Great topic and great link.

I'm not active on Elance, or Guru for that matter anymore, but since my profile is there on those sites I still receive requests to submit a proposal for jobs from PCs. I don't answer them because my time is worth more than what they are willing to pay; and I have bills to pay. I'm not going to settle for $5-$10 an hour (or even less). I find networking with VAs and using social media has been the best way to go for me.

Not saying I wouldn't respond to one that paid a worthwhile rate, though!

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Jules, SunRise Virtual Solutions - WordPress Customization & XHTML/CSS Web Sites

Thanks, great information. I have really thought about Elance, but perhaps I will sign up.

Good information. Agree that is a good way for a newbie to get their feet wet.

Thanks, Amy

What are the sites you can find RFP's on? I know there are some on here but I still can't access them until I have enough posts....

Elance is really very hard to get a job for newbie. Maximum freelance marketplaces are free to join and place bid except Elance. I think this is also a good thing that the provider and buyer are more pure here than the other freelancing sites.

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Virtual Assistants Bangladesh

I got my first two real jobs through elance. They pay more than 5 bucks an hour and actually both did not choose me first go round. They chose someone from a country where 5 an hour is an amazing rate. They got poor quality and spent more time on explaining so when they came to me ( their 2nd choice ) they were happy to pay more. I guess I lucked out.

One of my clients is in Australia and one in the US. It worked out great and both are yearly!


OH and what i did to get noticed was took a really low paying 30 buck job to do some research on a product. The client was terrible and it took her 10 weeks to pay me that small amount. In the meantime I got the two other jobs and thank god I did not give up! I was so close to canceling my account after that mess.

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Dani
http://www.danimagestro.com

That is a great article, and I agree it can beneficial in other proposals as well. I have one question though. I'm sure I am not the only one out there. I know how to use my programs, but do not do well on the skills test which is why I will probably never be certified in MS Office or others. What can we do to overcome this issue? Any thoughts?

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Rhonda Holscher, Owner
Rhonda's Virtual Office - Hire a Virtual Assistant

Hi,
I'm still waiting to have any of my bids accepted, I use Elance, People per hour the most, I used to try Odesk but it is not worth the effort as most of the winning bids are from India for about $1 or $2 an hour. I'm hoping that one day my bid will be accepted and I can get some clients from there to start me off...

I just started my Elance profile thanks to dmages Im stuck on what goes in the 'Profile' section..

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Dawn

Originally Posted by MVAoffice

Hi, I'm still waiting to have any of my bids accepted, I use Elance, People per hour the most, I used to try Odesk but it is not worth the effort as most of the winning bids are from India for about $1 or $2 an hour. I'm hoping that one day my bid will be accepted and I can get some clients from there to start me off...

I still work on oDesk and I don't apply for any projects less than $7/hour. I know, people from my country work for $1-$2. It doesn't affect me in anyway. I apply for projects only if they worth my time and skills.