Freelance Sites – Getting Out of The Blocks on Freelance Sites
By Barry Walls • Jun 30th, 2009 • Category: RecentGetting out of the blocks on freelance sites can be hard. Starting a new account is the hardest part of working as a freelancer. In this post we’ll look at why and what you can do about it.
Buyers want social proof in the form of feedback. There’s no way around it. They are like buyers in every other aspect of the web. They want to see others positive experiences first before they take a risk with their hard earned cash.
In order to be persuaded to take the risk, often, new buyers often reduce prices in a bid to get hired. So, they reduce their prices and do a great job…everyone wins…right?
Well….not quite.
In fact, I’d go as far as to say everyone loses.
The providers on freelance sites lose because they’ve taken the short end of the deal to get started, and the buyers lose. Here’s why.
These good, but novice providers condition providers that they can get this level of service on the cheap. Guess what they do for ever after? Yip, they look to find cheap providers. Often, these lucky buyers don’t equate the “luck” in finding a good provider who was just starting out with exactly what it was…a loss leader.
Buyers then get frustrated as they try to repeat this process and their luck runs out. They get poor provider after poor provider and they complain about the level of service they get from these “cheap” providers.
What they don’t see is that these cheap providers are delivering an average experience at that price point. The initial provider has long since moved up to higher levels of pay (if they are smart) and so the “lucky” buyer is left bottom fishing…and getting the results his pay rate is worth.
These results include more frequent missed deadlines, shoddy work, poor following of the directions and an overall sub standard experience for the buyer, and rate of pay for the provider.
This all stems from a perception that you can get good, professional providers on freelance sites on the cheap. You can’t do it in the long run.
As in any walk of like, you might enjoy the odd loss leader, but you can’t expect to get it all the time.
The solution is for providers to get their pay rate up as fast as possible and to provide alternative means of social proof to the potential buyers other than feedback. The solution for the buyers is to more quickly reach the conclusion which they inevitably reach…buy cheap…buy twice, or fix up yourself.
If buyers buy twice or have to fix the work themselves often enough, they get the message of the false economy fast enough…because not paying your staff properly is precisely that…a false economy.
The worst part of all this for the buyer is that the good providers will soon be snapped up by more savvy buyers.
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Great post!!
Thanks for sharing.
“Getting out of the blocks on freelance sites can be hard. Starting a new account is the hardest part of working as a freelancer.”
I have to agree with Mr. Walls on this. When a new provider comes onto a “freelancer” site, there are many things to be learned. Every site has their own Terms of Service (TOS) which have to be agreed upon before any bidding will take place. Profiles have to be created, prior works loaded for viewing and in some cases on-site testing of the providers’ knowledge, of that site and of the area of specialty. Every site handles there data a little differently.
Properly bidding, especially when your new or unfamiliar with the industry standard can raise the stress bar some. But with proper guidance and some well place research and the even a visit to the FAQ’s of the website. You can self educate and lower your stress level quickly and move forward.