Vox Fortis Communications

In honor of the complete and utter neglect of my poor blog, I give you a photo of a jackass. That would be me. My promise to myself to stay updated got seriously sidetracked by some seriously crazy days leading up to the holidays and something had to give. Unfortunately, it was the task that doesn’t pay me money, which is coincidentally the one that can’t fire me if it’s neglected.Still, I’m a jackass for falling so far behind.That said, it’s time to get back on track. I spent the morning invoicing and catching up on also-neglected admin work. (Which um…I just got done saying my blog doesn’t pay me. My clients won’t either, if I don’t invoice them, but I managed to slack off on that too.)

To be fair, I haven’t taken days off in a long time. I went straight from corporate burnout to freelancing full-time, so I was bound to crash from the adrenaline of it all. Suffice it to say, I relaxed fully, enjoyed my holidays, but am totally ready to start getting my brain working again. Part of wiping the cobwebs off my brain included looking at where I’m at from a client and payment perspective.

I made the decision I seem to make a few times a year where I say, “Well, I’ll go ahead and cancel my membership at Guru.com.” Like clockwork, it gave me a reason not to. Let me first say that I recognize most people don’t have great things to say about freelancing sites. I’m in another camp, but I also think I use it differently. The people I see getting most frustrated are the ones that try and pin their freelance money-making entirely on sites like Elance.com and Guru.com. When Elance overhauled its structure last month, a lot of contractors were rightfully very upset because really, no matter how Elance wants to spin it, the providers were getting screwed and not the buyers. (Catalyst Blogger’s update can also be read here. I have to give shouts to a fellow Philly-native, of course.) I personally never had luck with Elance, so I’m in the Guru camp, but I can completely understand why they’re upset.I use freelancing sites for specific reasons, and I think they’re beneficial if you apply the tenets we all know as freelancers. I see these tenets get suspended when it comes to these sites, but they have to be treated like any other marketing channel. Here’s what I mean:  

Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. 

This is common advice among freelancers, business owners, and contractors. Do not tie yourself too heavily to one client, because if they go out of business, guess what? You might, too. Keep a constant and spread-out roster so you are self-sustaining. Places like Guru.com and Elance.com are no different.”But Susan,” you say, “I attract many clients by using that one site.” No, you really don’t unless you’re evolving them into longer-term relationships that can stand on their own outside of that site. The best illustration of that is the changes Elance made. You might have 100 potential clients on there, but because Elance changed, now you might not if you don’t want to pony up what I believe is a ridiculous amount of dough. In that way, you are putting your eggs in one basket because you’re relying on a single conduit to get you in front of those clients.

 Don’t bid on a job. Quote it.

This is a mentality thing that you might have to work at. I read a lot of “when I bid on a project” talk. Yes, in the site’s world, you’re bidding against others. But the minute you do that, you’ll start to lose. You cannot worry about what other people are bidding, because all it does it tempt you to get into a price war.

Don’t think of it as bidding on a job. Think of it as providing a quote to someone who is interested in your services. Every job quote I provide is what I’d quote anyone for copywriting or marketing…it isn’t less because of the medium I do it through. Sure, I probably don’t get a lot of jobs because of my price compared to someone in a third world country but I don’t want the job anyway if it’s not going to pay me my going rate. I don’t go on there and bid on every job. I’m selective, and trust me, you can usually tell on the job posting if it’s worth trying or not. Apply the same standards you would to any job you’re interested in.

Build repeat business.

When I was first starting out freelancing, I accepted small, one-off jobs because it was just supplemental income anyway. Nowadays, I scan through latest postings quickly if I have some time I could fill, and I only quote a job if it’s obviously something that could lead to a longer-term relationship.

Two of my favorite clients are groups I found on Guru. The one plainly said it would be a long-standing project management role. The other was for blog writing, but the client and I get along so well that he’s giving me a HUGE project that he trusts me with. He gives me stuff every week, and is one of the easiest people to get along with I’ve ever met. My project management client that I mentioned now trusts me to do more hours, and has started letting me flex my muscles in the area of SEO reporting and PPC as well. It’s amazing what can come from working consistently with people you like.

These are the basic things I apply to any client, no matter if they come from a site where you pay to gain access to job listings or not. Obviously, it’s worth the $80 or so per quarter to find that one diamond in the rough for me, because I get way more business from them than pays for the membership there. I also get invited to quote many projects thanks to my rating and portfolio information on there. (I rarely accept those, but occasionally I’ll throw my hat in the ring.) It was a good reminder to me the other day when I came on a writing listing for a company that looked promising. I quoted my hourly fee, and they responded with wonderful examples of what they’d need, and the fixed price was way more than fair for the work involved. They were polite, buttoned up, and obviously concerned with quality and not getting the cheapest person they possibly could. It was a good reminder that it’s a viable marketing avenue for me.

But, it’s not the only one. And it shouldn’t be your sole avenue of jobs, either.