i do my work with in given time.
Seriously. I was browsing Elance this morning, since they so kindly sent me an email to tell me that they’ve seen a 40% increase in projects posted over the last month or so. Work has been kind of slow through other channels, and I’m done with my BrightHub projects for the month, so I’m like, why not, right? Well, I’m scrolling through the projects posted under the “Writing and Translation” tab, and I see some poor soul who has mistakenly posted an offer TO WORK as a project that is up for bid. You get a LOT of non-native English speakers, residing in any one of a number of other countries, bidding a penny per word on big projects. They’re content mills, pure and simple, and I feel very sorry for anyone looking for professional copywriting or web content work who thinks they can get it for a penny per word. That’s just silly. Anyway, the confused soul posted this as a job up for bid:
Hi
I have an excellent writing and vocabulary skills. Writing is my passion and I love to express myself in writing. I can do a storyline article, poetry, and transition.
He also attached a resume. And if that wasn’t tragic enough, he’s got two people bidding on his non-existent project right now. The first of these, and I shit you not, is the title of this post.
Pakistan | 
Pakistan | Well, I definitely know MYSELF how better I am. I mean, duh.
So anyway, that’s my competition out there today. I just have to keep reminding myself that I don’t want to work with anyone who would fall for those types of bids, or who would accept the quality that one cent per word provides.
Dan Stout
June 1, 2011 at 10:06 pm
Hi,
Just came across this post, and thought I’d chime in. A quick look at your writing on your blog makes it clear that these guys are NOT your competition. As you say, anyone who would settle for that level of quality is not someone you’d want to work for (and they wouldn’t be paying out at a rate you should accept, either).
I work in construction, and whenever we give a bid, we know that there’s always some guy with a hammer and a pick-up truck who can do it for half of our price. But that’s okay, because his target audience and ours don’t overlap at all.
Anyway, that’s just a long winded way of saying don’t sell yourself short!