Prosper.com enables peer-to-peer loans. The April 2007 issue of Fast Company described Prosper as a place where:

Borrowers create listings that detail how much money they need, what it’s for, and the highest interest rate they’re willing to pay. Prospective lenders offer specific amounts, and compete on the rate they’re willing to accept. As more lenders bid, the ultimate rate tends to get driven down.

Because Prosper is less bureaucratic and more people-centric than other forms of lending, you must take into account human nature. Here are five things to keep in mind when you’re looking for a peer loan:

1. Not all requests get funded. That sounds obvious. However, what isn’t as straightforward is how this affects investor psychology. The bidding phase for a listing may continue for up to a week. During this time lenders are browsing, researching, and vetting for the promise of a return. When a loan isn’t funded disappointed investors now have to start their search all over again – that’s a hassle. Providing details on how the money will be used, profit/loss summaries from relevant work, and what expertise you have to make the venture successful are vital to wooing those who may have been previously jilted. Provide enough information so that starting a financial relationship with you is as comfortable as possible.
2. Place your request at an interest rate higher than what you’re comfortable with paying back. A higher interest rate attracts more investors. More investors translate to more bidders and these bidders ultimately drive down the overall percentage rate. If done correctly the ending percentage can often be below that which you can safely accommodate in your budget. Further, if things don’t go as expected and the final rate is higher than what you’re willing to pay you’re under no obligation to take the loan.
3. Pimping out your basement office Trump style requires a lot of cash (not to mention gold leaf). Rather than asking for the entire amount all at once a better tactic is to break the loan up into smaller amounts. Smaller loans inspire more confidence that they’ll be paid off. Paying off a small loan also helps build a positive record with the community that will be visible on subsequent requests.
4. No matter how sorry your situation is never, ever let a sob story serve as the first impression strangers have of you. It can be very tempting to put the most tragic, Hallmark-worthy information in a post to try and win sympathy from onlookers. However, remember that investors are parting with their money because they expect a return. They want to see that the person on the other end has their act together enough to pay the loan back.
5. Don’t expect to post a listing, walk away, and pick up money a week later. Make yourself available. Total strangers are taking a chance on you. There will be concerns that arise. Answer each question as thoroughly and quickly as possible. By doing so you will not only be responding to their immediate requests but providing a deeper example of how you conduct your affairs.

If all pans out as you’ve planned, someday you may find yourself on the other side of that transaction.

Would you considering financing your web-workerdom with peer-to-peer investing? How do you fund your dreams?

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Why iPad 2 Will Lead Consumers Into the Post-PC Era
• The Near-Term Evolution of Social Commerce
• Content Farms: The Players, The Benefits, The Risks

Eye strain isn’t extremely serious and won’t cause long term damage. However it can be a big, disruptive, pain. It’s caused when the eye becomes fatigued by staring at something for too long. The results are blurry vision, headaches, and an increased sensitivity to light. Ophthalmologists recommend that for every 20 minutes that you stare at a screen make a point to focus on something 20 feet away for 20 seconds. Breaking the monotony of focus will help keep your eyes fresh. If you keep forgetting to take an ‘eye break’ check out these applications that will remind you on a schedule of your choosing.

Last week Mike helped soothe fears about the scarily named deep vein thrombosis (DVT). However, cases of this dangerous health problem do occur. Movement every half hour helps greatly. Chris previously posted some great stretching exercises that you can try. If you feel self conscious about contorting at your local coffee shop then try this: slowly roll onto the balls of your feet, hold for several counts, and (in a controlled manner) return your foot to the floor. Do this for ten minutes or until tired and you’ll get a bit of circulation going in your calf.

Finally, but not surprisingly, there are numerous websites that offer to help with the weight gain that can accompany a desk job. While computer professionals may be unintentionally living the Hacker’s Diet – losing weight through stress and poor nutrition – that’s not a foundation for long term health. Much of weight loss has to do with motivation and there are a number of sites that have adopted “web 2.0” style communities to provide motivation with a dose of companionship. WeightLossWars.com allows you to compete with a group of your choosing. Traineo.com is similar, allowing up to four friends or family members to receive progress emails. Nike has even build an entire online community around its co-branded iPod pedometer.

