Over the last few years Guru.com has become one of the most popular freelance work opportunity websites. Along with elance.com the two pretty much share the market. Guru has given a number of people worldwide the opportunity to earn extra money freelancing and for some a chance to become completely self employed. For others Guru promotes slave labour and is ruining industry by allowing outsourcing companies to undercut western professionals. Many freelancers are aggrieved that Guru is taking work away from the West and outsourcing it far too cheaply to Asian countries. Guru would argue they are merely the go-between in a world where trade boundaries have all but disappeared as the web opens up a free for all.
Designers Are Feeling the Pinch More Than Anyone
Where design work is concerned I feel the pain of western freelancers. A website build that would usually cost $1000 is now being outsourced to India for $150-200; the high cost of western living permits no potential price matching. It used to be the case that outsourcing meant poor quality workmanship and awkward communication; not any more. The bar has been raised and Asian firms have stepped up their game to offer equal standards on both the work and communication aspects of business. The only thing that can save the western design world is conscience and old fashioned business principles. If domestic business owners have a moral persuasion to help industry survive and prefer doing business in the traditional face-to-face method then perhaps there is hope. I ask myself whether there is an ethical issue here; granted, living expenses are cheaper in India, but surely if this is truly a global market, standards should reflect price across the board, thus creating a level playing field and fair competition, right? From some angles it appears like imperial exploitation.
Copywriters and Marketers Slip Under the Radar
When it comes to copywriting and marketing communications, freelancers on Guru.com are slightly luckier than designers. Writing and marketing requires solid native English language skills and a working experience of marketing in the western hemisphere. For sure, Guru.com does have its idiots who want fifty 300 word articles for $50 in order to plague article directories with poor grammar, uninteresting and useless affiliate marketing articles. But then I for one am happy to leave such jobs to students, mums making extra pennies and non native English speakers.
Guru.com Is Always Frustrating at First
In Guru’s defence there is money to be made in you stick with it and put the effort in, at least for writers and marketers anyway. When I first started out on Guru.com I was frustrated, you can only land jobs if you have good feedback or bid at an exceptionally low price, so hard work needs to be put in to get off the mark. When you do land a job and get paid via the Guru safepay service they steal a fair portion of your fee, which is again quite demoralising. The combined Guru fee and method of payment charge can hack as much as 9% off your total fee. The way I see Guru though is not as a place to earn your full living, but as a springboard and networking arena. Look at it like an industry gathering you go to weekly where you pay a monthly fee to be exposed to potential clients. Your main objective should be to lure clients away from Guru and work with them outside of the website and the fees.
Get Clients – Get Referrals – Get Out
The more successful I became at landing jobs the less time I spent on Guru.com. This was because I was achieving a good referral rate from my newly acquired client base. And I often find that once I have completed one job for a client they ask for a variety of different jobs to be completed. I have also found that most employers can’t be bothered to keep posting on Guru. Good employers who run successful businesses don’t want cheap, they want quality and someone who can identify immediately with their brand and write copy accordingly; this is where marketing experience becomes a vital part of copywriting. So when an employer finds a good match for their business they take things outside of Guru and work directly via email/Skype and Paypal.
Avoid the Cheap Charlies and Discover Your Niche
Once you have been on Guru.com for a while you can spot the cheap charlies a mile away and you simply don’t waste your bid. You become familiar with the tone and terminology of those seeking to exploit cheap labour. As a writer, copywriter or marketer on Guru it is important to discover your niche. For example one of my niche areas is Press Release writing, this comes as a result of years working in music/media. I have seen a million of these things and subsequently know how to write them. I land a large percentage of Press Release work I apply for on Guru, not because I am the cheapest, far from it, but because my examples are of a high standard and my feedback is 5 star. A company putting a product to market for the first time can’t afford to launch with a substandard copy. Better they pay $30 more for a pro and get it right than pay peanuts and get ..well, you know the saying.
So recognise your niche areas and plug away. Once you have built up some feedback, proved yourself and got a few clients, the referrals will come. Set out your fee for each area you work in and put some effort into your cover letters. Don’t send in templates whatever you do. By all means have generic replies ready to go but always tailor them personally to the job for which you are applying.
Quality Will Prevail but Guru.com Must Go Ethical
Guru.com is a pool of negatives and positives. I feel whole heartedly for the design industry and Guru do need to take some sort of ethical stance to protect their freelancers, after all, Guru is a western based company and built its foundation upon western freelancers. When it comes to writing, editing and copywriting, things aren’t as bad and there are good jobs hidden amongst those clients who couldn’t care whether you were homeless or not. However, competition is fierce and it is no easy task to land work. But I believe that when it comes to the crunch quality will prevail. Many businesses start out advertising for cheap labour on Guru, only to realise that by doing this they create more work in the long run editing, rewriting and hiring someone who can actually represent their company in the way they require.
Written by Peter Litchfield
Peter is a copywriter, marketer and communications specialist with over 11 years experience in media related industry. He provides marketing consultancy and strategic copy to companies across Europe, America and Asia.
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