We get it. Freelancing can be a tough gig to come by, and sometimes you can do everything right and still come up short of jobs. If you are one of those people, we wish you the best of luck and a world of patience in your continuing search for clients.
However, sometimes the key to success is as shockingly simple as tweaking a profile picture or lowering your rates.
Consider the following common online freelancing mistakes
to be sure you are getting it right :
1. Your profile picture is working against you. Unsmiling, grainy, sexy, or poor quality profile pictures can be devastating to your online freelancing career. You need a high resolution head shot with a pleasant smile — no naked shoulders or shirts bedazzled with “S-E-X-Y” allowed. Check out Jessica Swanson’s 10 Profile Picture Disasters to be sure you aren’t one of them.
2. Your language skills are detracting from your work experience. Misspellings, poor grammar and texting lingo are red flags to clients no matter what kind of work you do. Spell check should be a way of life and an online grammar class may be the best investment you ever make. Read the 10 Most Common Grammar Mistakes and never make them again.
3. You lack online proof of your abilities. No matter what you do, you must find a way to showcase your skills through an online resume or portfolio. If your skills are difficult to prove online, ask previous employers for letters of recommendation to be scanned or quoted online. You can, and should, Build a Killer Online Portfolio.
4. You don’t have the experience most clients are looking for. You cannot expect to launch a brand new career online with no experience. Possible? Yes. Carlo Feliciano did it. But set yourself on the path to success by bringing “real world” experience in your freelance niche.
5. Your low rates are making you look unqualified. The value of a dollar is relative, we know. However, if you are the cheapest deal around, you also look like the least valuable deal around. Show confidence in the quality of your work and others will too. Find the right fee for you.
6. Your high rates are making you unaffordable to clients. If you really have the experience to charge that much, but are not being snatched up online, you’re probably shooting too high. Lower your rates for first-time clients, so you have a chance to show them you’re worth it. Then read this piece about raising your rates.
7. You are too difficult to get in touch with. In the online freelance world, hiring decisions are often made in hours, not days. If you aren’t getting back to people within a few hours or less, someone else is beating you to the punch and getting the job. Replying promptly is #4 on this important list for designers and every other freelancer as well.
8. You are coming across as desperate. It’s okay to vent the frustration of unemployment, but do it among friends. In the online world prospective clients need to see you as in-demand and successful. Lying isn’t necessary, just don’t wear your desperation everywhere you go.
Learn the fine art of social networking – hint: it’s not about broadcasting your need for work.
9. You are waiting for work to come to you. You need to apply for jobs in your specific field on a daily, if not hourly, basis. Simply asking for work on Facebook and other social media forums is not what pitching or networking is about, and is not going to get you a job any more than standing on a street corner with a sign. Apply, apply, apply and then try these 101 tips.
10. You haven’t found your freelance niche. It may be time to look at what you are offering clients. Think hard about your work and life experience, interests and education. Are you incorporating your areas of expertise into your freelance career? You might be more successful if you do.
Freelancing is not the right career path for everyone – any more than the medical field is the right career path for everyone. Still, you need to give yourself time to succeed. Be patient and ask other freelancers for advice and feedback in our provider forums.
Really Useful tips for me as a new freelancer.Thanks a lot Tamara
I like this job, Help e!
please help me . How to get started on odesk job ,
This is a great post. Now I get the point. Thank you very much.
great post Tamara,
I got it clear with your link of example/another article explaining about the subject
I have a very good odesk background with proven excellent track record and I charge $3 an hour. But I still find it very2x hard to get hired. Maybe because of the $3 on my profile. People who work for $1 an hour get’s selected. Damn it.
I have hired over 30 people, and the #1 reason I don’t hire is because the job posting instructions were ignored.
Hey Bonnie
Thats a +1 from me.
I have said “No database & No eCommerce” in a job ad. & then I get offers that say I’m a guru in MySQL & Shopping Cart – so I’m left thinking they cant comprehend english at best or at worst they are not really interested in my requirements.
The other issue I have had in the past is someone will provide a quote & then they dont respond when you email them
NG
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This is a helpful article. I have been getting constant freelance jobs so I must be doing something right! Thanks for the tips.
Wow, it’s nice to see someone with a profile photo here… maybe that’s also working to your favor. (article point #1)
odesk provide good work all over the world
odesk provide good online plateform alll over the world
Hi Muhammad Saheer,
How can join this…. Pleas tell me
Thanks for the tips, Tamara! They are awesome!
shymal
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Great post. This post should encourage weary freelancers to get back on track. I agree that with patience you never end up looking frustrated on your job application.
