Where to find Freelance Project from USA/CANADA only.

Hello,
I'm wondering about freelance working for USA and CANADA customers. I saw many freelance sites, but the indian people take over all the projects with their low prices. As when customers think the cheaper the better, they don't understand that the price can be equal to the quality.
So i'd like to know if there is some place where I can find customers for web-projects who are searching for bigger, more complex systems. Maybe crm, unique cms and other.


Thank you

This is very true, especially, on Elance, where Indian people charge low to get many jobs.

But, this is not much different from other sites like: Freelancer, oDesk and many others. There are many people competing for any gig all around in these sites. I prefer Freelancer.

But the best way to have a decent payment as a freelancer is to developing and find your own clients, thru word of mouth. And to get this take a little time, you gotta promote yourself in every place that you can, to be seen.

However, it's also possible to get high payment on sites like Elance, Freelancer and the others, too, because there are some clients that are very demanding and will required great reference and works from you, then, they will also pay as much as you ask them.

It's all about work.

I like Freelancer so much, more than the others.

I do not know such site. For me, the trick is to stand out from other freelancers. Give your client quality work and make sure they are fully satisfied with the project. In return, tell your client you appreciate a detailed feedback. Building good feedback profile will help you get more clients who are demanding quality work.

Also, make sure your bid request message and the personal message you send to clients when bidding for a project is not just a simple copy & paste message that you do for every clients. Personalize them and make sure you discuss a little about the project.

Yep, I understand all these things. I got registered for one of those freelance projects, and tried to "bid up" with all others. But there were so many indians and other low priced offers with comments like "HQ programmer here" "10 years exp in <exact> area" and so on, that it is getting impossible to get something there...

I know that quite an important thing is to get first client, which will make the "mouth advertising", but where to find him?

Just surfing through different usa/canada company web pages and trying to find low quality one? Then write an email saying "Hey, I think you have bad web-page, let me create it for you".

In my experience it doesnt work, because if company has no interest in "redeveloping" its system in the first place, than my offer won't be so interesting for them....

I want to find a place, where people want changes. Maybe not just creating representative web-page. I'm more curious about creating Bussiness management systems, analyzing how system (company) works and what can be automated...

well maybe you should charge low at first and then once they see the quality work you do, they'll negotiate for higher prices... maybe

it worked for me =)

Craigslist...

Have you tried Craigslist or Backpage? I've seem some people offering their services there.

There is not an exactly site, that I know, to mention you, seriously. The best one, nowadays, it is here, where you are, not the BHW, only. But I mean the entire Internet.

You never know where a person with not much interest in your work can lead you to a great client that will bring much more, later on.

There are, good and bad clients, every where. There are sites like those that I mentioned which will require only Americans for many different reasons like timezone, for example. And also clients that require only someone to deliver the job, as plausible as possible.

These sites are the most popular world wide, sadly, but any freelancer that needs a fast job or not, will end up looking for something there.

I tried looking else where to find 'virgin' customers, but, ended up noticing that there aren't much.

As I told you, promote yourself as much as you can, and trust me, you'll find very interesting people in places you never thought of.

In times, where I used to be very addicted to Elance, when I started my career, I saw many jobs that had very, very high pay off and would keep you busy for months, whose requirements used to be very complex to achieve.

Profiles in LinkedIn for IT pros are ideal, more than any other social media out there.

The best way to display yourself for people you are looking for is to have a great portfolio.

If you wanna work with e-commerce, have an e-commerce portfolio to show, and so on. People will find your right away.

As I said, it's all about work.

I use Scriptlance to find professionals to work on freelance projects. Don't be afraid of competing against low-cost providers. Prices that are too low raise a red flag for many buyers. Additionally, most professionals will send a generic (and poorly-written) message with their bid. Make your message clear and concise and you'll attract business.

I agree about the Indians killing the price. It's crazy, i don't know how they make profit.
Maybe try forums, most of them have some sort of Marketplace subforum, and you can offer your services there (especially on design/development/hosting forums).

EdgarFoX said:

Hello,
I'm wondering about freelance working for USA and CANADA customers. I saw many freelance sites, but the indian people take over all the projects with their low prices. As when customers think the cheaper the better, they don't understand that the price can be equal to the quality.
So i'd like to know if there is some place where I can find customers for web-projects who are searching for bigger, more complex systems. Maybe crm, unique cms and other.


Thank you

Click to expand...

I think the biggest frontier on this is how you can be sure you will get paid ?
We live in a world that there is no online trust, and I guess sites like Elance which have a escrow system are one good path to overcome this.

A good example would be paypal, they offer no guarantee for virtual goodies. So there you are finally complete that entire month of work on a CMS, client paid you in 2 ways an amount prior start and the rest after you finished, then he charges you back and bang... what you do ?

You can fight all you want but there are plenty reasons you can give paypal so you won't ever get the money back.

Freelance and oDesk have their systems for preventing no-pay situation (except on fixed priced jobs on oDesk, you're on your own there)...
As when you're hiring someone, the same when you're hired by someone - check them out. Make sure they're "legit", they don't have too much negative feedback about them, etc.

But, you can never be 100% sure you will get the payment

cgimaster said:

I think the biggest frontier on this is how you can be sure you will get paid ?
We live in a world that there is no online trust, and I guess sites like Elance which have a escrow system are one good path to overcome this.

A good example would be paypal, they offer no guarantee for virtual goodies. So there you are finally complete that entire month of work on a CMS, client paid you in 2 ways an amount prior start and the rest after you finished, then he charges you back and bang... what you do ?

You can fight all you want but there are plenty reasons you can give paypal so you won't ever get the money back.

Click to expand...

Huy Phan said:

Freelance and oDesk have their systems for preventing no-pay situation

Click to expand...

Reading this I just remember of something, make sure you read the rules in order to be safe on payments, for example escrows that have not been funded are not protected for guaranteed payment. So always make sure you read their terms and rules so you don't miss anything.

Be aware of people asking for demo and free samples as well as it may be just a client playing the smart on the freelancers to aggregate free demos/samples into 1.

Also, as i mentioned, oDesk has fixed-price jobs, that are also unsecure, payment wise, because the employer decides whether to pay your or not, and how much to pay of the agreed amount.

So, these websites do offer a certain stability and secure payments, but it's not bad to get acquainted with their rules, in order to be completley safe.

cgimaster said:

Reading this I just remember of something, make sure you read the rules in order to be safe on payments, for example escrows that have not been funded are not protected for guaranteed payment. So always make sure you read their terms and rules so you don't miss anything.

Be aware of people asking for demo and free samples as well as it may be just a client playing the smart on the freelancers to aggregate free demos/samples into 1.

Click to expand...

we should (people from bhw) create a freelancer website together, I big and better one than freelancer

I think there are so many sites and platform available you may choose any of those.

Wow, actually 3 years passed since this thread.
I've been working on oDesk for a few years now and it's the main income traffic. Though not working as a developer, but as a project-manager - however the main goal is not to give up and bid on jobs until you get one. Probably it took me months until I have received something.