Why Elance?

I often get emails about this blog asking me why I choose to focus on Elance. I assume the people asking have read at least parts of the blog, and have seen how I've talked at length about Elance's many features and why it's the best choice for freelancers. And yet, I still get the 'but why' questions.

It finally dawned on me what people were really asking. They don't want to know why I chose Elance (because, honestly I've written for hours on the subject). What they really want to know is why I chose Elance OVER all of the other freelancing sites out there.

What people really want to know is: Why not the other freelancing sites?

I've tried the vast majority of well-known freelancing sites out there, and could do a site by site comparison, but I'd rather tell you a true life story about the early days of my online freelancing career.

I had been freelancing locally for years, and decided it was time to expand my business to the online arena. I did some research, and signed up for one of the bigger freelancing sites out there. I knew I'd have to lower my rates at first in order to build an online reputation, but I was not expecting to have to go from a professional level rate to basement bottom prices. But those were the jobs I found. Pages and pages of junk-jobs offering rates that bring the term slave labor to a whole new low.

I finally found something half-worth bidding on, and guess what? The buyer wanted to negotiate my rates down even lower. I should have walked away then, but I didn't. Being new to the online market, I was somewhat naive and assumed that a) the level of professionalism must be lower, and b) I just had to suck it up and pay my dues. Yes, I was an idiot and am so glad I have since learned from my mistakes.

We made payment arrangements and I asked for 25% upfront, with the rest on completion. So I get the 25% no problem, do a fantastic job which they praise me for, then... the buyer disappears. I never saw another cent. I received no help whatsoever from the freelancing site, and after going through the time and trouble to get this particular work removed from two sites for copyright infringement, I just wrote the whole thing off. And that work is still floating around the net to this day.

This was my oDesk experience. And unfortunately, it wasn't a freak abnormality. Every time I google oDesk, I find pages and pages of complaints about similar problems experienced by their freelancers. Buyers looking to pay peanuts, and/or skipping out without paying for delivered work, and no support, protection or help from oDesk. It's the Wild West of freelancing, and I for one, am never going back.

Yes, the experience was terrible, but it made me smart. It made me raise my professional standards and expect more from both the buyers, and the online freelancing sites I choose to deal with.

A freelance job site needs to be more than a clearinghouse for job posts with no regard whatsoever for the freelancer. It needs to be as fully committed to your success as you are, and offer the tools and safety features you need in order to build a thriving career.

Elance does that. And that is why I highly recommend it to every freelancer out there.

But what about the others? Are they all bad? Not at all. I have had some success on sites other than Elance. iFreelance, for example, has provided me with nothing but good experiences. They do fall short however, because they don't attract the high number of jobs Elance does, and don't have the high number of tools and protections in place for the freelancer. But the quality of jobs there is much higher than oDesk.

For those of you wanting the straight facts, take a look at my side by side comparison article of Elance versus oDesk. When compared on job quality, cost, tools for the freelancer, customer support and dispute resolution, Elance wins hands down. Not to mention the Elance payment guarantees on BOTH hourly and fixed price jobs.

Discovering Elance was a breath of sanity in the midst of a crazy online job world. It was a safe haven where professional buyers looking for quality work could find highly skilled freelancers, and together they could conduct business safely and professionally. The way it should be done.

No more Wild West job bidding sites for me.


pic by freeparking

Elance Dispute Resolution

Just the thought of dealing with a contract dispute reduces many a freelancer to a quivering mass of gelatinous stress, and gives many a buyer cold feet before a project even begins. It doesn’t have to be that way!

You’ve chosen Elance for their many features, and this includes their full commitment to helping buyers and freelancers resolve any disputes that arise, by offering three levels of dispute assistance.

Still, the concept of dispute assistance is enough to give anyone pause, so it’s time to demystify the process and show you how dispute resolution doesn’t have to be painful.

It’s important to note that less than one percent of contracts on Elance end up in a dispute, and ninety-nine percent are completed to the full satisfaction of both the client and provider. In other words, it is very rare that you’ll find yourself faced with a project dispute. However, it’s not a perfect world, and problems do occasionally crop up, so it’s good to know how exactly to proceed.

If you have come to an impasse on a project and cannot resolve it between the buyer and the provider, Member Resolution is step one. Simply go to the job workroom and click the ‘more’ heading in the left hand column, then click ‘file dispute’. This will bring you to the dispute resolution center of your workroom where you can click ‘file dispute notice’. This will then bring you to the ‘dispute notice form’ where you can detail the cause of your dispute. Make sure you provide as many details as you can, including all positive and negative performance by either party leading up to the dispute. The more details you can provide, the easier it is to resolve the dispute.