Great article. Nice tips..Very informative and helpful to all freelancers. Very good job. You hit all the points and tips that makes the freelancers aren’t getting any work. Thanks a lot!
i am commerce backgroud so want do work of book keeping and financial accouting
Thank you for this article. A lot of good tips in it
Thanks Odesk, For this great information
Thanks,
for your good tips. Now i am learning website design and development. now give me some tips.
Regards,
Kalu
Great article and comments. Being from a developing world, i’m quite happy to find oDesk. However, I’ll try to match international rates after working on few projects. Please write more articles like these to create awareness among people about what they might be losing when working for cheap.
Don’t know about this column.
Appreciable.
Due to overload at office i could not work on odesk, kindly send me the work desired
MSR
Thanks Odesk, For this great information’s, Really this is very help full to all the Freshers.
Its Amazing to work with odesk, Its really change my Life. Now I feel more comfortable with my IT career.
Thanks
Dolly Bhatia
Creative Mind’s Outsource’s
Just when I was about to throw in the towel, ODesk sent this blog as if reading my mind. Good article, valid points – but I too feel exactly like Someone. My field of expertise is Accounting & Finance and I am so disappointed with my freelance experience and what I perceive as the trend for this line of work.
Although not perfect, I’m sure, my profile is professional and I always prepare a custom cover letter and tailor the proposal for each job I bid on. What have I gotten in return? Either nothing or a decline. When I check to see which provider was awarded the job, by and large it is always to a person or firm from a developing country who bid – you guessed it – $5 USD/Hr!
So, I too believe that these freelance sites attract mostly buyers looking for cheap labor. Sure there are exceptions, but how long and how broke before a provider just gives up trying to find them – assuming the buyer will take the chance on you in the first place, especially if you’re a new provider.
Lastly, the argument that the buyer will get what they pay for isn’t always valid. Many of these providers from developing countries are well established on the freelance sites with strong track records – meaning they are good at what they do and the buyers are satisfied with their services.
Sorry I sound so “doom & gloom” – really, I’m not like that – but I too am frustrated and on the verge of giving up on the freelance sites.
This post really helps me a lot in learning the keys to successful freelance writing.
thanks a lot. the links are best.
@ALL
Thanks for your input… maybe I’ll give is another try sometime…
I agree Tamara. It sounds like my experience was very similar to yours. I can imagine ODesk would not work for everyone, but it worked for me and at a time I was struggling financially. It enabled me to get foothold, demonostrate and broaden my experience. For that I will always be thankful in ODesk for helping me to achieve that.
Hi, “Someone.” If you’ll look back at my post, I never suggested you work for $5 an hour. I simply suggested working for less than you ordinarily would on a few very small projects. I did. It worked for me. And when you are broke, as I was, any money is better than none, even if it is $10 less an hour than you usually would make. One of my current buyers pays me twice what my first buyer did.
Odesk is not for everyone, however, I disagree that hourly rate is the bottom line here. It’s not the bottom line for a lot of buyers. Once you have a good rating–and you have to complete jobs to do this–buyers will come looking for you and will pay you what you are worth.
Hang in there. It takes time, but oDesk can work very well. It has worked well for a lot of people–not just those who work for cheap.
I find what wins me work is the cover letter I sent to clients. There will always be clients who want something for nothing, on any site, but the ones who know the business and are genuinely worth working for are impressed by what you can offer them – rather than how much you charge.
All I am trying to do is offer the benefit of what worked for me.
@Someone Not in my experience and I am in the same line of work as you. I have applied for and succesfully obtained jobs when I was the one charging the most. I can only speak from the experience of someone who has made a success out of ODesk. If you think different, thats fine, but speaking as someone who doesnt charge $5 an hour but is still getting clients contacting her daily to work for them (and am now turning down)… well, needless to say, we can only speak as we find! I wish you all the best
Ok you are missing the point here. The problem is NOT my portfolio OR my CV and I’m leaning new things everyday. The problem is that the main criteria for getting a job is the hourly rate!
There is nothing to debate on about the rates. Some other sites for example, specifically web designing and creative graphics designing found oDesk as their market place. The reason “Why” they are offering a low rate at the start for them to rest assured that they pick the right person for the right position. Once they know what are your abilities and your capabilities you don’t need to ask for rate raised…. it will come to you genuinely and automatically granting without any request… I can barely say that because that was really happen to me….
You should also keep learning. Always try to learn something new every time. Odesk is a good place to know what is hot.
@Someone She is just telling you to consider reducing your hourly rate to $5 per hour. I most certainly didn
Very well said. Thank you for this article!
