The Fastest Way to Freelance Success

The true way to render ourselves happy
is to love our work
and find in it our pleasure.
– Francoise de Motteville

In Issue #216

The Fastest Way to Freelance Success
by Angie Dixon

I have one of those cool jobs. When people ask me what I do and I say “I’m a freelance writer,” they say, “Oh, that must be fun.” And they’re right … it is fun! I work from home, have time for my children … and because of what I’m going to share with you today … I even make good money as a freelancer.

I’ve considered myself “a writer” since about kindergarten, was first published in a local weekly newspaper in 1988, have been freelancing off and on since 1996, as both an editorial and a copy writer. I’ve even done a stint as a web designer.

But it wasn’t until I started using the popular online job board – Elance – that things really took off for me financially.

Now, you are probably surprised to hear me say that. And prior to March 2008, I would have agreed with you. I had worked on Elance about a half dozen times over as many years and had many of the same negative feelings about it I hear from other writers – too much work for not enough pay.

But I was feeling a little desperate and decided to give it one more try. This time, I decided to get really serious about it. There had to be a method to make it work – there was simply too much opportunity in one place for it NOT to work, I thought.

I identified the major problems as poor clients and poor pay, and set out to create a system that would change that.

I signed up as InternetCopyDoctor in March, 2008. I had several weeks of $100, $200 and $300 incomes. Then I finally started hitting my stride. In July I made over $2,000. In August, I made over $3,000. I took off a couple of months for personal reasons, but still had a $5,000 month this year.

In the end, I had not only a successful online source of paying clients – but I had developed a system for using it that turned Elance into my own personal cash machine. Here are a few of the things I learned …

Elance is often perceived as a low-paying, high-competition market. I discovered that just wasn’t the case. It’s true that there are thousands of people registered to work on Elance, but fewer than a hundred of those providers make most of the money. There is actually very little competition, and it’s incredibly easy to set yourself above the crowd on Elance. The three best ways to do this are:

  1. Create a Great Giveaway.
    The one thing I did that increased my winning bid numbers was to create a gift that I send out with every bid. Creating a great gift and sending it out with your bids gets clients’ attention, sets you apart as a provider they will remember, and creates a bond of reciprocity so that they want to work with you.
  2. Follow Up On Bids.
    This seems like a given, but on Elance, it’s the little things that count, and most providers don’t do even the simplest follow-up. Over half of providers, in my experience as a buyer, “bid and forget.” If you follow up once, you put yourself ahead of 50% of your competition. Follow up twice and you’re at the very head of the pack.
  3. Charge What You’re Worth.
    Buyers on Elance will pay what you’re worth, but only if you bid what you’re worth. It can be scary to place high bids. I remember worrying that no one would pay what I was worth. Buyers will pay what you’re worth. You do have to start small and build up, but it’s absolutely possible to make good money on Elance.

Making good money on Elance is not only possible; it’s pretty easy once you get established. There are lots of good clients, willing to pay for quality work, who go to Elance because they know they can find good providers and choose the best writer for their project.

Stay tuned to Copy Protégé – I’ll share more in future articles. Or just dive in yourself – over the holidays during the downtime – and get going right away. Despite the doom and gloom in the economic forecast for the year ahead … it could still be your best year yet.

A long-time freelance writer working successfully on Elance.com, Angie has written hundreds of articles, websites, ebooks – you name it, she’s written it. Now that she is able to generate more money in less time using Elance, she is focusing on her passion – her own information products. Current titles in progress include: Write as Fast as You Think, Pet Photography Profits, and Travel Consulting Secrets, and personal development products, including The Leonardo Trait and If I Had Known I Would Live this Long: Being More of Who You Are at Any Age. Look for more of her products and books here at The Copy Protégé in the months ahead.

Resource Referral: You Owe It To Yourself To Give It A Shot

I have had a similar argument with many colleagues that today’s guest author Angie Dixon has – defending job boards as a viable source of work for writers.

I got my start on a site that doesn’t exist anymore called Creative Moonlighter. When it was bought out by Guru I got overwhelmed – and by then I had more than enough clients to keep me busy. I never had the courage to try Elance – it seemed too big, too expensive, and well, intimidating for me to try it out for myself.

But if I had met Angie sooner, I would have!

Angie is one of those writers who is constantly learning – and when she learns something new and useful, she writes about it so others can have the information, too!

So she wasn’t happy with just figuring out how to tap Elance for herself – she went ahead and wrote an entire course on it for other writers! It’s called Elance Success for Writers – and it is incredibly comprehensive. It’s like the Idiot’s Guide to Elance … except we couldn’t call it that!

If you’ve been afraid – or worse yet, have failed – at finding clients on job boards, you have to read this letter right now …

I don’t think any writer can take financial success in 2009 for granted. Or scoff at a steady source of clients just because you haven’t figured out how to use it wisely. Angie has – and she’ll show you how you can too.

Check it out!

Quick Technology Tip: Get What Works For You

If you’re a regular reader, you know that over two months ago – on Rosh Hashanah – both my computer and my phone decided to go out with the old year … forcing me to usher in the New Year with a major technological upgrade.

And maybe you figured, from the number of issues I’ve missed sending you since then, that I haven’t fully recovered.

The truth us, I froze up when faced with a forced technology upgrade. I took ALL THAT TIME to decide about the replacement!

The biggest issue, of course, was Mac vs. PC. Now, I thought all this time that I would go Mac when it came time to upgrade. So here was my chance – Mac, iPod, iPhone – bring it on, right?

But … but …

I used a borrowed Mac for a while – in fact I’m struggling to write this on it now – and found myself incredibly frustrated! The keystrokes I’ve learned on my PC don’t work exactly the same way. The navigation everyone else finds so simple confounds me. I got a Zune for my birthday – that’s the iPod competition designed for PC’s – it sits in my office unopened. I pulled out an ancient phone I had from about four years ago and reactivated it. I ran around sticking my flash drive in whatever friend’s computer I could – all to keep working without making a decision!

I bought the rumor – Mac is easier, better, cooler – the pressure to switch was enormous. But something in me resisted.

The determining factor for me was comfort, speed, and my lack of desire to learn a new system right now. And since I don’t download a lot of graphics, design my own promos or web pages (though I believe I should and if I was just starting my business today, I would!), or open anything or surf on any sites that would leave me especially vulnerable to virus and spyware problems – I stuck with PC.

Today, a brand new Lenovo ThinkPad x300 – weighing in at under 3 lbs. and loaded with Windows XP Pro thank you very much! – is on its way to my doorstep. My new Blackberry sits beside me. And I can’t wait to pull out that Zune and get it up and running.

Yes, I am still listening to the long diatribes of very passionate people – including some well-respected friends and colleagues – that I missed my big opportunity to switch. But I’m happy with my decision. In the end, technology should make your life easier, not harder. And it should support your lifestyle, and your career and personal goals.

Otherwise, it’s just a very expensive, very frustrating, fashion statement.