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How Can Freelancers Survive with stuff like this?

by lovboa Banned
7 replies
  • WEB DESIGN
    • |
I just checked out freelancer.com.

All I can say is..Wow.

People are just in bidding wars to work for bread crumbs. Like 50 people bidding on the same project, people claiming 15 years of experience in marketing willing to work for $50 for a giant translation project.

I know that elance and odesk are not as bad, but they are not very different.
Each project has 10+ bids some even 30+ and overseas "companies" are throwing in the lowest bid with best track record.


It's just so sad. Seriously. This has demotivated me greatly. I was so interested in web design and development these past few months and was excited to work in the future as a free lancer. After seeing the competition, and how cheaply people are willing--no begging--to work for, I'm feeling my spirits down.
#freelancers #stuff #survive
  • Profile picture of the author clou
    It is true. It's hard to compete with India, Philippines, Pakistan, Bangladesh freelancers. They will bid lower. If you are from countries like US it is so cheap to bid $3 an hour or $50 for a fixed project. I am from the Philippines, and I rate $15/hr. There is no way I can earn that in my country. However, I already have lots of experiences. My job ratings are high so I won't accept jobs below my per hour rate. It all depends. But if I am you, it is an advantage that you are from a country like US. Try to contact local businesses and make a contract. Invoice them with what you should be paid living in your country doing web design. Goodluck!
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  • Profile picture of the author Bret Ferguson
    lovboa,
    I here you. I had an offline business for 14 years where people bid on project for lower than what you could do it for and I was like what the???????

    Anyway that and a friend inspired me to start online. My advice and you can take it or leave it, as clou said find an offline client to build some sites for. The other thing is to take some lower paying jobs to get your name out there, do absolutely stellar work and then price yourself accordingly.

    Be better than the next person out there. Find a creative way to set yourself apart from the rest of the pack. Think outside the box. Are you able to niche what you do down to something more specific to provide a custom service?

    Create your own site with samples of your work to show your worth and the value you have to offer.

    I'm just throwing ideas out there. And I totally wish you luck!
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  • Profile picture of the author benjigbird
    i outsource quite a lot on freelancer and it is amazing with some of the quality of work you can get for a few dollars. $30 minimum though, but I have got a good 4 page site for $50
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  • Profile picture of the author DOMINO214
    I do know of a crowd sourcing site where the payment is quite decent.

    I have been paid over 1k in 5 weeks, but then again I have been fortunate. They do run contests or contract jobs for writing/ translation/ logo design and web design.

    Although they believe that freelancers should be paid well, they do take quite a hefty chunk in service fees.

    Registration is simple and they verify your phone number.
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  • Profile picture of the author blackrabbit
    When I first started my web dev biz I used freelancer.com, odesk and elance. I just accepted that some people will always choose the cheapest but I think after a while you get a feel for the clients that are just looking for a cheap solution rather than a quality project and I personally just stay away from them.

    If you are looking to get into the freelance game, try elance - it seems to be the marketplace where people tend to ignore prince and go for quality.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ed Brown
    what's ironic to me is that 90% of the websites I'm diagnosing are missing the basic fundamentals of web design, such as meta info, robot and sitemap files, etc. I live near knoxville, TN and there's a web design co there that is jacking up sites left and right. i go behind them running diagnostics and the sites they install are red X's all the way down the list.

    My suggestions follow suit with the other guys who have already posted. Go local to find business and perhaps even consider offline marketing to get in touch with them. Post card marketing is effective and not too expensive. Contact churches that don't have a site and offer to do a pro bono just for the reference.

    online, make sure you tout the fact that your business is MADE IN THE USA and you speak and WRITE fluent english. It's the one aspect of web design that many of our worldwide friends seem to have the most trouble with.
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    • Profile picture of the author IsaacWendt
      The best idea is to go and get work in your local area then outsource the work to these people or just do it yourself, it's to hard to complete with these people and in these tough times it's only the money that matters.
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