vWorker has recently conducted case studies of successful employers and workers on the site. During the next few weeks, we’ll be releasing a new story each week; describing the story of how an employer was able to use vWorker to develop/enhance their business or how a worker is able to financially support themselves through the work earned on vWorker.
Nabeel Shahid (screen name: Grace Group(SEO xPERTS)) is a virtual worker from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Nabeel knew he was an entrepreneur at heart…he just didn’t know where to start. In 2009, Nabeel started on vWorker with a small web designing project. The small project eventually led to many others, and Nabeel was able to start up his own company. But after a few months, the company dissolved due to internal issues, and Nabeel feared his dreams were over. However, he didn't give up and decided to try again. Through hard work and dedication, Nabeel was eventually able to form a second company. Today that company has more than 200 projects in its portfolio, with assets of more than PKR 1M.
Nabeel shared the following with us about his experiences working on vWorker.
1a. Why did you start working on vWorker? How did you find vWorker?
It was always there…something kept me thinking for years, and I finally realized that it was the young entrepreneur inside me. A journey of a thousand miles starts with one step. I started off with a small $50 web designing project with a friend in a small room, in February 2009. We decided to go with vWorker straight away. I knew that vWorker is the safest place because you don’t have to pay for a membership (like many other sites), and because you are in safe hands via the escrow and arbitration system that it offers. I was managing two jobs at that time; my evenings and nights were spent building up ‘Grace Group’. The energy and passion inside me never allowed me to settle for a routine task in office. I wanted to do something different…something which I enjoy, something which leads to success in all forms.
Things were pretty simple at first. Projects started coming frequently, as I was focusing not only on the quality of work, but my pricing structure was also very competitive. vWorker made my dreams come true. I felt like an entrepreneur while interacting with buyers and receiving payments. Everything was great; projects were coming easily, as I had a very good bid proposal for all sort of work we do. We kept our price low and worked hard for our reputation. I found vWorker really amazing. For the first few months, I was emailing the vWorker help desk on almost all issues I encountered, and the best part was that I always found the help desk staff made things easy for me. We were earning good money; things were smooth and I was dreaming $$. It just took 2 months, and Grace Group stopped operating due to internal issues of communication between the team. It was a terrible night for me. I saw my dreams dumped for no good reason, and I felt all alone that night. But I never stopped thinking…I kept on motivating myself. I never wanted anyone to know that Grace Group no longer existed. My current projects were sent into arbitration and our rating fell from 10 to 8.2.
One morning while I was on my way to the office, I decided not to quit. I promised that I wouldn’t let Grace Group be history. I made myself believe in what God has given me, and made myself realize that if I stand up from here, I will someday be one of the most successful people in this world. I remember I had tears in my eyes. So I started learning everything myself: I learned how to use Google and everything there is to know about 'SEO’. I took projects at very low cost, and worked hard day and night. I believed so many of our dreams seemed impossible at first. Then they seemed improbable. But they soon became inevitable, and I was able to form 'Grace Business Solutions'. I bought a new notebook, carried a BlackBerry, and had confidence in being the founder of GBS. The story doesn’t end here though; I completed 100 projects, made people aware of GBS, and made new friends and business partners. Today, GBS has more than 200 projects in its portfolio, with projects from all over the world. GBS accounts are managed by Muhammad Ahmed Quadri (USA), Sales Marketing & Solution Designing by me (UAE), and Operations by Yasir Hassan (Pakistan). Today, GBS has assets of more than PKR 1M.
For all young and new freelancers, my quote is: “If you are short of money, invest time.” For me, freelancing is an art. It starts with no money in your pocket, and allows you the freedom to build a company, provided you have a trustworthy middle man (vWorker).
I think it’s pretty easy for you to get sufficient work at vWorker, if you have multiple skill sets. Moreover, since vWorker does not require any membership fees for workers, it’s a pretty fair competition among all workers. If you are competent, there is no reason you should get ignored by employers…keeping in mind that you take their project description seriously and prepare your bid/proposal accordingly. I have gone through almost all freelancing websites, and I find vWorker the best by all means. I have a full time job, but I am earning more by freelancing. That’s what surprises many people the most around me. So I call freelancing my full time job instead.
1c. Have you been able to form a company and hire others through the work completed on vWorker?
Yes, I formed Grace Business Solutions in 2010. Initially, I started off with a graphic designer and paid him a generous amount. Then I started working myself, and now only outsource the work to competent people around me, if required. I usually hire people whom I can meet and talk with in person, but my plans are to begin using vWorker’s “sub-account” feature in the near future, in order to expand my business globally.
2. What advice do you have for others who are starting the same way you did?
Don’t work for money; work hard for your reputation. Once employers know you via vWorker, the money will come to you.
I think freelancing is now strongly building up as a profession, rather than just as a source of income. In my opinion, a newbie worker should watch out for their reputation or improve their sales/marketing/communication skills in order to compete on a platform like vWorker, where you are competing with tons of experienced and professional freelancers. The vWorker platform provides a multicultural environment, so you have to change your way of communication in accordance to the employer’s behavior and demographics.
Workers here need to understand that it’s on us to make maximum use of such a great platform.
3. What is your favorite feature on vWorker?
The “screen name” option on vWorker. Branding yourself is also very important when we speak about freelancing, so this feature allows workers to describe their expertise.
My screen name “Grace Group(SEO xPERTS)” lets every employer know that I am a SEO expert and that is where my strength lies. So if I am a worker skilled in .Net Technologies, my name should be something along the lines of “XYZ .NET EXPERTS” or “ABC .NET TECH Guru”. Employers should not know you only by name, but also by your expertise.
In short, try to make use of every option available at vWorker. Don’t take projects for granted; work hard, make a reputation, and see your company/account on vWorker grow!
4. What has been your experience in mediation/arbitration?
I had my very first project sent into arbitration, but thanks to vWorker, I received my payment!
I won a project for $50.00 to develop a flash website. Things were going pretty well at first. I worked hard to complete the work on time and with good feedback. I feared that the employer might make use of my inexperience and attempt to fool me, and that’s exactly what happened. The employer told me that he was unable to login to vWorker and contacted me via email. Later, when I completed the website, he initiated arbitration claiming that I didn’t work well. I was not updating him on vWorker since he requested to communicate offsite, so everything was pointing against me. I didn’t know the website URL of the employer, but I managed to eventually find it by searching online. I noticed that the employer was using my design, so I communicated this to the arbitrator. The vWorker arbitrator took immediate action against the employer, and released my payment.
5. Do you have any tips/tricks/secrets about vWorker that you’ve learned that you’d like to share?
Tips:
Whenever I win a project, I review what the other workers bid on the project to see if my bid is among the average cost. If my bid was above the average cost, I go through my proposal and try to figure out why the employer decided on me (so I know what to do again in the future). If I see that my bid fell below the average cost, I fear that I may have misunderstood something, so I rush to read the project description once again. If I still have these fears after reviewing the project description, I contact the employer immediately to resolve any ambiguity. This helps to clarify everything immediately, so I am able to cancel the project using the 24 hour grace period if I have misunderstood one or more of the requirements.
This also helps you to figure out the market trends. When you see many bidders with positive feedback and experience bidding around the same as you, you are reassured that you have bid according to market rates.
When I win a project, I also read the employer’s profile, feedback from workers, and the employer’s feedback on workers they’ve hired, in order to get a true picture of the employer I will be working for. This lets me know what makes them feel good about the worker, and also shows me how they treat their workers.
Tricks:
1) When I feel that a certain project is exactly meeting my expertise, and I feel I can easily work on the project, I read the employer’s profile to see if I can find any worker’s feedback that contains the employer’s name. (It is there most of the time.) I note it and include their name in my proposal, instead of using pronouns. This surprises the employer, and hence I increase my chance of winning. (This is something that works in our day-to-day lives as well.)
2) After I win a project, I review my competitors’ prices for that particular project to get an idea of what others are quoting. I have maintained a list of workers who have approximately the same completed projects as me, as well as another list of some market leaders with their pricing structures. This helps to cross check the win ratio of your competitors. I usually cross check once a month to see how many projects my competitors have done.
3) Make a habit of writing your employer at least once a day. Even if you just post to tell them that you are working, it helps. Employers usually stay cool and calm when they see an email arriving daily in their inbox.
4) Make a list of your favorite completed projects. Then after a month or two of completing a project, go to the private messages on the project and write a note to the employer. Ask them if everything is working fine, and if you can help them further, or if they have any new projects for you.
6. Do you have interesting stories about employers or projects you’ve completed that you’d like share?
It was back in October 2009 when I won a project for a rental villa website in the St. John region. It was my first SEO project for a Joomla based website, so I made sure to work really hard on it. The employer was very friendly, and soon we became good friends. During the second week of project, the employer asked me if I was willing to complete other similar projects, and of course my answer was yes. He also told me that he told his friends about me, and they also wanted SEO for their websites. This was great news for me, and I immediately started a blog with a vWorker affiliate link on it. I asked my employer to tell his friends to visit my website, and click on the widget to post a project directly on vWorker. This worked great, and I started getting queries almost every day. The experience was amazing. I stopped bidding on new projects, as I was heavily loaded with direct projects (another great feature of vWorker, which helps workers get repeat business from their favorite employers).
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