Is it me or are others getting frustrated with bidding and winning. The first issue I have is what and how many places there are to bid on. I know Elance is one. Are there others? Another big one is do I send over a Q&A to create a proposal? If others having the same problems and others could reassure me they too are having the same issues I'd really appreciate. Also if there are things that you have problems with share them in case I may be missing the boat.

Hi Collette,

Check out the new thread I started. I am trying to find VA jobs for anyone and everyone by placing them on this thread.

Good Luck~
Andrea

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Action Jackson Virtual Assistant|

With the emergence of many more VA's, getting and winning proposals are getting more difficult. With sites such as Elance and other you are competing with others who are willing to work for next to nothing.

Devise a detailed marketing plan and stick to it and your clients will come.

I do not use freelance and Elance site and am fortunate to rely on referrals and word of mouth. But it was a detailed marketing plan that got me to where I am now. I have found forums, local networking and social media have worked for me but that is just the tip of the iceberg.

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Lee Drozak
My Office Assistant

I agree with Lee. Spend your time more on marketing your business for long term clients than on bidding for short freelance projects where you are competing with so many other people. Put together a welcome packet or an informational letter that you can send out to potential clients. The freelance sites can get you some work to get by on but it's not a long term solution. Figuring out how to market your business is much better in the end because its a sustainable solution for keeping your business going.

Focus your efforts on more offline and online networking. Write and submit articles, work over LinkedIn like there's not tomorrow. Send out press releases to your local news outlets with some sort of hook about what's special about you or your VA biz.

Get the word out about your special services or skills. Get seen. Get heard. Get hired.

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Kimberly
Facebook Marketing Magic!

I used to use Elance, but found that so many of the off shore companies or VAs get substandard wages and I cannot compete with $1.00 an hour! Spread the word every way you can - Twitter, Facebook, networking (online and off) and every other way you can think of.

Dina

I have noticed alot of sites like elance where people are bidding so low, it seems like they do the work for almost nothing. I just avoid those jobs that are getting bids that low. I have bid on some and submitted my resume so they could see my experience and that helped me alot. Only submitting my resume because I am new to the Virtual World but have alot of experience with the jobs I have held over the years.

Robyn

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Wiemer's Business Services LLC

Although I am just starting out, I am very familiar with Elance and some of the other similar sites. I have considered using these services but after learning so much on this forum, I quickly realized that these avenues were not the most effective. Thanks Lee for such useful info.

Sheila

WOW I seen the international companies bidding very low for jobs. I am still wondering how they can afford to do that, I guess that is why their countries are very poor. I would hate to think that a lot of US companies would hire a lot of international companies to do jobs such as bookkeeping. I would be afraid that the overseas companies would not know the tax laws in the US. I am only speaking about virtual bookkeeping here because that is the business I know.

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Debra Hayter
Seaboard Business Services

I am also new to VA, I have used Elance, and Odesk. I have had a couple of projects from both sites. I have even worked it out that one project from Elance, is now being done strictly off Elance. He is a great client, and appreciates the work that I do. I don't even compete for the low bidding jobs, there is no way you can. I feel if the company is willing to pay such wages, I don't want the project.

I have started alot more networking; going to meetup groups, chamber of commerce meetings, and this is starting to pay off.

Always remember hard work does eventually pay off.

I haven't "Officially" opened my doors yet and most of my clients, atm, are by word of mouth (I just signed on a new client yesterday ). But one thing I've observed on the forums is that:

1. Some people seem to take off right away and start growing immediately, while other people seem to have problems
2. Some marketing avenues seem to work better for some rather than others

There's gotta be a reason for this and it's something I think about a lot because I have a very tight timeline that I'm walking to get my business up to where I can go full time.

So, what I plan on doing is developing a basic marketing plan that I think will work for me and then really paying close attention to what seems to be working and what doesn't, tweaking it on a regular basis. From what I've seen, people who worry about how to get clients through places like Elance end up more discouraged and frustrated. So, I would think your time and energy would be better spent sitting down and coming up with a real marketing plan which includes online and face-to-face networking. A plan that will work for you and your niche. Be creative. Think of it as a problem and then brainstorm possible solutions: You need to find a way to draw clients to you on a regular basis, so how will you do that? The biggest thing is realizing that marketing/networking is a 24/7 activity and needs constant care.

Maybe one thing you can do is keep a journal to track what marketing/networking avenues you're currently making use of and how you feel about it. Is it working or not? If it's working, what do you think you're doing right. It may not be the tool, it may be how your using the tool that's making it work for you. If it's not working, why do you think it's not? It doesn't necessarily have to be anything you're doing wrong. Maybe you're using the wrong tool for your target market. But really think critically about what you're doing and how you can fix it or tweak it to get the most benefit out of it.

Also, since you were talking about proposals, maybe you could have someone (preferably someone who's in your target market) look over your materials and get their opinion about it. What would turn them on or off as a client if they were presented with your current proposal? Are you missing anything really important or including anything that's really not necessary?

Sorry, this is so long, (I'm the brain dump queen...lol) but I hope it gives you some ideas.

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Stephanie
New VA in the research phase :daisy: