Most of my web development business has been construction related for the last few years. With the present economy most of the local avenues for new business was going nowhere fast. It became clear to me that I had to venture outside of my circle and into a wider arena of opportunity.
One night, on a whim, I decided to enlist into the ranks of Elance. Registration was easy and painless, but it soon became apparent that I would have to fork over some cash to really get anywhere here. Out came my credit card and I purchased a basic plan with 25 connects.
Connects are a method for Elance to control providers from bidding on every project that they come across. You will need at least one connect for a jobs under $500, two for up to $1000, and so on. You can buy extra connects of course — it takes money to make money.
Learning the system was not that difficult. As with any system, they have their quirks. Some things did irritate me though. Their messaging system sucks with endless new windows and unread message flags that you have to clear manually. But all in all, Elance is very nice to navigate and work with.
Cold feet and butterflies
My biggest fear was not landing a job at all. Not to be anti-global, but the Eastern market has the manpower and the lower rates to out-bid me on every project I was seeking. Looking at past jobs, where they were hired, and the rates, this was more than a fear. It was plain reality. I had begun to wonder why I was here.
A couple days into Elance, I had landed my first job. It was a small one for a couple hours of work. Guess where the employer was based? In India! Wait a minute. Yep. India. All my fears went out the window or at least they were flapping in the breeze off of the curtain.
My bid was not the lowest by a long shot. I saw what the client wanted, what was attainable, and what was not. I was detailed and methodical in my approach.
The proposal dealt with the Thesis framework, which I knew nothing about. It also dealt with a product feed that I knew nothing about either.
I spoke of technical details that were achievable and non-achievable based on past experiences with similar scripts, frameworks, and criteria. It did not matter if I knew the actual scripting underneath, I knew what I could achieve given the chance. And that shown through to the client’s eye, as I soon found out afterwards.
Steeled determination
After this initial contact, I became more confidant in my bidding process. I have since landed three other jobs this month for a personal WordPress website, a conversion of an Html website to WordPress, and a unique WordPress plugin for related content that includes modules for YouTube, Twitter, and Digg (well Digg is down right now, but testing is still being conducted).
I will blog later on about my experiences with Elance in the hopes that others may want to take a leap. And no, I am not an affiliate of Elance, nor would I actually recommend them unless you are gung-ho developers who may be in a pinch. There are opportunities to be had and worth going after.
Hi Ronnie,
Congrats on your newfound success! If you want expand your job opportunities, hop on over to vWorker (formerly known as Rentacoder) where you’ve got free access to unlimited bidding and employers who tend to disregard the lowest bid.
Right now, vWorker has about 967 open web design projects, so perhaps we’ll see you soon.
-Nicole
vworker.com
Thanks Nicole, if that is your real name. Your email suggests that your real name is Rod Smith. I should have spammed your comment because you did not follow my comment policy.
But in all fairness, I did sign up for Elance on a whim and not really interested in pursuing other freelance websites at this time.
I did check out vWorker (formerly known as RentACoder) during my initial research. I found vWorker hard to search, often bringing up canceled jobs in the results, unrealistic bid maximums, high risk employers, and some other things that made me uncomfortable.
I was also tempted to go with oDesk, and if it were between them and vWorker, guess what?
But I do thank you for your comment Rod, I mean Nicole. It is always nice to see that somebody is out there reading my dribble.
I’m sorry, Ronnie. I try to maintain a consistent moniker on the Internet so I can search for it and follow up on comments I may have missed. I can assure you my real name is indeed Nicole — Nicole Miller as a matter of fact. (Rod Smith is my company’s email account. Rather can create another one, I took an existing one.)
I am interested in your reactions to vWorker however. Not sure if you’ve visited it lately, but the site has been re-designed to make things a lot easier to find. Would you mind passing on your additional concerns to the vWorker staff? If you like, you can use the feedback form at http://www.vworker.com/RentACoder/misc/Feedback.asp.
Thanks Ronnie.
Nicole,
I did check out vWorker. I thought I mentioned that. I also mentioned the reasons for not signing up with them. I also mentioned oDesk as a more likelier service to go with.
Your response has further distanced me from vWorker now. You claim your name is Nicole, okay, I will buy that. The fact that you use a free email address that is not associated with vWorker because you do not want to create another one, well, that is just plain ass weird. As a rep from vWorker and the email address not coming from that domain lacks a certain amount of professionalism in my book –and is suspect.
If you were really interested in my reactions, you would not have given me a link to your standard feedback page. If I had no interest in you before, why would I register at vWorker just to leave you feedback. I can do that from right here, and right now, and anytime I want. Maybe I should start a feedback page of my own? Then we can have everyone interested hand out any feedback that you are interested in.
Again, and I apologize if I mislead you, I am not interested in other freelance companies. I did Elance on a whim. I am happy with the way it is progressing. I am not looking or entertaining any changes, nor am I interested in reviewing other sites of this ilk.
I will entertain any comments you may have as to why you use a fake name on a free email service beyond the reason that it is “convenient” for you. I will also entertain any comments that your site is just plain clunky, displays canceled jobs in search results, has unrealistic bid maximums that nobody in their right mind would bid on, employers seem to be of high risk for payment, and why you cannot simply answer those questions in the first place.
If you truly represent vWorker, then you will at least give something besides a stock response as you just did.
Thanks, but no thanks Nicole.