About 1 year ago I started with Elance, It was great experience until Elance merged with oDesk into Upwork.A lot of things are changed and getting job, that’s well paid, is pretty hard.For example I have 11 jobs (10 with 5.0 rating, 1 without feedback) and I can’t still get the job.There are many reasons, but main are a lot of clients who don’t pay well and a lot of freelancers with low bids.Check image bellow:
Hey, finding new clients it tough, and sites like upwork don’t make it any easier. The global marketplace structure and rating systems turn these places into a rigged game against freelancers.
Have you tried any other websites?
as @webmachine said, networking is a better source of work, but it’s hard when you don’t have an existing base of clients. Here are few methods you can try:
Email old contacts. Check your email contacts, phone, LinkedIn, Facebook. shoot a message or email to people you know both professionally and personally and let them know that you are looking for ways to help people with their skill set, and ask them if they know of anyone.
Reach out to agencies. Ask agencies in your area, agencies you have a connection with or agencies that you think could benefit from your skill set, and see if they have any subcontracting work. As a bonus, you’ll get to see how other people.
Find groups of like-minded people. Offline is better but online can work too. Find ways you can connect with other people in your industry. When I was starting out, I got more referrals from fellow freelancers than anywhere. Also helps if you have work you can’t fulfill, you can pass it on to others as a show of goodwill.
Try better job boards. There are lots of better options out there. For example, I’ve found some excellent work on Authentic Jobs and We Work Remotely (I’m new and can’t link yet, but they should be easily Google-able).
I consulted with our local small business association a number of years ago, and the representative there said that because web development is a service industry, typically it takes about 2 - 3 years to build up a decent client base.
You can’t decide to quit your day job and start freelancing and expect to have enough business to run full-time right away. You have to build up a reputation and the confidence of the market you are targeting. That takes time.
Just picking up on that point, try and find out if there are any get together’s going on for the likes of Wordpress or Codepen (and many others). It should help immensely if you can find a way of making connections with those in the local area, especially if you can put together a talk or two to get your face known.
It depends on what kind of work you are doing. Most of my work has been on larger front-end projects where I work with 1 or 2 clients at a time for multi-month engagements. I average six clients per year. When you only have to get to six, you can build up a client base much faster.
The harsh truth is no one makes an acceptable living wage on any of those freelance sites. At least not a wage that would compare to a full-time position at a company.Those freelance sites are mostly just low quality clients and service providers.They *can provide a decent supplemental income but other than that you’re expecting to much. If you’re serious about being a freelancer you need to treat it like a business not just bidding on jobs on websites. Create a business plan and market yourself.
