She couldn’t find the page, which was probably the main oConomy page here which currently shows 248 providers working and 95,545 registered int the system.  I admit that those numbers weren’t calculated to put a new provider in her happy place, but they don’t tell the whole story either.

It isn’t showing how many providers on the network have jobs, but how many people were actively logging time on the oDesk client at the time the numbers were generated.   Given that oDesk is a 24 hour global marketplace those numbers will fluctuate throughout the day and really aren’t anything to worry about.  They certainly don’t reflect the number of providers who are currently employed.  (I expect they’re short by at least one or two orders of magnitude).

Now let’s look at some other numbers from the same page.  There are almost 100,000 providers, and together they’ve earned just under 40 million dollars, which works out to an average of almost U$400/per provider to date.   Since not every provider on oDesk has worked, and that some profiles are so incomplete that the providers are never going to work, the numbers have nowhere to go but up.

When it comes to getting a job, none of those numbers matter.

As I said in the headline:  Chance only matters when it’s random.  oDesk buyers do not select providers by rolling dice. (Well Nelson might, but he’s a special case.)

Buyers select the provider they think is at the intersection of highest quality and lowest price. They go for the most value for money within their budget.

It’s not random at all.  Never has been, never will be.  This is business, not gambling and buyers don’t want to throw their money away.

The end result is that you’re not competing with all 95,544 other providers on the network for any given job.  In fact you’re rarely competing against as many as 10 serious competitors for any given position.  Those still don’t sound like good odds, but that’s just chopped four orders of magnitude off the ratio.

It gets better because they aren’t odds.

It’s not random.

It’s deterministic, and some of the factors are ones you know about and can control and the others are unknowable and uncontrollable.  However even the ones you don’t know and can’t control aren’t random chance.

If you write a great cover letter and your skills fit the job you are very likely to get it.  If you can demonstrate that your skills match your rates you’re even closer.

I’ll go so far as to say that any competent provider with a decent profile (including a picture) and portfolio is guaranteed to be able to find work at or slightly above their category average if they put the time in.  The work is there, and the buyers want it done more than they want their money.

Let me leave you with one other thought about statistics:

While statistics may say only one in ten people can succeed at something, they never tell you whether you’re the one or one of the nine.

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I didn’t always agree with his English, but it’s hard to fault the sentiment.

If you’re a long-term reader of the blog, and I hope you are, some of this may sound familiar.  That’s because I’ve posted on a similar subject before.  The reason I’m posting again is that it’s a topic that keeps coming up in the oDesk Community and I wanted to bring it to people’s attention one more time.

Let me put it another way:

Don’t lie in your profile

Don’t lie to your buyer.

Integrity comes from having your actions match your words.  If you’re not sure about something, say so.  Yes you may not get the job, but not getting a job you can’t do is going to hurt you a lot less than getting one you can’t do and possibly having to pay back the money and lose the time.

The biggest offense against integrity that I see on oDesk comes in provider self-assessments.  People will say they have a 5/5 skill in English, and their profile doesn’t reflect it.  Or they may show a brainbench score in the mid-sixties for one certification, and give themselves a self-assessed skill level of 5/5 in the same field.

That kind of disconnect is a big red flag to a buyer.

Think about it for a moment, really think about it.  If you say you have a much better score than the tests show the most likely reaction a buyer will have is that either you’re deluding yourself or you’re lying.

I don’t want to hire someone who’s delusional about their skills; and I definitely don’t want to hire someone who is lying to me.

Even if your test results are not the greatest, you can use your portfolio and your cover letter to show the buyer why you are the best person for their job.  Remember, the buyer’s concern is more can you do the job within their budget than anything else.

If you are concerned your test scores are too low don’t show them.

Most buyers are going to penalize you least for not showing scores, and most for showing contradictory scores, so remember that when you are building your profile.

As a professional freelancer your integrity is vital.  Don’t squander it on a contradictory profile.

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You can’t play nice when you’re fighting for the same job. If you do, the other freelancer will get it. You get one shot to catch the interest of the buyer in the application phase, and you get one shot to seal the deal when you talk to the buyer. It’s not good to be put off while they interview the other applicants.

