Speaking of freelance marketplaces, there was actually only one we were willing to openly support — Elance. I’m sad to say that’s no longer the case. In fact, I strongly recommend against using the site due to a recent feature they launched — the only way these sites are going to start respecting the rights of independent contractors is if you vote with your feet and leave or stop supporting them as we’re doing here. (However, that’s just my opinion. I’m not calling for an Elance boycott or anything that severe, although it would be nice to see more freelancers stand up and make themselves heard on these issues in other ways.)

What did Elance do that has them on my shit list? Well, they did something much like Odesk — they now provide a tool that enables clients to act in a Big Brother capacity, potentially crossing the line between client and employer without taking on the responsibilities that come with that (no friends, those costs and responsibilities still rest on your shoulders).

Here’s the gist:

Elance has launched a feature called Work View. As Elance themselves put it “clients can view the work as it progresses and provide timely input and guidance.” What does that really mean? It means clients get to view a stream of your work as it’s completed — they know when you’re working, whether you’re there at your computer or not working on their project, etc. by feeding them screenshots. Yes, screenshots are taken from your private machine and fed to clients.

The Pathetic Attempt at Logic

Why would Elance do this? They’re doing it under the guise of wanting to help both freelancers and clients. As with Odesk, I’ll say that might very well be their intention. I doubt there was any malice… just poor decision-making. The idea is that feeding screenshots guarantees hours for buyers, and if you agree to the intrusive oversight they’ll guarantee the payment for hours you were proven to have worked.

What’s the problem with this?

The tool enables clients to cross a line. When someone chooses to hire independent contractors they have to give up certain rights — like overbearing control over the worker. In exchange they save money. They don’t have to pay half of your Medicare and Social Security taxes, worker’s compensation insurance, overhead costs, or benefits for example.

On the other hand, what you get as a freelancer is freedom. You control when, where, and how you work. The client doesn’t get to monitor how a job is done — they get to evaluate you based on the end result. For that freedom you also make sacrifices. You take on increased taxes. You have to cover all of your own benefits (you don’t get paid vacation or sick time, health insurance paid partially by an employer, employer contributions to a 401k, etc.). You take on the overhead costs of your job in most cases (with freelance writers that means you’re buying your own computer, office supplies, and maybe renting an office or giving up an area of your home to dedicate it to work).

When clients cross the line in too many factors based on IRS guidelines, they become an employer instead (and having a contract stating otherwise is not enough to change that). If you choose to work in that relationship, you do so knowing the client will have more control as an employer and that they’ll also take on more of that financial burden.

This tool, like Odesk’s, allows clients to cross quite a few of these lines without taking on the financial burdens they would be required to as employers.

How this Tool Crosses a Line

Below is a list of factors that are considered when determining your legal status as an employee or independent contractor (and your resulting financial obligations and freedom or lack thereof). I’m also going to share how this tool might enable buyers of your freelance writing services to cross the line from client to employer. These are based on the common law rules laid out by the IRS — factors that determine your level of independence versus employer-like control over your work. [source]

