Is it okay for me to initially charge low rates on an Elance?

It's a very tricky decision. When I first started freelancing, I charged a pretty low rate (~30/hr around SF), and it did get my started (getting great amounts of referrals etc). Unfortunately, I had to sacrifice my code quality b/c the amount of gigs I would work on at once in order to live here, and I noticed that the people who normally book low rate devs are the ones you REALLY don't want to deal with. So I would say never, ever ever charge a rate lower than you think you are worth. It may get you some gigs, but low rate attracts crappy projects/people. The people you generally want to work understands that high rate means better code/happier life in the long term.

Some personal thoughts and opinions here:<p>People that go on Elance to find workers, well, they get what they pay for. I am sure that there are some great freelancers out there but you are far better to find yourself local clients, charge more, and get referrals.<p>Really, try face to face business first. More and more people are realizing that talking to India at 4am is pain in the ass. Also, a lot of people think that they can go on Elance and hire a guy that is charging 14 goats, and they expect this to be done as if they were paying him 100 goats.<p>However, face to face business will really depending on how you present yourself, your age and if you can sell.<p>All these websites: Elance, 99 designs, etc etc are making money for their co-founders (hopefully), and very little for freelancers. Getting 40 logos for 299 dollars? 40 people working for 299 and 1 of them is getting paid.<p>Don't sell yourself low.<p>PS. I deal with small businesses that tried these things, even larger companies that make millions of goats / year. And they tell me these stories after they hire me. I laugh! :)

I've actually just started doing this as well, so I can relate. Rather than focusing on offering the cheapest rate, make sure that your proposal is rock solid.<p>Be picky in the jobs you choose, but once you decide to put your bid in, invest time to understand what the client wants and make sure your proposal reflects that. It's not always easy, because sometimes there's only very limited information. Just treat every bid like a job interview.<p>It's also perfectly OK and normal to charge a little lower at first, until you collect feedback and build yourself a good reputation. But make sure you set the right expectation. I always put my normal rate in the proposal, but reflect a discount where necessary to make sure that I remain competitive with the other bidders.<p>And last, make sure you deliver what you promise :)

This is my 3rd year on Elance as a fullstack developer with a main focus on backend, and last year I made around 80k. In the beginning, it was very hard to compete with established users and 10$/h developers. In Elance, having a track a record with high ratings is pretty important, so my first few jobs were some easy scripts that were guaranteed to be 5 stars (I made sure on the proposal that I don't care much about the price but that I need a good review)<p>After establishing a bit of credit, you should be picky on the projects you choose and make sure that you are not throwing a generic proposal. Treat each one uniquely. Have a resume/portfolio ready. Ask questions about the project and more importantly, give suggestions about pain points.

What kind(s) of people use Elance? Is the Bay Area that devoid of real jobs that someone would have to go on Elance to cobble together some projects for income? Or do most people use it to supplement their income? Or is it mainly for students with little experience who just want to build portfolios and make a little on the side? (Nothing wrong with any of these, I was just wondering.) Or is it people with bad reputations that can&#x27;t get jobs otherwise. (That&#x27;s probably the bad ones.)

The sooner you can you can ditch eLance, the better. Spending all your time writing well-thought-out proposals for people who simply want the cheap price is rather disheartening. You're better off finding clients in your local area. Go to meet ups, meet other devs, meet people within your own community. You'll have a much higher return.

Yes, you should underbid in the beginning, until you get a couple of jobs and good ratings.<p>I started a month ago, and was the hardest to get the first job. After that one, and good review from client, jobs started to come up more often.<p>So, keep trying, underbid in the beginning, and don't give up.

You can try building a good portfolio on your own site, and then linking to it from Elance. Might allow you to get better clients. Though from experience, those type of sites are filled with the kind of clients you dont want.

I'm also interested in this because the rates that some people post seem way too low. I've seen people post $14/hour or $1200 to create a fully featured youtube clone.