Welcome to part two of the Work from Home Blog Series. I'm focusing on Elance and how you go about setting up being paid, which is really at the centre of being able to work from home, unless you're not like me and, ya'know, don't like being paid. If you have never heard of Elance then click here for the full Elance series or go to the first post that explains what Elance is all about.
As you know, I recently left full time employed work with the goal of working from home, having more flexibility and a healthier life. It really wasn't all that easy, but then I stumbled across Elance, and it became really easy, really quick to work at home on a schedule that suited me.
I tried to spread the joy to other friends and family who were finding it difficult securing a permanent job but I was constantly told that they didn't understand how it worked or how to set it up, so it made sense to write this little guide, which should go some way toward helping you start working freelance.
So, let's look at how you can get paid!
Get Paid on Elance
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1. If you have the time, familiarise yourself with the website home page, click on things and explore options. If you get lost in your journey to freelancing refer back to the little tab on the top left that says "My Elance", should this icon ever be unavailable then your username on the top right will take you back to this screen when you click on it.
2. The manage button is where you want to look for anything relating to payment, setting up methods of payment, withdrawal of funds, accessing files, sending status reports to clients and staying on top of billing and any monies you have made. Yay for being a freelancer, when looking after your own taxes becomes even more complex!
3. Set up your financial accounts, once you're there it becomes self-explanatory. This is an easy area to navigate.
4. Follow the instructions for set up. This is a great little area of Elance but it's also important to remember that many of the financial accounts are options for payments only, e.g. if you hired someone via Elance then you could only pay them through this financial account. Other accounts, like paypal allow for payments to and from Elance, which Elance refers to as 'Payment only' or 'Withdrawals only'.
If you get stuck look at their guide to Billings and Payments.
How do I bill clients for the work that I've done?
5. Every week, Elance will send you a message reminding you to submit a time sheet. It's important to submit them weekly. If you are late or delete the message, you can always access them under "Manage>Billing".
And you're all set for working
So what happens when you've finished working, you've earned money and you want it in your bank account? Elance does not pay you automatically and you have to request it from them. If you've set up your bill payments then you should be all set. However, deciding what withdrawal method to use can be tricky. Have a look at Elance's Withdrawal guide.
6. Click on withdraw. It will take you to a page, which details how much money you have in your Elance vault (it's just called 'withdraw', but I think vault has a nice ring to it, plus, only those that have lots of money have vaults and, obviously, you will have money amounting to millions! Or, if you're more like me, you'll probably have it emptied most of the time - a girl's gotta eat).
7. Say that you have $200 and wish to withdraw that amount fill in the appropriate details, choose the correct withdrawal method for you. The withdrawal methods available in the drop down box will be the ones that you added in your 'Financial Accounts' tabs, so if you want to withdraw monies in a different way you will need to add it to the Financial Accounts first. It's important to read through the options on the right, and note that there is a $25 fee for Elance to deposit the money directly into your account. In my opinion, that's far too much, so I have never used it.
Click on Withdraw and expect a deposit/cheque (or 'Check' for you Americans!) within the amount of time specified in Elance's withdrawal guide.
And that's it.
I promise the payment section is actually the most complicated part of Elance, after that it gets much easier.
Keep looking back at the rest of the guide and I'll see you on the 'Elance Side'. Sigh, I should really stop with the dreadful jokes!
Other parts to this guide:
Part 2: How to set up payment on Elance
Part 3:How to apply for work on Elance
(coming soon)
Part 4: How to monitor work on Elance
(coming soon)
