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I didnโt become a nomad, but I joined Nomad Forum to understand more about it. I have been freelancing remotely thru Elance for the last two years so I would like to know if there are other who have been impacted by their merge with Odesk and migration to Upwork.com. Just curious to hear more about it.
Good question - itโs been bugging me for months now. Iโve been a freelancer for 6+ years, and itโs the best job in the world, but I had relatively limited experience on these plaftorms. One job scored on elance and a few on Upwork. Iโm more experienced on the client side, as I spent about USD 1,000 on upwork, outsourcing lots of work mainly to financial analysts and writers.
I think Upwork is going down soon. The platform is ridiculously buggy, and riddled with millions of โgood sir, I do you good projectโ copy-pasted cover letters by bottom feeders. I did find my best client there, though (an Aussie e-learning company) and a few freelancers I deeply respect as people & professionals. In any case, Elance looked much better - it had more of a random community vibe, and it didnโt take itself too seriously as its successor.
My question now, which is the basis of my startup idea, is whether it is possible to make a platform thatโs built as a transparent community of enthusiastic 'lancers. One that doesnโt promote secrecy and use of its buggy software in order to rip off a 10% service fee (going up to 20% in June on upwork, btw). Something like nomadforum, but with the concrete possibility of exchanging gigs among us and work for one another as needed.
Do you guys know of any such community?
Iโve been working as a web developer on Elance for 2 years now (havenโt used Upwork so far). I find that the Odesk-Elance merger considerably increased the average number of bids for a given job: you routinely find 100 to 150 bids for a job today, which was unthinkable before the merger. And this totally sucks, because this is more competition and more competition is never good for the freelancer.
Even if you send a good proposal, when there are 149 other ones the chances of getting the job becomes relatively small.
Iโve been using both Elance and Upwork for freelance gigs over the past 6 months. I never had a chance to use Odesk before the switch to Upwork, so I canโt really comment there. Personally, Iโve had WAY more luck finding jobs on Elance vs Upwork. This could be for a variety of reasons, but one thing I consistently notice is that I find it much harder to browse through jobs on Upwork. Iโve just had to use some different search terms on Upwork to find the same types of jobs that I could easily find on Elance.
Iโm really hopeful that the platform will improve quickly, especially after theyโre done migrating everything over from Elance!
I have been working on UpWort (and before on oDesk) for two years now and am in general happy. I found a great full time job there and its an awesome way to search for new jobs.
Since the merge with Elance the tracking application has not been the best and there are often bug reports. That said, it wasยดnt really different before the merge.
TL;DR UpWork has itโs problems, but you can find great clients and freelancers on it.
Iโve been on UpWork (formerly oDesk) since 2009. Itโs been great for me! I also signed up on Elance in 2010, but I was never able to land a job there, so I stuck with oDesk/UpWork.
There are many people, freelancers and clients, who have issues and bad experiences on UpWork. However, my view is that itโs an international marketplace, and it will therefore magnify the best and worst of freelancing - youโll have good clients and bad ones, great freelancers and poor ones. A failed project, or a bad experience isnโt necessarily an indictment of the platform.
That being said, the merger of Elance and oDesk into UpWork has been fraught with technical problems. Personally, Iโve had no issues whatsoever on this platform but I will not discount the fact that other have had issues. However, the people who manage the platform have accepted that there are problems and are working on them.
Overall, I think itโs a great platform and you just have to make it work for you.
I have been working on Odesk and Upwork for nearly 5 years. I never had an issue with them.
Iโve never used Elance, but as an freelancer iโve had some issues with Upwork.
As freelancer iโve had one really bad client who was blackmailing me. During my initial consultation with support they told i should make a claim against him, that this is not tolerated by Upwork. I refunded all money to client and made that claim, it took them couple of months to decide that they will not do nothing. And the reasoning of doing nothing was stupidest ever, somehow iโve had 5$ dollars not refunded (but i swear I did refund everything, it just appeared out of blue) - and because of that, they refused to do anything.
As a freelancer Iโm taking my business elsewhere, avoiding Upwork at all costs(i have more then enough contacts for that and a good reputation). I donโt get why i should pay them 10% of my earning of they donโt protect my interests.