So, how can you make the buyer want to hire you on the spot? It’s a complicated science that takes time to learn. First off, you need to know more about the job you’re applying for. As Bill said in his post about the questions to ask, you need to know about the buyer and their requirements. I’d say to go a step further and know more about them than they expect you to. Learning to multi-task will earn you more jobs. While in the interview, ask for a URL to their website. While discussing the job with them, look up some information from their site and integrate it into the conversation. It shows that you will take the time necessary to learn about their needs and do a good job.

The second thing you need to do is practice making all of your words fit into how you are the right choice for the buyer. When I say that, I don’t mean to pat yourself on the back and talk about how great you are. No one wants to deal with that. It’s like the old saying in fiction writing: show instead of tell. You could tell the buyer how you’re great, or you can show them that you’re perfect for the job by being knowledgeable in your area, showing an impressive portfolio, and staying on task the whole conversation. Don’t degrade into side-topics or discuss future jobs you may have with the buyer unless he or she brings it up first. Don’t discuss things that aren’t directly related to the project at hand unless they lead you in that direction. Stay professional, stay to the point, and keep the conversation moving.

Keep the conversation moving? That means to respond quickly and give the buyer something to respond to. If they ask you how your previous relationships with buyers have been, don’t say “good.” That isn’t very descriptive, and it will lead to the conversation stopping for a while. Instead, give them a couple short anecdotes about buyers you’ve worked with. Use names if at all possible. You don’t want the conversation to go on forever, but you want to keep the buyer engaged during the interview. One way to recover from a lag in the conversation is to ask questions. Have a list of questions prepared for just this occasion.

By asking questions, you’re also taking control. If you can steer the conversation with questions, you can avoid the trouble areas and focus on the aspects that make you shine. Don’t bombard the buyer with question after question, but try to show that you’re interested enough to know more about their company and the project.

Another huge mistake is to act disinterested. If you’re not interested in the project, then why did you apply? Buyers have a lot of people they can offer the job to, and if you want it, you better show that you want it. Having skill is necessary, but having a lot of heart and a can-do attitude will take you far as well. From the buyer’s point of view, they could hire someone who is extremely skilled but doesn’t like the project or they can get someone who is less skilled and really wants the project. Chances are, the less skilled person will get it because they will do their best to make the buyer happy. If you’re highly skilled and have the heart, you’ll slay the competition.

So, the next time you interview with a buyer for a job, remember that you’ve got one shot to get the job before they move on to the next provider. Don’t let them even want to continue doing interviews–push for the hire. All it takes is to show them that you’re competent, you will do your best on the job, and that you’re able to adapt to their needs.

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Anyway, I’m not here to talk about how wonderful an editor I am, or any of the other ways in which I’m wonderful.  Instead I want to talk about the eBook.

When I accepted the job of editing the eBook, I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect.  I knew the subject, but I wasn’t familiar with the text.   So the first thing I did was sit down and read the manuscript before starting to edit.  I was already familiar with most of what was in the book, but I found I was looking at it in a different way than I had before.

One thing the book focuses on is your profile, and as I was working I started thinking about my profile on oDesk, and on some of the other freelance sites.

That’s when I decided to do something:

I took a look at my profile and realized that it wasn’t really all that good.  Yes I had a picture, but the profile didn’t do a lot to sell me to buyers.  So I decided to try a little test.  As I went through the editing process I took the opportunity to update my profile both on oDesk and on other sites in line with the guidelines in the eBook.

The first thing I did was work on my oDesk profile.  I changed my objective to focus more on what I could do for a buyer, added a portfolio and retook some of the tests to make sure I was in at least the top 20% in all the tests I had displayed.  I made a few other minor tweaks, but that’s a fairly good summation.

What happened next was interesting.  The very next day I found that another person had added me as a favorite provider.

I was also interviewed by a buyer for a position where my rate was $10/hr over the average, and even more over the average rate of those interviewed.  The interview was positive though the buyer hasn’t made a decision yet.

Now let’s look elsewhere:

As I said, I didn’t just update my profile on oDesk, I did it on other sites as well.

One reason I use multiple sites is because I’m fairly picky as to what jobs I look for.  There are some things I’m good at, and some things I just don’t want to do.  In order to maximize my jobs I modified my profile to match my new oDesk profile as closely as possible on all the sites I use.

