Two wrongs may not make a right, but sometimes they cancel each other out.

[shirenomad]

One of the things that annoyed me about this incident is that I had renewed my Elance account two days before the insults started flying. Granted, I'd only gotten one job out of the three-month subscription, but it had earned me $52, and I'd only paid $25 for the subscription. And now that I actually had a job under my belt, maybe I'd have better luck getting more clients.

Both arguments to continue my membership fell apart when Bozo the Client demanded his money back and gave me a D+ feedback in one motion. My one other experience with Elance hadn't been that great for the contractor either; it was the time my boss hired someone to do some advertising and then never was able to decide what he actually wanted from her. Between those two incidents, I suddenly had very little faith that this site was worth even $25.

Unfortunately, it was too late to retract my subscription fee, no matter how much I suddenly wanted to -- I was stuck for another three months.

...Or was I? See, the resubscription process is pretty automated. I just say okay and they charge my credit card again. The same credit card I used last time. Last time being three months ago. As in, before this.

Yup, Elance came to me and let me know my credit card wasn't any good anymore, and would I please give them a valid number? I said no, goodbye, and terminated my account on the spot.

Comments

Freelancing is tough.

[chubbypanda.livejournal.com]

This story sounds sadly familiar. I've heard similar tales of woe from other friends who have tried their hand at freelance or contracting work, and I spent some time doing some myself. Here's what I've learned. You've got to be really careful when accepting work. Try to draw up your own standard contract with sections that allow you to sharply define the terms of acceptance, and to limit the number of revision cycles. You may also want to put an absolute upper bound on the total number of man hours you'll allot to the project before adding additional charges, and list a rate for those additional hours. The best way to figure out the upper bound is to figure out how long it will take you to do the project and double it. You can find plenty of great sources online to draw from when drafting your standard contract. Then, when signing with a potential client, insist that they either use the contract you provide, or that they draw up a contract incorporating the key points from your's. If they refuse to compromise on the terms, walk away. The money won't be anywhere near worth the hassle of dealing with an infexible and demanding client. There are a lot of creeps out there willing to take advantage of contractors, so you need to protect yourself.

Bozo the Boss sounds like an ass. You were probably also right to drop Elance, since it sounds like they're not doing much for you. A good way to get freelance work is through word of mouth. Make a sharp, professional looking site listing some past projects and showcasing examples of your work. Donate some free web work to your old high school, middle school, city hall, library, and/or church. Ask them to link to your professional site and mention you to anyone who needs web work done. Ask your father for referrals to other churches that need some web work donated. Some schools may give you free ad space in the school paper for your services. Church circulars and library fliers are also great for this purpose. A surprising number of parents/local business people read both. Your town's local newspaper is a great place to buy ad space if you don't mind spending a few bucks. A lot of local business people and politicians read the local paper to keep their fingers on the pulse of the community. The whole point is to do some accessible, displayable work of recognizable quality and get some free word-of-mouth advertising going. It's not easy, and it takes months of work. But, once you've made the initial investment in growing your business network, it'll sustain itself with very little effort on your part and probably generate a goodly amount of work.

If you try this, I recommend starting with your church and high school, and working your way out from there. G'luck.