Many people say oDesk and Elance (or all popular freelance job boards, for that matter) are a waste of time. They base their claim on their understanding that everyone is competing on price there and if you are on those sites, you are doomed to either fail or work for pennies.
It’s true that there are many freelancers with poor or no skills who are driving the market prices down. It’s also true that there are plenty of bad clients who are looking for nothing else but cheap labor. And then we have you, the little genius with excellent skills and high prices, who is wondering whether to waste their time on oDesk and Elance. Wonder no more – there are lots of good clients who are worth your time and efforts on both sites.
Think about it this way – those run-of-the-mill clients will hire those cheap unskilled freelancers to work for pennies and you will be left with the quality clients – all you have to do is learn how to find them.
If it’s not clear yet – oDesk and Elance are definitely not a waste of your precious time.
Don’t listen to naysayers and more importantly, don’t follow their advice blindly.
If someone tells you oDesk and Elance are a waste of your valuable time and you are stopping yourself from freelance success, this means only one thing – they did not succeed on oDesk or Elance.
Maybe they had the wrong approach, or maybe those websites simply were not a good fit for their skill set or goals. Whatever the case, oDesk and Elance were bad for them at that moment but it sure does not mean they are bad for you, right here and now.
You should make that decision yourself, based on the information you gather, not based on someone’s bias opinions.
Here’s my (bias) opinion why oDesk and Elance may be good for you 😀
Succeeding as a freelance is not about how many projects you bid on; it’s about which projects you bid on. It’s not about what your price is; it’s about what value you bring to the table for your price. Good clients know that – the sooner you accept it and start using it to your advantage, the sooner you will succeed as a freelancer.
If you are afraid of the low bidding freelancers on oDesk and Elance, wait until you see the competition in the so-called real world where you have to proactively find clients and pitch them whatever it is that you do. If you think cheap prices of your competition is what prevents you from succeeding on freelance websites, you are in for a rough ride, my friend, because I suspect you simply have the wrong mindset.
There are people who will try to undercut your prices, always, freelancers and clients alike. It is up to you whether you’ll let them do that.
Not competing on price is the first step to succeeding on oDesk and Elance
If you believe you will land any projects based on your price and cutting your rates is your main marketing strategy, you are doomed. And you are doomed regardless the market place you find your clients on – oDesk, Elance, LinkedIn or some other means of direct clients sourcing.
As we established already, there are a lot of crappy clients both on oDesk and Elance, who don’t care about your skills or expertise and are after the cheapest price. The good news is you don’t want to work with them anyway, so not being able to land their projects is a good thing, really. You shouldn’t even try…
Your goal should be to find the right clients for you. Whatever your line of business is, one thing is for sure – your desired clients will never award their project to a low-cost contractor only because of his or her low hourly wage. The good client will look for quality; they’ll look for the value you have to offer.
For the trained eye, it’s fairly easy to tell good and bad clients apart – here are a few posts on the topic: (these are for later – now keep on reading this post!)
- How to know your potential client from their job post
- How your ideal client defers from the bad one
- Red flags of bad freelance clients
If you do this the right way, you can make 100K on oDesk and Elance. Or not. It is up to you. Really.
Is this too cryptic? Let me elaborate 🙂
Not long ago, I read a case study on CopyHackers blog by Danny Margulies. He reveals his “secret strategy” how he made 6 figures on Elance in 12 months. He shares a lot of useful tips about finding good clients on Elance and why not all is how it seems.
Although he is a copywriter and I am a marketing consultant, I saw a lot of similarity in our paths (his and mine, that is). I had my dark times when I worked for pennies early in my freelance practice, because I didn’t know better (that’s a totally different story which I briefly talk about in my upcoming book – subscribe for more details!) Anyhow, in the end I succeeded on oDesk in a very similar manner Danny Margulies describes in his post so read it – I know it works just like he says!
But let me tell you – being a successful freelancer doesn’t necessarily mean making 100K on oDesk or on Elance. That’s one of the beauties of freelancing – you decide what your definition of success is.
