Elance is supposed to be the source for finding freelance professionals to handle all types of tasks and projects that you need to outsource.  Along with competitors like Guru, these services bill themselves as one-stop shopping for finding professionals of all different types. 

I have used both services on numerous occasions and we have found some good freelancers on the sites.  However, I also realize that it’s a lot more involved than just picking the best resource at the lowest price, and then forgetting about it. 

The Problems with Hiring Freelancers on Elance

Here are just some of the problems that you deal with when trying to find a freelancer on Elance:

• You rarely can find the skill set that you want for the price that you want
• You never have your specifications completely nailed down right away  so you’re constantly working over what’s actually in scope and either you don’t get what you want or they have to do more than they bid on
• At best, maybe half the projects completed match your needs.  If it’s a 50% success rate, that means that the cost of each project is essentially twice what you pay.

I prefer to find someone who I can work long term.  Sometimes that means hiring someone for a small project and then brining them on in a separate long term deal.  Unfortunately, this takes A LOT of time and many small projects to get through find those people.  They are few and far between.  In the end, it’s just a much smoother and less stressful relationship to work with one party..

• You don’t need to get to the smallest detail because they have a better idea of what you’re trying to accomplish.
• Much easier telling that person something once and they can keep doing it

If you still need to use these services, here are some ways that can improve your success rate.  Be aware that it’ll never be perfect or as good as hiring someone, but it will make your experience better.

Ways to Improve Your Freelancing Success Rate

• Only outsource things that are VERY specific
• Choose projects that are small - almost too small to be projects because you’ll see that these still take a lot of your time. 
• Be incredibly descriptive.  When you think you can’t be more descriptive, go back and add twice the detal.