Help With Elance....

Doing well on your first job is important. It might be worth it for the long term value of your profile to do the job for only $22 if you think you can still get good feedback. If you think you are past the point of getting good feedback, you might as well cut your losses now and refuse to do it!

That's what I thought... I am just gonna do it. DAMMIT lol thank you!

If she or you can cancel before any work is done, I'd do that. I wouldn't write 6 articles for $22 and make sure you know what you're getting into next time. Elance is notorious, as are all the freelance sites for people looking for dirt cheap work, particularly in the writing category.

I know, I am stuck really. I don't want anyone to think I will back out of a contract, and it IS my fault for not understanding the entirety of the contract and accepting...

I haven't cancelled just yet, but it is my first job!

I guess I will just suck it up -- I would hate for someone to think I would do it AGAIN though! Idk... I haven't had enough experience there to say...

But thank you sbucciarel. I have seen you on here before and looked into your stuff

YES. Totally agree. I will from now on. I just was confused by all the boxes... but DAMN I hate to do all that quality work for that price... I am such a tard. Oh well, you learn the most from your mistakes, right? *sigh*

Thanks Kay!

I say do it and hope for good feedback. This happened to me I ended up designing a huge website for peanuts my first time. Take it as a learning curve and move on. It rained for my day at the zoo with the grade ones how fun!

Anne L

I tried to do some articles for others in the past through there and always had some sort of a problem with some buyers.

Too much headache so I decided not to quit doing articles for others.

Don't worry some buyers attitude contain this types, i face this types of problem.

Writing jobs on elance can becoming very confusing based on the terminology that is given. I would personally do the job and just learn from the experience.

Hey, BC

If you're in need of regular PT writing work that pays weekly take the writing tests at these two sites. They are considered content mills, but they do pay regularly via paypal or direct to bank account and you don't have to deal with bidding for clients (yech). BTW I'm no fan of Elance after getting ripped off for 20 articles on my very first gig. I closed my account after that. Do those articles only if you are sure this client is absolutely going to pay you. The money should be in escrow.

Write.com is the recruitment site for Crowdsource. They use the Amazon MTURK platform for writing assignments and payment. Their writing test is open now, but may close again at any time. They pay whenever work is approved, which may be one or several days during the week. Crowdsource has some big name clients.

Write for Crowdsource

Textbroker has been around for quite a while. It's low pay, but you can find some consistent writing if you qualify at a level 4. There's more work available if you are good enough to be invited to teams. They pay every Friday. They have a wide variety of clients.

Write for Textbroker

It helps to have several places to turn to for writing gigs to keep the cash coming in as a freelance writer. Hope this helps you out.

Hey BC,

I used to make my living through Elance, Odesk and a few other freelance sites. Honestely, I've been ripped off SOO many times that I closed all of my accounts and did something I should had done YEARS ago...

I contacted online and offline businesses directly offering my writing services - and it paid off immensely. I started off contacting SEO and Web Design firms and spent about an hour or so sending emails to about 50 different companies. Of these fifty, I landed 5 good paying gigs earning no less the 5 cents per word. Best of all, most of these were long term gigs. Eventually, I weeded out the lowest paying gigs and stuck with the highest paying. I was earning at least $200 per day with these higher paying writing jobs working just a few hours each day.

There are many people out there that pay well for decent, dependable writers. You just need to take the time to find them. In all reality, it's much easier to send out 20-50 queries per day marketing your writing skills than bidding on lower paying work on freelance sites.

My query emails were simple, too. Such as..

Dear...
My name is...
This is what I'm offering...
These are my rates... (my rates started at 5 cents/word)
I'm available immediately.

Make sure you leave your name, email address and phone number. I found that offering a phone number left the impression that I was professional and dependable. I received more responses and landed more writing gigs when I offered my phone number - and even more after I had my own website.

My advice? Whether it was your mistake or hers, it was still a misunderstanding. The contract between you and her should be cancelled and offered to the next qualified contractor. Let's say the tables were turned and you had bid $222 and SHE had accepted. Do you think she would bite the bullet and pay up?

Not a chance. And you shouldn't be expected to work for less.

Kick the content mills to the curb and start contacting companies on your own time. Find a few profitable niches and build a decent portfolio around these niches (mortgages and loans are lucrative ones). Don't be afraid to set your rates higher than the rest - if you market your skills as a writer properly, you'll have no problem finding great paying gigs.

Recap: Find a niche, build a respectable portfolio (website is a good idea, too), be dependable, market your skills wisely and don't sell yourself short. Send out a query email to at least 20-50 companies per day. Sell them article marketing campaigns, facebook posts, twitter posts, press releases, company blog/posts, email campaigns, etc. Tell them how you can spread the word about their company and bring them more customers with your writing and marketing skills. Tell the SEO and Web Design firms that you're looking for long term work and that you're a dependable and flexible writer.