@Tamara
That is all true, but I don’t need to go broke so I can get a high rating in order to get better jobs! I charge from 30 – 40 USD/h for my work and you are telling me to start from 5USD/h???? That is just silly… I’m sure that I’m not the only one having this problem
and also not the 1st to forget about Odesk!
Thanks for all the feedback. We took out the link in number five. I’ll try to find a replacement for it asap. The rest of the links are all working fine as of now.
“Someone,” you are right, it is hard to compete with cheap labor, but with patience, it can be done. A lot of companies and buyers recognize that cheaper is not necessarily better. Eliza is right, what may seem to you like a portfolio, image, etc. that directly shows your qualifications–which are many–may not in fact be doing the best for you. Be sure to get feedback on your profile in the oDesk forums.
It’s also smart, as she indicates, to work for less initially on a few small jobs. Once you get the ball rolling, and have been hired several times, you can raise your rates. You need to get a good rating. Buyers want to see that you have been hired a few times on oDesk and have done well, just as providers like to see that a buyer has done business on oDesk before and has been highly rated.
There may be a lot of cheap labour on ODesk and this may affect your chances to a certain degree, but I have never had any issues. I started off my asking a low but fair amount and have been steadily increasing my rates since to fair compensation. However this has not affected my ability to find work, in fact I have not had to apply for any positions for over a month because people come to me. I would still advise looking over your profile and revising your cover letter just to be on the safe side.
Well this is all true, but… I have been trying to get some freelance work on Odesk and its just not happening! Its not my CV, portfolio profile picture or anything that has to do with me! I’m a professional web designer and frontend developer for the past 6 year, with a collage degree and I speak 3 languages! In the past I worked for global advertising agencies.
The realty of oDesk is cheap labor!!! Providers are taking advantage of people from developing countries that “know” everything from C, PHP, HTML, CSS, Java, JavaScript, AS3, Flash, Marketing, SEO, 3D modeling, Kung-fu and so on… for 5USD/h!!!!
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Thanks helped alot
#2) I’ve been keeping a list of misspellings on the web. They’re everywhere! I even found them on oDesk. I found one on the Sierra Club website and they asked me to proofread for them.
$4) People don’t hire wannabes. You can’t find a job without experience and you don’t get experience without getting hired.
Great Article Tamara! Two thumbs up for this.
Nice tips ! keep up the good work !
This place had been the great for people who are expertise in their fields.
The point 9 is suited for most as they stick to what hey are doing and don’t go for thing .
These tips had helped greatly.
Some great tips there. External articles are great, too. I would like to add a couple of tips.
1. Cover letters MUST NOT be generic. Yes, it takes time to write a specialized cover letter each time, but that’s really worth it.
2. Devotion on the part of the provider. A provider MUST do the assigned work with total involvement, involvement as the work is for their own business. Being a writer, I have found that I am able to give some decent suggestions for improvements as I work believing the client’s business is mine and I am the one who MUST see it prosper by leaps and bounds.
Note: While the second tip is not directly helpful for securing a work, it can lead to more, referred works.
The link contained in point 6 no longer works http://freelancingandmore.wordpress.com/2009/01/10/freelance-rates/
Now reads “The authors have deleted this blog. The content is no longer available.”
Lucky for you guys the links are all working. Poor I am, cause none of those links are working when I click on them. On the other hand, this information helps me a lot. Thanks!
Thanks for the enlightenment. I do appreciate it.
Nice one. I am getting some now but will remember these to avoid the bad patch.
Thank you! Quite useful.
Great post Tamara.
Just noticed that the “Find the right fee for you.” link is broken.
Thanks for sharing
Tamara,
This is really good article, thank you.
Just noticed that “Find the right fee for you” link looks like broken.
Could you please check it and let us know, thanks.
Brilliant article, thanks for the insight.
Nice tips ! keep up the good work !
Thanks for the advice. I really appreciated the link to
the additional tips at Freelance Switch.
Thanks, guys. Candace, you make a great point. regarding rates. Well said.
This is really an excellent check list. Number 10 is especially great, it’s so important to find your niche. Everyone has a a passion or area of expertise, and it’s probably the most valuable skill they can bring to the table.
Thanks once again Tamara
All the external links you’ve provided are awesome!!
You’ve got the right notch.
regards
Thanks Tamara
Very good post. You really hit home with the question of rates. Too many people think they can charge low rates just to get in the door, but they are underrating themselves. A smart business owner/client knows you are worth the wages you quote. If you have the ability to show the client that you are worth your quoted rate, they will hire you regardless. And if a client rejects a bid saying the rate was too high, don’t worry. They’ll get what they paid for and you’ll be hired to clean up the mess.
Thanks, Prasen.
Its really one of the awesome!!:) which ‘ll help every freelancer.
Regards~
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