Once you’ve submitted the form, both the other party and Elance are informed, and all funds currently in Escrow are frozen pending resolution. The other party has three business days to submit a good faith response to your dispute. At this stage, many disputes are resolved between the client and freelancer, as misunderstandings are cleared up.

However, if you unfortunately cannot come to an agreement at this stage, and there are funds being held in Escrow, you can request to move on to step two: Elance Dispute Assistance. At this stage, Elance will arrange a ‘dispute assistance call’ with both parties, where they act as a mediator in an attempt to help the parties resolve the dispute. The do not make any determination and cannot impose any decisions. They simply try to facilitate a resolution. There is no fee for Elance Dispute Assistance.

In the unfortunate event that the parties still cannot come to an agreement, a request for third party arbitration can be made. There is a fee for this, determined by the contract amount, which is shared by the two parties and Elance equally.

The arbitrator (or arbitration panel for larger jobs) reviews all of the material including material submitted during the dispute, all communication exchanged by the parties through the workroom during the entire course of the project, and all files uploaded. This demonstrates exactly why it is important to make sure all communication is done through the workroom, or in the case of conference calls, etc. that work is noted and outlined in follow-up workroom messages.

Once review is complete, the arbitrator will make a final decision that is binding on both parties, including the release or refund of funds held in Escrow.

Disputes are never fun, and Elance is designed to make sure that disputes are few and far between. Less than one percent means that many buyers and freelancers can go their entire careers without ever running into a problem, but if you do happen to end up in a situation you can’t resolve, you can turn to Elance for help.



Fantastic pic by FlyinPhotography

The Almighty Buyer

As freelancers, we spend most of our time looking at our own performance and asking ourselves the hard questions – how can we improve our output, land more contracts, up our skill level, attract more buyers - all with the goal of expanding and upgrading our business, increasing client satisfaction, and luring in more work. But today, let’s take a moment to look outside ourselves and concentrate on the one key component that is out of our control – the buyer.

What is the ideal buyer? In a nutshell, the perfect buyer would provide clear job expectations, answer questions promptly, expect to pay decent rates for quality services, have frequent communication throughout the project, and pay with lightening fast speed at agreed upon intervals.

Sounds like a dream, right? Anyone who has spent any time in the freelancing trenches knows that more often than not, buyers are far from the ideal, and a few are really the stuff of nightmares.

Unfortunately, after you’ve been stung once or twice by less than ideal buyers, you learn very quickly how to ask the right questions in order to weed out the duds. But no matter how good you get, a few of those duds always slip through your good business sense and rear their ugly head. And when that happens, you end up spending way too much time tracking down deadbeat buyers, or waiting for communication at a key project point, or deciphering crazy-talk expectations that resemble ancient hieroglyphics more than clear instructions. And all this time is wasted time that could have been spent working.

Definitely not ideal. So what is the solution? How can you constantly attract high caliber buyers and steer clear of the duds? That’s where Elance comes in.

There is no 100% guarantee, but Elance is by far the best way to increase your odds. It’s that simple. I’ve covered many of their features and how they work to protect the freelancer from less than ideal buyers, like Escrow jobs that guarantee you’ll get paid for quality work. But what I haven’t talked about is how Elance goes out of their way to attract and keep the high quality buyers while weeding out the duds.

Their Terms of Service spell out minimum payment rates, restrict inappropriate job posts, and set out clear expectations that buyers must adhere to. All job listings that do not conform to these standards are removed. They also identify buyers who have a low award rate so that freelancers can make informed decisions when bidding.

And they have a secret weapon – you. Your continued high performance is what ultimately attracts high quality buyers to Elance. A quick look at their track record reveals that Elance attracts every type of buyer from corporate giants to mid-level businesses to small start-ups to sole owners, all looking for providers for projects ranging from fifty dollars to over one hundred thousand. That’s something ever freelancer wants a part of.

But is Elance’s business model successful at weeding out those buyers that litter the net with ads looking for the next freelance sucker?

From my own experience, I can say with absolute certainty that they are successful. I joined Elance, having already freelanced for quite some time, and the difference was immediately visible. Finding decent jobs to bid on was no longer a needle in a haystack ordeal. Sure there was the occasional questionable job post, but it wasn’t the norm. And when I would happen to stumble on something very questionable, I’d report it to Elance, and the job was removed. It was literally a whole new freelancing world.

