Why Job Bidding Sites are Bad for Freelancers

Job bidding sites, where you can bid on freelancing projects, might seem like a great deal. You have a pool of potential clients actively looking for the exact work you do. All you have to do is put together a quick proposal and you’re good to go, right? Wrong. Job bidding sites are bad news for freelancers.

How Job Bidding Sites Work

First, let’s make sure we’re all on the same page about how these sites actually work. Say Client A wants a new logo designed by a freelance graphic designer. It’s easy for her. She:

Describes the work
Gives her budget
Posts the job on the website

All she has to do now is sit back and watch the bids roll in. Once the job listing is live, interested freelancers write a proposal. They make a case for why they’re the best for the job, and provide a quote for the work.

A Race Toward the Lowest Price

At this point, you may be thinking this sounds like a great deal for freelancers. Scrolling through these sites sure sounds like an easy way to find clients.

But let’s be real. It sounds too good to be true, and that’s because it probably is.

Think of it this way: Every time you bid on a job, you’re competing with dozens of freelancers. Each bid costs you (unpaid) time to craft a thorough and compelling proposal that stands out from the crowd.

But it’s worse than being a time suck. The reason that Client A is using this site in the first place is because she wants the best work done for as cheap as possible. In order to put yourself in the running at all, not only will you need to send a great proposal, you’ll also have to price your services lower than the other bidders.

The trouble with these sites is that you end up losing out no matter what. You either waste time writing unsuccessful proposals, or you get the job but make much less money than you should. Client A wins every time.

While it might be an “easy” way to find work, it’s definitely not the most productive use of your time and energy.

The Real Math on Freelance Platforms

Of course, there will always be freelancers who say, “you can absolutely make six figures on Upwork or Fiverr!” It makes for a great flashy headline.

Sure: you absolutely can make six figures on these platforms. But doing a little math shows you it’s both an exhausting and inefficient way to hit six figures.

In the article, one of the freelancers says:

“I average $60 per order, and that’s counting a 100-word email. That average also includes the $5 gigs I did at first. But excluding those, I would say my average is about $100 a job right now, so if I have 27 jobs in the queue, that’s $2,700 …

“Freelancing is very roller coaster. One day I might have two to three things to do, but I’ve had days when I had 27 things to do, which is an 18-hour workday … On any given day, I’ll have 40-50 jobs in my queue.

“But I appreciate that even if I work hard and have 20-30 jobs to do in a day, I have a lot better life because I don’t have to deal with bosses, I can tell people I don’t want to do a job that I don’t want to do. And I have flexibility. I’m taking my wife to Europe on a hiking trip for two weeks.”

There are a few things to unpack here. And we’re not doing so to point fingers at this freelancer; they likely never learned how to freelance (it’s why we created a course … so you don’t make these mistakes) You can absolutely hit six figures, but:

You Do Not Need to Work 18-Hour Days

We didn’t get into freelancing to work even more than we did at a full-time job! This is a recipe for freelancer burnout.

What this says is that this freelancer does not have a process for scheduling client work. Or, more likely, they’re taking so many jobs on the client’s timeline because that’s what the client posted on the freelance platform and that’s what the freelancer agreed to.

When you pitch businesses directly (more on that below!), you set the deadlines. The vast, vast majority of the time, clients aren’t expecting a rush job (and if they are, you can charge more!).

We’ve even had freelancers in our community tell us they’ve turned down work because they couldn’t squeeze it in, only to have the client come back weeks later and ask if they had time. Freelancers are often scared to lose out on work when that’s generally not the case.

You Do Not Need to Have 40-50 Jobs in the Queue

How stressful! Some freelancers have 40 to 50 jobs over the course of an entire year—and can still hit their income goals. Having 27 tasks in one day to complete is unrealistic. Of course, if you commit to them, you have to hit your deadlines, which is what leads to 18-hour days.

Think about it: 6 AM to midnight?! That’s insane.

Wouldn’t six figures be a lot nice working six or seven hours each day? (No guarantees here—you’ve got to do the work!) When you know how to pitch correctly, you know how to control your workload and ramp it up if your project load is lighter (and you want more work) or ramp it down if you’re going on vacation, for example.

You Do Not Need to Rush Your Work

As a professional freelancer, you know the amount of time it takes to complete various projects in order to deliver value for your clients.

In order to average $60 an order for a 100-word email and make $150 to $200 an hour, that means this freelancer is churning out 2 or 3 emails per hour. These clients are getting mediocre work, at best.

Plus, the stress of having to work at that speed to meet those rates is also a sure path to burnout.

There is plenty of high-paying work for freelancers; but that work is not on job bidding sites.

You Can Go to Europe (Or Anywhere You Want) Without

All of the benefits this freelancer cites are possible … without rushing, the pressure of double-digit jobs in the queue, and 90-hour work weeks.

In fact, when done smartly and with an effective system for finding and landing high-paying clients, you may decide to work four days a week and hit your income goals. Or you may hit your goal in 3 days a week, or part-time hours, or … you get the idea.

You need a system. And you need to define what success looks like to you.

Pitch Businesses Directly

If you really want to succeed, prospect. Freelance platforms may seem “easy” and “less scary” than pitching … until you learn to pitch correctly and realize it’s just providing a business with a gift.

The best freelance pitches land you high-quality clients rather than bargain hunters. You’ll stack the odds in your favor by avoiding competition with dozens of other freelancers. And you can maintain control of your career by charging the rates you deserve.

Plus, you become a valued partner to your clients, a freelance expert versus a freelance executor. You can pitch projects you want to do that will help your client’s business. And you can work with clients you want to work with.

Prospecting will always be the most productive way to build your client base and earn a great living.