Freelancing on Elance while building online business.

Hi everyone,

I'm a newbie. Well, actually, I'm not exactly a newbie, but my situation is that I am someone who wrote an ebook and stepped away from the marketing aspect for an extended period of time. But there are plenty of gaps in my implementation and in my knowledge banks where I can consider myself a newbie for purposes here.

My question is the following, I am working at a low-paying retail job, and want to really start building an online business. But I also need money now. I've been considering doing freelance work on elance and have bid on some projects, but nothing has come up yet.

It is, however, apparent to me that to achieve the financial rewards and grow my business for the long term, getting distracted with trying to attract work on elance is probably not going to be the way to go. I state this for the following thoughts that I have come up with:

1. It will force me to spend time developing and using skills which will not bring me money in the long term, or at least aren't very likely to (resume writing, etc. ).

2. In terms of the bidding process on Elance, all of a suddent I am placed into a pack where I am competing with a bunch of other people to win projects. And my message can't really be tailored to that particular person or company because often potential clients are clear about what it is that they want.

3. In terms of my competition, I think that some of them are making lowball bids, either because they are from countries where the cost of labor is lower, or they don't understand all of the possible intricacies of what they are being asked to do, or they are selling themselves short. I typically see bids for $22 on Elance or some other silly amount, on items that I would bid a couple hundred dollars or more simply because of the scope of work.

On the flip side, I have the following thoughts:

1. Trying to freelance on Elance may hone my skills for dealing with competition in new and unexpected ways. Those lowball bids could be from efficiencies that the providers have developed (which would be good for me to learn), or they may have developed product templates which then can be tailored for a particular piece of work for a client. I couldn't sell the client work elsewhere, but if I were to develop some sort of master template which could then be tailored to a particular client, I could certainly package that into a product and sell that.

2. It could further develop my copywriting and advertising skills as I really work on setting up a professional profile, answer client queries, work on new projects, etc.

3. I may make a little extra money.


But my main focus is on figuring out which way to go. To Elance or not to Elance? Focus on building my online business as much as I can, or put some of my focus over into this in the hopes of growing in some ways and making a little extra money?

I really want to do what is going to be the best business and financial move for the long run.

I'm all ears! What are your thoughts, everyone?

Lynn?

Thanks in advance,

Elizabeth

Elizabeth,

You make good points about the secondary benefits you'll get. I don't really worry about the pack. Everyone who posts a project has their set of criteria they use to choose who they hire.

The way I'm approaching freelance sites is to spend about 90 minutes a day - which I'm finding works out to about one or two project bids a day. If it does nothing else, it teaches me how to read a scope of work, interact with clients and address the real needs of a client in a bid.

It's also a confidence booster, even if I don't get the project. I don't low ball. I charge what I charge. Plus other "employers" who post projects, do tend to look at the list of people who bid, so that's exposure.

I honestly can't say whether to set a specific time limit and go all at it for 30, 60 or 90 days and build a reputation by winning bids or not.

I know it's not a route I want to take at this moment. That may change but freelance sites are just one of many pipelines I want to use to build a service business, so the habit of a little bit daily works for me.