And the buyers I’ve worked with? Dream buyers. I kid you not. I’ve worked with universities, airlines, rock bands, small start-ups, PR firms – the list goes on and on, but the list of problems I’ve encountered? Zero. Now those are the freelancing stats you want.

And Elance is the place to get them.


Great pic by Llima

Say Yes To Escrow

Why Escrow?

Escrow jobs take the stress out of freelancing. No more having to ask for ridiculously high up-front payments to reduce the risk of buyers disappearing into the night never to be seen again. Hunting down payments is now a thing of the past. Getting paid no longer requires more time and effort than the actual job itself, and buyers no longer have to worry about paying for work that won’t get done. Sounds like an unattainable freelancing marketplace dream, right? It’s not. It’s very real, and available on all Elance Fixed Priced Jobs.

But what the heck is Escrow?

Freelancers, both new and experienced, always ask about Escrow with great hesitation. It’s a foreign concept compared to the high risks assumed to be normal with freelancing gigs, so it’s hard to believe it can possibly be simple, safe, and effective. What’s the catch?

No catch – and it is THAT simple. The client pays before work is done, the funds are held in Elance Escrow until the work is completed, and voila! The client is guaranteed that his money is safe until the work is done and the provider knows that payment is already there. A safe and secure win-win situation for both parties.

Still hesitant to embrace escrow jobs? Okay, here’s a breakdown to show you how easy it truly is.

The first step, once you’re awarded a fixed price job, is to set out job milestones with the client, and agree on funded amounts for each milestone. The buyer then funds the first milestone into Elance Escrow, and you begin work. The client has already paid. There is no doubt that you will receive payment if you complete the milestone, making it 100% safe. And here’s the kicker – you do not begin work until the milestone is funded!

When you reach the milestone, the client funds the next, and the job continues. You never have to work without funding, knowing that the money is being held for you in Escrow. It’s so safe that Elance even has a Fixed Price Work Guarantee.

Saying yes to Escrow for fixed price jobs greatly reduces the risk to both buyers and providers, which translates into less time spent soothing buyer fears or tracking down payments for completed work, and more time spent working.

Disputes and issues between clients and providers drop to almost nothing when you choose to go with fixed price escrow jobs. This is a far cry from the freelance payment russian roulette risks of yesterday. But even if the occasional dispute pops up, Elance Escrow still has you covered.

With the Fixed Price Work Guarantee, Elance Dispute Assistance acts as a neutral third party to help resolve problems by using the milestones agreed upon by both parties, all messages exchanged in the workroom, and the final deliverables. Bottom line is, if you provide solid, professional work, you’ll get paid. Guaranteed.

The buisness landscape has changed. The freelance marketplace has exploded in size over the past few years creating an overwhelming need for a safe, secure payment platform for clients and providers to operate within. Elance Escrow is Elance’s response to this need, and the perfect solution for this new way to work.

Jump on board the Escrow Payment train, and discover a whole new stress-free way to get paid. It IS that easy.

For more information, check out the Elance FAQ’s: What is Escrow and As A Provider, How Do I Use Elance Escrow?

Still have questions? Post them in the comments section and I’ll do my best to answer them.


Great photo by Stephen K. Willi

Elance's New Profile Pages Put The Focus On You

Elance’s profile pages have a brand new look, and with it, brand new features that work hard to put you in the spotlight.

A potential client now sees the most important information they need in order to say yes to awarding their project to you. Front and center in the new profile pages are: Percent of Client Recommendations, Number of Repeat Clients, Number of Hours, Milestones Completed, and Earnings per Client. The information you want the client to know.

A new Identity section highlights your important information like verifications and member history, and potential clients can now easily tell if you’re a company or an individual. Elance has removed the guess work for the client and put you, the provider, front and center.

Elance has also introduced a new Level System. Gone are the days where earnings were the only thing differentiating providers. Now qualifications, quality of work, client relationships and earnings all work together to determine a provider’s Elance Level.

The new Levels System gives potential clients a clear picture of a provider’s quality of work and their track record, so they know exactly what to expect when they contract you. It’s based on points that providers build up with each job they do, and ranks them based on Service Delivery, Client Relationship, and Marketing. Outstanding providers finally stand out from the crowd, and now hard earned reputations can easily be the deciding factor in winning jobs.

Levels also determine a provider’s position in search results, so top providers get more exposure. And more exposure means more work.

Elance has also made positive changes to the Feedback System. Providers no longer have a positive percentage number to attract clients that was easily affected by one review. It has been replaced by a five star rating system that better represents actual feedback. Bigger jobs are weighted more heavily, and neutral feedback is much more realistically represented.

