Withdrawing your money through Payoneer

What's Payoneer? Basically, it's a prepaid Mastercard debit card that works just as any other Mastercard. This is how it works: You may transfer money from a list of companies directly to your card (including Odesk, Elance, Freelancer.com, Google, etc.), and, as long as it's loaded, you can use it to buy stuff or
even withdraw money from ATMs. You can use it anywhere in the world where Mastercard is accepted. I succesfully used it in many different countries.
I found this is the best way of getting your money out of freelancer sites like Odesk and Elance (you can even use it with your earnings from Amazon and Google adsense).
The costs for this card are very low, there's a monthly fee of U$ 3 (which lowers to U$ 1 if you use it more than three times a month). Transferring your funds from Elance is free of charge, and of course, you don't have to pay a commision whenever you use it to buy stuff. But you do have to pay a small fee when you withdraw money from an ATM.
But there's more! This is not only to receive payments from a limited number of companies, you can also receive payments from any credit card holder (it doesn't have to be from Payoneer). So, if you work for someone that's not using Odesk or Elance, you can still get paid directly to your Payoneer Mastercard (there's a comission though, about 7%).
After you've used the card for a few months, you can also apply for the US Payment service, which broadens the list of companies you can receive money from (including Paypal!).
So, if you work a lot with freelance sites, and you prefer this to a bank account (specially if you're not from the US, since the fees for international bank transfers are limited to a number of countries, and are VERY expensive), go ahead and try it!
I invite you to join to Payoneer and give it a try. If you join using my referral link, you and I will receive a U$ 25 bonus after you've received your first U$100!
So here's the link: JOIN! http://tracking.payoneer.com/aff_c?offer_id=350&aff_id=11099

Good luck, and write me if you have any questions!

Getting Paid (Elance)

Be sure you have read these previous posts first!:
1- Getting started with Elance;
2- Applying for your first job (Elance).


You got your first job, you completed it, and got paid!! So now what?
When it comes to hourly jobs, you get paid only after the employer has reviewed your work sheet and checked all the screenshots from the time tracking software. This system works on a weekly basis, like this: you log your work hours during a one week period, meanwhile all the screenshots are uploaded to your worksheet, which you can constantly check from your Elance user panel. If you accidentaly logged hours that you were not supposed to log, you can go there and erase them. Once the one week period is over, the employer has one week to review the screenshots. If he approves them, then you will get the money transferred to your Elance account the following week.
If you completed a fixed price job, then you have to make the arrengements yourself with your employer. You can ask for an advance payment, you can establish milestones, or simply get paid upon completion of the job (this is what I usually do, and I never had problems getting paid).
After you had your money transferred to your Elance account, you have several withdrawal options:
1- Paypal (no fee);
2- Skrill (no fee);
3- Bank transfer (Free for US banks);
4- Wire transfer (expensive fees, which depend on which country you're transferring to);
5- Payoneer (no fee);
6- Bank Check (no fee, only for US and Canada).

I use Payoneer, because it's the most convenient method for my country (Argentina).
You can even use the same Payoneer account and card to withdraw money from most freelance work sites like Elance, Odesk and Freelancer.com.

So, this is basically how Elance works for a freelancer. I hope this works out for you! Feel free to ask me any questions!
Good Luck!!

Applying for your first job (Elance)

Make sure you read the first part of this article: "Getting started with Elance".

Now, let's get started with the next step: Applying for a job.
First of all: BE PATIENT. It takes time to get your first job on Elance. In my case, it took me about a month to get hired for the first time.

Browse through the categories and try to find those jobs that you're certain that you can complete. Don't apply if you're not sure you're qualified, you don't want to get a negative review on your first job. That will make it impossible for you to get another job.

So, you found a job and hit APPLY! 

Let's go for it!

Writing a cover letter:

Writing a proper cover letter and having a full, consistent profile are the most important tools on Elance (or on any other site!). Don't copy/paste the same letter over and over again until you get hired. Write a specific cover letter for that job. Introduce yourself, and say why you think that you're the most qualified for this task. Read the job description carefully and clear any doubts that you have (deadlines, amount of images to be delivered, image size and format, etc.)

Attach relevant samples that are related to the job you're applying to.

