Find Tasks

You now have a profile and you are now on a website where there are tasks or projects that you can pick and work on. (I’ll be a little bit bias here, let me focus on websites where projects are posted for talents to bid on because this is a system that I am aware of and been with for more than 3 years now.)

Watch for tasks that you think you can do. If in a day, you can't find one, check the next day. It is better if you set it in your profile that you get alerted whenever new tasks are posted. So you only need to watch it in your inbox. Also, most of these alerts are tailored to your skills and so you won’t get swamped with projects that you are not interested with.

Bid on task that you want to do. Bid’s core contents would be: (1) money – how much money will you ask to complete this task (2) time frame – how much time will you ask to deliver, (3) this may look like optional but it has been my key to winning tasks – briefly tell the task provider or project owner:

• how are you going to take the project from start to end.
  
• What is it that you can do that will guarantee quality and timely delivery.

Place your bid. After placing your bid, are you going to just do nothing but wait?

I tell you and take it, No. Don't just sit back and wait after you place your bid. 

If there’s a way for you to make a follow up to your bid then do it. What sort of follow up?

Here’s some that I also do and has become a common practice or should I call it a few of “my best practices”

• Follow up your bid with more personalized message to the project owner. Although they can check your profile, it is better if you can introduce yourself a bit. Where you are from, what projects have you done recently, etc. make sure it comes in a short text or it won’t be read at all – they are busy people

• Come up with a sample and send it along with the follow up to your bid. Convince the client that you can easily get into the project and if you are picked to do the project; that sample will be greatly improved matching or even exceeding what is expected.

I’d like to recommend the following when making your bid. Some sort of guidelines that I’ve learned and applied until now.

1. If the task is not detailed, make a placeholder bid and immediately ask the project owner to give more details about the task. What is it really that they need? A task may look simple or complex at first look but don’t conclude until you get all the details about it. a task that’s written in one sentence may be a lot more complex than a task that’s’ written in 2-3 paragraphs.

2. If you think that the task is detailed enough and you know what it takes to have it done, don’t make any placeholder bid. Tell the amount of money and amount of time you require for that task. The project owner weighs these inputs to choose who they want for their project. If you make a placeholder bid and you won that project then later on, ask for more money or more time from your customer – that will simply turn them off. “First impression lasts”, you have a very little chance of getting a project from them.

I think I’ve covered most part, so now let’s proceed to the next.

Next, make sure people can easily get hold of you

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