On one of the other sites I saw two jobs come up that looked interesting.  They were both fixed price jobs and ones I felt I could do well.  I looked at the projects and decided to bid.  In both cases the buyer had posted the most they were willing to pay, so that was what I bid.

I followed the advice in the eBook and won both jobs.

That’s right I bid the maximum the buyer said they would accept and won both bids.  I tailored both bids to the specific concerns of the buyer and it worked.  Bill would say this means I was bidding too low because I didn’t lose one over cost, and he may be right.  However that’s not the point.  The point is that using the techniques found in the eBook I was able to win both jobs I applied for.

That was enough to prove to me that it works.

Do your self a favor, buy the book and give it a fair try.  It worked for me, and I think it will work for you too.

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Like any busy yuppie–wait, I live in the suburbs. I guess that makes me a y’suppie. Anyway, like other y’suppies, I like to unwind. One of the things I do to unwind is to find a nice, quiet spot outside to sit and contemplate the philosophical implications of dental floss. However, the neighbor’s dog had dug under the fence once again, and it was yapping away while shooting me that evil eye with the clear intention of disrupting my zen-like state. Seriously, I don’t know how many times I’ve gone over there to tell my neighbor to keep his poofy house-mutt in the house. Clearly, he needed to be reminded in a manner that would make it stick in his memory.

So, as I was taping a lighter to a can of WD-40, I thought to myself, “Hey, my other neighbors have dogs as well. How can I make this problem a non-issue without having to run through cans and cans of aerosol spray?” I knew that I needed to plan ahead. You can melt one neighbor’s face off, but what if he doesn’t know the other neighbors well enough for them to be invited to the funeral?

That’s where I decided to become proactive. Instead of unleashing a torrent of Canned Death ™ every time I am interrupted, I could rain fire and brimstone on the immediate problem while using my free hand to document the ordeal via camcorder. Then, all I have to do is send a copy of that video to each of my neighbors with a letter explaining the virtues of keeping Fido quiet.

As a freelancer,  you can take a lesson from this story.

What? You want me to tell you what it all means? Okay. Well, fair enough. This article is actually about being lazy to achieve better results, so I guess that’s the point. Here’s how you can use that uploading feature (AKA that Attachment box you pass by every time you click the I agree to oDesk’s blah blah blah box on an application) to give yourself an edge over the competition.

To State Things You Have to Tell Every Client Anyway

Like in the example above, you sometimes feel like a broken record saying the same thing many times over to different clients. For example, if your bag is SEO, then you should make a quick write-up for SEO that will be attached to all of the SEO jobs you apply for. In there, you would include the basic terms and ideas of SEO while not giving away your heavy guns. It’s a verification that you know what you’re talking about, and it gives a little free education to the buyer. Free things always make a buyer happy, and if they associate that happiness with you, then you’re much more likely to land a job with him or her. You can even personalize each document you send out so that it applies directly to the specific jobs you are applying for.

You need to mention in the cover letter that you’ve attached a free write-up you’ve compiled for him or her over SEO. That will impress buyers because it shows that you’ve looked over the materials which they have provided in the job listing and are providing your own in turn.

List Example Projects

That’s what the attachments uploader was made for. You put some example programs, art, writing, or whatever it is you do into a zip file and send it off with your cover letter. While there are probably some online examples of your work, there are probably also examples which are not published to the web. An important thing to remember is to put up a good front. Instead of listing EVERY job you have ever done, select the best pieces of work and show those. In the cover letter, list four or five links to live examples, and then mention that you have attached two or three examples in a zip file for the buyer to look over. It makes you look real good.

Don’t Do The Following

Do not send them a resume as an attachment. Your resume is your oDesk profile plus cover letter and examples. In fact, right next to the Attachment Button it states that you should not upload a resume. If a buyer has their head on straight, they will know that you’re not supposed to attach a resume to your resume.

Do not send them a novella. That is, do not send them over 5 pages of information to cover unless it is a sample of your work.  The buyer is busy, and unless they request a ten page document on why C# is the best programming language for their project, you should keep it to a reasonable length. What constitutes as a reasonable length depends on the scope of the project. If you’re coding a basic database-driven site with limited features, then one page or two at the most is adequate. If you’re writing a new operating system and believe with all of your heart that assembler is the way to go, you might need a few more pages.

