Elance

[Saoirse]

I work through Elance.com on occasion. It's been good to me (frankly I lucked out on a couple steady jobs).

The site has a free membership option for people who want to set up a bio or profile page and place what amounts to being a free bid on a single job. Most writers would probably do well in "Writing and Translation" but competition is tough and deadlines are important (because you earn a public reputation there that's viewable to future clients, too).

I had a paid membership for a while (and was so busy I had to farm work out to other writers) but I'm back to the freebie as I continue working for one particular client I met through the site.

If you decide to check it out and join up, please contact me first and I'll send you a special code number that you can insert in your membership application.

Has anyone else here tried Elance? Thoughts?
~Shannon

[Heather]

Woo. You know I'm on Elance (schimelhr). I just downgraded to the freebie membership yesterday because it wasn't working out too well for me, though I did get a couple jobs. Which ends up being OK because it gave me more time to work on my personal writing and I ended up having a lot more stuff get off the ground.

-H.

[Saoirse]

Yeah, my one longterm job is winding down (a real bummer because it wasn't difficult and it was never dull--although sometimes frustrating ;-). I started looking around for some new work, but nothing's jumping out at me (and I can DO the shameless promotion, but I don't like to--well, not always).

I don't want to go back to the paid membership if I can avoid it, but sometimes it gives you more options... Eh, maybe I should contact my ghost story guy again... That's the other thing that's great about Elance--you can make decent contacts if you try.
~Shannon

[Heather]

I was fooling around on there today and I noticed a lot of people make you use 4 connects now in order to bid on one job. Which I think is crazy and unfair because you get only 3 connects with a free membership so they are clearly doing it on purpose. Boooo!!!


-H.

[Saoirse]

I agree, Heather. People are suggesting they'll pay $500 (when you know they'd like to pay less), but put stuff in the $500-$1,000 category instead of $500 and under (which uses less connects).

Frustrating!
~Shannon

[Kate]

This sounds interesting. I am currently going to school from home, so I can work from home, but honestly, some jobs on the side would be awesome. Is it possible for me to get a code? And would you recommend this site to a newbie? I'd work for less than $500!

[Saoirse]

Yes, Kate, I'd recommend Elance to newbies (there are lots of newbies around and it helps you get your feet wet and build a portfolio). Let me dig up my Elance code for you tomorrow, okay?

I'll try and give you info on their main competitor then, too. :-) I'm sleepy right now, though. ;-)

~Shannon