| My wife has been working through vworker.com for a little over a year, makes enough to pay the bills, and has never lost a contract she set out to win. Sites like that can be viable if you use certain strategies: 1) Communicate a lot, before even thinking about bidding. Many project descriptions are extremely vague, but by asking questions, you can often get the detail you need to put in a sensible bid that will actually meet the client's needs. This has two side effects: - it weeds out toxic clients. Those who have unrealistic expectations, or simply don't know what they want, will make that obvious during this phase. - it sets you apart from other bidders. Many of them will simply read the (vague) project description and then put in a bid, without sending so much as a "hello". Whereas, by asking questions and seeking feedback, you've convinced the client that you're capable and focused on getting them the product they want. 2) When you're just starting out and therefore have no ratings/history, it's hard to win a big project. Consider offering to do a small sub-project with quick turnaround, as a proof of ability. My wife's first client had a fairly large project; she offered to do a small bugfix with a quick turnaround for $50, which allowed her to win the larger contract with minimal risk to either her or the client. Once she had one large contract under her belt, other contracts came much more easily, including lots of repeat business. 3) Look for other things you can do to minimize perceived risk. If the site has built in certification tests, take them. If you have your own profile pieces, post them. This both sets you apart from the $7/hour firms, and puts you at least not too far behind the slick looking portfolio guys. 4) Pick up skills to fill in your biggest weaknesses (for example, learn rudimentary design if you haven't yet), and pick up skills to compete with others' big weaknesses (how many freelancers know how to write an in-app billing module on Android? My wife gets a ton of work because she knows how to do that, and seemingly nobody else does.) ... There are definitely people out there with money to spend, who are willing to spend it on you if you can convince them you're the best option. This is the approach that worked for us, though I realize it's unpopular among part of the HN crowd. A word of caution: this strategy has paid the bills, but we live a fairly low-key lifestyle. We're still one rate hike behind the previous BigCo salary. |