Yesterday, I was able to withdraw my first-ever Odesk earning. It wasn’t much, but certainly satisfying for a 10-hour work in one week. It only made me feel even more encouraged to work so well. Gladly my client gave a full-time 40-hour a week.
So who says work-from-home jobs can only leave you broke? 
The last three weeks had been an ultimate challenge for me. I was hired for a Team Lead post in one of the biggest call center, not just in the Philippines, but also in the US. The compensation offer was not bad, and the promise for career growth is hugely tempting. Two days in the leadership training, I was confirmed by the program’s senior manager that I will be flying to the US for further product training since I already have a multiple visa. The said training is necessary in the migration process of the account since it’s going to be a pioneer program in the center’s site.
On the other hand, at the same time I started with the company, I was also hired to work full-time by one of the buyers in Odesk. The job requires 8 hours to work from home. And if by doing the math, it appears I am gonna be earning exactly the same—if not more—than what the contact center offered me. Another thing, with the work-from-home job I got, not only will I conveniently breathe, eat, and work at home, I will also be doing exactly what I am good at doing, which is writing.
Because I couldn’t give up any, I decided to still report in the training class during the evening, and then work with my home-based client in the morning as soon as I get home. The first four days proved very tiring, and while four days may not be enough reason to give up one promising job, I made the decision—and that is to go for some Odesk work.
Some people may be quick to say how stupid I’d been to give up a guaranteed employment with a physical office. A company that offers opportunities envied by many contact center slaves. A company that almost everyone I know would do everything just to get their feet in their recruitment facility. Nonetheless, those were not enough reasons for me to just let go of something I have waited for years.
I have worked in the call center for more than 6 years. I’ve worked in an office with years of grave yard shifts, answering volumes of contacts, dealing with irate individuals, working with easy to difficult bosses, and nice to demanding clients. I know the numbers and what they represent, and how to achieve the ones that will make you keep your job. Those were all extremely challenging, but I never have done the kind of work I have been so passionate about that I’d be more than willing to give up a fat paycheck.
Now is the time and I got that with Odesk. I am only working for 3 weeks and so far quite satisfied with what I am earning. Hard to believe yes, but I’m gonna be sure to blog more about my Odesk experience in the coming days.
For now, I just want to give myself the kind of KUDOS I didn’t receive despite all the hard work I’ve had as a Customer Service Agent and eventually the Program Supervisor during my call center experience. And to be honest, it feels damn great!
Share on FacebookWhen Nel and I were still busy preparing for our wedding, I didn’t have enough time to properly blog about every experience I’ve had dealing with our vendors, much to my frustration. At one point I even created a separate blog for wedding entries alone, but after only a dozen of arduous writings, I decided to delete it permanently for the simple reason that I cannot maintain it anymore.
But now that the wedding has been successfully celebrated, you’ll probably catch me blogging more about our wedding vendors. And I’m gonna start off with Nice Print.
Before them, we considered Smart Shot, Mimi + Karl, Ariel Javelosa, Digital Picman, and B.A. Studio for our photo and video coverage. If money wasn’t an issue, we would have gotten either Smart Shot or Mimi + Karl. But because we wanted to stick to a certain budget without compromising the output, we narrowed down our choices to include Nice Print Studio, which I found thru Femalenetwork’s Girl Talk wedding forum.
If it was only me to decide, I could go with any cheaper choices. Yes, Nice Print rates are way competitive, too. But my husband who’s more technically knowledgeable about photography stuff wouldn’t simply go for the most accessible option. He was looking for some more, and gladly he somehow found that with Nice Print.
The thing with Nice Print is that they responded to our emails promptly. And I mean, within a 24-hour turnaround time. So, this is a good trait to consider, of course. The only downside I experienced were, two things:
1.) We requested for Bernie and Rupert to be our photographers, and it took them 3 days to get back to us. And when they did, we were told that we need to make 20% downpayment first for booking. And this leads to my next complain.
2.) We have paid 50% downpayment prior requesting a team and I had to ask whether we need to pay for another 20% just by confirming our team. At that point, we were told that we need not since they have verified that we have paid more than the required amount anyway.
I was about to think they didn’t have coordinated record files to reference to, but hubby said to just let it pass, and so I did. I was ok with that already, until we came across another forum in Girl Talk about Nice Print, which posted a lot of negative feedback. And at that point, we only had 3 months left before the wedding. Which means, it was too late to back out, plus, we cannot refund any from what we have paid already.
Threatened by those posts, I decided to email Charisse, owner of Nice Print, telling her about the forum. But at the same time assuring her that we trust their company and that we are looking forward to see how their team works on our event. Of course, this is also a subtle way of getting positive assurance from them, which they did not fail to give.
We have not seen our photo layouts yet, but seeing the on site video they created for us, which I posted on a previous entry, I knew my husband made the right reasoning, that in the end the pictures and video are all that’s left for us to smile at every once in a while.
Finally, the long wait was over. On July 10, hubby and I walked down the aisle of Paco Park church at 5 PM, as witnessed by our dear friends and family. It was by far the most memorable event in the last two decades of my life.
And what with all the stress and dilemma of the 6-month preparation, I thought they were all worth it. Below are some of the pictures taken on the day of our wedding:
hair and make-up with Kris Bacani
my wedding gown by Amonn Velasco
hubby and I
w/our parents
the kiss and the doves
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