UPWORK

How to Start Your Freelance Career With oDesk?

When many people hear oDesk and ELance, they immediately think of outsourcing jobs overseas for $3 per hour.
For years, I thought the same thing.
Yet when I decided to start up my freelance web design business, I was amazed to find that oDesk was actually a great source of getting early clients.

My goal with this post is to share with you who should be utilizing oDesk and how you can get started.

What is oDesk?

oDesk and & eLance are job posting sites. Individuals from all over the world post jobs or projects that they need help with, and freelancers anywhere can apply.

These companies are global, so in a large part these platforms are associated with outsourcing jobs for low dollar amounts to individuals overseas.

Yet there are freelancers and creatives from all over the world, including America, that are getting their career started with oDesk.

Who should be using oDesk?

• Freelancers who are early on in their career and struggling to get their first few clients
• Freelancers who are afraid of selling and negotiations
• Freelancers who want to work remotely
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Who should not be using oDesk?

• If you are steadily generating over $4k per month, then you should not consider oDesk
• If you are niched vertically and offer services to a specific target market (healthcare, fitness, education, etc.), then you should not consider oDesk
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How much money can you actually make on oDesk?

Results can vary depending on your service and portfoli. From my experience, within 2-3 weeks on oDesk I was generating a few hundred dollars a week. Within about two months I was generating an average of $1000 per week. The maximum I ever generated was just under $1400 in one week.

How much should you charge?

Regardless of your experience, the minimum you should charge on oDesk is $20hr.

If you price yourself any lower you are putting yourself in competition with individuals overseas who are working for extremely low rates.

The maximum I was ever able to steadily charge on oDesk was $55hr. When I raised my rates beyond that, I saw the amount of clients willing to hire me drop dramatically.

How do you get started on oDesk?

Set up a profile and then go through all of the guided steps to get your profile to 100% completion. This process will take about 4-5 hours and you will have to take a series of tests in your area of expertise.

Once you have your profile setup, you will be given an application quota of 20 applications. Applications expire after seven days.

My recommendation is at first to keep your application quota maxed out and regularly apply for new jobs.

How do you win jobs on oDesk?

Write real cover letters.

There are a lot of individuals on oDesk who just copy and paste the same cover letter to every job opening.

The simple act of writing a real cover letter about the job posting will do wonders to help you land your first few clients.

How do you know when it is time to move on?

oDesk isn’t a great long term solution, but it can be that boost you need to get things going at the start.

As build your marketing machine, you will begin to become less and less dependent on oDesk.

To this day, I still keep my profile up on oDesk and even at a rate of $85hr I am occasionally hired for small projects.

How to Make Money on oDesk in 7 Steps

Are you struggling to find enough work on oDesk? What you may be lacking is not necessarily the skills to do the work, but the skills to get the job.

If that’s the case, you’re actually in a good position, because it’s easier and faster to learn how to get work on oDesk than it is to learn new professional skills. After that, it is just a matter of determining how to apply these methods to your circumstances. As you do so, you will increase your chances of getting hired, and get more opportunities to deliver high-quality work that clients will give you good testimonials for—thus creating a virtuous cycle of more hiring.

We actually just wrote a whole book called “7 Steps For Making Money On oDesk,” which can be downloaded for free on our website. But here are some excerpts of the seven steps, to help you get started quickly:

1. Define your title. Creating a title for yourself is extremely important because, if done well, you can increase your chances of getting hired. Ideally, your title should be a two- to three-word summary of your core strengths, with maybe a few enhancing words on either side.

2. Define your tags. Choosing skills tags is very important because it affects how you are found by potential clients as well as how you are perceived. Luckily, the process can be easily done by brainstorming 10-20 words that tie in with your freelance title and then cross-checking these with what successful oDesk freelancers in your field are using.

3. Write a clear description. Writing a description can be easily done after you have made a headline and associated tags. When you write your description, try to present arguments for why someone should hire you by focusing on the best pitches first. Most clients are interested in arguments that focus on quality and bigger return on their investment.

4. Take relevant tests. Taking a few tests that are relevant to the work you do is the best way to validate what you claim in your profile description. It can also be an interesting way to learn which skills you need to enhance (or learn from scratch) in order to get jobs in a certain field of work. If English is not your first language, you can use the English tests indirectly to prove your ability to communicate.

5. Do 5-10 small assignments. Even when you’re just starting out, you have to think long term. Be honest, over-deliver, and grow your reputation. Start small by applying for assignments less than $50. Make sure they are given by clients with good feedback and who have spent a good deal of money on freelancers. You can then work towards a better rate of pay as you gain more experience and better feedback. To increase your chances of getting hired for these first projects, make sure to answer everything in the client’s brief and say why you should be picked by referring to your skills and experience.

6. Create a portfolio. With the work you have done so far, see if you can add a few samples into the portfolio section of your profile so clients can get an idea of the work you do. Ideally, you want to showcase not only your best work, but your range of skills and project types. It’s also worthwhile to regularly update your portfolio with new jobs as your career progresses.

7. Go for larger jobs. Larger assignments give you the chance to take on more jobs that are similar or to try something new. It’s largely a matter of being strategic and using your existing clients as springboards to get more work. If you have established yourself as a highly skilled freelancer, your future prospects could include continuing in that role, creating and managing an agency or taking your work offline, if you choose.

The above list might seem a bit overwhelming if you are just starting out, so if you only take away one point, here is the most important bit to focus on: When you’re applying for a project, read the job description thoroughly and reply to everything.Sometimes clients receive 30+ applications that aren’t even close to answering what they want. If you can be among the few applicants who reply to everything that’s asked, you have a much higher chance of being interviewed.

Hey freelancers, we’d love to hear your tips for how to make money on oDesk. Add them in the comments section below! And if you want to read the full book, you can download it for free here.