Elance Tools

Elance makes it easy to conduct business online. This is no small feat. Think about it; millions of dollars are passed through the system as hundreds of thousands of projects of all types are accepted and completed. Most of these occur without a technical hitch.

Various tools and features exist that allow this work environment to function smoothly. I’ll go through each of them.

The My Jobs Page

When you log in to your Elance account, you will automatically be taken to the My Jobs page. Here, all of your active jobs will be listed, as well as those that have been completed but are not yet archived.

You will refer to this page often so have a good look around. Consider it a key component to your virtual office. When you want to take action of some sort, you can come here to do it. To navigate back to the My Jobs page, simply click on the little house in the upper-left corner of the main Elance toolbar.

Figure 7.1 shows a sample My Jobs page. Notice how jobs are listed on the left half of the page in chronological order, with the most recently awarded projects at the top.

By clicking on the arrow on the right side of the project box, you bring up the milestones and billing summary for that specific project. At a glance you can see what’s next and if you’ve been paid.

In the job box itself is an Actions button that when clicked on creates a drop-down menu with a considerable amount of choices. Clicking on any of the menu items will take you directly to the necessary page. This is a fast and convenient way to take care of business.

Figure 7.1: The My Jobs page lists all your projects and is a go-to area for taking action.

Workroom

If you click on the job title, you will be taken to the workroom for that project (see Figure 7.2). Here everything you see will have to do with that job and none of the others. The amount of information and features available are awesome. Take some time to explore where the various links and boxes take you. I’ll point out the most used and important.

Figure 7.2: The project workroom.

The workroom opens up with the messaging board in the center. This is handy, as it’s where much of the day-to-day activity goes on. The messaging system is set up so you receive them all via email as well.

An advantage to using workroom messaging is that all messages are kept within the Elance system. If you should have a misunderstanding or disagreement of some sort, you can always go back and see exactly what was said.

TOP TIPS

Clients may suggest using private email addresses to communicate, and this is allowed by Elance. However, remember to save all the emails in a specific file dedicated to that project. Also, only messages through the workroom are allowed in any Elance dispute process. Private emails are not.

On the left hand side is a menu of work areas you can access. Just click on the phrase and you will be taken to that part of your “office.” For example, if you click on Billing and Invoices, you will be taken to the page that shows the record of all financial activity for that project and what’s pending. In Chapter 15, I discuss in detail the financial aspects of working on Elance.

File Sharing

Sharing files and documents couldn’t be easier. Simply click on Files on the menu on the left, and the file sharing page will pop up. Here you can see all the files stored on Elance, as well as when they were uploaded and by whom.

If you want to upload a new file, click on Browse and locate the file you want. Click on Open, then click on Upload File. It will appear in the shared file page.

Like with email correspondence, using the Elance system to store and share files is wise. It automatically creates a record of what’s been done, when, and by whom. This is a great way to avoid misunderstandings. Everything’s here, right out in the open, meaning you’re well on your way to reducing work-related stress by avoiding it in the first place.

Terms and Milestones

This area helps enormously in managing your projects for meeting expectations and deadlines. Milestones are used to schedule steps along the way to project completion. Most often, each step also corresponds to the contractor being paid a percentage of the entire project amount.

Figure 7.3: The milestone feature is a great way to show your project’s progress and get paid on time.

Each milestone description is outlined, as well as the delivery date and the amount of payment, as you can see in Figure 7.3. The milestones can be edited and deleted, and new ones may be added. It’s a fluid yet changeable system designed to provide structure.

CYBER SNAGS

A common mistake new contractors make is not clearly setting out what steps are involved in delivering the completed project. Using the milestone feature helps in planning the project, and in communicating this plan to the client.

The Terms & Milestones page also allows you to upload project agreements (which I cover in Chapter 14). At the bottom is a history of all communication regarding changes. It’s necessary for each party to agree to any change before it takes effect. This, too, is documented.

Status Reports

Weekly status reports (see Figure 7.4) are required for each fixed-price project. The contractor submits an online report before midnight on Sunday. Elance will send you an email reminder a couple of days before.

Figure 7.4: Weekly status reports allow both you and the client to determine if the project is on track and if payments are on schedule.

The status report is easy enough to fill out. It will include the date and a snapshot of the milestones reached and those left to go.

You have three options for designating the status of the project for that week: OK, Problem, or Complete. Click OK and green means go, the project is on track. If you click the Problem button, you will be asked to explain what the issue is. Complete means you’ve finished. Normally you only use this after the client has reviewed and approved the final material.

Whichever status option you choose, the client will be notified on the other end of that week’s status report. You can also make comments on the project and upload attachments.