most Notorious Flops, and Time.com’s Top Ten Tech Failures of the Last Decade, for historical reference.) Apple has a track record of learning from it’s mistakes, and it’s been a while since they’ve made a big one, but what went wrong this time?

The Hype

“Our most advanced technology in a magical and revolutionary device at an unbelievable price” – Apple.com

Marketing hype is great if you can deliver a product that meets or exceeds those expectations. Magical, is a tough adjective to live up to when you’re lacking basic things like Adobe Flash Player support – meaning I can’t snuggle up with an iPad and a cup of hot cocoa to settle in for a “magical” evening of watching Hulu. The Apple/Adobe flash feud has been ongoing – you can read about it in more detail here at the Wall Street Journal. At the end of the day, its hard to live up to the hype when you’re missing functionality that has become part of the daily expected use for personal computers. Which brings us to….

Ignoring the Basics

I’ll admit, the 10 hour battery life, custom built A4 chip, multi-caress screen, and slick design leave even the most skeptical drooling a bit (its a beautiful piece of design and engineering) but the lack of “the basics” means that the iPad can’t replace your desktop, laptop, or your smart phone, making it a niche luxury device, something that most of us can’t make room for even at the low low price of $499… (I mean $699… oh wait , did you want 64GB of memory, Wi-Fi, and 3G? That’ll be $829+tax  please.)

Okay, lets outline what “the basics” are.

A keyboard: I don’t care how good the touch screen is, if it doesn’t click under my fingers, then it’s not going to get used for anything longer than a tweet.

A Real OS with Real Apps: Snow Leopard would be nice. iPhone OS is for phones. On a side note, the good news for iPhone developers is that you just got a new device to program for!

Connectivity: One proprietary iPod connector, and a whole bag of dongles, adapters, and Apple-licensed accessories to get anything connected, means an iPad = a laptop bag full of extra stuff…

A Unique Device

“But it’s not supposed to be a laptop replacement.” I hear you say.

Some analysts–like Charlie Wolf, quoted here at Apple Insider–are predicting  the iPad as the the new go-to device for healthcare and general business. For healthcare, there are some huge hurdles. Looking at these survey results from medicaltablets.com, we can see that the iPad is lacking some basic functionality for this use case, “…such as resistance to dust and hospital fluids and disinfectants (the iPad does not have sealed ports); fingerprint access to the system (HIPAA compliance); barcode scanning (patient safety); and an integrated camera (documenting diagnosis)”. In addition, Electronic Medical Records (EMR) companies aren’t likely to fork over the 30% of their profits to the App Store, or spend resources developing serious EMR apps for what has been a traditionally windows-centric environment.

For business, the iPad may have a place, depending on the users, but most of us live in a keyboard-centric world. So, for those of you in board rooms that can afford to pass around iPads as fancy .pdf viewers and note-takers, more power to you. For the rest of us, it’s not robust enough for day-to-day business use.

For home. It’s an entertainment piece– Short emails, casual web surfing, games, photos, YouTube videos, iTunes store video downloads, and general procrastination. I have no doubt that the iPad can excel in these areas, but then again, so can your iPhone, your iPod touch, your laptop, and your desktop.

At the end of the day, the market will tell whether Apple has another to add to their list of missteps. We’ll see how they sell in March.

Alex Hornbake is one of several freelance writers on the oDesk Blog team. He joined the oDesk marketplace in 2009, and brings more than a decade of technical expertise to his clients. On Wednesdays, Alex shares his point of view on the tech industry to help you make informed decisions for your personal and business technology choices.

One of the biggest complaints we get is “you guys send too much email!” And yet despite (or perhaps because of) all that email, it’s still easy to miss important things that happen in your oDesk account. With this in mind, we have developed a new system for notifying users about important account events: Notifications.

Notifications are one-line news items, most of which link to a relevant destination within odesk.com. You get a notification whenever something potentially newsworthy happens with your oDesk account. For example, if I sent an offer to a provider, the provider would get a notification that read:

Michael Levinson of Acme, Inc. contacted you about the job opening “Senior Web Developer”.

If the provider accepts the offer, I would get notified with:

John Smith’s assignment has started.

Notifications cannot be “opened” or individually read or unread; we keep track of how many new notifications you have since you last viewed your notifications, that’s it. This makes them much easier to manage, similar to Facebook notifications. Right now there is an email sent for every notification, and if you opt out of an email, you opt out of the notification as well. Soon we’ll be implementing more advanced notifications preferences, and you’ll be able to choose for each type of notification, whether to receive an email, a notification, both, or neither.

Notifications are currently in beta, and once we have polished all the content we will be phasing out “Account Alerts” and “Updates”, which today are redundant with the emails we send, and frankly, no one really reads them anyway…

The Notifications tab is available in the Message Center.

In freelancing — much like in conventional careers — there will be times when you and the people paying your salary are just not a good match.

While being half a world away from a difficult client may give you an advantage over an employee who works 10 feet from the boss he can’t stand, it doesn’t mean you need to put up with the challenge. Ideally, “this-is-a-bad-fit” red flags would come up during the interview process, when you have time to decline a job before becoming too involved. However, sometimes it’s impossible to know how you and a client will work together until you have been contracted and are on the job for a certain length of time.

