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