Business Integrity: It Can Cost You But It Will Pay You

I believe wholeheartedly in living my life with integrity. This is not a sales pitch for me. Sometimes it costs me money or extra time and effort but because of my principles, my actions don't keep me up at night due to a guilty conscience. My conscience speaks much louder to me than greed so it's in my best interests to listen to it. I also know that when little miracles happen in my life, there are times when they might be happening as a reward for how I live my life. I'm certainly not flawless but I am honest.

This past week I was faced with a situation that might have tested my integrity and I guess I passed because I didn't even hesitate before doing what I believe was the right thing even though it probably cost me some dosh. My integrity paid me by increasing the trust between myself and my largest client and it looks like it will pay me financially after all. Maybe not as much as it would pay me if I'd chosen to handle myself differently but there are more important things in life than money.

Here's what happened:

The other day I placed a bid on Elance, the job bidding site, for a project I was qualified for. It was for a trial order and if the buyer liked the work it would lead to large orders in the coming months. It was one of a few bids I'd placed that night and I didn't really think too much of it because there were several competitors biding aggressively. In fact, I didn't even drop my price to get aggressive because I knew that if this one was meant to be it'd happen and it would require expertise that I wasn't really willing to discount.

So, the next morning I had an email that I'd won the bid for this project which at first was a nice surprise. The buyer remarked they would be in touch. Fantastic! Then I opened an email from someone who was already a client revealing that it was his bid on Elance that I'd just won.
Oh?
Uh-Oh.


So what was the problem?

The problem here was that the client wasn't "my" client. He's a customer via an agency I'm a team leader for and although many of the end users are anonymous to me when I do writing work for this agency, the owner trusts me enough to have me interact with many of her clients directly. Even though I'm a freelancer and don't 'work' for her, we have an arrangement and with that arrangement there's trust.

While I have greater earning earning potential without a middle person, the agency relationship provides volume and variety so it's symbiotic for myself and for my team.

The buyer knew who I was when he awarded the bid to me because:
a) I used my name and he speaks with me regularly about an ongoing project and
b) I used one of his blogs that I manage as a writing sample.

I immediately told the buyer that my bid was unintentional and told him I'd need to speak with the agency. I said that if they objected to my doing this one order direct, I would have to decline and refer him to the owner. I told the agency owner what happened. The agency had not bid on this project and didn't even know about it and I had no idea what their client's Elance buyer ID was so it really was just a coincidence. Thankfully, the owner understood and decided that we needed to talk through this issue together (all three of us).

The end results:

1. The agency now has extra business because the bid is for hundreds of articles in the coming months.

2. The buyer is going ahead with using me for the work but through the agency.

3. The agency owner probably now trusts me more than ever.

4. The buyer has decided to award me with what he called "a loyalty bonus" and is paying for the project TWICE. Once through Elance and once through the agency to thank me for my integrity. Nice, huh?

5. I'm thinking he might also add positive ratings to my Elance feedback which increases my ability to get other projects.

I won't make as much money on projects on an ongoing basis as I would direct but that's how it goes. The narrow road can be a more difficult one but it leads to life.
(Matthew 7:13-14)

Sure, I don't have a non-compete clause but I knew when the buyer contacted me that it would be wrong for me to go ahead and accept an order from them directly. I have an existing standing order through the agency managing this client's blog so the answer was clear.

Is Integrity Ever A Quandary?

Nope, not for me it isn't. Last year another client of a client came directly to me on purpose and I handled things the exact same way.

I'm not trying to toot my own horn here but I just felt compelled to share this story to illustrate that integrity does pay off, even if it takes time to bear fruit. I'm sure I'm going to benefit in more ways than one from my actions and even if I don't, I can hold my head high. There's not much in life this glass-half-full girl uses the word "hate" regarding (it is considered a swear word in my house) but I HATE cheating. I'd do without rather than steal.

Someone I mentioned this story to said that the agency wouldn't have even had this business since it was put out for bid and that I would earn a lot more money by taking it direct and maybe I should've stopped and pondered it a bit longer. The agency doesn't 'own' the customer and I've never signed a non-compete clause for them. But none of that matters to me. Since I have writers reporting to me for my own little agency who can sometimes see who my clients are, I am simply doing unto others as I'd have done unto me.

Integrity is vital in my business and personal life and I know that my actions have paid me more than once. Even if I have to give up a few dollars an article for this project, I'll be a richer person overall.

A Freelance Writer's First Experience With Elance

Today's post is about my very first experience with the freelance job bidding site Elance.

