Many of you are skilled at a number of things involving computers that you do as a hobby. This can include things (word choice) such as graphic design, web design, programming and so on. You may have been at whatever it is for a while and perfected it or you may just have natural talent. You may want to consider getting yourself set up and selling your services online.
There are a number of freelance websites where you can list your services and get found by people who need to get a particular job done.
Elance which has been running for a few years is one of the leading freelancing platforms. Elance works on a bidding system where providers bid on projects. As a service provider, you will need to build a profile which will include your experience, skills and portfolio. From this point on you can go out and look for work. Clients may also ask you to bid on projects that they have open. If your bid is selected you accept it you can contact the buyer to discuss the project details and start working.
Buyers pay for services rendered through the Elance Payment System from where they will be available for withdrawal. Depending on where you are in the world, you can withdraw payments via Automated Clearing House, cheque or wire transfer.
There are fees associated with using their services. There is a monthly membership fee which is dependant on the membership plan you choose to use and the services you provide. These fees range from $11/month to $199/month. There are four membership plans which include Courtesy, Limited, Professional and Select. The higher the plan you choose, the more access you have to membership benefits and a higher monthly bid allotment. If you exceed your monthly bid allotment you are charged $1.50 per additional bid. They also charge a project fee which is a percentage of the transactions and ranges from 6.75% to 8.75%. One draw back that I see with their service is that you may not end up making much for projects if your bids are low and you have to pay monthly and transactions fees.
If Elance does not seem like a viable option to you an option to take into consideration is Bizreef. They are a new company that got up and running this year and already has 25,000+ providers signed up. They run on a system very similar to Elance. You list your services and you can wait for people to find you or you can bid on projects. They seem to lean more towards buyers seeking out service providers and if they can’t find any then they can open a project and wait for bids to come in. One big point of difference between from Elance is that it is FREE to list your services or bid on projects.
After sign up, you go on to fill out a service profile where you list all the services you will offer and wait for business to come in or go out and seek it. Bizreef has more categories in which to list your services which is good as the service that you have to offer may not be listed on Elance. Another good point about BizReef is that they offer 18 currencies and you could get paid out in your own currency. Payments made out via cheque, Google Checkout, PayPal or wire transfer.
The other side of the coin is that you can use Elance to find a professional or BizReef for Anything you need! You can find someone to get a job done at a price that you can afford. This will also save you the time and trouble of looking around for a place to outsource your project. The great thing about these services is that money is paid in escrow and only paid out once a project has been completed and the buyer is satisfied with the finished product.
I was using eLance for almost a year, but I’m glad that eventually a new worthy rival came along. I tried BizReef and I was extremely happy with it, especially from their dedicated support! It’s quite unusual of how they gathered so many providers in such a short period since their up live.
Tried both of them, The second site, BizReef is much more friendly to use, I got a fair price for my writing work.
Both services are good. I do however agree with you when you say BizReef is more user friendly. It is simple and easy to navigate through.
Hey Gerri
I have tried a few freelance site like this in the past and it felt like a bargain basement.
I will try the Bizreef and give you my feedback
I would pay the Ellace one if they could guarantee me good quality clients.
p.s I like your blog.
Hi Glen,
Thanks for stopping by and for your comments. I hope you will have an enjoyable experience with BizReef.
With regards to your Elance comment, I guess you can’t 100% guarantee the quality but you can try and get the best for your money by looking at the ratings of the service provider (if any).
Recently came across http://www.chilliFreeze.com a website that is focussed on Indian freelance writers. It offers similar services but the marketplace is just a small part of what they offer. I think they are still in the beta phase. But I liked their forums. Really active!
But the catch- You have to be an Indian writer to benefit from ChilliFreeze.
Please consider http://www.ifreelance.com also. I subscribed here 1 year ago as illustrator and I am happy with this. Serious, simple,convenient. Good!
Ciao from Italy, Paola
nice info..
I joined elance few days back .. and already got two project worth almost 2500 Euro.
I am putting my experience in a blog.. So will invite you all to post your experience there.. which I guess will be helpful for everybody
http://elance-make-money.blogspot.com/
@ anonymous,
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your experience with elance.
And wow!!! 2500 euro for two projects – that is very impressive. I hope you enjoy your time with elance.
I don’t know who is writing these things – but I’m sure it’s not a professional writer in my circle of experience! Spending over US$60 in fees – only to lose to bids under US$ 5 per 500 word article – is a joke – if anyone really does make a reasonable living out of these websites I would be glad to hear of them….
@ anonymous, people do make money via such services. If you have the skills you will make money. One more thing about the fees: you have to spend money to make money.
Strange this post is totaly unrelated to what I was searching google for, but it was listed on the first page. I guess your doing something right if Google likes you enough to put you on the first page of a non related search. 🙂
Interesting? What where you searching for that inadvertently directed you towards Ninety Nine Ways?