• Can the buyer determine when and where you complete your work? If so, they lean towards employer status. — Being able to monitor your computer activities means a client has the ability to determine when you work (for example, they might insist that you work during specific hours which they can verify by monitoring you, even if the work could be done just as well at another time). It also means they can dictate where you work (in front of your computer where they can watch your progress — if you normally do your brainstorming or outlining by hand somewhere other than in front of the computer for example, you’ll be shit out of luck).
• Can the buyer dictate what tools and equipment you have to use in completing your work? If so, again they lean towards employer status. — Clients have the ability to require the use of this tool. If you don’t agree to the invasive oversight, they can opt to automatically rule you out for a gig. That is a case of requiring a specific tool (and an unnecessary one) to be used by workers.
• Can the buyer determine what subcontractors you’re allowed to hire, or can they insist that all work be done by you personally? Yet again, it leans towards employer status. — And also yet again, this tool gives buyers the potential to exercise that kind of control if they require that the work be done on your machine which is being monitored. Generally as a freelancer you’re allowed to subcontract your work if you so please, and the end client doesn’t have to be consulted about that beforehand as long as you deliver the promised work by your deadline.
• Can the buyer dictate where you have to buy certain products or services in order to do your job? If so, it also leans towards them being an employer and not a client. — This one doesn’t necessarily apply as directly since you aren’t paying for the service as far as I can tell.
• Can the buyer tell you what order you have to complete your work-related tasks in? Again, if so it leans towards employer status. I would argue that being able to monitor your progress in this way gives them the right to dictate sequence — something they couldn’t do if they weren’t essentially looking over your shoulder up to five times per hour (how often the screen shots are taken). It allows them to monitor whether you’re working exclusively on their project or sharing time between several projects for example — as a freelancer it’s your right to do that if you want to as long as you meet your contracted deadlines for each project. Monitoring services put clients in a position where they can demand you stop and focus exclusively on their work instead of fully controlling your schedule. And that’s key… they can. It doesn’t even matter if they do. According to the IRS, “The business does not have to actually direct or control the way the work is done – as long as the employer has the right to direct and control the work…. The key consideration is whether the business has retained the right to control the details of a worker’s performance or instead has given up that right.” So as long as that right exists, you lean towards employee status.
• How much instruction or training is given to the worker? The more instruction or more detailed the training, the more likely it is the buyer falls under employer status. — This is another one that’s less clear cut though. The IRS acknowledges that sometimes companies aren’t in a position to instruct the worker (for example, when they hire someone with extremely specialized knowledge that they don’t have themselves). So a lack of strict instruction alone doesn’t mean you automatically have independent contractor status. Does this tool affect the level of instruction? I’d argue that it offers that right or opportunity to the buyer whether they choose to exercise it or not… by viewing work in progress instead of the finished project, they naturally are able to step in with increased instructions during the process.
• How does the buyer evaluate the work? If work is evaluated based on how it’s done (during the work process), that leans towards employer status. — As a freelancer you’re contracted for end results. That’s generally what a client is able to evaluate your work based on. They generally do not evaluate your work throughout the process before that work is completed.
• Does the worker make a significant investment or do they have a lot of unreimbursed expenses? If so, there’s a better chance they fall under independent contractor status. — However, not all businesses require a significant investment (like freelance writing) so that alone doesn’t assure your status as an independent contractor. The tool doesn’t directly impact this one point, but I’m including it so you have a better overview of the entire determination process of employee vs independent contractors. Contractors also aren’t generally reimbursed for expenses to the same degree as employees, but unless your buyer is reimbursing fees you might pay to the freelance marketplace, this shouldn’t be a problem for you.
• Does the worker have the ability both to earn a profit and suffer a loss? If you don’t have profit and loss potential, you’re more likely to be classified as an employee. — This is another big issue with these freelance marketplaces stepping in with “guaranteed payments.” They’re directly interfering with this issue by taking away a worker’s ability to suffer a loss. Losses are a reality of business. Yes, it might sound appealing on the surface to have payments guaranteed. But newsflash: that’s what contracts are for. If you aren’t taking a financial risk, it might play a role in you giving up your status as an independent contractor. Personally, I find this kind of meddling incredibly insulting to freelancers — as though marketplaces are saying you’re not capable of running your business so they’ll take you under their wing if you agree to what I would consider inappropriate observation of your work in exchange. At the same time, they affect your profit potential. Hourly rates freelancing are not always based on 60 minutes. Hourly rates are quoted very often based on an expected turnaround time. If you happen to do an outstanding job and finish the work more quickly, you’re not paid less for being good at what you do. On the other hand, if you occasionally misjudge a time estimate and it takes you longer to finish a project, then the client isn’t billed for additional hours at your hourly rate. You eat that cost. That is what profit and loss with hourly contracting is all about folks.
• Are the worker’s services available to other buyers within the market? — Again, the tool doesn’t directly impact this factor, but I want you to have the full picture. Unless a client insists that you can’t offer services to others, you should be okay on this front. Of course, if you’re not sending full sets of screenshots (you can delete some if they’re irrelevant to the client’s project, but then the time isn’t guaranteed for that 12 minute increment) the client might very well start insisting that you take time away from other tasks that aren’t directly going to their project — something they might be less likely to do if they weren’t monitoring you. Again, it comes down to their rights… not what they necessarily choose to do.
• How is the worker paid by a buyer? Clearly if they’re paid a typical salary, that would fall towards employee status and if they bill per project it would lean towards independent contractor status. What about hourly pay? — Interestingly, the IRS notes that hourly pay in many cases leans towards an employer / employee relationship. That said, there’s also an acknowledgment that some contractors do tend to bill hourly (lawyers and other types of consultants for example). Here’s the concern I have on this one though. Elance (in response to me on Twitter yesterday) put a real emphasis on the fact that this tool is only used regarding hourly pay (as though that made it okay). So let’s be clear. We’re talking about hourly pay, guaranteed pay, and a set weekly pay schedule. Hmmm. That sure seems to lean towards a traditional hourly employee pay model, doesn’t it? It does sound that way to me, and in my opinion that’s a huge strike against this tool. Generally an independent contractor does their own billing on their own schedule and they retain the right to set their own payment terms.
• What kind of relationship do the buyer and worker have? Here are a few other factors related to working relationships that might influence employer or client status in a buyer. — First, the type of contract can play a role. As I mentioned earlier though the actual behavior has more weight than a contract in determining your status as a worker — in other words, an employer can’t force you to sign a contract stating you’ll work as an IC and pay all the taxes and expenses yourself just so they can save money, but then proceed to treat you as an employee. Whether or not the buyer provides benefits also plays a role. If they do, they lean towards employer status. If it’s expected to be a permanent ongoing relationship, that can also lean towards employer status, as can the level of importance of the work to the buyer’s business. If the work plays a key role in the business’ success or failure, then it’s a fair assumption that the buyer will retain the right to exercise more control over the worker and the work.

