I was, oddly enough, a little disappointed by our success.

We'd experienced double-digit growth for three years in a row at BlackBird Media, Inc, the full-service advertising agency I run. Business was booming but that was the problem: I had also spent the past ten years building a part-time career as a ghostwriter. As our company expanded the demands on my time naturally grew – at the expense of writing.

Good writers always have steady work. But it still takes time to maintain a stream of new clients; you can't just set up a store and expect people will walk in looking for a writer. I had a number of ongoing clients but I no longer had the time to look for new projects that interested me.

And then I got lucky. One of our directors had used Elance to locate skilled programmers and was impressed with the wide range of projects available. In five minutes I found twenty projects I was interested in: I bid on three and was awarded one of them four hours later.

Start Small
I had written a number of books and articles but was new to Elance buyers. No matter what I'd done in the past, though, I knew I needed great Elance feedback to establish credibility with this new audience of potential clients. Your education, credentials, and background are certainly important, but good feedback is absolutely critical – the average buyer checks your feedback first, then your portfolio, then your credentials.

Instead of trying to win high-budget work I initially bid on smaller projects: magazine articles, press releases, and 30 to 60 page e-books. I received a series of straight-5 ratings and built a feedback history that let me bid successfully on larger projects, including non-fiction books for major publishers.

The key to receiving good feedback is to fully understand each client's requirements. If you do good work, you'll always satisfy your customers unless you're unclear on expectations and requirements. Spend time making sure you know exactly what your clients expect and you'll get great feedback and establish long-term business relationships.

Adapt to Your Client's Needs
For example, on book projects I work with the client to develop a complete project outline, including a detailed chapter-by-chapter breakdown. I also make sure I get a feel for the tone and style they're looking for.

Why? In writing, style is almost as important as content. Some topics call for a more scholarly approach, while others are perfect for a breezy, chatty style.

Plus, everyone has a unique ‘voice.' I write in the style my clients request: remember it's your job to adapt to your clients, not the other way around. Many clients are professional speakers and public figures, and their books serve to extend and support their message. Their book needs to ‘sound' like them; if it doesn't the book loses impact and my clients lose an opportunity to extend their brand.

Choose Projects that Fit
It's natural: new providers are tempted to bid on everything. I think that's a mistake: you may win a lot of projects but if you don't have the skills – or the time – to satisfy each customer, your ratings will suffer.

Instead, pick smaller projects and consistently over-deliver. Hit your deadlines and be professional and courteous at all times. As your feedback history grows other buyers will then feel confident you're the right provider for bigger projects. Forty-four projects and an overall 5.0 rating later, I can now be selective about what Elance projects I bid on. The wide variety of available projects allows me to not only write about subjects I'm expert in but also topics I want to learn about.

My background is in business, real estate, and finance and investing. Because of Elance I've been able to research and write about hydroponics, horticulture, personal development, pregnancy, breastfeeding, anime… I've worked on interesting assignments and I've met people from around the world in the process.

And best of all, I'm able to spend free time writing instead of finding new customers.

Elance makes finding clients easy. Finding the time to tackle all the projects I'm interested in is the hard part.

- Jeff Haden – Elance username: crunnells