Hi there. I'm new to Turking, but I'm having a blast trying to get my numbers up! I really like this forum! I've been lurking daily, looking for advice. Nice to meet you!
Welcome! The best advice I can give is to just do your best at finding good HITs and doing them. Use the turkopticon script to check requesters ratings before working for them. You can find out how to do that here: http://turkopticon.ucsd.edu/ For finding HITs, run a search on mturk for HITs and sort by newest HITs, select the work you are qualified for option, and search for .15 cents and up. Look for HITs that have good ratings from turkopticon. If you want to find batches you qualify for, do the same process but rank the HITs by the most HITs available first, and lower the pay to .01 or .02 and up. Keep at it, and you will get better as you go. Good luck!
Hello from a fellow Texan! Since you're new, I'd suggest focusing on completing hits correctly and getting accepted ones to get your numbers up. This may mean doing some boring or less challenging ones in the beginning. Find ones that have a large number to do, then do a few to make sure they are accepted, then do a bunch more.