Do not send them useless information. That sounds obvious, but if you send them an SEO write-up which contains information which does not relate to their site at all, then it feels like a form letter. If that is the case, cut out the material that does not apply to the specific job.

Oh! THAT Upload Feature

Use the tools you are provided carefully and frequently. Try to come up with exciting new ways to use that Attachment option so you can impress the buyer with the careful consideration you gave to the application. Be careful with it, though, because you can just as easily make a bad impression as a good one. Just use your head and you’ll be fine.

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One thing I can’t help but notice is that almost every provider rates their English skills at 5/5; I don’t think I have ever seen a lower rating on any provider’s profile. That’s good isn’t it? Besides, I’m mostly looking at writers’ profiles so they should be good at English: That’s their bread and butter.

Unfortunately, some of these profiles didn’t seem to reflect a 5/5 level of English. Many were rife with spelling and grammar errors; some would alternate between ‘I’ and ‘i’ as a personal profile. I was seeing some of the same errors I see in my daughter’s writing — and she’s in kindergarten.

The majority of errors I see fall into two types: typographical and fundamental errors.

Typographical errors (typos) are common. I typo ‘the’ as ‘hte’ or ‘just’ as ‘jsut’ quite often because one hand starts going faster than the other so I get two letters out of sequence. Everyone does them, and that’s why most word processors can be set up to correct these errors automatically.

I can’t say the same for fundamental errors. Fundamental errors are errors of grammar or word usage that show that the person who wrote the piece is either unaware of some of the basic rules of writing English, or that they didn’t care enough to apply them when writing their profile. Neither is a good sign.

So if we can’t use the self-assessment what can we use? One option is the oDesk sentence structure test. Most providers have taken this one, and since sentence structure is one of the basic components of written English let’s have a look at how scores in this test compare to self-assessed rankings.

I gave myself a 5/5 for English skills so let’s start with my ranking on the sentence structure test: I have a 5.00, am in the 99th percentile, and rank 22nd out of 12753 oDesk providers who have taken the test. Based on that criterion, I’d say that my self-assessment was reasonable.

I looked at two profiles lately: both had a 5/5 for English, but one was in the 99th percentile for the sentence structure test and the other was below the 40th percentile. That’s a huge difference. One person is better than almost everyone else who has taken the test, the other isn’t even as good as half the people who have taken the test.

That’s enough of a discrepancy to call the whole idea of the English self-assessment into doubt. The most charitable interpretation I can think of is that it means different things to different people and that some people think all you need for a 5/5 is to be able to communicate in English. After all, even with a sub 40th percentile score the person was able to write a readable profile.

Even though it’s possible to filter out an over-optimistic self-assessment just by reading the provider’s profile and cover letter, that doesn’t mean inflated self-assessments are a good idea.

An over-inflated self-assessment tells me two things; neither of them good.

1) It says this person is incapable of accurately assessing their own work. If they cannot see their own mistakes then they won’t be able to fix them. That tells me I’ll have to go over everything they do very carefully to catch the errors they miss.

2) It says this person may be exaggerating their own abilities to try and get more work. If they’re exaggerating one skill, what other skills are they exaggerating? I don’t know. It calls their entire profile into doubt, and if I can’t trust the profile and cover letter, I might be advised to reconsider hiring this person.

Here’s the real kicker, not everyone needs a 5/5 in English to get work on oDesk

As long as you can communicate with the buyer and are really good at the skills you’re marketing it doesn’t matter if you have a 3, 4, or 5/5 in English. The only people who need to be really good at English are the writers. We’re the ones who’re getting paid for our English skills. Everyone else just needs to be able to communicate clearly.

That leads me to a rather harsh point.

If you can’t write don’t call yourself a writer.

If you are applying for writing jobs because you don’t have any other skills and think writing is easy, you should stop right now. If your profile is full of grammatical and spelling errors you should fix them before applying for another writing job. If you don’t know how to fix them you need to learn.

No one is going to hire someone who has demonstrated they cannot do the job.

A badly written profile doesn’t do you or the buyers any good. All it does is hurt your reputation for future projects.

