So occasionally I take jobs on the Elance network. Elance is one if not the largest staffing platform for freelancer pros (like me, yep). I've signed up to receive email notifications everyday of available jobs that matches some key settings.
In my case I have one search query that has: All Jobs / WordPress / IT & Programming / Fixed Price / Posted: Within 24 hours
The above will usually render quick jobs withing $100 - $1000, sometimes i'l go through an email and see something like this below:
Yes, I'm not kidding, freelancing it's not piece of cake and it's weird the things people ask sometimes.
Ok, so let's go through the problems on this listing:
- $25 dollars to make a one page website. No matter if it's one page, it will at least take 1hr (speedy Gonzalez mode).
- You are expected to send samples of work. This will take you at least 20 minutes. Your time is worth more.
- You'll have only one day to deliver the goods. This is not counting revisions and change requests. "MUST BE DONE IN ONE DAY!" -> what happens if this doesn't happen?
- The employer believes it's a SIMPLE JOB, not a good sign.
- The employer don't know English well, check out the grammar errors on the listing highlights.
I want to encourage freelancing professionals to look for signs of problems before even considering doing a job. Believe me, checking out these and other signs of trouble when freelancing, setting expectations, charging the correct amount for your freelancing efforts it's essential to make it as a freelancer. Don't forget to be super nice, but look out for yourself first. Did I said first?
Drop me a line, let me know how can I help.