Whew! I know that’s a lot to digest. If you missed the link earlier, you should read this article from the IRS directly to get a more general overview.

Respect Your Rights

I sincerely hope that freelancers will start respecting their rights as self-employed individuals instead of rolling over every time a company makes warm and fuzzy promises of things like supposedly group insurance or guaranteed pay (not just talking about Elance here).

Elance’s argument to me was that this tool is completely optional. It’s not. If a buyer has the right to discriminate against a service provider because they choose not to accept the terms of this Work View service, then that is not completely optional. Remember, even signing a contract saying you’re an IC while being treated as an employee does not supercede the determination based on the actual working relationship. Opting into this would therefore logically be no different. (And if someone wants to claim it is, please explain because it must be beyond me.) Is Elance directly hurting your independent contractor status? No. But they’re putting a tool in the hands of buyers who may or may not know any better — a tool that allows the buyer to cross that line on the majority of fronts listed above.

What can you do if a client forces you to make too many concessions? Do you just have to sit back and take it, paying more taxes, covering your own benefits, and still giving up control in your own business? No. If you feel that an individual client was really an employer (who should have been covering these costs), you can fill out IRS form SS-8 and let the IRS make an official determination for you based on the unique facts in your case. But please… don’t make the situation worse for freelancers all across the country by essentially telling buyers it’s okay to impose on freelance professionals. If you tell them it’s okay with you, they’ll think it’s okay with the rest of us as well. It’s not. And I hope you have more self-respect than that. If you want guaranteed pay and someone looking over your shoulder while you work, you already have an option for that — become an employee instead.