Web worker or not, deskitis does not have to be a given of modern culture. Ailments like eye strain, DVT, and weight gain can be avoided or managed. These are a few quick suggestions but there are many more. What do you do during your day to cope?

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Why iPad 2 Will Lead Consumers Into the Post-PC Era
• The Near-Term Evolution of Social Commerce
• Content Farms: The Players, The Benefits, The Risks

Many corporate clients keep their workers happily productive (or at least on YouTube) by having multiple paths to the Internet. This redundancy ensures that if one service suffers a setback the wheels of commerce continue to churn. But is this a practical expense for a home based worker? Are there flexible business options that can be purchased on a house-by-house basis or am I stuck with the consumer level DSL and/or Cable options in my area? And if I do have multiple connections to the wider web are there intelligent ways of optimizing the bandwidth? Fail over? Load balancing? Or is this the powers-that-be telling me its time to go to the local coffee shop?

Am I the only one who gets nervous about placing all my productivity eggs in one ISP’s basket? What have you done to avoid net downtime?

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Why iPad 2 Will Lead Consumers Into the Post-PC Era
• The Near-Term Evolution of Social Commerce
• Content Farms: The Players, The Benefits, The Risks

The experiments:

1. New Media Producer
As reported on New Tee Vee last month Ask a Ninja, a popular comedy video blog (or vlog), signed a six figure advertising deal. Ask a Ninja could be summarized as a rapid fire series of non-sequiturs, a funny premise, and not much else. Production for another notable vlog, RocketBoom is equally as sparse. For as little as a webcam, the free editing software that comes with your OS, and a YouTube account, a person can produce their own show. You do need something to say and better production does require better equipment (cameras, microphones) and time (post-production editing). However, the number of places to distribute (YouTube, MySpace, iTunes, etc.) and sources of monetization (pre-roll, post-roll, product placement, revenue sharing) has never been greater.

2. Clothing Label Crafter
Third party fulfillment services for items like t-shirts are nothing new: Cafepress launched in 1999. But given the explosion of blogs dedicated to the subject and the now universal acceptance of purchasing things online, small boutique shops can thrive. And a degree in graphic design isn’t necessary to make something that sells. The Lactivist is a T-shirt shop founded by Jennifer Laycock as part of a 30 day business experiment (a recap of her experience is available in a free PDF). The shirts that you’ll find there are text only. Jennifer is able to sell them because of her wit and unique audience. The fulfillment behind this type of site – companies like CafePress, SpreadShirt, or even Threadless – handle the mundane things like printing and shipping. This leaves you free to focus your entrepreneurial energies on the bigger business picture: finding an audience and best serving them.

3. Micro Investor
When most people hear the words ‘investing’ they think of power ties, ticker symbols, and wads of cash usually reserved for lotto winners. However, there are web sites that allow geographically diverse investors to aggregate small amounts into meaningful returns. Prosper.com and its U.K. equivalent, Zopa.com enable direct borrowing and lending on a person to person level. Thousands of dollars aren’t required to get started. A person can take a tax return or unexpected bonus and begin creating a unique investment strategy. This entrepreneurial experiment does require more capital to start than the others listed here. However, the time investment is less and you’ll be learning about diversifying portfolios and acceptable risk while funding people that you can believe in.

4. Publisher
The web is a publishing medium. However, reading a full length novel on a laptop is still a sub-optimal experience. For those that have something to say LuLu.com is a solution. LuLu will print and ship your treatise for a percentage revenue cut. Can’t think of what to say? Intimidated with the prospect of writing a few hundred pages? Take an example from Carolynn Duncan’s most recent business experiment: in exchange for stories about entrepreneurship the contributing authors are getting recognition in a highly publicized way and a free copy of the finished product. It’s just one way of building both an audience AND a product. Your experiment may find others.

5. Community Curator
The final entrepreneurship example is to build a community. While not directly creating a product, by providing the impetus for people to come together you can create opportunities for monetization. Whether it is incorporating appropriate affiliate advertising or facilitating transactions between members, this is probably one of the most difficult and time-consuming projects to pull off. However, if done successfully, it can be the most rewarding. Sites like Ning.com simplify the software setup for your social network. All that’s left is creating a site that’s sticky; a place where what’s shared is valuable and worth coming back to again and again.

The web is not only revolutionizing the way we work; it’s also creating opportunities to experiment with what that work might be. Have you tried any of these five things in your time online? What was your experience? More importantly – what have I missed?

