Elance Upgrade

I was a little shocked when I logged onto my account on Elance. For those of you that do not know what Elance.com is, it is a marketplace for buyers and freelancers to get together.

 

Buyers place jobs that freelancers bid and and then the buyer chooses the best candidate and the work begins. This is where I get at least half of my work from. Elance charges high fees for bidding credits and then they charge a fee when you get paid.

After a job is completed, the buyer (and freelancer) have the ability to leave feedback and a score. The average of the scores for the past six months, the number of jobs and even lifetime average used to be displayed with my name when I bid on jobs.

Now they have created a level system. It is too complicated to describe here, but it includes how quickly I am getting jobs done, my feedback scores, and so on.

One of the GREAT things is that they are now penalizing freelancers for low balling bids. This creates price erosion and I think it is a great addition. It helps the average freelancer to make a decent wage.

 

I have not mentioned coffee in awhile, but I just bought a new “kit” for my coffee press. it contains a stirrer (dog ate it, grrr), a glass beaker that is graduated, a cleaning spatula (dig out the grounds), and a four minute timer that attaches to the press. I cannot find it online, only in the stores. If you have a press it is a great kit.

This is the press I use. Click and buy one. They are durable and keep your coffee hot. They make about 4 regular sized cups of coffee at one time.