I have known about Elance since I first got started in freelance writing in early 2006 but hadn't taken the plunge for a few reasons.

So, I know I'm queen of the mile long posts...but that's because I want to give valuable information instead of just a quick overview so if you've got a cuppa Joe ready, here's my wordy take on my first experience bidding for a writing job with Elance.


What is Elance?

Elance is a job bidding system geared to freelancers. There are many categories including technical as well as writing. Members can bid on available jobs in many writing areas like ghostwriting, content writing, press releases, etc. and complete them through the system. The site takes service fees from the service provider. There are a large number of buyers and providers that regularly use this site. The site's homepage boasts over $134million in jobs awarded since 2005.

Why I Avoided Elance for 2.5 Years

I wasn't sure I wanted to bid on job bidding sites for writing work and I'd heard a few negative things about Elance and recent changes to their membership fees.

1. They take a % of the fees and a bit of a complicated system for being able to bid. You need to pay money to place bids as well as pay more money from your earnings as well.
2. There is a lot of competition vying for the same jobs as you so competing bidders might bid very low, making it difficult for you to be competitive without giving your work away for peanuts.
3. I prefer ongoing relationships with my clients rather than one-offs.
4. I've read some horror stories about difficult buyers.
5. Most of all, I've been quite busy with my own workload which has been fairly steady for most of my writing career thus far.

Why I Decided To Check Elance Out

I decided this week to take the plunge for the first time and bid on a gig. Why?

1. I personally know writers that earn more than six figures annually from this website alone.
2. Elance has an escrow payment system and I've had some near death experiences with client invoices so that made me feel secure.
3. I could try them out without committing to a membership by using a basic membership and bidding for free.
4. I have two big clients whose business volumes have dropped substantially in the last month or two so I need to protect my livelihood by coming up with additional ways to find ongoing writing work.

In the last year or so, I've spent a bit of time browsing the open jobs and I've spent time looking at profiles and feedback for writers who I know use this site. I decided this week to use my free connects (that come with a basic free membership)to bid on a job. I first though I would just use those 3 free connects each month for now and see if it netted me any results.

The first bid I wanted to place was an internet marketing blog which is one of my niches and I knew I was very qualified based on all the buyer asked for but the bid required 4 connects and I had already vowed to just try the site out with my free connects. I only had 3 of those connects available so I had to pass on this bid.

Bidding On Writing Jobs

So I found a project listed and placed my first the other day for an article in a niche that's also one of my specialties.

After placing the bid, I noticed that others were bidding too, but they weren't bidding in the open. They were using Elance's PMB (private message board) function to hide their pricing instead of using the sealed bid feature which probably just costs more.

At first, I felt that I should have thought of that as well instead of showing my cards to my competitors but in the end I won the first bid I made against six other bidders. I was excited and decided that maybe my open and transparent approach was better.

As I began to try to navigate the system I liked what I saw. The buyer put the funds in escrow for me and Elance holds the funds until we're both satisfied or decide to file a dispute.

The client was a dream. He provided me with a lot of information and I was able to easily complete the assignment knowing just what was expected of me. It took a bit longer to research than I expected but I still finished in a decent enough amount of time to make it a profitable project.

I was a bit nervous about waiting for the client to tell me if he was satisfied with my first draft. What if the dream client suddenly turned into one of the nightmares I've read about on other freelancer blogs? (It turned out wonderfully but I'm under no illusions about the potential for difficulties in the future with other buyers)

The system was smooth with e-mail notifications and a workroom to hold all the pertinent information and messages about the project and I'm sure there are other functions I haven't even discovered yet. I've been paid and had a glowing review of five stars and a satisfied buyer who asked if he can offer me steady work.

Wonderful! I'm giving Elance a thumbs up for my first experience with them.


Getting Paid From Elance

Elance released the funds and I had the option to withdraw to my PayPal account, a bank account or Elance pre-paid MasterCard debit card. What I decided to do, because PayPal doesn't offer a debit card to Canadians (and it's a nice thought to be able to get hold of my funds quickly when needed) is to sign up for the Elance MasterCard.

The Elance MasterCard is only open to paid Elance members so I took $19.95 of my project fee and upgraded to a premium account for the next month which will give me extra features and allow me 40 connects instead of 3.

I like investing in my business with writing dividends and feel like it's a smart way to grow my potential client base. Besides, the gig was an extra gig so I treated it a little bit like found money. Whenever I find money, I try to plant it and make it grow a little so hopefully my success rate with Elance will grow too.

If interested, check out Elance here.