Part of the problem is that everyone is taught how to write in school. However, that doesn’t mean everyone is taught to write at a professional level. Most schools have sports teams, and those teams are not automatic tickets to the major leagues. Not everyone who plays basketball in high school goes on to play in the NBA.

Professional writers are better writers than most high school graduates. If we weren’t people would do the jobs themselves rather than paying us to do them.

Self-assessments matter for non-writers too.

If you aren’t a writer, you won’t be judged as harshly if you have a 5/5 English self-assessment and a 3/5 profile. You aren’t selling a 3/5 for the price of a 5/5. Even so, you still have to consider what any inaccurate assessment means on your profile.

Think about it, if one provider has a 4/5 English self-assessment and a great profile and portfolio while the other has a 5/5 self-assessment but a poorly written profile it won’t make a huge difference on a coding assignment. It’s relevant skills that really matter.   However, the claimed 5/5 which is not supported by the profile might lead the buyer to question the rest of your profile and that’s not going to help you get the job.

Do yourself a favor.  Rate yourself honestly.  It won’t hurt.

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Life as a freelance ninja isn’t easy.  You start out each night looking for work, and you may not even find it. In fact, it’s particularly hard to find work as a professional assassin of the night in the modern world. So, naturally, I had to find a way to discredit my competition without making myself seem like a complete tool. Or I could just kill him, but that’s a little too messy, and I might break a nail.

What’s a good way of discrediting your competition without directly insulting them (which is, oddly enough, against the ToS of oDesk)? By using the wonderful language of Business BS, you too can say the other guys applying for the job are worthless hacks. The key is to not name anyone specifically, but to generally refer to them in general. For example, “they,” “them,” “those guys,” etc et al ad nasium.

However, pointing out a certain person such as “Dave” (not to say he is) and pointing out that he’s too old, beardy, Microsoft-fixated, and beardy for a job is clearly in poor taste. When competing with other providers who have equal or better oDesk (or any service) stats than you, you want to leave the other providers where they are at and raise yourself above them in the eyes of the buyer. In reality, you’re not knocking the competition, but relatively, they are a in a demoted position compared to you.

As for me and writing copy, I try to work in that I don’t use the usual “Marketing BS” such as BUY NOW! GET A FREE BLAH BLAH BLAH AND 50% OFF IF YOU BUY NOW!!11eleventy! Along with that, I don’t use spastic colors for my text or center-aligned text because it looks trashy. The modern consumer can see straight through these “power words” and “call to action” phrases because they’ve seen them on every other crappy, thrown together website on the net. I’ve spoken to potential clients who want this junk, and I’ve flat-out refused because I won’t soil my hands with work that’s going to ruin my reputation as a quality writer.

That’s precisely what you should stress: quality. If someone is paying you any decent amount of money, they want you to produce something they couldn’t have produced themselves, so you need to know what works. If you can mention specific poor practices that your fellow providers (in general) shill out, then you can state why those practices don’t work and how your method works so much better. Chances are, the buyer is going to be much more in the dark on the nuances of your craft than you are (because that’s why they’re hiring you).

So, really, you’re knocking the competition in general by bringing to light the widespread poor practices, but you’re using it as a platform to state that you can do a much better job than the rest due to your better practices. It’s not the absolute nicest thing to do, but it’s a great survival tactic. If you really believe that you are the best candidate for the job, then you really should show that to the buyer in your cover-letter.

So, fire out those applications and make each one count. Don’t get upset if your old tactics for applying to jobs aren’t working–change them! Give the buyer very specific information (as far as you can) on why you’re the best person for the job compared to the rest. For those of you in the know, all of this information can be summarized by the concept of “Less QQ more pew pew.”

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So, what do you do when you have an interview?

First off, you’ll receive an E-Mail alerting you that someone wants to interview you. If they searched for you and invited you to the job, then you’ll just follow the link in the E-Mail and accept the interview request. If you applied for the job, then you don’t have to “accept the interview” because it’s assumed both parties want to communicate.

