A NEWBIE’S LIFE

Hey there, you just completed your one-week training from Ajira and you are practically psyched up. Some of you may already have gotten a job or two since you signed up on various online platforms.  

Welcome to the life of a newbie. 

Maybe prior to Ajira you had an idea about online work or you didn’t, that doesn’t really matter, for now, what's important is that fact that you are a newbie- new on the platforms that you just signed up on. Read my first article on this link: https://arnomak.blogspot.com/2017/06/the-ajira-online-training-program.html

At Ajira the focus was mainly on Upwork, Guru, and Fiverr. Some of us had issues during the sign-up, some profiles were outrightly rejected, some Fiverr accounts were deleted on grounds of violation platform rights when all you did was to sign up and oops you are out even before you start. A story for another day.

Here is my two weeks experience.

On 16^th June 2017 at 5:00 PM, I walked out of Kenyatta University, Main Campus, Nairobi having completed my one-week boot camp, residential training on Online Work.  I headed home really excited, I had acquired knowledge,  skills and new ideas, there was a swing in my step, I was now a new Arnold. 

On Monday, 19^th June 2017, I began my online journey, I logged into my Upwork account, perused the jobs available. Most of the jobs were doable but I barely met the client's requirements on Upwork, since I had no work history.  

For a newbie, the most difficult part after signing up is drafting the proposal for the job you feel you can comfortably do. We had been taught to always have a draft or template for the proposal, which I had.

Using the draft proposal, I applied for my first three jobs on that day. I later logged on to my Guru account, updated my profile but was unable to apply for any job as it was quite different from Upwork. I contacted one of my trainers, who gave me a few tips and viola I applied for few jobs.

Now begins the wait, constantly checking your mail, messages, and notifications.  Six hours later still nothing, I am almost giving up, then my Samsung Galaxy smartphone vibrates- I check, its an E-mail. Anxiously, I read the mail and bam, my very first application has been rejected, another mail indicates I have one unread message on Upwork.  I get into contact with the client, the pay is so depressing $1 for 800 words, I am dejected then I opt to negotiate with the client, and he promptly blocks me.

Instead of giving up, I am even more fired up. I call one of my trainers James, he encourages me by advising me not to give up and start bidding at 10 pm to Midnight, which I do for a few days.  This change in my schedule is disruptive to my two-year-old son and my wife. Nevertheless, we have to navigate the coming days if this has to bear fruit.

So far I have written 18 proposals on Upwork and 6 on Guru. I have signed up with People per hour and I am reading a lot on what I need to be doing right. I have just created my first blog where you are now reading my second article. If that does not indicate progress then I don’t know why you are here in the first place, oops, my bad.

You are now my new fan and thanks for reading on. Watch out for my next article in which I will share mistakes that newbies make.