What do you think of tools like Elance’s Work View service or the similar service from Odesk? Share your thoughts in the comments. My thoughts? I’m incredibly sad to see Elance disregard contractors in this way even if they’re doing so with honorable intentions. And until this tool is killed we unfortunately cannot support them within the freelance writing community.

Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer and this article is not meant to serve as legal advice. Employment law varies based on location. The information cited here is in reference to work completed by U.S. based workers. Please consult an employment attorney if you have questions about your specific situation.

After the experiment I laid off for a little while—you know how it is, it’s fun to flirt once in a while but you don’t want a lifetime commitment or anything. But then, I noticed my business was getting a little slow. I had been booked solid for a couple of months and as a result I hadn’t been marketing as much as I should have and I hadn’t been as active on LinkedIn or Twitter. By the time I finished up all of my existing obligations I was left without any projects other than my regulars and I wasn’t as visible to my target clients.

So I turned to Elance for support and although I still haven’t found a way to get up to my normal rates on Elance I have found that it’s a great way to make what I am comfortable calling decent money without a lot of marketing effort and since I’ve streamlined my client selection process so I don’t deal with as many nervous or controlling clients (check out the feedback the client has given to other providers before you bid), it’s been a real pleasure. It’s not a long-term plan for me, but it’s a great way to get gigs quickly and pay the bills. Since they’ve upgraded their system you can now save search criteria which really helps make searching for gigs faster. Also, since my client proposal is a few pages long and has a visual element, pitching is actually less time consuming through Elance than it is when clients contact me directly.  I also save time because I never need to talk to anyone on the phone and even email exchanges are short.

The important thing about this (and the reason why I’m talking to you about it today) is that I’m not just settling into the Elance groove for the rest of the foreseeable future. With the time I’m saving on marketing, I’ve gotten a little breathing room to work on my own projects: a white paper, a client guide, guest posting to raise my visibility, queries and some freebies for my target clients–all of which will help me get more of those direct client gigs that are within my normal rates and aren’t subject to a fee (Elance charges around 6-10% of the price of your gigs).

And that’s the key–whether you are working for low paying clients right now, Elance, a content mill or any other arrangement that isn’t making you feel completely happy–you’ve got to find the time to do what it takes to get you to your next level. If you don’t then you are probably going to be stuck at your current level for… well… a long time. Because that’s just how it is.

So I’m going to reveal the guts of my operation for your benefit. This is how I curate lists and, like any good recipe, this should be a guideline for you to follow and then tweak to your liking.

Find the Best Sites for Freelance Writing Jobs

To find good freelance writing jobs, you need to pick good sites. Jenn and the rest of us have hopefully given you a good idea of places to search for jobs. If not, here are a few places that you can take a look at. Please note that this isn’t comprehensive, nor is it meant to be. Find your own. Share in the comments if you have any you think I’ve overlooked. For freelance writing jobs, these sites either have great volume, great gigs, or both.

• Craigslist
• Indeed
• ProBlogger’s Job Board
• Mediabistro
• JournalismJobs
• Elance
• Kajiji
• Gumtree

Search Intelligently

Consider the above sites your toolbox. Think of it this way: if you have a hammer but you’ve never swung one, is a hammer worth a damn? These sites will only work for you if you know how to search. Some are simple job lists like JournalismJobs, Elance, Mediabistro, and Problogger with categories to help you sort quickly. Others, like Craigslist, need to be massaged like a search engine to yield the best results. Here is what I do.

First, search Google using a term like “freelance writer” or “blogger” or “copywriter” or whatever else you want to find. Then type in “site:[name of the site]” next to that and search. You should have typed in something like “freelance writer site:craigslist.org” or something like that by this point. Google is actually awesome enough to pull up page after page of pertinent freelance writing jobs for you to peruse. These aren’t sorted in any particular order though.

Second, go to the bar right under the search box. There should be a little blue divider that says Web and then +Show options. Click on the plus to open up a host of options to sort the ads the way you want them. The only sort I use is to look in the past week, but you can choose any time, from a year ago up to just 24 hours ago.

