Hot Spots

Hover your mouse over Resources in the main top toolbar, and the drop-down menu will provide you with a variety of choices. For this chapter, the ones we’re interested in are Special Offers, Blogs, Elance University, Referral Program, and the Water Cooler.

These are places you should return to regularly for new information. Make it a habit once a month to click through these features and see what’s new and what you can learn. Over time, this will add to your arsenal of productive ideas and contacts.

The Elance Blog

Locate the Elance blog through the Resources drop-down menu or the footer on each page. Within the blog you will find a plethora of good ideas and advice from Elance members and staff. Articles are regularly posted here, and often they’re written by contractors and clients. It’s good practice to visit the blog frequently.

You can find great tips and practical advice, and you can comment and receive responses from the author. When new applications or tools are rolled out, you will read about them here.

BEST PRACTICES

Success stories provide glimpses into how other people harnessed the virtual work world. Hunt these down on the blog and study them for what can apply to you. Not everything will, but the ideas that do are priceless.

Also, use the blog search mechanism and blog topics box to locate articles that will help you on whatever questions you want answered. The range of subjects is high and the archive goes back several years. You can also offer to write a blog article yourself, which is a great way to give back to the community.

The Water Cooler

The Water Cooler, shown in Figure 18.1, is a unique and colorful feature mainly used by contractors and some clients. This is where members can actively post comments, opinions, and questions and other Elancers and staff members will respond. It can get lively and sometimes heated, so be prepared.

Figure 18.1: The Water Cooler forum.

To get here, hover your mouse over Resources in the main toolbar and click on Water Cooler. Here you will have a menu of choices for places to learn and exchange information.

Check out the areas where Elance members go to discuss the issues of the day. Post your own question or comment, or respond to others. You can get a strong community feeling if you spend much time here. Certain people regularly post and others less frequently, but it’s a great place to shake off the cyber-loneliness that can sometimes lurk.

The Water Cooler is also where Elancers vent with few restrictions. You can learn a lot, but you can also get sucked into time-wasting complaining and dead ends. Tread carefully.