The first thing you want to do is to read the message that the buyer sent to you. It should be somewhere in the middle of the E-Mail, and it will contain the information you need to start the interview. Sometimes, a buyer will ask for more examples of your work or to complete a small test-project to see if you’re able to complete the project at hand. If they ask you to do any significant portion of the project they are hiring you for, then you should be very wary! At times, shady buyers will try to get you and the other applicants to do all of the project in sections for free. If they want you to work on the actual project before hiring, then that’s probably the case.

If they just want some samples or other simple information like that, reply to their E-Mail address (or contact them via IM if they have it listed and want you to do so) to state a few times that you will be available for interview.

Here are the three main types of interview you will encounter and the best practices for each:

E-Mail Interview

The E-Mail interview is one of my least favorites because it is so slow. You could send a message today and get a response immediately or next week depending on how often they check their account.

Regardless, that’s how some buyers want to communicate, so to increase your chances of getting hired, follow these guidelines:

• Thank the buyer for the interview in your first E-Mail and offer up any other contact information you have if they want to communicate in another manner.
• Throughout the interview, remain polite and professional as buyers do not want to work with people who “rub them the wrong way.”
• Make sure to spell-check all of your E-Mails and to write them in standard English.
• Send them a list of questions you have about the project as well as any samples that will show your skills for the particular job.
• Respond quickly to any E-Mails you receive so that they don’t have to wait on you.
• Try to cram as much information as you can into a small space without sacrificing the quality of the message or making it too long-winded.

The rest you can figure out between the two of you.

Phone Interview

I’m not crazy about the phone interview as I don’t really enjoy talking on the phone. However, if a buyer asks you for your phone number, then it’s a good idea to give it to them. In the initial E-Mail reply to the interview, you should list the times you are available to talk and offer up other contact methods. Here are the tips for the phone interview:

• Before the call comes, make a list of questions and speaking topics to address while talking on the phone.
• Make sure you are in a place where you will not be distracted and where no other noises will be present to disrupt your call.
• Do whatever you can to not let the call go to voicemail unless you’re absolutely not in a position to take the call.
• When you answer, state, “Hello, this is (your name here).”
• Keep a pen and paper near to take notes about what is said over the phone.
• Speak clearly and at a slightly slower pace than normal.
• Pace the buyer by speaking in the same manner as them: if they’re being completely professional, then you should reflect the same manner as them; however, you should always maintain a basic level of professional manner so that you don’t appear incompetent.
• Schedule the next call while you’re on the phone, and make sure it fits well with their schedule.

 Instant Message Interviews

My personal favorite type of interview is through IMs. There, I have access to all of my records on my computer, I’m able to send them examples immediately, and it’s more like speaking in person without the conflicts of doing so. If you have to step away for a minute or two, you can see what they said by scrolling up. Also, you can save records of the conversation by selecting it in the chat window. Here’s the best practices for IM interviews:

• NEVER use l33tsp3ak or terms including: lol, rofl, wtf, omg, brb, ttyl, and so forth.
• Always type in complete, grammatically correct sentences with correct spelling; if you don’t know how to spell a word, look it up real quick before you use it or use a different word.
• Keep a professional attitude about the conversation and stay on topic.
• Don’t attempt to send any files over IM unless the buyer requests them.
• Don’t use a series of short sentences in the form of a series of posts if you can form all of it into a coherent paragraph as it will spam their screen.
• Always save the conversation for later reference and set up a time to speak with them again.

With some clients, I use all three methods to communicate with them. I always start with an E-Mail reply to thank them for the interview and their consideration. In that E-Mail, I offer my IM contacts and tell them that I’m almost always available. If they request it, I also put my phone number into that E-Mail.

Usually, the client will respond with their preferred method of communication and I follow through on that. If it’s IM, I add them to my list and speak with them the next time I see them online. If it’s phone, I add their number to my cell and wait for the call. If it’s E-Mail, I try to respond to every message I get ASAP.

Really, the main thing to keep in mind is that you need to be confident and clear in all of your communication. If you sound like you know what you’re doing, then people will trust you with the job.

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Most of the time, the language they want is English, and for native English speakers, that works out well. However, I’ve run across buyers who do not understand exactly (or even close to) what I’m saying when I’m speaking in what I consider to be normal styles. That presents an equal disadvantage when trying to state my case for getting a job or doing the work.

