Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

 

Hello friends.

I`ve read in the magazine about online marketplaces allow companies and freelancers work together. Anyone from any country can respond to the creative briefs of different wellknown companies and be paid professional fees for their ideas

It seems qite perspective. They tell a lot of people work this way.

Does anybody know about such business something? Is it really way to earn money?

elve -- my experience with those kinds of sites is that if you don`t live in the United States you can probably make some decent money. They do have a couple downsides:

• You have to pay before you can bid on a project, with no guarantee that your bid will win
• Competition against other freelancers is very stiff
• If you live in the United States, Australia/NZ, Western Europe or Japan you will never be able to compete on price.

I don`t use those kinds of sites, but depending on what you need, it might work for you. Some people do make a good living there.

—paula

It seems to me that setting up a business as a virtual assistant (VA) would likely be a way to go in this direction. Otherwise, for professional skill sets, it`s no different than companies putting out an open request for a proposal.

I guess my question is about what specifically you`re thinking of doing?

Dear friends thank you for your reply.

About my speciality, i`m a copywriter and work in small agency, but wanted to try myself for other projects over my agency work. I`ve found a few internet marketplaces as elance.com, guru.com, bootb.com.

Did anybody know about them? Is the work really always paid?

Online freelance copywriting is all over the place. Although you may not make a living from only 1 site, you can probably do pretty well if you`re listed on a number of sites.

Copywriters are definitely in need, from what I`m seeing on many Web sites. Open a PayPal account, and that should help you as well.

Elance.com it`s a very good place to find professionals/freelancers. It really works, it was on Elance.com that I found the guy who draw our new company logo.
 Always when I have a new business idea (usually internet related) I go there and post the project, so I can get an idea of how expensive and how complex the project will be.

Elve,
I tend to use as a rule of thumb that if someone asks me to spend money (not effort, only money) to join a site or organization where I`m the one producing the product, it`s not for me.

In other words, if I`m a writer and trying to sell what I write, then why should I spend money to join a site where people are looking for written content? There are plenty of places where I can be involved that don`t cost me money. It should cost the buyer the money, not the seller.

Another way to think of it: How often do you have to pay a cover charge--and entrance fee---to enter a store where you want to shop to buy something? :-)

If these new sites don`t charge you money, then what do you have to lose? Give it a shot, see what happens. If nobody notices you, nobody buys your stuff, then go somewhere else.