Some employers don't give much details about the jobs that they post, so make sure you clear all your doubts in your cover letter. Sometimes the jobs seem to be quite simple when you read the description, but turn out to be extremely complex when getting the full brief.

Be honest, specially when it comes to your skills and when they have tight deadlines. Don't commit to a job if you're not sure that you can finish it by the established deadline.
You can ask for an advance payment, but that's optional, and I would advise against doing that, at least until you get some positive feedback from your employers on your profile.
I never ask for advance payments, besides, you can arrange that later with your employer once he hires you.

Avoiding scams:

I never had bad experiences while workin on Elance. But it's known that some scammers are out there (not only employers, but also freelancers asking for advance payments and then dissapearing withouth completing the jobs). It's a good idea to do a little research on your potential employers when they don't have an established profile. First of all, check if they have a verified payment method. 

 

This means that they've linked a credit card or a PayPal account to their Elance accounts, and verifies that they have the funds to pay for your work. Secondly, check their reviews. For every job that they post and complete, they receive feedback from the freelancer.

And of course, read through the job description. If it's too vague and poorly written (no punctuation marks, all written in small caps, etc), don't bother applying. Also, NEVER trust employers asking for "non-paid tests". You should never work for free, even if they guarantee later ongoing jobs if you succesfully complete the test. You have your profile to show your talent, and if this is not enough for an employer to trust you, then it's not worth wasting your time with this person.


Now that you've applied for your first job, all you have to do is wait. Again, be patient, it might take some time to get hired for the first time. 

Take a look at the following step to learn about how to get paid:
"Getting Paid!"

Getting started with Elance

A litte bit about Elance: Pretty much the same than Odesk: employers post their job offers and freelancers apply based on a bidding system. The employer sets an approximate budget and you get to make your best offer, competing with the rest of the freelancers on the site. The employer takes a look at all of the profiles and decides which freelancer to hire based on portfolio, experience, and pay rate. You have two types of jobs, fixed priced jobs and hourly jobs. Now here's a difference with Odesk: Elance does have a way of guaranteeing your pay with fixed priced jobs, called Elance Escrow. This is how it works: If you apply for an Escrow enabled fixed priced job, the money will be funded into the client's account as soon as you get hired (this is, of course, if the client has already validated a payment method with Elance). Once you've finished your job, the client will release the funds and the money will be transferred to your account.
Hourly jobs, just like on Odesk, are based on a time tracking application provided by Elance. This little software tracks the time you spend with a certain job, and takes screenshots at random intervals while you're working (just to make sure you're not slacking off on facebook!). With this last system, they guarantee that you'll get paid, since (after the employer has approved all hours by checking the screenshots) the time you have worked gets billed automatically from the employer's account. For further information and a more detailed explanation, you can read THIS.

So, go to Elance.com and open up an account. Now it's time to fill your profile. Let's do this quick and simple:

- Upload your profile picture. It's always a better idea to show your face instead of a logo or an avatar, so make sure you get a good picture of yourself (don't crop your face out of a picture from your trip to Machu Pichu!).

- State your minimum hourly pay rate. Now, you have two options here: You can start with a low rate to encourage employers to hire you despite being a new contractor (this is actually sad, but true, many employers emphasize the importance of a low rate when posting jobs); Or you can simply browse through the site's statistics to see what's the average hourly pay rate for the services that you offer. I personally chose the first option. I started with a U$10 rate, and after I got the first couple of jobs and some good feedback my clients, I started to raise my rate.

- Write a brief description of your skills. Don't go overboard writing too much, since most employers will have to read dozens of profiles when posting a job and they can't afford to spend much time reading descriptions.

- Upload your work to your portfolio. Post only your best work. Don't try to make your portfolio look more important by overcrowding it. You have the option to sort your work by categories, which makes your portfolio look more neat and organized. It's also a good idea to open up an account on an online portfolio site like Behance.net.

- List your employment history and describe your education. Be as specific as you can.

- Take tests. Elance has a wide variety of competency tests. They're not really good proof of your talent, but they will sure look good on your profile, and it will show that you are seriously commited. Even though it's not usual, some employers do restrict their searches to those freelancers who completed certain tests (For instance, a 3D Studio Max test, or a Google Sketchup test).

You've completed your profile. Next time we'll go with the next step: Applying for your first job.

Feel free to ask me any questions!