For example, I never made 6 figures in 12 months on oDesk but that’s because I never wanted to.
If I do the math, with my current rates, I should be able to make 100K a year with a 30-hour work week and a couple of weeks off every year. But I don’t want that, I never did.
Freelance has never been about money for me. I work on clients’ projects only to make a decent living – to pay the bills, to travel, to invest in my own business ideas, to set some money aside, whenever possible, and that’s about it. I never planned to retire on my freelance activities. I can, many people do – it’s just not something that I plan. Except a few busy weeks a year, I rarely work on clients’ projects for more than 15-20 hours a week.
For me being a freelancer is all about having control over my time and life; not living my life according to somebody else’s schedule; being able to travel; working on my own projects and most importantly, having the freedom (financial and personal) to figure out a way to never ever have to work again.
oDesk and Elance are a great place to help you do just that.
Among other things, they save you a lot of otherwise unbillable time:
- You don’t deal with invoicing your clients – clients pay to the website, you get your money from a single entity (the website), regardless the number of clients you have; both websites have great one-click-type of reports, and for bigger companies, they offer payroll services, too.
- You don’t waste your time chasing payments because both oDesk and Elance guarantee you’ll get paid on time – either with time tracking and work diary for hourly projects, or with escrow service for fixed price jobs.
- You have a super easy way to land repeat business because your clients can rehire you for the same type of work with a few clicks.
- You build a profile with proven track record and reviews, which in turn leads to a lot of interview invitations and sometimes even direct job offers. Lead generation has never been easier. (Nothing is required of you, except doing your job – the website search engine takes care of the rest and puts you in front of your potential clients when they search for professionals with your skill set.)
The naysayers often complain about the fee freelancers have to pay to use oDesk and Elance – 10% for oDesk and 8.75% for Elance. But think about it – isn’t it a small price to pay for all the convenience those websites offer and the time you save by not doing certain things? As I said, you don’t chase overdue payments from clients, you do a lot less accounting, you generate leads without lifting a finger…
Besides, if you invoice your clients directly, you still pay fees to PayPal, your bank, and so on. Nothing comes free in this world, you know that. So think carefully what you get in return for the freelance websites fee and how much it’s really worth.
Now you know why I say oDesk and Elance are not a waste of time.
Do me a favor – the next time someone tells you these websites are a waste of time, don’t just take their word for it. Ask questions. Find out what they base their claim on. Consider all possibilities. Give it a try to make a decision based on your empirical experience.
I have never used either of these sites, but I think a lot of things you said in this article are really great pieces of advice. “You create your definition of success.” I love things like that!
Hi, Alicia – thanks for the positive feedback. It does sound catchy, doesn’t it 😉 But it’s oh so true!!!
As to not using either of the sites – you may be an example of a freelancer, for whom the sites *may* not be a good fit – not because the websites are bad, but because I know you have experience under your belt and quite possibly, a great pool of existing well-paying direct clients.
If you do, then it would probably be a step back if you went to compete on oDesk and Elance at this stage because it would mean you would turn your back on existing business to go chase the not so common good clients on these 2 websites.
But if you are not happy with where you are, then adding variety and trying out the sites (without competing on price) might make economical sense.
It’s totally up to you, to every individual, really, how these sites fit in their existing business model and clientele 😀
Hey Diana,
Thanks for another great post. I think freelance writers, who try to compete on price will never succeed. When I write a proposal I list out all the things my clients receive included at no extra charge:
Excellent research
Originality guaranteed
Articles and posts that are proofed exactingly for grammar and spelling errors
Two revisions within the project scope
Ability to use the tone that fits their marketing goal
A source list
Etc.
Then I tell them “all this for only$$$$.
I close more deals than I lose.
