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by Karen Lacey
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Elance
Cover
Title Page
Dedication
Copyright
Contents
Introduction
Part 1: The New Way of Doing Business
1 Welcome to the Twenty-First Century
Going Virtual
Introduction to Elance Terms
The Freelancer Explosion
A New Kind of Freedom
Full Time, Part Time, Nap Time
Three Kids and a Kitchen Table
The Online Opportunity for Businesses
What’s the Fuss About?
The Story of Matthew Stibbe
Freelancing Is a Job
Hiring in the Cloud
2 The Virtual You
Registering on Elance
Becoming a Client
Becoming a Contractor
Connects
The Critical First Impression
Your New Work World
Why You
Be the 10!
Think Like a Client
Be a Client
What’s Sealing the Deal?
Who Would You Hire?
Red Flags
The Competition
Research
What’s Working and What’s Not
To Niche or Not to Niche
Part 2: Selling Your Services as an Elance Contractor
3 Contractor Accounts and Fees
Account Types
The Basic Elance Account
Individual Accounts
Business Accounts
Elance Fees
Account Fees
Service Fees
Connects and Categories
4 Contractor Profiles That Sell
The Elance Advantage
Profile Views
Finding and Editing Your Profile
Painting the Profile Picture
Upload a Photo
Profile Basics
Display Name
Tagline
Minimum Hourly Rate
YouTube Video
Overview
Service Description
Payment Terms
Keywords
Job History and Snapshot
Levels
Your Portfolio and Sample Work
Skills
Employment and Education
5 Winning Projects as a Contractor
The Job Search
Finding Jobs in Your Category
Price and Time
That Little Box in the Corner
Saving Searches
Maximizing Client Searches
Assessing Jobs
Lookin’ Good
The Project Description
The Client Profile
Red Flags a Flyin’
Utilizing the New You
Which Projects to Bid On
Developing a Competitive Edge
Making the Personal Connection
6 Crafting Killer Proposals
First Contact
Let Them Know You Listened
It’s About the Client
Be Genuine
Plan of Action
Questions and Ideas
Why Me?
Enthusiasm Is Contagious
The Copy and Paste Folly
Basic Proposal Structure
Sample Proposal
Pricing Your Services
In the Beginning
As You Progress
A Pricing Formula
Pricing Red Flags
Negotiating
The Mechanics of Submitting a Proposal
The Nonproposal Proposal
7 Managing Projects—Your Time to Shine
You’ve Been Awarded the Job, Yikes!
Elance Tools
The My Jobs Page
Workroom
File Sharing
Terms and Milestones
Status Reports
Keep It on Elance
Managing Your Team
The Competitive Edge
Stay In Touch
Take the High Road
Get Ongoing Feedback
The Extra Mile
Boundaries
8 Tips for Beginning Contractors
You Can Succeed
All You Need Is a Toehold
Quality Is Key
Promoting Your Strengths
Emphasize Your Profile
Special Talents
Past Experiences
Eager to Succeed
Follow Up
Communicate!
Do the Hustle: The Numbers Game
Most Common Pitfalls
The Subject of Underbidding
Deliver, Deliver, Deliver
Ask for Great Feedback
Keep At It!
Part 3: Growing Your Business as an Elance Client
9 Attracting the Best—The Client Image
The Key to Top Talent
The Client Profile
Two Views Top Talent Will Use
Profile Extras
The Freelancer Universe
Like Attracts Like
A Look in the Mirror
First Impressions
Spelling Counts
Clarity
Job History
Proactive Attraction
10 Targeting Top Talent
Focus Your Project
Contractor Categories
Target Your Contractor
Keywords
Individuals vs. Companies
Specialists vs. Generalists
The Search Sort
Categories and Tested Skills
Location
Feedback
Reviews, Hourly Rates, and Groups
The Cumulative Effect
Don’t Overlook the Newbie
Posting Your Job
Nuts and Bolts
Inviting Contractors
Elance Search Results
11 Laserlike Job Postings
It Boils Down to …
Clarity Begins at Home
What’s in a Name?
The Nitty-Gritty
Research
And If You Still Don’t Know
Pricing Your Project
Sample Job Posting
Elance Templates
The Contractors’ View
A Productive Posting Structure
Summary
Details
Questions and Why You?
Streamline
12 Selecting the Right Contractor
Hiring Online vs. In Person
Determine Your Hiring Criteria
It’s a Tsunami!
The Proposal Page
Overview
The Proposals
Assessing the Proposals
Did They Listen?
Questions Answered?
Do They Understand?
Tally Up
Reviewing Profiles
Get Proactive
Key Questions
Test-Drives
The Phone Interview
Diamonds in the Rough
The Bottom Line
Closing the Deal
13 Managing Your Projects
Navigating the Elance Workroom
Prefunding Milestones
File Sharing and Status Reports
Teams
Tracker and Work View
Pros and Cons
Using Tracker and Work View
Wondrous Widgets
Screen Sharing
Video Conferencing
To-Do Lists
Code Sharing
The Contractor-Client Relationship
Use Your Virtual Office
How Much to Manage
Fostering Loyalty and Excellence
Part 4: Advanced Elancing for Contractors and Clients
14 The Nuts and Bolts of the Deal
Protecting Both Sides
Project Agreements
NDAs
Client/Contractor Agreements
Change Order Agreement and Letter of Engagement
Agreements with Elance
Terms of Service
Service Agreements
Protection Online
Elance Policies
Protect Your Account
Privacy and Elance
15 Managing Your Account—and Your Money
Really Important Settings to Know
My User Info
Notification Settings
My Availability
Client & Job Preferences
All That Other Stuff
Put It in Escrow
Escrow Management for Contractors
Escrow Management for Clients
Stopping Payment
Project Payment Options
Fixed Fee vs. Hourly Pay
Hourly Work Guarantee
Following the Money
Your Financial Accounts
Financial Transactions
Bringing Home the Bacon
Global Payments
16 Leveraging Your Elance Experience
Don’t Miss Out
Following the Footsteps
Top Clients
Ken Lancaster
Steffen Hedebrandt
Ramon Ray
Top Contractors
Julie Babikin
Khrystyne Robillard-Smith
Ron Zvagelsky
Crucial Feedback and Ratings
Ask for It
Set the Example
What to Do with Bad Feedback
Marketing Yourself
Social Media and Elance
You Don’t Have a Website?
17 Troubleshooting Guide
Breaking the Rules
Oops, I Did What?
Refund, Cancel or Dispute
Refunding Payments
Canceling Projects
Project Disputes
Getting Back on Track
Project Posting and Proposal
Workroom Messages, Terms and Milestones, and Agreements
Save, Save, Save
The Higher Road
Contacting Elance
18 The Elance Community
You’re Not Alone
Hot Spots
The Elance Blog
The Water Cooler
Health Insurance
Professional Perks
Affiliates Program
Referral Program
The Elance University
In Summary
Appendixes
A Glossary
B Sample Proposals and Job Postings
Index
About the Author
Search in book...
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