Quote: (08-09-2013 05:01 AM)Teedub Wrote:
Thanks BB, basically my only skill is writing, I can't build websites or anything. How do you get on the ladder so to speak, as everything is so god damn oversubscribed. There was one guy on Elance who I saw had made a ridiculous amount from writing. Something like $200k in four years.
Yes, I'm mainly a writer too. I dabble in web design here and there but writing has always been my main income. Some of those threads touch on other skills, but most of my posts in them apply to writing, and even where they don't, the principles are pretty transferable.
By the way, you can do better than 200K in four years. If you check out the more successful profiles on Elance, you've got guys doing that in a year. I believe there are some even doing more.
I don't want to sound pretentious or like a broken record, but did you read my posts in those threads already? Because I did answer that question about climbing the ladder in a few places already, I'm pretty sure...Was hoping not to just walk down the same paths I've already covered.
Anyhow, I'll just get into it again here so we don't just start walking in circles here.
Yes, everything is extremely competitive on these sites. But trust me when I say that the vast majority of providers on there are derelicts. Not only are many of them non-native English-speaking writers from countries like India and the Philippines, but even the good writers tend to lack any basic business sense. Having writers turn in sloppy, unedited work, late work, or no work at all are all common problems. As are people who plagiarize.
On top of that, most of these people just don't know how to sell themselves.
They're amateurs. But you are not!
Your ticket is to get your foot in the door by acting like a total pro right from the very beginning. Fill out every last part of your profile - you're best off looking for providers on there that are making a killing and mimicking what they do. Decide on some niches you want to work in and write out some articles you will use as samples, or if you have a website you can use that for your initial samples.
Start off by bidding on a ton of jobs. If you create solid bids, you can expect about a 10% win ratio - so grinding here is much like grinding in poker or any other odds-based endeavor. Keep doing the same thing over and over again, ignoring the losses and stacking up wins to eventually get ahead.
Think about that for a second. If you only win 10% of your bids, you have to bid on 200 jobs just to get 20 clients! So if you only bid on 2 - 10 and just give up, what does that make you? That's right - just another derelict writer who isn't serious about this. Expect to fail with that approach. You need to put in a ton of work to come out of the gate and dig your heels in - just as in any business. Just do it - it will get easier later as you build relationships with returning clients and a stellar reputation.
Start off cheap, being sure to tell prospects you're bidding the first jobs cheap because you're new and want to build up a reputation (but only bid small jobs at first so as not to lock yourself in for a lot of work at those rates). Make it clear you're kind of expecting a review for going so cheap. Yes, there are others already going just as cheap, but don't even think of them as competition. Most are not. You're the new rockstar writer just getting his start.
Once you land your first few jobs and get some good reviews on that particular site, immediately up your rates. You now have a basis for doing so. Then keep on bidding like a madman. After you're booked for two weeks to a month, double your rates. You'll lose half your returning clients this way, but you'll also cut your work in half and be making the same amount of pay. This frees up time for bidding and allows you to put more energy into the work!
Keep on bidding at the new rates. Actively solicit new reviews and continue overdelivering - returning higher-quality work than expected, sooner than expected, and sometimes with longer articles than expected.
When your schedule fills up again, double your rates again. By this time, you'll have some regular clients keeping your schedule pretty busy, but you should still be getting in quite a few bids every week to keep new ones coming. If you slack off on your marketing, it will eventually dry up. You can consider hiring an assistant to do your bidding for you. You can hire a writer or two and do all the marketing work yourself. Or you can put together a nice website with a bunch of your examples and solicited testimonials and start pursuing higher-paid markets.
Then again, you might be better off skipping the freelance site grind right off the bat and going straight to the higher markets, where you can make a lot more money anyways. This is actually what I recommend.
When I started off on Elance, I was getting in about 200 bids per week using Elance, Guru.com, Craigslist, The Warrior Forum, and some other shitty freelance sites. I also hired on a full-time VA to do my bidding for me after the first month. At one point, I had a team of writers working for me, but I eventually flaked on it all because I was I was having too much fun in SouthEast Asia. I still make all my money from writing though. I hardly market myself at all and just serve a small handful of clients. Some pay over a hundred dollars an article for just 350 - 500 words.
You have to treat this like a business.
Expect it to be damn hard. I went many nights without sleep to make a deadline by morning. I overbooked on purpose to get the ball rolling so fast I couldn't keep up with it.
If you're prepared to do the same, you can be successful.
Beyond All Seas
"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe.
To be your own man is a hard business. If you try it, you'll be lonely often, and sometimes
frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." - Kipling
