Contractors! Keep hold of your power!

One of the biggest blunders I see happening on oDesk all the time is the idea that clients control everything. Contractors have this flawed philosophy that their clients hold all the power in their contractor-client relationship.

True, clients are the ones who determine their budget... Can they afford to pay for the services that you're selling? Yes, or no?

But that's it. They don't determine what your payment is. You determine that. They don't determine what hours you'll work. You do.

Freelancing is a business, not a job. It's your business. And you need to take care of it. Have you ever seen one of those signs outside of a restaurant or other business, "We Reserve the Right to Refuse Service to Anyone". This absolutely applies to you, too. Imagine that sign is hanging over your computer.

If you quote your rate to a potential client, and they say it's too high, you have a choice. You can decide to lower your rate or you can stick to your guns. The choice is yours, not the clients'. If you do decide that you want to lower your rates, it's up to you to determine how low you're willing to lower them. Don't bend to the clients' budget! If they tell you, "I can't pay more than $50 for this book to be edited" and you really want $75... then guess what. They can't afford you. Tell them to go find someone they can afford.

It is not an opportunity for you to say to yourself "I better take the $50 or I won't get the job". If you do that, you lose your power.

Think of it this way. Imagine that you have $3 in your pocket, and you want a cheeseburger. And not a fast food burger but a real cheeseburger. When you walk into the restaurant, their cheeseburgers are $7. What do you do? Do you demand they lower their prices just so you can eat one of their cheeseburgers? And let's say you did take a chance and talked to one of the managers, is he obligated to lower his price for you?

No. Chances are, you will find yourself leaving that restaurant and seeking out another place to find that cheeseburger. And chances are high that the place you will find yourself eating that cheeseburger will be at a fast food chain. Is that bad, well... that kind of depends on how you feel about fast food.

Running your freelancing business is the same thing. When a potential client walks up to you and says "I can only afford to pay $X" you can decide whether or not to accommodate him or send him to the fast-food-contractor. He doesn't determine your income... only you can do that.

And finding clients through oDesk is the same thing. Yes, it's frustrating because you can see bids on projects for ridiculously low offers. It's enough to make your head spin when you view a project and see that someone else has bid at $0.90 to build a web site. And it's even more frustrating when clients see these types of bids and expect that they will receive a $1500 web site for $35. But that doesn't mean you should take that project or even bid on it.

Remember, you're the contractor. Above all, you work for yourself - not anyone else. Therefore, you hold all the power in your business. Grab hold of your power and run with it... don't hand it off to anyone else.

The biggest mistake new contractors make

One of the biggest mistakes that I see new contractors on oDesk fall into is, sadly, letting themselves be new. That is to say that they're waiting too long to learn how oDesk works.

Don't get me wrong. Every contractor at oDesk was new at one point in time or another. But I don't know what's going on with this latest wave of contractors. When I was new, the first thing I did was start reading the help section, checking out the forums, contacting support with stupid questions, and even watching the learning center videos. But now... not so much. There has suddenly been a flood of posts cluttering up the community forums asking for the same pieces of advice or complaining about having fallen victim to a scam.

And why are they falling victim? Because they aren't reading.

oDesk has an entire section of their web site dedicated to helping new contractors with advice, policies, examples, How Tos and Do Nots.

And what happens? At least half a dozen contractors today got sucked into working for free because a potential client emailed them, asked them to begin working, and then never bothered to hire them or start the contract. Half a dozen.

I love oDesk. And one of the reasons I like oDesk so much is because of the amount of help that it gives newcomers. But, my word, that advice isn't going to do you any good if you don't read it.

For goodness, sake... if you're a new contractor at oDesk, read the help section. Get to know how oDesk works and you won't fall victim to scams. If you have questions, ask the community, contact customer support or start reading. Or even ask questions here. Sure, it may look like I write this for my own entertainment, and in part, I do. But I would still be happy to answer any questions you have if it means I can help keep you away from the scams before it's too late.