Freelance

I really don't like these places. People who post jobs there expect a lot of work for very little money, often times less than minimum wage. Also, you are competing with people overseas, who WILL work for less than minimum wage. When I first started out my freelance illustration business, I spent a lot of time applying for very low paying jobs on Elance, but I was always beat out by someone from India or China who would do something for so much less because that amount of money means a lot to them in the economy that they live in, but certainly not in the economy I live in for how much time goes into doing a project. ALSO, these people are not only posting to Elance, they post the same posting to Odesk and Freelancer, so you really are competing with many more people than on one single site.

So when I freelance, I market to reputable companies.

You are right, though the science/strategy on how to use those sites especially as a new freelancer with no 'reputation' would probably merit a course in and of itself.

On the other hand, one of the graphic art studios I work with uses Elance more as a project management/client invoicing tool, so while they were acquiring clients through other methods of advertising and networking, by using Elance in this fashion they simultaneously built a solid Elance 'reputation', which in turn led them to becoming very competitive bidders on the site.

Elance et al is difficult for freelance writing. Does the market seem better for freelance programming/web design? I agree that a freelancing how-to (including not just using bidding sites but how to solicit new jobs directly or use your website to garner clients) would be amazingly useful.

True I agree with that but I belive as any other places you can find clients how they going to pay fair prices and they'll want to exploit you and also you going to find the ones how going to work for nothing ( as you say Indues and Chinnes) and they will be fair for the market but also I belive about the quality of your job Will be your own Recomendation and some times Indues and Chinnes the don't do really good job so also is good eventualy you create your own reputation and that going to pay the real price of your job!! what you think Ally Hodges and Janine Suvak ?

Carlos you are right about the quality of your work, which brings us to having a good portfolio of your work. I have a friend (app developer) who took the approach of making the app or reasonable demo for the jobs he bid on, which did a number of things - it showed the potential client his motivation and capability, whether he got the job or not he could refine it for his portfolio, and it expanded his skill set. Though you would want to balance your time so you keep pushing for those paying jobs.

https://www.elance.com/ that's true I recently moved to UK to live and work and and is difficult to start a career as a freelance in a place where your contacts are limited and they are generating a reputation just according to your work so I found this web sites will be a great tool to start and Actualy you Janine Suvak you cach my idea too about my post to know more sites and tools similar to help you to start your freelance career thanks for replay!!