As an employer i found couple of interesting contacts and didnโt had any issues, but still think about moving along.
Iโve used Upwork once and it was a good experience for me. Just my 2 cents. But I came from using Guru, so in comparison Upwork was a dream.
Depending on what pay rate youโre used to those freelancing sites seem like a bad proposition. Mostly it seems like people compete on price rather than quality (of work, communication, etc).
I think its more worthwhile to build a good reputation and network of professional contacts for sourcing work.
I do some side jobs on freelance sites, and oDesk was a big one for me. I actually really liked the platform. Elance was good too.
Upwork sucks. A clunky messaging system, constant bugs that interfere with vital functions (like payments, for godโs sake), slow responses to customer service issuesโฆyou name it.
Iโve worked thru Elance for two years and never need to get in contact with their customer support. A week working with Upwork and I have at least 6 tickets with different issues. From migrating from Elance to adding payment methods and so on. One thing that I learned today, I opened a ticket two days ago, no answer. I used their live chat and they solved the problem in a couple of minutes. Lesson learned โฆ open a ticket without talking thru the live chatโฆ never again.
Iโve used Elance as an employer for several years, and the switch to Upwork doesnโt seem to be going well. Last week I posted a Sales Development Representative position on Elance and separately on Upwork. North American native English speaker was a primary requirement. On Elance I received 6 proposals from freelancers who could be a fit. On Upwork, not a single applicant met our requirements.
Iโve posted 4 jobs to Upwork, and only managed to fill 1 so far. The platform doesnโt seem to be doing a good job of connecting freelancers with employers.
Thanks for the feedback. I got really upset when they forced everybody to a new platform which didnโt see better. I started working on it last week. Some features like the tracking improved a lot compared with Elance, but the matching and ranking Iโm not really sure, thatโs why I asked. Seems like they have a long way to run.
Hi everyone,
I would love to hear what you'd like me to build next on Nomad List, or any other product/feature feedback ideas you have.
It's been 6+ years now but I'm in this for the long term and with the boost remote work got last year it's even more exciting to work on Nomad List than ever.
Current roadmap is here: twitter.com/levelsio/status/1363204985488572417?s=20 and pbs.twimg.com/media/EusS9PKXEAUR8xp?format=jpg&name=4096x4096
The next products/features I have planned:
- ๐ Rebase: visa, residency and immigration services for remote workers
- ๐Courses: learn the steps how to go remote and travel/relocate
- ๐ Gov liaison: diplomacy services to the governments to help us lobby for nomads and for them to attract remote workers
Thanks a lot!
Hi guys,
After the Netherlands, the Bay Area, Colorado and being on the van life for 8 months, I am now in Sedona, AZ with a few other digital nomads. We are sharing a home here and are wondering if there are more like minded people in the area.
We do a bunch of hikes and campouts in the northern of Arizona. If you would like to connect with us, please do so :)
Val
Does anyone ever travel to any Islands like Bermuda, Barbados, Barbuda and St. Kitts & Nevis?
Hi there, title says it all. Canadian nomad hoping to find the city/town in Portugal with great, consistent surfing, a solid coworking spot, and a fun group of young nomads. Please recommend!
I'm in need of a tax advisor who understands "our" typical situation. I'm all good on being legal on taxes at this point, but as I'm doing more investing and there's more compliance and KYC and such, it's getting more complicated to deal with this topic. Not living in my country of citizenship, company in another country, resident in yet another country, banking in a different country ... you know how it is, a pile of red flags.
Would be great to find a good tax advisor to sort things in a way that makes my situation as "explainable" and easily dealt with as possible. Any leads?
Hi, I've got a question to anyone who had experience with the digital nomad lifestyle. I'm 24, I'm in my last year of university doing computer science, got 3 years of experience mostly doing web development.
I never liked the idea of staying in one place, getting a job and growing roots - hence the will to take the opportunity and travel the world. My main question is โ how do I go about it? Are there any useful resources I could look into?
How do I go about insurance and such once I decide to move. I currently live in Switzerland and do freelance work for one company. It's not a lot, since my studies don't allow me to pick up a full time job, but it allows me to cover simple expenses.
