Archive for the "Toolbox" category

It’s April, and while young men’s hearts are turning to love, freelancers turn to thoughts of taxes. Yes, taxes. I know, I know… griping about taxes is only slightly less common than moaning about traffic or the weather. In my opinion, all the complaining is unjustified. Taxes are more than a payment made to run [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Welcome to the third part of the Freelancer’s Toolbox. Today we’re going to discuss your workspace, the place you sit in your pajamas and do the things that bring you money. Remember, earning money is a good thing, and how you set up your workspace can have a major effect on how productive you are. [...]

Free! Improved! Must Have! I love hype. But the following three tools and techniques actually meet those expectations. You already own these tools, you just have to put them to use. Creative Find and Replace You might already use the ‘regular’ find and replace. In MS Word, it’s in the <edit> menu under replace. The [...]

As a buyer on oDesk, one of the features I see abused most often is the “Job Message Board.” oDesk provides the Job Message Board alongside each job description, and it’s a handy tool, but misuse of it causes many providers to be rejected. Some of the providers are spammers, so it’s no surprise they [...]

Last time around, I talked about computer hardware, and what you need to be a successful freelancer. Today I want to talk about software. Wonderful stuff, software; it’s what really gives your computer the ability to do all those creative things we all do with them all day. Without software your computer’s just going to [...]

Now that you know a little about me and where I’m coming from, I’d like to talk a little about getting set up for a successful freelancing and sub-contracting career. In his post last week, Nelson gave a great explanation of how oDesk works. Now that you know how it works, I’d like to discuss [...]