Third, open the interesting listings in a new window. I recommend using tabbed browsing if you don’t already, because you should click on at least a dozen to two dozen freelance writing jobs–if not more–in your search.

Sort through the Junk

At this point, you should have dozens of potential jobs, but not all of these are going to be of interest to you. In fact, out of several dozen freelance writing jobs per week, I find only five or ten that have a published rate. I do have to discard a great many that would be neat to share, but don’t adhere to our guidelines. Those could be golden opportunities for you!

How do you know a job ad is legit? Generally, they will ask for a resume, clips, and a cover letter. Some sites will actually have an application process, but this is rare. I have Googled many a company to ensure that I’m not passing on bad leads to the rest of you. If you’re not sure or your gut tells you something is off, I’ve found that I’m right in about 95% of those cases. Go with that feeling.

At the same time, though, it’s just your resume. Hopefully you’re not sharing any super personal information beyond an email address. Worst case scenario, you apply for a job that pays way too low and you duck out gracefully. I don’t see anything wrong with applying for a job unless it appears to be an absolute ripoff in terms of rate.

There are some special keywords to look out for if you want to know if a job pays but doesn’t have a pay rate published. If the job is a “great opportunity for exposure” or “for college/grad students” or an “internship” then you probably won’t be paid squat. Just above squat is diddly, and that is when your compensation is either based on a bulk rate per number of articles or tied to traffic. In either case, I steer clear.

Why Am I Endangering My Job?

I bet at this point you’re wondering why I’m revealing all my secrets. Well, trust me. You and I both know you’re not doing a job search every single day, even though ideally you should be, just like you should be flossing and eating five servings of vegetables. I’m a search genius–modest too–and I’ve got a lot of experience doing this. My lists will always turn up gems, even on super slow weeks where you’ve hit your head against the wall constantly. Plus, as this blog gains more exposure, employers may just turn to us to do job listings instead of wasting their cash and time on the wilds of Craigslist. Ideally, that would make everyone’s lives easier.

I felt, though, that you should see the innards of my operation. I’m not the type of guy who likes to rely on others constantly, and I totally understand if you start doing this stuff yourself. In fact, I’ve seen some great jobs I can’t list because of no published rate that you’d have kicked yourself for missing, so you should at least be supplementing this weekly list with your own search.

Now here’s where I turn it back to you. What did I miss? What do you do that I don’t or–conversely–what do I do that you don’t? And what do you want to do instead? What would you rather see?

Happy hunting, folks!

With my 20 credits I bid on 16 different jobs. I scored 3 of them for a total of $1,265 worth of work. I bid with rates that were well below my normal rates and got between .04 and .10 per word. I probably should have been more aggressive when bidding just to see what would happen, but I wasn’t. My main goal was to make sure I averaged about $40 per hour writing 1,000 or fewer words because that makes me feel a little bit less like a factory assembly line.

The Gig Scoring

The key to getting gigs on Elance seems to be staying within your proven specialty. What do I mean by proven specialty? I mean the specialty that you can prove you specialize in. Oh, you know exactly what I mean. You can prove it through clips, overall experience in the subject matter, education, certificates…you know…proof.

The proposal that I used for each of the gigs was the same—I know most people suggest that you don’t do that but when I find something that works I tend to stick with it. I only changed the last paragraph to individualize it for each job. My proposal outlines my experience in the financial industry, some of my credits within the industry (licenses, speaking engagements, etc.) and then discusses my writing experience in that industry.

I made sure that the last paragraph (the one I personalized) illustrated a good understanding of what the job posters were looking for and mentioned the reasons I was a good fit for the job. Finally, I attached samples that matched the type of writing and subjects they wanted and a copy of my resume.

