Elance is an online source for businesses to contract with independent professionals. If you are looking to find freelance work, Elance is a great place to start. They offer many different kinds of employment from web designing, graphic design to freelance copywriting. Elance makes money by keeping a portion of your fee. They also make money by charging extra for an Individual or Team Plan that gives you more searching options and other benefits.

A paid membership will include submitting up to 20 proposals per month, compared to only three proposals per month for the free membership. The paid membership lowers the fee the Elance keeps from your pay and does not charge per wire transfer of funds. The monthly charge for the paid membership is $9.95.

I signed up for a Basic (Free) Elance account and was able to set up my profile with a Tagline, Keywords and Description so that potential employers could find me. The next step is to take the Elance Admissions Test. I watched a number of videos about Elance and how the process works and reviewed the provider guide. You must score an 80% on the test to pass.

The next step is to verify your phone number. Elance will call the number provided and you must speak a confirmation code to verify the number.

After searching for jobs, I found there is one little catch. You only get to choose ONE category in your profile. Categories include Admin Support, Design & Multimedia, Engineering & Manufacturing, Finance & Management, Legal, Sales & Marketing, Writing & Translation and Web & Programming. You can not bid on a project unless it is in the category you originally chose. If you decide to switch categories, the new category is not available until the next billing cycle (usually in one month).

If you decide to upgrade, you can choose additional categories, but they will cost you. Each additional category is $4.95 per month as well. I would suggest choosing one category and then upgrading if you find numerous jobs that you feel you could successful bid for in a different category. Upgrading with additional categories takes place immediately, instead of at the next billing cycle.

I did upgrade my free membership to paid and bid on a job. Keep posted to find out how the service works out for me!

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