And Elance knows that privacy matters. When earnings were the only visible thing separating experienced providers from new ones, it was important that the client was able to view this information, but with all the new changes, that information no longer needs to be made public. New profile settings now give providers the option to keep their earnings private without fear that it will discourage buyers. Buyers now have all the information then need to see that you stand out from the freelance pack. Additionally, details of invite-only jobs are not displayed on either the client’s or provider’s page, so you can confidently display only the information you want out there.

All these changes mean good things for the committed provider. The new Levels System and changes to Feedback translates to clients now having many more search options, and with a good Feedback Rating and a solid Level, you’ll place high in the search rankings. A higher search ranking means more business for you and more satisfied clients, and that is good for everybody.

Take a look at the new profile changes and see what all the buzz is about, and see for yourself why it’s about to take freelancing to a whole new level.

For more information, check out the Elance Profile Frequently Asked Questions Page at http://help.elance.com/entries/156540-profile-and-level-faqs





Great image by visualogist

The Freelance Life: Getting Paid Doesn't Have to be a Nightmare

After a long absence, I'm back with more insights on living the freelance dream, and all the need-to-know information to make your freelancing career a success.

And to set this welcome back off with a bang, I'm going to tackle the BIG QUESTION on every freelancer's mind: How do I ensure that I get paid?

If you've been in the freelancing game for any length of time at all, you've probably been burned by a buyer or two and have learned the hard way to steer clear of the many shady freelancing sites and message boards on the net. Reputable sites that attract reputable buyers are the only way to go. Thankfully, there are some good ones out there, but unfortunately, they don't offer any real payment security for freelancers, and you can easily wind up in a payment nightmare.

Then there is Elance.

Elance goes beyond attracting reputable buyers and quality jobs, by setting themselves apart from the other sites when it comes to helping freelancers get their hard earned money. How? It's simple. They really watch out for freelancers and want to make sure you get paid. They offer payment guarantees for quality work done, and huge flexibility on how you get paid. You can choose between an hourly rate and a fixed price per job, both with protection guarantees. And with guarantees, you can concentrate on the work and leave the worry behind.

For fixed price jobs, Elance has an escrow service that ensures you, the provider, get paid for work done, taking the worry out of it, especially for big projects. The buyer funds the job before any work commences, so you know the money is there. All you have to do is complete the required work and it is released to you. Simple. Safe. Secure. No more wondering if your buyer has fallen off the face of the earth, and no more chasing down dead-beat buyers.

Elance also has a milestone system that allows you to set out in great detail the exact project requirements, due dates, and payment schedule so there is never any confusion about when payment is due.

On Elance, you're not just an independent contractor with nowhere to turn if a payment problem arises. You've got Elance watching your back.

But what if you prefer hourly jobs or the project requires it? Elance is there for you too. They now offer a really amazing feature called Work View, which guarantees payment for hourly work if you opt to use it. They also have automated invoicing through Timesheets and the use of Tracker to track your hours.

All of these features are optional, so you can choose what works best for you for each individual project. Both hourly and fixed price projects also have auto-pay and auto-release features, which means you get paid when you should.

Whatever way you choose to set up your projects on Elance, they've got you covered.

Why spend all that extra unpaid time chasing down buyers and pulling your hair out because you don't know when you're going to get paid? The Elance Fixed Price Work Guarantee and the Elance Hourly Work Guarantee protect you, so you can relax and focus on work.

Take it from me, Elance escrow has been around for a long time, and I've used it for many projects with 100% success. It works, and for someone new to Elance, it may be a little intimidating, but I promise, it's very easy to set up - and it's worth it.

And Work View for hourly projects works like a dream! It's very new, but I was lucky enough to beta test it, and for hourly projects, I highly recommend going with it. Not only does it have the payment guarantee, but it also makes project organization and communication with the buyer a breeze.

Elance wins hands down as the only choice for freelancers who want to leave payment frustrations behind and get guaranteed payment for work.

Ahhhh.... the freelance life just got easier.

Amazing photo by Steve Wampler

Cleaning House

Over the next couple of days, I'm going to revamp The Sweatbox to make it freelance friendly, making sure that you can easily access the information you need.

There will be a whole new design, an easy way to ask questions, and a kudos corner to plug new providers and their successes. Links will be easier to access and we'll have a space for some fun and interesting stuff too.

If there is anything you want to see, let me know! I'm here to help you.

I may not post for a few days, and if you visit, you may find a mess, but no dust bunnies, I promise! And be sure to check back for the housewarming party.

image by ro/wererabbit