The Work

The work was not comparable to the work I do outside of Elance. I don’t know if this is an Elance issue or just an issue with the jobs I went after, but all the clients seemed way more nervous on Elance than any I’ve encountered outside. Normally, when a company contacts me to work with them we chat on the phone, I prepare a proposal and contract summing up what I’ll do and when I’ll do it by, they pay a deposit and I’m off to work. I don’t hear from them again, I don’t get outlines from them, I very rarely get SEO keywords from them (of course, I’m an article/blog and content writer not an SEO specialist)–they really leave everything in my hands.

Not so on Elance.

Elance clients all seemed to have this really confined process and made me stick to these annoying formats. I was given outlines, strict SEO guidelines (so strict that I had to start every article with a certain keyword), and rigid formatting instructions. I don’t think there is anything wrong with the clients doing this, mind you, but I didn’t enjoy it as much as I do my normal work. Interestingly, the most restrictive and difficult gigs were the low bid ones. I think we can all agree that this usually holds true outside of Elance as well.

The Verdict

Ugh, it’s hard to give Elance a final verdict. I think that Elance offers a great platform for earning more money than you will with content mills with no additional work or research (if you stay within your specialty as you would a content mill) and offers a lot of variety. Of the $1,265 worth of work I scored, 75% of it came from the .04 per word client. Because it was within my specialty I was able to write relatively quickly, but it was such a big order I don’t think I’d want to do it again (I’m actually still working on this one…feels like I may be working on it forever…). Also, it’s important to remember that Elance takes roughly 5%-10% in fees.

My big tactical error was bidding way too low on that bulk order. That was a huge and costly mistake because it dragged my hourly average down to $40–had I gone even one penny higher per word it would have brought me to an average of about $50 per hour, for the same amount of work.

If you are looking for:

• A foot in the freelance writing door
• A way out of the content mills
• A way to supplement your income while you build your client list
• A flexible income that allows you to give yourself “raises” as you gain experience and feedback
• Little time spent marketing

then I think Elance could be a good arrow in your quiver.

Oh yeah and…

• Unless you are desperate for cash, don’t feel like you have to bid too low.
• Bidding too low, even if you are desperate for some cheddar, can work against you. The people who post jobs on Elance aren’t necessarily looking for cheap workers, they are using Elance to protect them from getting screwed and to make the writer-seeking effort easier.
• Bid on those gigs that you can really make a case for scoring.
• Checkout the job poster’s portfolio before you bid. I wasted a lot of credits on jobs that were offered by people who had never awarded jobs on Elance before. Had I checked out their profile before bidding, I might not have made that mistake.

Oh, one last thing, two of the clients I worked with decided to move their future jobs off site in order to continue to work with me. This is not allowed by Elance but since I scheduled my account for closure it was necessary for them to do so. These two clients were in the higher end of my bid rates so it is possible to get repeat work at decent rates which can cut down on future your marketing expenses.

I’m Alex Yoon, a member of the internal team here at Elance, and I came across your blog post discussing ElanceEnergy and felt that I should reach out and clarify a few things that would help answer questions that you and your readers may have.

As the commenter “Salma” mentioned, Elance Energy is an entrant into our The New Way To Work contest and does not have a formal relationship with Elance of any kind. Branding issues aside, if Wesley Asbell chooses to find his contractors or freelancers through Craigslist or other formats, that’s his choice and is completely independent to Elance, but we here at Elance stand by and use skilled professionals in our Provider Network on a daily basis to fulfill a wide variety of tasks, ranging from writing, programming, customer support, quality assurance, and more.

The article is based on the belief that Elance Energy and Elance are one in the same or is a part of our business when it’s not true. If you could please correct the article as soon as possible to reflect this, we here at Elance would greatly appreciate it.

—

As you all may or may not know, I post jobs here weekly. But I’m more than just a human version of Monster.com–I’ve got dreams and aspirations. I’ve got a sense of humor too. And I do a biweekly column in which I talk about humorous aspects of blogging, freelancing, and all that.