Best,
Alan
Good for you, Alan – adding value for the price is the right way to go (as opposed to cutting down the price because you don’t offer any value LOL)
And by the way, not only writers but any type of freelancer who competes on price as their marketing strategy is doomed to fail… or at least to not really be happy and to never truly experience the freelance lifestyle 😉
Great post Diana! Thanks for the mention. 🙂
Hi, Danny – by the time I find you and tell you I’ve mentioned you, you found me first, thanks for that! 😉
Hey Diana,
This was a good read. As someone who is currently in graduate school we share the same sentiments as to why I chose to leave a previous job in Corporate America to pursue freelancing. I graduated in 2008 from undergrad, worked for a telecomm company for 5 years and realized I couldn’t do the “rat race” anymore. This article is a great read. Thanks!
Thanks for the positive feedback, George, and for sharing your story! I wish you a VERY successful freelance year then! If we re so much alike, I am sure you will enjoy the freelance lifestyle just like I do 😉
Hi Diana, great post! Allow to suggest our platform too, that is a little like Odesk and Elance, except members don’t look up for jobs. Jobs are automatically matched to members according to their skills and past experience. So basically, you don’t compete, you get picked. If you want to know a little more about DOZ, I invite you to visit our site here: http://www.doz.com/experts.
Thanks for the link, John – looks interesting, provided it is focused on marketing professionals. Just for the record, on oDesk and Elance, you can also get picked; it is not necesary for you to go look for projects 😉
A question – what do you mean “jobs are automatically matched to members according to their skills”? I am VERY picky about clients and there are a lot of clients who want to work with me or seem a good match for my skills and expertise but I would decline. Is this a possible scenario on your platform? Who decides what “a good match” means?
This was very insightful, for a person likes me who will need editorial help in the future. So it hit home for me, when you said that a great measure of value is in choosing the right project.
You got me thinking, Jacquie – you know how I always tell starting freelances it is all about positioning yourself on the market and attracting the right crowd of clients. It is absolutely the same for clients – write a crappy job post, crappy freelancers would compete for your project and you, as a client, might be equally disappointed by these platforms… Maybe I should blog about this! 😉
Diana,
I have already left you a comment earlier. Today in my email, was a blog from a respected member of the Freelance community with exactly the opposite advice. The advice proffered was to stay away from content providers at all costs…period. I will not name the blogger or the post. I think that is not polite or ethical.
The reason I think you give such great advice is that it is never dogma. In the end you encourage new writers to experiment and find what works best for them. I still am heavily reliant on a content provider and am at the stage where I want to expand my client base. The process is slow but I know I will succeed.
I hear ya, Alan! I don’t know whom you are talking about but I know of a few “big shot bloggers” out there who have the do-this-don’t-do-that “preaching style” which is very counterproductive in my opinion. Nobody likes to be told what to do or what not to do.
And even if for some reason I can allow myself to tell you what to do, and you for some reason decide to listen to me and do exactly as I tell you, am I really doing you a favor? Next time I won’t be there to tell you what to do – so I wouldn’t have helped you the previous time either.
It is ALWAYS better to help someone write their homework instead of writing the homework for them… I am glad you agree with this approach and I sure hope more people will appreciate it and start thinking for themselves instead of blindly follow other people’s advice. 😀
Hi Diana,
Good post, good advice. I think that you should always take a balanced view of – whatever it is that you seek to make a judgement on – i.e. weigh up the negatives and positives and act accordingly. If you decide to go ahead, then you can be aware of the potential of the negatives and either eliminate them or reduce their effects considerably. Similarly, you can focus your energies on the positives and increase your chances of success accordingly. Cheers. G.
Totally agree, Gary – I am a fan of empirical experience. I always encourage starting freelancers not to be afraid to make mistakes. It’s ok to make mistakes as long as one learns from them and does not repeat them. The same approach is good for every and any type of decision making – inform yourself, make a choice, then live with your decision and try to further improve 😉
I seldom leave comments:)
I like this blog and thanks, Diana,
Odesk and Elance are the biggest online marketplace for freelancers.
Basically, You can get your initial jobs much easier than other channels.
However, I admit it is really difficult to get my first job there, I spent almost a year on oDesk, got nothing there, the market seems so competitive and so many people are working for as low as $3-5/hour, which can not support a decent life in Shanghai for me.
I thought it might be useless for me.
