freelancing without schmoozing

This is the second time in my career that I have opened the door to taking on freelance work. The last time was more than six years ago, and I eventually gave up on the sporadic work that I found in favor of a "regular" job with a big corporation.

Now that I am my own boss, I am also open to the idea of freelancing. Unfortunately, I've never been one to "schmooze" with potential clients, and I've never been very good at networking my skills. I remember attending professional parties in the hopes that I might "rub elbows" with some important client who may be looking for some of the skills that I have under my belt. I also remember taking potential clients out to lunch, never to hear from them again, most likely because their needs didn't fall out of alignment with my offerings until we were able to sit down and discuss the project in more detail (on my dime).

Fortunately, my return to the world of freelancing is not without some very useful tools that didn't exist before. In addition to online job postings, we now have professional freelance market sites like Elance. Whether you are looking for skills or looking to leverage skills, you can now post a request for free, or a "courtesy listing" of your offerings for free. You can even create different profiles to concentrate on your various fields of expertise. This comes in handy for someone like myself, who may not want to muddle up web design experience with something unrelated. Then, you get to bid on the latest project offerings. This keeps the market competitive, and also means that you're not left fending for yourself to try and negotiate a reasonable fee.

Elance also offers premium subscription memberships for nominal fees that enhance your listing and guarantee you premium placement. Their membership services also include useful features like escrow and payment processing, automated archives and email trails, and mediation support, should you have any problems with your clients.

Check them out if, like me, you don't want to give up freelancing opportunities, but you're tired of the schmoozing.