Yesterday, my dual capacity here on AFW ended up colliding. Let me show you this little ad I found on Craigslist. I’m copying the full text in case this is taken down.

Seeking a freelance writer or blogger to write content for our websites. We run and develop numerous websites to help promote existing companies. We are working to expand the content on our social profiles, websites, and create blogs for www.ElanceEnergy.com and ElanceTag (www.elancenergy.com/tag.html). More jobs will follow as we are rapidly growing. We need writer within the next week. Please send your resume, work examples, and rate. Feel free to add your info and content to our twitter page and facebook group. Looking for a telecommuter that is quick and has great writing skills. Compensation: $20 – $70 based on experience.

Did you see who that’s for? Elance.com, one of the biggest freelance bidding sites out there. What in the heck are they doing on Craigslist, trolling for people to create content? This is bad. This is potentially really bad. Maybe this is only some sort of promotional thing to do some branding for Elance, but I’m not convinced–the ad was only placed in the San Francisco Craigslist, and having been tricked by the bait-and-switch before, they usually don’t ask for samples.

To summarize: Elance is not even using their own service to find writers.

To illustrate my point a little better, let’s think of what this would be like in other industries:

• Ford executives driving Toyotas
• Coca-Cola employees drinking Pepsi
• A temp agency using another temp agency to staff their receptionist position
• Eating fried chicken with Jillian Michaels
• Philip Morris executives not smoking (oh wait)

Again, to summarize: Elance is using Craigslist to find a writer rather than using their own site–which they talk about being really super awesome–to find one. On top of THAT, they misspelled the URL of the site they want you to write for. And now, gentle readers, I am going to lay down with a wet cloth on my head. I officially have a headache from trying to figure out what the hell they were thinking.

Why am I happy? Well, because I have to be or otherwise it would mean I did something wrong. Okay, kidding. I’m happy because, from the way this transpired, I think I was saved from a gig that would not have gone well. Or not…who knows.

The Dish

Okay, so this all started on Elance. Huh? Elance? You can get high paying gigs on Elance? Ummm….yeah…but you have to know how–and I’m not going to get into that until next week.

On Elance one morning I found this posting to rewrite a series 7 study manual into something people could learn from and enjoy. The pay was $400 per chapter and would have amounted to $6,800 total. I bid for the gig and was one of the people the company decided would be a good fit. So they sent me a message with a copy of the manual and asked me to do a 3-5 page rewrite for them so they could see what I would do and compare it to the other writer’s revisions.

Say what?

I responded to the hiring…guy…and told him that I’d be happy to send additional samples if he needed to see them and gave him links to some more stuff I’d written that I thought fit the tone of what he wanted. He responded back that my samples and resume were all well and good, but they’d be making their decision based on these custom-written samples of 3-5 pages. Here was my response:

I’ll have to respectfully decline. Thank you for the consideration and good luck with your choice.

I’m not going to share his response with you because I don’t think that it’s appropriate, but I will tell you it involved this: ?????

Now, I could have assumed he had peanut butter in his question mark key so it got stuck and that’s why there were all kinds of question marks in his response, but instead I assumed that he was curious about my decision to pull myself out of the running. So I responded to ???? with:

It isn’t practical for a writer to give every prospective client a free sample. It is cost prohibitive, supplies the potential client with free content that the writer would normally get paid for, and should not be necessary when samples and recommendations are available. It’s like commissioning an artist to paint a portrait–you would not ask for a free portrait so you could compare multiple artists. You would examine their prior work and make a decision. The same goes with builders, financial advisors (a few commission-free trades just to test them out and compare their instincts?), house painters, landscapers, etc.

Asking for a free sample that will take hours to complete shows a disrespect for the writer’s professional experience, time and talent. If you were really blown away by a writer’s samples and experience, you would have the respect necessary to hire based on that. Since that is not the case, I would guess you haven’t found the right writer yet and I will just take myself out of the running while thanking you for your consideration.

