When I worked as an article writer in the past, I used to hire people from the Phillipines and America to help me. While it is hard to find good people to help in this day and age, there are people who look for genuine opportunities to earn an income. Even myself, I am studying a degree right now, and don't have the full day available. Been looking for work for ages now, that is pretty much considered, 'part-time' work on a long term basis. It is even hard for myself to find a genuine employer these days.
The best tip I will offer, in terms of hiring help is: Judge someone by how they interact with you when they contact you for a job.
Anyone can snipe perfect copy from other websites or from freelancers to advertise themselves. However, the true test is when you speak to them. That should be test one. Test two, ideally, is ensure the person has a bit of social media presence. The last guy I hired to help create business cards for me, I picked up from a site and he had no reviews on his services, but he was on Twitter. I connected to him, talked to him and liked him as a person. I purchased one gig from him, from the official website, not through Twitter mind you. Then, looked at the quality he provided, which was brilliant I may add. Then proceeded to order 3 more gigs from him, while leaving good reviews for him. He was from Pakistan and I had no issues with him. I think what surprised me when I worked with him, was when he went above and beyond what I asked in terms of business card design. That is when I realised he is worth gold on so many levels. People like that are hard to find.
Therefore, as someone selling your services, ensure you take the time to reply to someone looking for your services. A portfolio goes a darn long way to showing how you are a great fit for that potential client. Even on Fiverr, I find it slightly annoying when I look for graphic design or game developers, only to find that as they start out, they never offer a portfolio. Imagine it from the client's perpective...trust plays a huge part in people's lives.
Hope this helps someone- whether they are thinking of offering their services, or hiring someone.
Kind regards,
L.