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Why iPad 2 Will Lead Consumers Into the Post-PC Era
• The Near-Term Evolution of Social Commerce
• Content Farms: The Players, The Benefits, The Risks

While the action on the court is intense it pales in comparison to the drama, the tension, and the heartache of the office pools that accompany it. These coworker competitions, often for money, bring out everyone’s inner Nostradamus. Luckily, trying to guess what will happen from the 9.22 quintillion possible outcomes puts the sport neophyte in accounting on equal footing with with ESPN junkie in sales. But if you’re a web worker without an office what madness does March contain for you?

If you’re content to simply follow along the web provides a number of sources. CBS’s Sportsline.com, in conjunction with the NCAA, offers a free March Madness On Demand package. People who sign up before March 15th can watch up to 56 games from the first three rounds of the tournament and skip any queues for the limited streaming slots. If streaming audio is more conducive to your bandwidth and/or workstyle check out Yahoo’s College Sports streams. Also, after March 11th’s selection announcments, there will be numerous printable brackets available. If you want to start practicing your pairings now there are empty sample sheets available. A sample of last year’s brackets can still be found online. Finally, if you’re impatient for the Big Dance to get started you can while your time away with March Madness trivia or watch how the pairings are shaping up with ESPN’s Bracketology.

But what about putting some community with your cognitive ability? Web sites like RunYourPool.com allow anybody to throw together a geographically disparate set of friends for as little as $19.95. The service includes less than five minute setup, emailing of potential pool buddies, private message boards, and generated reports as the tournament progresses. Alternatively, Poolhost.com is a free service that allows for customizable scoring and underdog bonus options. While these sites don’t have the same cash-in-an-envelop buy-in like the traditional office event fifteen minutes and a PayPal account will quickly remedy the situation. Just make sure that you trust the person holding the money because, unlike the traditional office pool, you may not know where they work.

Special thanks to Ryan Stewart for the topic idea.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Why iPad 2 Will Lead Consumers Into the Post-PC Era
• The Near-Term Evolution of Social Commerce
• Content Farms: The Players, The Benefits, The Risks

Practical simple solutions include:

1. Washing your hands. Web workers congregate in public places and things like handrails, corner tables, and restrooms are prime germs stopovers. Simply giving your hands a good wash after visiting the communal office promotes good health. Hand sanitizers are ok in a pinch but are questionably effective. Good ol’ running water will wash away many microbes you might have picked up.

2. Minimizing contact with mouth and eyes. The idea of little germs scuttling on your skin may make you squeamish. But it’s only when they get inside and begin doing the Texas Two Step (itself a pox on our people) that a cold can take root. Once they get inside your body you’re on a fast track to a snotty nose and pleas for deadline extensions. Avoid contact until tip 1, washing your hands, is possible.

3. Exercising. What general health list wouldn’t be complete without exercise? Much more than perennial resolution, aerobic exercise increases blood flow and oxygen circulation. This movement strengthens the body’s natural processes. It also has the pleasant side effect of (paradoxically) extra energy.

4. Drinking lots of liquids. Keeping the barista busy with non-caffeinated drinks is never a bad idea. Not only will they be more tolerant of your “good table” monopolization but those liquids help flush germ cells. They also improve the function of white blood cells, the little med workers of the web worker.

For every common sense item there are just as many things to avoid. While liquids are great don’t binge on the fruit juices. These drinks contain high concentrations of sugars like fructose and/or sucrose. Both slow down the immune system. Further, a shot of whiskey may help finish a troublesome assignment, but it won’t help you stay healthy. Alcohol, like caffeine, dehydrates the body at the time it needs to be hydrated most. Finally, Vitamin C, long advertised as the ultimate sickness deterrent, is surprisingly ineffective. Recent studies suggest that while it may reduce the duration and severity of a cold it does nothing toward lessening the frequency.

Getting sick this winter doesn’t have to be inevitable. With a few common sense approaches you’ll stay as healthy as or better than those workhorses stuck in the cube farm. What are your tricks for avoiding the season’s ailments?

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Why iPad 2 Will Lead Consumers Into the Post-PC Era
• The Near-Term Evolution of Social Commerce
• Content Farms: The Players, The Benefits, The Risks