Real Life Resource: Elance

As promised in last Wednesday’s Real Life Resource, this week we’ll take a look at Elance. While Elance has a similar premise to Fiverr, I prefer Elance for more in-depth projects. Elance is a global, online staffing platform where companies, organizations and individuals can hire freelance professionals and use online collaboration tools to manage teams and projects. Independent contractors create online profiles and portfolios, submit proposals for jobs, and collaborate and receive payment through the Elance website.

If you’re seeking to hire a freelancer, the first step is to join Elance and link a credit/debit card to your account. Then, you can post a job. Within that job post, you can describe job requirements, set a budget range, and request specific skills. Within a matter of hours, you will start receiving proposals. The sheer volume of responses can be a bit overwhelming, but the good news is at least you’ll have plenty of options. If appropriate for your job, most, if not all, freelancers will provide an online portfolio, so that you can check out their work. For flat rate projects, once you have selected someone to hire, you must actually “fund” the project by paying Elance the agreed upon rate. The money is held in escrow and doesn’t go to the freelancer until the project is over and you authorize release of the funds. Elance also has an hourly rate option, but I have yet to try it.

Once the project has been funded, the fun begins. Elance will provide a virtual workroom for your project through which you and the hired freelancer can set milestones and terms, send messages, and upload documents. The freelancer can also track his or her time and provide status reports. Once you approve the final product, funds will be released, and you can leave a public rating and feedback for the freelancer.

A few tips that I’ve learned along the way:

1. You don’t have to set a budget when posting your job. If you don’t know what your project will cost or simply want freelancers to compete on price, select “not sure” as the budget option. You will receive proposals at every price point imaginable.

2. Elance is a global website, so you will hear from freelancers far and wide. Don’t shy away from independent contractors in another county. They do equally great work, if not better, often at lower rates. One word of caution – sometimes there is a language barrier that can prolong the process. You should be beyond explicit in describing what you need and get as many details as possible hammered out ahead of funding the project.

3. Don’t settle for “take it or leave it” proposals. Most Elance freelancers offer multiple, if not unlimited, revisions on graphic and website design projects. Take advantage! Chances are you won’t be completely satisfied with the first version.

4. Feedback and ratings rule the day. Freelancers want to make you happy.  I have found that if a project is not progressing as expected, it’s usually due to miscommunication. So, if you have an issue, speak up and get it resolved instead of waiting until the project is over and leaving  negative comments.

5. Do not under any circumstance authorize the release of funds until the requisite milestone(s) or final project has been delivered. As you can expect, part of what motivates freelancers to get things done efficiently is wanting to be paid. Once payment has been sent, you’ll have a hard time tracking them down to fix things or finish up. Take my word on this one.

Elance has pretty much replaced Craigslist for me in terms of hiring. It’s more secure, and I’m just happier with the end result in general. I’ve had logos and a brochure designed, as well as two websites built (including this one). There are over 2 million registered freelancers on Elance. You can find programmers, marketers, admins and the like. I’d definitely call it the leading site for sourcing online work. One final thought – if you’re a freelancer yourself, sign up as an independent contractor to start offering your services. Happy hiring and/or job hunting!