I joined Elance about a month ago and got a job within a couple of weeks, a week after that I got another job. That's when I decided to start my VA business. The first person who hired me is still using my services, so having that first client before starting the business really helps. I found out that alot of people from India are bidding on projects for $2/hr US, so I decided to look up the conversion rate and $2 US is $80 in India! I also found that some people won't tell you all the work that needs to be done until they hire you and you've already committed to the amount bid... So I always bid a little higher and tell them that's a flat rate unless the hours are less in which case I will adjust the price to the lower rate.