Taking on too much work all of a sudden? Head on over to iwriter.com and offload a few projects there. They have some really great writers who can turn the work over for you quick - and you'll still make a few bucks in the process.

It's not that difficult to make a go of it on your own! Before you know it, you'll have plenty of long term work with great pay that's worth your while.

Sorry about the long winded post! I wish you all the best.

- Bill

Elance can be a great place to get some decent paying work, you just need to read the project information carefully. However, in the case of this project, I would not write for such a low rate. The client has offered to cancel the project, so I would accept this. Once the project has been cancelled, as far as I am aware, neither party can leave feedback, so it won't have any lasting damage on your profile.

There is a lot of differences between professional and personal life. You said that you do not want to break contact. It is not good for you. If you think that you can get a good feedback again stay there and accept the terms and conditions. But if it is not possible there, just leave the job.

Yes pay is very low for 8 articles in just 22$ but it is your first job and you are still new in elance so you should complete it in hope of good feedback and it will be good for your future projects and you can get good pay with the help of your good reputation at elance.

The reality of freelance writing is that when you need money in a week to pay rent and bills you need to do what you gotta do to make the cash. Sometimes that means relying on content mills. Yes, I agree that writers should prospect for higher paying clients. I've done it with some success. I've written for private clients and content mills.

Private clients are great when you land them. However, you have to constantly market and keep looking to replace ones that stop using your services. I know from personal experience that prospecting is time consuming and no guarantee of landing work. Emailing SEO/Web Design and Marketing companies is an option - I've done it. The thing is, so are lots of other writers. You're lucky to get a response from 1 in 50 to 100 messages. However, I have gotten work this way. I think this route is much harder than it used to be. So, writers need to spend their time wisely and not put all their eggs into one basket.

You can write for content mills and private clients. If you're really persistent, you can eventually get enough private clients to ditch the mills. But, this takes time and commitment. Meanwhile, I say do what you need to do to pay those bills. There is no absolute wrong or right. If BC decides to write those Elance articles, that's her choice. It may be the right decision for her. But, I think she should look at other options as well. Truthfully, I think in order to do really well and have a stable income with this career you need to be passionate about doing it.

I don't have a passion for it, which is why I'm constantly working on creating an alternative income stream online. That too takes time, commitment, marketing, etc.

Elance and Odesk merge will actually profit them both but sad for guru and professional developers who battle with bidding system Pro Vs Junior Vs Beginner.

I have a bad experience with odesk and not going back again,

Forget about money at this moment. Complete writing those articles and get your first review as a writer which is worth $1000.

I would be afraid to work so hard for peanuts, hoping to get a good feedback.

What if the customer won't give it in the end?

On the other hand, perhaps your work won't be good because you will work in a hurry and dissatisfied…

I would cancel and look for a better opportunity.

Ever just have so much advice to give but there is so much wrong with the situation and the depths of advice you would have to give to straighten this up from start to finish is mentally exhausting. So I'm just going to sit and go.... Ahhhgh. Baaa.

Do it. I've written for way less. Just look at the compensation in different terms. You're getting paid to:

Create a more effective writing system
Learning the DETAILS of a job before taking it

Consider it a challenge and a test of character. If you have a system down, writing HIGH QUALITY 4800 words would be a breeze.

If I may...

I'd advise AGAINST the peanut wage.

I was able to land a $5000 gig on Elance by pricing my proposal through the roof and even beat out a 5 start multi job veteran.

How?

I was able to show my value by displaying what I had done prior.

Mind you, the proof that I had was mostly freebie stuff that I had done for others.

Its all about leveraging your output and asking for what you're worth....and asking for the money from those WITH money to begin with.

The folks that are trying to grow, themselves, while asking for others to slave for peanuts are NOT the clients/customers that I want to work with.

Hope that was helpful and wish you much luck.

Regards

Los

Just put in to cancel the job. The buyer will have 2 options, they can accept the cancel request, in which case it will be like the job never happened and they will not be able to give you bad feedback. Or they can not accept it, in which case their money will sit in escrow forever. This is a legitimate reason to cancel also, there was a misunderstanding on the projects scope.

I think if you choose freelance writing as a career option (or even an alternate source of earning), you are bound to come across clients who would make you feel deceived and ripped off. We all do at times. However, if you are careful enough, you will see that such people are usually rare.

In my opinion, if you misunderstood the contract (and if she didnot misguide you intentionally), you should honor it sincerely. Try and make the best out of this experience - a good feedback score would definitely be helpful in the long run. Also, I am sure that since you have learnt your lesson, it's less likely that you will have to cope with a similar situation in the future.