What If You Had a Virtual Assistant?

Do you have big plans for your business in 2008, but not all of the resources you want to make a big impact? Dream big, because you could win a Virtual Assistant for 2008!

How to Enter the Contest

1. Answer this question: How would you use a virtual assistant to grow your business or improve your personal life?
2. Send your answer—in video, written or audio form—to Elance via email or snail mail: 441 Logue Avenue, Suite 150, Mountain View, CA 94043. Written entries must be 500 words or less, and audio and visual entries must be one-minute or less.  Entries must be received by January 25, 2008 11:59:59pm PST.
3. Remember, the contest is open to all registered Elance Members who have an Elance Account in good standing at the time of entry, so if you haven’t established an Account yet, establish one now—it's free!
   

PRIZES:

One Grand Prize Winner will receive Elance promotional credit redeemable for the purchase of $5,000 in services on Elance.

Three Runner-up Winners will each receive Elance promotional credit redeemable for the purchase of $500 in services on Elance.

Ten Honorable Mentions will receive a copy of best-selling business productivity book The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss.

OFFICIAL RULES

1. ELIGIBILITY: The Elance Win a Virtual Assistant for 2008 Contest (the “Contest”) is open to confirmed registered members of www.elance.com (the "Elance Site") who at time of entry have Elance Accounts in good standing. Employees, directors and officers, and their immediate families (spouse, parents, children, siblings, and their respective spouses), and their respective household members, of Elance, Inc. ("Elance"), its affiliates, subsidiaries, and divisions, and advertising and promotion agencies are not eligible to enter. U.S. law governs this Contest.

2. HOW TO ENTER: Registration is free. To enter the Contest, Eligible Participants must email final source files (“Submission”) in .pdf, .gif, .jpeg .doc, .txt or .wmv formats to virtualassistantcontest@elance.com. Written entries must be 500 words or less, and audio and visual entries must be one-minute or less. Entries must be received by 11:59:59 pm PT on January 25, 2008. NONCONFORMING ENTRIES WILL BE DISQUALIFIED. Elance shall not be obligated to but may in its sole discretion notify an Entrant of any nonconformity or defect in a Submission, and invite the Entrant to resubmit prior to the deadline for Submissions.

3. DETERMINATION OF WINNER: Elance will its sole discretion select one Grand Prize Winner, three Runner-up Winners, and ten Honorable Mentions from among all eligible entries from Eligible Participants received by Elance. All Winners and Honorable Mentions will be announced on Elance Talk in late-February, 2008.

4. CONDITIONS OF PARTICIPATION: You agree that your Submission will be the sole and exclusive property of Elance whether or not you are an Eligible Participant, and whether or not your Submission is selected as the Winner. You hereby grant to Elance the unrestrained right in perpetuity to own, utilize, edit, alter, publish, display, transfer, and release the Submission, in any manner Elance may see fit and for any purpose whatsoever, without limitation of any kind. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, you grant Elance the unrestrained rights to utilize the Submission in connection with Elance’s advertising, publicity, public displays, and exhibitions. If you have any rights to the Submission that are not owned by Elance upon creation or embodiment, you hereby automatically irrevocably assign to Elance all right, title and interest worldwide in and to such Submission. You retain no rights to use the Submission and you agree not to challenge the validity of Elance’s ownership in the Submission. You consent to the use of your name, Elance User ID, and business descriptive materials for advertising, publicity, and promotional purposes by Elance, or a party designated by Elance, including but not limited to, any online announcements, without additional notice or compensation. You will defend, indemnify, and hold harmless Elance against any damage, cost, loss or expense arising from a claim, suit or proceeding brought against Elance alleging that your Submission: (i) infringes upon any intellectual property rights or (ii) misappropriates any trade secrets, of any third party. You agree that any and all disputes shall be governed by the laws of the State of California. You agree that the conditions of submission set forth in these Official Rules, and all documents and agreements incorporated in these Official Rules by reference, solely govern the relationship between you and Elance in connection with this Contest.

5. PRIZES:

One Grand Prize Winner will receive Elance promotional credit redeemable for the purchase of $5,000 in services on Elance.

Three Runner-up Winners will each receive Elance promotional credit redeemable for the purchase of $500 in services on Elance.

Ten Honorable Mentions will receive a copy of best-selling business productivity book The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss.  Elance will mail these books to all Honorable Mentions within two weeks of announcement.

6. PROMOTIONAL CREDIT: Contest promotional credit must be redeemed by the original Winner only, for the purchase of services awarded by the Winner on Elance and completed by December 31, 2008.Promotional credit cannot be withdrawn in cash, is non-transferable, and cannot be sold or bartered. Taxes, if any, are solely the responsibility of the Winner.

7. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY: ENTRANTS HEREBY AGREE TO RELEASE, INDEMNIFY, AND HOLD HARMLESS ELANCE INC. AND OUR AFFILIATES, SUBSIDIARIES, DIVISIONS, ADVERTISING AND PROMOTION AGENCIES, EMPLOYEES, OFFICERS, DIRECTORS AND SHAREHOLDERS (COLLECTIVELY, THE "RELEASEES") FROM ANY CLAIMS, ACTIONS, INJURY, LOSS OR DAMAGE OF ANY KIND, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PERSONAL INJURY OR DEATH, RESULTING FROM PARTICIPATING IN THIS CONTEST OR FROM THE ACCEPTANCE, POSSESSION, OR USE OR MISUSE OF ANY PRIZE AWARDED OR PARTICIPATION IN ANY PRIZE-RELATED ACTIVITY. THIS LIMITATION OF LIABILITY IS A COMPREHENSIVE LIMITATION OF LIABILITY THAT APPLIES TO ALL DAMAGES OF ANY KIND, INCLUDING (WITHOUT LIMITATION) COMPENSATORY, DIRECT, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES; LOSS OF DATA, INCOME, OR PROFIT; LOSS OR DAMAGE TO PROPERTY; AND CLAIMS OF THIRD PARTIES. PARTICIPANTS AGREE THAT ELANCE HAS NOT MADE NOR IS IN ANY MANNER RESPONSIBLE OR LIABLE FOR ANY WARRANTY, REPRESENTATION, OR GUARANTEE, STATUTORY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, TITLE, AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE), IN FACT OR IN LAW, RELATIVE TO THE CONTEST. WITHOUT LIMITING THE GENERALITY OF THE FOREGOING, ELANCE DOES NOT MAKE ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES OR REPRESENTATIONS WITH RESPECT TO THE ELANCE SITE AND ELANCE SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR THE CONSEQUENCES OF ANY INTERRUPTIONS OR ERRORS RELATED THERETO. THESE TERMS GIVE YOU SPECIFIC LEGAL RIGHTS. THE PROVISIONS REGARDING IMPLIED WARRANTIES ARE VOID IN SOME PROVINCES WHERE IMPLIED WARRANTIES ARE PRESCRIBED BY LAW. Releasees are not responsible for lost, late, illegible, damaged, or stolen entries or submissions, or problems of any kind, whether mechanical, human or electronic. Releasees are not responsible for technical, hardware or software malfunctions, telephone failures of any kind, lost or unavailable network connections, inability to access a website, fraud, incomplete, garbled, or delayed computer transmissions or inaccurate transcription of entry information, whether caused by Elance, users or by any of the equipment or programming associated with or utilized in this Contest or by any technical or human error which may occur in the processing of submissions which may damage a user's system or limit a participant's ability to participate in the Contest. Entry materials that have been tampered with or altered are void. Elance reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to cancel or suspend part or all of this Contest, or modify these Official Rules at any time without notice, if in the Elance’s opinion there is any suspected or actual evidence of electronic or non-electronic tampering with any portion of the Contest, or if virus, bugs, non-authorized human intervention or other causes corrupt or impair the administration, security, fairness or integrity and proper play of the Contest. In such event, Elance may void any entries it suspects are at issue and award prizes from among all eligible entries received up to the date of cancellation. CAUTION: ANY ATTEMPT BY AN ENTRANT OR ANY OTHER INDIVIDUAL TO DELIBERATELY DAMAGE THE WEBSITE OR ANY ONLINE SERVICE RELATED TO THIS CONTEST OR UNDERMINE THE LEGITIMATE OPERATION OF THE CONTEST MAY BE A VIOLATION OF CRIMINAL AND CIVIL LAWS AND SHOULD SUCH AN ATTEMPT BE MADE, ELANCE RESERVES THE RIGHT TO SEEK DAMAGES (INCLUDING ATTORNEY'S FEES) FROM OR PURSUE INTERNAL, LEGAL, ADMINISTRATIVE, OR JUDICIAL ACTION AGAINST ANY SUCH PERSON TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, INCLUDING CRIMINAL PROSECUTION. Elance's failure to enforce any term of these Official Rules shall not constitute a waiver of that or any other provision. Elance reserves the right to disqualify entrants who violate the rules or interfere with this Contest in any manner. If an entrant is disqualified, Elance reserves the right to terminate that entrant's eligibility to participate in the Contest. Any attempts by an individual to access any website associated with this competition via a bot script or other brute force attack or any other unauthorized means will result in the IP address and all entries from that IP address becoming ineligible. Use of automated entry devices or programs is prohibited.

8. WINNERS' LIST: For the names and/or Elance User IDs of the winners, available after February 28, 2008, mail a self-addressed, stamped envelope by March 31, 2008 to: ELANCE WIN A VIRTUAL ASSISTANT FOR 2008 Contest Winners, 441 Logue Avenue, Mountain View, CA, 94043.

9. SPONSOR & ADMINISTRATOR: The sponsor and administrator of this Contest is Elance, Inc., 441 Logue Avenue, Mountain View, CA, 94043.

© Copyright 2007 Elance, Inc. All rights reserved. Entrants may copy these Official Rules solely for purposes of the Contest not for any other commercial purpose whatsoever.