Does anyone use Odesk/similar to get their company work?

bamme

Senior Member
Hi everyone

Ive finally been hired by a webdesign company as their junior. I am so relieved to have this job because I am very used to scrabbling for work til 1am most nights, and grabbing weekend projects, and basically, not ever finishing at 5.30 or having any security.

But the problem is, their work is very sparse at the moment, and they say they will give it 3 months and if I still don't have any work to do, they'll have to drop me :(

So i am trying to think of ideas to help them.

Now i know freelancers use this but.. has anyone got work off Odesk or similar site for their company, and been successful? Are there any niggles with doing this (eg maybe not odesk, because of the payment-only-thru-odesk thing)? Should it be avoided? Or is it a good idea? I see some little companies that operate on odesk; maybe 10-12 people on there using the same company logo, all representing same people. So i thought it was worth an ask! I hope so..
 
Hi Emma,

The best way of getting work is by word of mouth in my opinion. If a company have to turn to odesk for work then they really should'nt be running as a company. A company is formed on work stability, there's no point in having one if it's not going to be a success in its local region etc. I would say word of mouth and contact's is the best way.

Do they not have a big client base?
 
I found ringing around local businesses is a good place to start. Maybe put a flyer together and post through businesses letter boxes. Not always successful but will get the companies name out there. (maybe)
 
Come up with your own solutions to common problems and sell them to small businesses, some of these problems could be getting online to sell something, or running a blog and so on... but trying out some projects through Odesk etc may be a good idea, try and stay local though so you can go down and meet the prospective clients. You are much more likely to do business with them again in the future and so word of mouth will be much stronger as you'll be a know face and someone local. What sort of web-design do you do by the way? May even be able to suggest some agencies.
 
Thanks everyone :) basically its not a new or small company but at the moment they don't have as much work as they used to. They employed me on the basis that their work will pick up, I'm their junior. But I thought maybe I coud be a bit innovative and help them get clients in some way, even just to keep my job really.

The company does have big clients but they're print and web, and the big clients are mostly print clients. They do the flyering and sales letter stuff, and I'll shortly be starting to do some selling for them.



I guess what I meant is do you guys know any reason why a company would object to the idea of getting clients from places like odesk, or any reasons its just a stupid idea? And if so,, is there anyway you guys know other than doing seo for a couple of months to raise visibility and maybe get some leads that way, that might help? I was thinking even perhaps ppc, as I have this google voucher thing...


Emma
 
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