Be Wise When Looking for Freelance Work

I have stressed many time before that when you are looking for freelance work, you need to set a reasonable price for yourself. Everyone's time is valuable. When you apply via websites such as oDesk or elance, many of the clients are only looking for the cheapest price and unfortunately there are many, many freelancers out there who will gladly work for pennies. I've made it a point to tell some clients that the cheapest is not always the best. 

There have been times that I have been desperate for work but I will not work for mere pennies. I can find better things to do than bust my butt to get work done just to earn a little bit of change. I try to make my fees reasonable for me and the client purchasing the work. 

Many potential clients will try to get free work out of people. I can't stress this enough. If someone asks you to write a "test" article for them based on a keyword or phrase that they have chosen or any kind of "test" run for whatever service you are offering for free, don't do it!! You don't know what they are going to do with the work that you have given to them. They may be using it for profit of their own. Regardless of what they are doing, that is still free work that you spent your time doing. I've had quite a few clients ask me to do test runs for them. Some of them offer to pay me, while others understand that I can't work for free. Then you run across people like this:

Suzanne Glathar to Deanna3 days ago

Hi Deanna,

Thank you for responding to my job application. Please complete the pre-interview questionnaire and return to me.

I would also like for you to write 2 articles, 200 words each. The first article is “what is Copywriting”? And the second is your choice related multi-level marketing lead generation strategies. I am looking for articles that connect with the reader and captivate them in to read more. The articles are designed to build a relationship with my readers, so keep that in mind when you write the mini article. I do not pay for the articles, they are your articles, I will not keep them to use for my own personal gain (unethical).

Once that is completed and all is good, I will set up a time for an interview on Skype.

Best regards, 

Suzanne Glathar

me to Suzanne Glathar 2 days ago:

I'm sorry but my time is very important to me and I don't have time to spare to write articles that I won't get paid for.

Suzanne Glathar to Deanna 2 days ago:

No problem I probably wouldn't like your work anyway.

me to Suzanne Glatharabout an hour ago:

Wow, that was rude. Glad I found out now.

Mind you, this woman contacted ME first asking me to "interview" for this position. There was no reason for her to be rude about it and I'm glad I found out how she was before I did any work for her!

When applying for freelance jobs, make sure that you have a full portfolio for potential clients to look at. I have numerous writing samples in all of my freelance profiles and this woman could plainly see if I was capable of handling her job. I understand that some people may want to see a test run before starting a contract but it should not be expected to be done for free, and YOU should not do it for free!

When I first began bidding on freelance jobs, I did become discouraged because it took awhile for me to get actual work. Once I began getting paid jobs, I received great feedback and began getting invitations to interview for other jobs. Don't give up!

Anyone else ever had problems like this?