Provider Case Studies

Business Challenge:

Transitioning from individual freelancer to small business owner

Julie-Ann served as a Human Resources Director for an investment banking firm for 7 years when she decided to start her own business. She joined Elance and within a few months was able to replace her salary through freelance writing. When the demand for her services exceeded her personal capacity, she realized that she had the opportunity to build a great company.

Solution:

Build a team to meet demand

Julie-Ann recruited additional writers. As she spent more and more time pursuing projects and checking the work of her growing staff, Julie-Ann found she had very little time left to write. Approximately 12 months after starting to use Elance, she decided to stop writing and focus on managing the business. Standards were created to ensure the quality and quantity of work, and senior writers assist and take responsibility for less experienced writers. A Project Delivery Manager controls the flow of work from inception to delivery.

“Providing writing services is no different than providing any other service,” says Julie-Ann. “The client agrees that I will provide a quantity of work at an agreed price and date. That's exactly what we do. There's no cleverness here, just delivering exactly what is asked of us in time every time wherever humanly possible. While that does mean the occasional sleepless night or cancelled day off, that's also what running a business is all about.” Based on this consistent reputation of delivery, a number of long-term client relationships have been established, providing stability to the business.

Results:

Established client base through Elance

• 6 writers on staff at the end of the first year; 12 writers after two years; after three years a stable team of 20 writers, in addition to several part-time writers.
• Over 1,000 Elance projects completed with lifetime earnings of over $518,000.
• 40% of clients request repeat projects.
• 25% of new work is generated through referrals or recommendations.