Just a Small Town Girl in a Big Online World

I just got back from spending the bulk of the afternoon with an amazing writer. She registered with Elance a few months ago, but until today she had done little with her account other than browse. So today, plied with coffee, I walked her through the Elance bidding process.

Very quickly, it became painfully clear that her reluctance had nothing to do with her skill level, and everything to do with not knowing the 'rules' in the strange new world of online freelancing.

When you've built a reputation doing business locally where face to face is the norm, the jump to doing business in a global online community can be quite unnerving. No longer do you worry about what shoes to wear. First impressions are now made and broken on a single word choice. A good smile and a winning personality no longer cut it. Your work really has to be good enough to sell itself.

That's a lot of pressure.

In the case of today's writer, I've seen her work. She has the chops to compete. She has a track record of experience to back her, and knows her writing is solid. All she had to do was make the mental switch to a new way of selling herself without the face to face.

What advice did I give her? Samples! Give the buyer kick-ass samples! Make sure your proposal meets the buyer's needs, and let your personality shine through in your writing. Take skill tests and list additional skills relevant to the types of writing jobs you plan to target, and by all means, list relevant past experience in your profile. Bid on smaller projects to build a reputation on the site, and encourage communication.

We spent some time crafting a proposal for one particular sweet job she had her eye on, and you know what? Her winning personality was there on the page. The same rules that apply in face to face transfer to the online job arena. They are all there, and they all matter just as much. They just don't wear pretty shoes.

And once her first proposal was in the bag, she was liberated. The rules are pretty much the same - the just need correct spelling and grammar. Now she's trading in her black leather pumps for bunny slippers and putting her first impression out there on the page.

And I give it a week tops, before she lands her first contract.



image bykharied