Last night I got a survey from Odesk.com. It was a survey asking me why I hadn’t worked on Odesk yet, and what they would have to change to get me to do so. Now, anyone who knows me also knows that I’m a really patient and reasonably nice person. I don’t bash people, because it’s bad business and bad karma, and it always comes back to get you. But despite my best intentions, I ended up writing a fairly nasty response to the survey, as the question made me really angry.
Today I’m going out on a limb and deciding that having strong opinions is okay, so I’m going to talk about why I think sites like Odesk are contributing to the downfall of quality internet marketing, the English language, opportunities for all freelance writers, and the pay scale of writers online. As long as I’m going to break my rule, I’m really going to go for it.
I will be totally honest and say that I looked at Odesk pretty heavily starting out. I had tons of writing experience, and my price point was really low. I was new at the business thing, and nervous, and mostly wanted work samples to show off. I will also say that for a variety of reasons, I got most of those work samples for free rather than use Odesk: I was that unhappy with the system that it encouraged and rewarded.
There’s a subculture of internet writing that I personally find really disturbing. I’m not sure if there is a technical term for it, but it’s based around the idea that it’s better to hire writers from countries with a lower living wage and train them than it is to hire experienced writers from the US. This is especially true when you get into low budget SEO copywriting, where keywords and speed are valued over quality writing. Now, before someone gets really angry, I am not advocating that you should only hire US writers and that all SEO is the work of the devil. What I am arguing against is an internet marketing culture that values low price google rankings over actual creative and quality advertising writing.
Yes, you can sign up for sites like Odesk as a US based writer, and yes, you can charge whatever you want for your services. However, you won’t get jobs. You can’t compete with the bottom market. Now, I’m a pretty fast writer (my clients can verify this) but even I can’t do one SEO optimized article an hour and I certainly wouldn’t do it for a dollar an article. It’s not worth it. And the more people who do, the more people come to expect it. These articles aren’t quality advertising, and they don’t pay a living wage: not to anyone. It’s an evil system, and it isn’t fair to writers in any country.
But here’s the problem, which I truly understand. I’ve been here myself. When you first start out as a professional writer, you are scared to death of not being able to feed yourself. At that point, any job looks like a good job. This is especially true if you live in a country where the wages are really low. These freelancing sites should be an opportunity to work with people from all over the world at an acceptable living wage, not a place to take advantage of the disenfranchised. Now, I’m also perfectly willing to admit that this isn’t the fault of Odesk or other sites like them. They aren’t evil overlords, it’s just how people are. This is happening in industries all over the world, not just the writing industry.
I finally came to the conclusion that I couldn’t participate in a system like that and not feel horrible. I needed money, but I wasn’t quite willing to go there. It all worked out for me, but I was lucky. I had savings, a paycheck, and I lived in the US. I had far more options than people in other life situations would have.
I’ve been asked a lot about freelancing sites by other writers, and I’ve told them to start their own companies instead. The barrier to entry is so low these days that all you need is a basic computer, an internet connection, and a hell of a lot of determination to make money. It’s the scarier sounding option, but the better one. When in doubt, start your own company and decide what you’re worth. If you’re good at what you do, work hard, and you’re nice to people, you will absolutely have some level of success. And you can do it from whatever country you want.
If you’re already a freelancer, don’t ever let yourself be bullied into waffling on your prices because someone says they can find someone on a freelancing site who can do it cheaper. Decide what you’re worth, and stick to it. You get what you pay for, and you’ll do better in the long run if you stick up for yourself and develop a reputation as someone who is confident and professional. Not all clients are clients that you want to have: generally, clients who try and get high quality on the cheap have an agenda that you don’t want to deal with. Be yourself, stick up for yourself, and demand the respect that you deserve as a person and as a writer (or graphic designer, or whatever else you do).
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