Using Freelance Platforms Safely and Effectively

Many freelancers have built successful, well-paying careers using freelance platforms; others have kick-started or augmented careers. Before jumping in, you must determine: Are you comfortable with the business model? Can you work within their rules? Can you live with their fees? The information in this booklet will help guide your research.

Using Freelance Platforms Safely and Effectively by Wes Cowley is a 46-page booklet written by an editorial freelance professional who has successfully navigated and found work on freelance job sites. It contains an overview of this job-search model and focuses on five companies that represent the different types of freelance work sites on the web: Fiverr, Freelancer.com, Guru, PeoplePerHour, Reedsy, and Upwork. Cowley covers terms, types of platforms, and the pros and cons of each.

He provides not simply answers, which might be accurate today and obsolete tomorrow, but questions for professionals to ask and red-flags to look for before creating a profile and signing up with one of these companies to find freelance work. The booklet includes: understanding how a platform works, what kind of communication is allowed with a client, what exclusivity rules exist, how to bid on a job, what types of pricing models are supported, what the fee structures look like, how you get a contract, how you get paid, how freelancer ratings work, and how to manage a dispute.

Additionally, Using Freelance Platforms Safely and Effectively discusses how to establish and manage your reputation on the sites, how to set rates, how to vet clients and their material.

Finally, the booklet contains a list of some of the most common scams perpetrated against freelancers and how to avoid them.