I'd be happy to get some insight into how things work and also happy to network with anyone interested.
Hi guys ! hope you are doing well.
I would love to get your feedback regarding the best insurance for digital nomads. i'm traveling around Asia since 1 year and for next 4 or 5 years. Would love to buy an insurance to cover especially :
- health
- laptop, phone ...
- Flights
Hoping to see all the cool stuff people are working on while they live an extraordinary life.
Anyone know of any groups or resources for Ph.D. students working on dissertation while living as a digital nomad? I know there are several virtual writing groups around, but wondered if there were any specifically for digital nomads, particularly those who are dissertating.
Thanks!
Hey Nomads!
Iโm looking for an international health insurance (no travel insurance) for my nomadic life. It should cover the basic services and at least be accepted in the EU (itโs ok if itโs not accepted in the US as Iโm aware they rarely are). Nice to have: enter into a contract online. Anyone got a good experience or a recommendation?
Thanks in advance!
I have finally saved enough money to start investing. What company gives good, diversified access to stock, ETFs and mutual funds? Does it make sense to use company like Vanguard or Fidelity for that? Iโm a EU/Poland citizen, how would I transfer my money back and forth without incurring significant fees?
Hello digital nomad!
I dream of being an independent digital nomad. But it feels very elusive & unattainable with my success rate. In full disclosure, whilst I have dreamed about making money online since high school; I have not earned a single cent making money online. $0, nada, zilch!! On the contrary, I have spent a lot of time & money on books, podcasts. Even though I have spent a lot of time reading/listening to others, I do not have anything to show for it!
I have made attempts in the past to start an online business, but these fizzle out quite quickly when I do not see traction especially when the goal I have set myself is too high.
Instead of reaching for the ultimate nomadic lifestyle goal, I want to start much smaller. Really small! I am simply looking to make $50 profit per month from a new online business. Thatโs it.
I need some advice from you please!
Is $50 profit too low? How long did it take you to earn $50 profit per month?
What is a good way of achieving this goal?
Thanks
Mark
aka the $0 online business entrepreneur
Will be in Osaka this April/May and was curious to discover interesting groups/events.
I had a look at FB + Meetup but there doesnโt seem to be much. Any advice on where to look?
Hello everyone! Iโm new here and probably this is a very newbie question, but it doesnโt leave my head.
How do you, nomads, pay your taxes? I mean, if youโre constantly traveling, how are you going to pay taxes for a certain country if you are going to stay there a short period of time?
Or do you return to your โoriginal countryโ and then pay them?
By the way, this forum has very nice cool formatting features! 
All members of my family has different needs and hobbies so how do you pick the perfect places?
Hey everyone,
Iโm a freelance + nomad newbie, off for my 1st proper trip in May. Iโm wanting to spend a month somewhere and go from there.
I just came back from Slovenia/Ljubljana and loved it there (just a week). I donโt mind โsleepierโ places par-say, as long as theyโre close to a beach or nature of some kind. In fact, I kinda like places less-busy and a bit smaller/cosier.
Iโm been swaying towards Porto, but have been impressed by the rave reviews Iโve seen for Valencia.
-> Have you every nomad-ed in a Spanish/Portuguese city? Iโd love to know where and what you liked/disliked 
Thanks!
Hey, is there currently a way to save filter settings? I feel like it would be helpful for planning the trip as I have several ideas on what to target and would like to cycle between them
Hey guys, this was my first year as a Canadian nomad.
As far as I know of, Canadians donโt pay taxes if they do not live in the country for 6 months.
But Iโd like to talk to an accountant or someone who does Canadian taxes specifically for expats and nomads to get clear on the rules and for help on my return coming up.
Does anyone know someone who specializes in Canada who can help? Iโve seen plenty of US recommendations but none for us canucks.
Thanks guys!
Hi!
I am planning to move to Latin America for 3-4 months (Oct-January). Iโve narrowed down 6 different places that I want to visit before committing to settling down, but Iโd love to get some community input.
Here are the cities Iโm considering:
The most important things Iโm looking for:
Anyone have any experience with these places and can give some insight? Iโm also completely open to other recommendations.
Thanks!
Rose
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