One day, I decided to make a final decision to leave if I can not win any contract within 30 days.
I was busy checking profiles of others, updated my profile, check new jobs from time to time, and carefully choose the suitable ones to bid.
I got my first job, at the hourly rate of $5.
I was so happy and worked very hard.
then, good rating,
then, new job,
then, good rating,
then, new job,
I adopted a pricing strategy to add $5 each month, and it finally falls in the range of USD35-50/hour.
I must say, through Odesk and Elance, that you can figure out how to market your self, how to persuade customers to choose you instead of other candidates.
My advice
1. Clear Positioning: You need to know what you can do and what you can not do, Differentiate yourself from others
2. Proposal with your heart: Think for your client, prepare your proposal for them carefully, they will feel you care about them.
3. Build your reputation: Do not forget to ask rating and try to make it good looking by your hard work. There are some bad clients, i admit, however, if you are really good, the overall score won’t be that bad.
Later I started my own consulting business sinostep.com , providing marketing research in China and web design services mainly. I can get businesses from a larger platform.
I am still getting interesting projects from oDesk and Elance.
Remember, they are growing, just like us.
I like your approach Chao. Essentially it’s a value for money scenario. If a client is willing to pay you $30-35ph then they have a right to expect a quality product and you have an obligation to commit time and effort into producing it. That is a fair and reasonable exchange.
Quality begets quality. Statistically, in that price range, you have a better chance of attracting the attentions of quality clients and although you are in very competitive market, there are far fewer players in the game.
I looked at your website. Looks good. I see you have an office in London too (i live in UK but not in London).
Regards
Congrats on finding the winning pricing strategy for yourself, Chao – out of curiosity, have you tried working on fixed price jobs? That might be a good next step for you because then you can move away from charging for your time and more toward charging for your skills, experience and expertise.
and yes, Gary, quality beats price every time, quality clients know that so… it’s kinda OK for me there is so much low-bidding workforce on freelance job boards; after all, bad clients have to have someone to work with instead of wasting our time, eh? 😉
Gary,
Thanks for your comments.
It was the strategy to start for my case when I have not much experience on odesk, in that time I thought there was not many quality clients on the site but I was not pretty sure.
I worked very hard for every project, and that is why I am confident to raise my hourly rate, and I am trying to find a balance.
When you raise your rate in a significant level, it is sure that some of your previous clients will leave, mainly due to their budget, however there will still be some clients following you as well.
You are correct, the clients are willing to pay for results, they need to get what they paid for, and they are willing to pay more when we help them.
It is interesting that your name reminds me of my first client on oDesk, the same:)
What you would say about the security of oDesk and the way they protect their members from spam emails (in the inner system) and harmed files attached to oDesk employer’s dashboards?
Hi, there – the fact that you comment as “oDesk” leads me to believe you are a link builder? (link removed just in case – comment left out of courtesy).
Nevertheless, let me reply 🙂 First off, oDesk dashboard has nothing to do with freelance websites being a waste of time or not. Hence, I never mention anything about it in the post.
However, since you brought it up, oDesk are not really doing a good job protecting their members from spam emails. I get tons of spammy cover letters when looking for a freelancer, as well as questionable job invitations in my mailbox, daily.
And what security are you talking about? I wouldn’t now about the technical side of things…
Next time, please use your name so that you don’t get trapped in the spam folder for good, will you? 😉
Good read, Diana. I’ve gotten some crazy responses, from potential clients challenging my copywriting results (how DARE I show real data to support my work) to asking me to slash my price in half. Smart Elancers know- as you said- they don’t want to work with those clients anyway!
One thing I always look for in postings is a really clear job description (if they’re not really sure what they want- or can’t bother to write more than 3 sentences- it’s a pretty good bet they’re not serious). Any tips on scoping out the good clients?
What a lovey comment, Christine – thanks for stopping by!
and yes, here are a couple of posts that could give you some food for thought:
– red flags for bad clients
– how to recognize clients on Upwork based on their job post and history
– how a good client would write their job post
– take note of how the client addresses your questions
hope these help 😀
~Diana