If you and the client are not a good fit, one or more of these red flags will eventually be revealed:

• Difficulty communicating ideas and concepts to the client
• Difficulty understanding the ideas and concepts described by the client
• Lack of prompt payment for services rendered
• Problems getting in touch with the client by email or phone
• An ongoing need to redo your work because it hasn’t met client expectations
• Inadequate or “too fuzzy” answers to your questions about the project
• Lack of respect for your time (missing conference calls with you, keeping you waiting on hold, delaying email responses)
• Unreasonable expectations of your work
• Demands not initially discussed in your contract or added to it by mutual agreement
• Lack of feedback on work completed or acknowledgment of work completed
• Illegal activity or activity that is ethically uncomfortable for you
• Disparity between the interview/contract agreement and reality, regarding the nature of the work and compensation
• A general lack of professionalism on the part of the client
• Overall sense of dread or boredom about working on the projects for the client

Any of these reasons would be reason enough to end your contract with a client. A few of the above issues may be resolved with a frank conversation, but – most of the time – these are problems that aren’t going anywhere and waiting them out will only make things worse.  While it’s not always advisable to immediately cut and run, it is advisable to begin working toward a clean break as soon as possible.

1. Begin by seeking a project with a different client. It’s time to make up for the financial loss you will incur when you part ways with your current client. Start looking the moment you decide it’s not going to work out.
2. Wrap up any current projects and inform the client. When your income and financial stability is no longer an issue, it’s time to graciously head for the door.
3. Be honest, but brief. There is no need to hand over a list of complaints. This isn’t a marriage and you are not going to counseling together. Simply state that it isn’t a good fit and you’d like them to have the opportunity to find a suitable match.
4. Give a clear end date and stick to it. Two weeks notice isn’t necessary, especially if you are completing any outstanding assignments and meeting your contractual obligations.
5. Remember your reputation. Remember that your reputation is on the line whether the client is two cities away or two continents away. The online world is flat and often surprising. If you can avoid burning bridges, then do so. For a smooth exit, admit no faults and accuse of nothing (unless it’s going to keep you up at night).

Freelancing is about the freedom to make a living on your own terms. So, when a freelancing gig begins to feel like a burden, it’s time to reevaluate your relationship with the client and the viability of a long-term commitment.

For more on how to end a client relationship, check out When (And How) To End a Relationship With a Client.

Working from home can either liberate you or weigh you down — it’s all about how you do it. Having worked from home for over a decade, Tamara Rice has learned what works and what just creates more work. Tamara is one of several freelance writers on the oDesk Blog team.

It’s okay to give your work away, even when you are trying to build a lucrative freelance writing career. It may seem counterintuitive at first, because the end goal is – of course – money in the bank. However, to earn it you sometimes need to make career moves that don’t involve money at all.

So, how do you know if you’re doing the right thing by giving it away or if someone is taking advantage of you? The main rule of thumb in this department is to never sign away permanent rights to your work if you are not being compensated. However, giving someone the temporary rights (for six months past their publication date, for example) is not a bad deal, provided you can feel good about giving it away for free.

And when should you feel good about it? When your reasons line up with one or more of the following:

1. If you have never been published, give it away. If this will be your first time seeing your name in print, just do it. You have to start somewhere. Writing a few thousand words (or less) for free might be the smartest move you ever make.

2. If it’s for a charitable cause, give it away. A lot of anthologies and websites give proceeds to charity, and a lot of charities need writers who will donate their work. If your work will be used in this way and you believe in the cause, it’s a great idea to contribute your work.

3. If a client just wants a sample of your skills, give it away. It’s common practice to provide a prospective client with a sample of your related work. If you have nothing relevant in your portfolio, you may have to write something. Just know where to draw the line. Writing a few hundred words to show what you can do is no big deal, but if the client expects more or expects to have the right to use it, you should be compensated.

4. If you aren’t likely to publish it for money elsewhere, give it away. If you know there is no market for it elsewhere, there’s no shame in writing something for free. Anthologies are not a bad idea for those unique stories floating around in your head, even if they don’t pay. Just don’t give up the rights to your work.

5. If it will increase your visibility, give it away. Ideally any assignment that will be widely read will also be generously compensated, but there will be occassions when this isn’t the case. As long as your name is front and center, it’s okay to do it solely for bragging rights and buzz.

6. If it will point others back to your blog or website, give it away. The internet is all about linking. If a popular site offers to give you a one-time platform and a link — even if there is no money involved – you’d be a fool to say no. Just ask Dave.

7. If you are helping out a friend, give it away. Writing for friends can be a great pleasure. Help a neighbor with her resume cover letter. Give feedback on your niece’s term paper. Be generous with your talent, and you may find great satisfaction in return.

8. If you are getting worthwhile non-monetary compensation, give it away. Sometimes you’ll get an offer that is too good to pass up, even with no money involved. Go ahead and write your dentist’s marketing copy for free, as long as you get some dental work out of it. Know the art of good bartering, this type of trading thrives during a recession!

When was the last time you wrote for free
and what did you get out of it? Tell us about it.

Tamara Rice is one of several freelance writers on the oDesk Blog team. She joined the oDesk marketplace in 2009, after more than six years on staff at an award-winning national magazine. On Mondays, Tamara shares her years of experience through tips, insights and resources to help you succeed in your freelance writing and editing career.

oDesk will be switching datacenters on Saturday February 13, 2010 beginning 10:00AM PST (18:00 GMT/UTC).
We’re making the change to enhance our hardware, increase capacity and improve uptime. During the datacenter migration oDesk.com and its services will be unavailable. Barring unforeseen complications, the entire process should be completed within two hours. Should challenges come up, we may need to go offline again for brief periods over the weekend to make corrections, and we will be sure to notify you if further downtime is needed.

We apologize for the inconvenience but we are confident that this will result in an even better experience for our users.

As is the case with all of our maintenance windows, we want to remind you that you can continue to log time to the last team you were logged into – your oDesk Team client will cache the time, memos and screenshots, and will upload those details to the server when the connection is restored.

If you need to work for a different team during this time, please discuss with your buyer a need to potentially add offline time later.

If you do work through the outage window, please check your Work Diary after oDesk.com resumes service to ensure your time was logged correctly and make any necessary adjustments.