Saying 'good bye' to Freelancer.com (and to other online platforms too)

It was about time and the beginning of the year is the best opportunity for taking inspired decisions. After almost two interesting years of online freelancing, I decided that my profile on Freelancer.com is no more relevant for what I am interesting to build in the next months.

Yesterday, after checking the last job offers for my skills and even made the effort to submit my interest for two of them, I decided that it is about time to finish this relationship. 

To be honest, I am grateful to Freelancer.com for a couple of good projects that helped me to improve my writing skills, and also to set up some very good partnerships, one of them continuing for two years. I had good times, when editing, translating and writing contracts kept me busy for days till late in the night. I enjoyed working on different projects, challenging myself to know more about so different topics as IT industry, fashion or cooking. I discovered the pleasure of doing academic editing, that lead me to the idea of writing a new book and who knows, launching my own business one day. I also loved to do translations for a while and I learned as well how to sell myself properly in order to convince a client that I am the best out of a group of more than 20 persons that requested to be picked up.

On the other hand, I had enough more than once of working for customers that forgot to pay or simply deleted their profile after they received the work, of characters that refused to pay the convened price or that were unable to explain in a proper and simple language what they are looking for. 

From a year to another, the network improved considerable and new features were added in order to prevent scams, but the overall level of the project was kept under the average life standards of the poor Western world. A couple of weeks ago, I discussed with a potential client about an editing work that he wanted me to do for around $15. More than 3 hours of work, correcting the language and also adding eventually references for less than the price of a cleaning work! 

My decision to request the suspension of my account - you need to request for a support ticket as they need to check if you don't have debts or pending issues with the clients - was less spontaneous that it might look at the first time. It is the result of a lot of frustration and mediocre successes that from now on, I don't want to deal with.

I don't mean that I will continue to watch the jobs on other platforms. At the beginning of my online writing adventures, I also followed other platforms and the results were equally disappointing: a scam on the then oDesk, and a lot of time wasted on Elance. Too much ado for nothing!

However, for anyone at the beginning of the online career, including for young graduates and students looking to do some small jobs for some extra money for parties, trips or books, online marketplaces are strongly recommended. But, don't expect wonders and be ready to deal at least with one scam once in a while.

I am thankful for the great moment and learned a lot from the bad ones. Time to move to a different level of my career!

The branding lesson of a small shop in Anwerp

In the last 12 months, travel played an important part in my life, hence my focus on my travel writing and photography instead of my usual social media and branding topics on this blog. However, as usual, travel gives me an opportunity to discover new social media and cultural practices, to get in touch with interesting people and use the opportunity of spending time in a new environment for finding answers to my old questions.

One of the main things I enjoy while being abroad, is to test the customer service and to notice how the companies and especially small shops are promoting themselves in a very competitive environment. 

Two months ago, I visited the beautiful city of Antwerp and, as usual, I stopped by to a small bookstore in the Jewish area, where I needed to purchase some important books that I cannot find in my side of Europe. After over 40 minutes of searching and considering how many books I can carry with me for the next hours, I decided for a couple of titles and some children books and went to the counter to pay. There, my books were checked and on the last page of each was glued a little sticker with the name of the bookstore, its address and a telephone number. From now on, when someone will have a look to my books, they will see for sure from where I purchased them and eventually, how they can have their own too.

It is a very simple and classical trick, as easy as the usual address of your blog that you add to every official e-mail exchange with your business partners or sponsors or potential collaborations. The costs of ordering the small bumper stickers are minimal and the effects are long-lasting. This is the kind of branding made with heart and without an impressive investment. You don't need to pay advertising in big newspapers or even on websites targeting your audience. Read in the family and shared with friends, the books are always carrying a little mention about your business and this can matter more than some fabulous mention in the media. At least for a medium-sized business, such a local strategy can work successfully, at least for a while and as long as your customers are happy with your products. And if the 'products' are books, consider it a partial success.