Introduction to Elance Terms

Throughout this book I’ll be using certain terms and expressions regularly. I’ll list some of the most common ones here, but these and more will also appear in the glossary.

Contractors. Independent individuals and businesses that provide services on Elance. These are the folks that get hired. I also refer to them as freelancers.

Freelancers. Used interchangeably with contractors, these are the people who use Elance to find work.

Clients. Individuals or businesses that post jobs and hire contractors through Elance.

Bid. Much like on eBay, contractors place a dollar bid on jobs posted by clients. The client does not have to take, and doesn’t always want to take, the lowest bid. Rather, she awards the job to the contractor of her choice.

Job post. Each client will create a job post on the Elance system. The post will describe in detail the work that needs to be done. Interested contractors then place bids on these postings. This is also known as a project posting.

Awarding a Job. When a client chooses the contractor she wants to hire, she awards the job to him. The contractor is then hired and the Elance virtual office infrastructure and features can be utilized.

Proposal. When a contractor places a bid on a job, he will include a written proposal explaining his terms and why he is the best choice for the job.

Profile. Each contractor creates a profile that prospective clients view to help determine if they’re the best fit for their job. Clients also build profiles, but they’re more limited in scope.

Category. Elance separates contractors into different categories depending on the services they provide. For example, a contractor may be in IT & Programming, or in Writing & Translation. Clients post their jobs within these categories.

Connects. A virtual currency used by Elance. You “pay” a certain number of Connects each time you submit a proposal. Each Elance membership plan comes with a monthly allocation of Connects. Paid membership plans allow members to add additional Connects at any time.

Cloud. Because Elance files, data, applications, and programs are managed and stored on the internet, business is considered to be conducted in the cloud.