The reason they had difficulties understanding me is because I used vocabulary and mannerisms that I take for granted. A lot of times, a foreign speaker will not understand the delicate intricacies of a metaphor such as “I’ll write that web-copy over yonder so people come runnin’ like a stuck hog on a moonlit night dressed to the T” unless they’re from Arkansas like I am. Most of the time, natives of my area don’t even know what we’re talking about, so you should pay attention to the words you use as well as the cliches and phrases.

When applying for a job, consider the job details from a language perspective. Did the buyer write the job ad in broken English? If so, while taking into account the location and native language of your buyer, you should be careful to not make giant, 200-word compound-complex sentences that would be impressive to your high-school teachers but generally unintelligible to the rest of the population of Earth, and you should try, best as you’re able, to keep it as simple as possible without being insulting so that you have a better chance of communicating with your buyer.

The point is: keep to the point. There is no reason to go overboard and show off how many commas you can fit into a sentence to impress someone; you will just confuse the buyer and waste your time.

Another useful trick I’ve found is to learn a little about the buyer and their culture/language. If you can do something as simple as learning how to say “Hello” in their native language, then it means a lot. At least you’re giving an effort to communicate with them instead of putting the burden all upon them.

Try to come to mutual terms for communication–it humanizes you, forms a better personal and professional relationship, and it makes you look like less of a monoglot tool.

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Table of contents for Tips for Fixed-Price Jobs

1. Tips for Fixed-Price Jobs
2. Fixed-Price Money Matters
3. Fixed-Price Negotiation
4. Protecting Your Work

Recently, I was working with another freelancing service, and I’d just signed up. Therefore, I had no credentials and a rather pathetic profile, so I had to depend on my cover letter to do the talking for me as well as some negotiation skills with the buyer.

Normally, when people think about negotiation, they think about dropping their price to make up for their lack of credentials. That’s just not my style. I see myself as a business providing a valuable, high quality service that customers need, and if they want to purchase that service, they pay the price for it. The reason this system works is because I don’t set insane rates. High, yes. Insane? No.

What happened on this service is that I applied for one job to test it out–writing a half-page sales E-Mail. That comes out to about 30 minutes of work, so I figured up what it would cost at an hourly rate and set the fixed-price rate to $60 USD. The buyer hired me, I spent about 30 minutes writing the E-Mail and sent it to him. After, he gave me a bonus, two 10-star ratings, favorited me, and recommended me to people to the point where I’ve been spammed with job offers since.

I’ll tell you how I got that job when others were willing to do it for a few bucks.

When I applied, I put a lot of effort into my cover letter. I mentioned my previous work through oDesk and my high ratings on here, and I also included links to previous work, but what the buyer really wanted to see for this job was whether I could sell myself to him.

He sent a letter back pretty quickly to say that, effectively, he was interested in hiring me, but as a veteran buyer of that service, he suggests that I see what other people are bidding at the low end and match them to stay competitive. He said someone else bid at an extremely low rate, has experience and reputation on that service, and she was able to do the job as well. He asked for the lowest price I was willing to work for.

To summarize the response I gave: I’m used to working with companies who require high quality services, and my prices match the quality of work. Since my niche is businesses who are willing to pay a healthy sum for good work and he does not need high quality service, then it would make excellent business sense for him to hire the cheaper candidate. I thanked him for his time, wished him luck, and left my bid at $60.

So, I immediately put that job out of mind and continued my applications. A couple minutes later, I get an E-Mail that says something like: Sorry I couldn’t tell you my intentions, but I was just testing the waters. Since you stuck to your guns, I know you’re more than worth the money. If you had budged at all on your price, I would not have hired you. Are you ready to start?

So start I did. That E-Mail went on to make 80 sales in the first five minutes of distribution. Three of those paid for my services.

The main thing I want you to take away from this story is that if you don’t stick to your guns, you’re just another amateur that buyers will take advantage of or not hire. You set a price that is reasonable for your time, and you stick to that price. If you won’t get the job unless you drop your prices, then you’re working for less than you’re worth anyway.

Another important factor is the language of your communication with the buyer while negotiating: be civil and firm. Don’t act as if you’re better than the buyer and that their request is an insult to your abilities. Also, don’t raise your prices when they ask you to lower them because it’s a backhanded insult. Act professionally and remain firm.

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