You should know that at this point I no longer wanted the gig. It’s not like I don’t understand where he is coming from–I mean, crappy writers abound. People who say they can do something, when they aren’t actually sure they can, crop up in spades and writers are a quarter a dozen–so I really do get where he is coming from. But wanting the gig and needing the gig are two different things. I don’t want to work with someone who is going to ask for THREE TO FIVE PAGES OF FREE WORK. You know, if the guy had asked for a page I wouldn’t have been so hard on him–although I still would have explained my objections.

He responded that he felt I was wrong, that they had been overwhelmed with responses, had narrowed it down to just four of us and that I was the only writer who had a problem submitting the unpaid sample work–which must mean that I’m wrong…right? He also said that they show a “glimpse” of this course to prospective students before they sign up and that offering this “glimpse” at the course before they buy had increased their business exponentially. Um…really? Wow, I guess that’s exactly the same as this situation…oh…wait a minute….:

I don’t really want to belabor the point, but a free glimpse at the course is not taking time (and therefore money) out of your pocket with each viewer and is standard procedure for a course like this. If the prospective students don’t like the “glimpse” they move on. You have your content to sell to other students and it took no additional time out of your billable hours to show the sample to your prospective students. I provide the same free glimpse at my work and worthiness through existing samples, not newly developed, custom content.

Best of luck with your choice and the manual, it is nice to know that I made it to the final four.

The Lesson?

Oh…well…there is no lesson. Some of you will read this and think, “Yeah–right on girl!” Others will read this and think, “Oh my, who does she think she is? So cocky that one…harumpf.” And still others will think, “I read all this and she didn’t talk about crack whores one single time? What a waste.”

The lesson is, there is no lesson. It’s your business, you do what you need to do. Seriously, if my cats were starving or in need of cosmetic surgery, I probably would have just done the samples and tried to get the gig. But my cats are beautiful and don’t need surgery and my table runneth over so I made the business decision to do what I thought was right.

So?

1. If you judge freelance writing as a whole based on a single site or type of site, you’re choosing to look at the situation with blinders on. There is far more out there — high-paying freelance writing work at that. But if you rely on it to be advertised and laid out in front of you to bid on it, you’re going to be sorely disappointed. That’s not how the bulk of the pro-level markets work.
2. Yes, some writers do choose to “whore themselves out.” But why should you care? You shouldn’t! (At least not in reference to your own ability to find work.) If you’re above the jobs and rates on Elance, then stay off of Elance! It’s not that difficult. You need to go where your own target market is (the people who want work in your specialty area, and who are willing to pay within your rate range). In this case, the author’s target market obviously doesn’t look to Elance when looking for writers like him. When you work as a service provider, it’s your job to make yourself visible and accessible so potential clients can find you. It’s not their responsibility to throw jobs out publicly just to make it easier on you.

More interesting is that the author mentions wishing he could organize a writer’s strike over things like this. Look. If your mission is to help other writers realize there are better options out there, then go ahead and discuss the issue and share other ideas. If your concern is just finding jobs of your own, then a strike will do nothing. Why? Because those clients weren’t in your market in the first place. They couldn’t care less if you go on strike. There will always be other low-rate writers to replace the ones who leave. On the other hand, to people who actually would pay you higher rates to begin with, you just make yourself look ignorant and you risk alienating the people who otherwise would have been happy to hire you.

If you aren’t happy with the freelance writing marketplace you’re immersed in, then get out of the pool. Specialize. Choose the right target market. Understand your own value to that market. Focus on building your writer platform. Build your network to get referrals. And if you need filler gigs while you’re doing those things, then start looking at other places to find freelance writing jobs. It doesn’t take as long as you might think.  Also remember this — all of the time you spend hanging out in the wrong places (like Elance in this case), complaining, or planning strikes is time wasted that could have gone into making you more visible to the clients who actually matter — those that will pay you what you’re worth!