Hi Sara,
You must take into consideration who the majority of clients on oDesk are. They are people just like you and I who don;t have a lot of money or entrepreneurial experience, and for the first time have an opportunity to find help building their dream of owning their own small business.
Their budgets are very limited and their experience levels often lead to many trial and error hires. They get burned, make mistakes, spend money when they shouldn't and eat through the budget pretty quickly. They MUST find help at the cheapest rate, or they wouldn't have a shot of following their dreams. IMHO it's a win / win... however, those types of clients are not going to be able to sustain regular work at western rates. Many of them struggle with their own day job and simply cannot hire others at the same rate or even more than they make themselves.
Moving forward, you have the middle group as well, where a client may be in operation and making a little profit, but cannot yet hire staff on a regular basis. These clients are great for freelancers who want to build their reputation. Small budget / short-term contracts can give you an opportunity to go above and beyond their expectations before you burn out on them, and you'll receive great feedback as long as you create a solid relationship with them. They also rehire as needed and after you build a group of clients who use you as their 'go to' person... you can build a career around that alone. Also it's easier to ask for a higher rate with short-term contracts. People are very willing to pay for your expertise in small doses. They have a problem their regular team is struggling with, so they hire you to knock it out at an inflated rate.
Only downside with this is you constantly need to seek new clients as the old ones drop off map, give up, or run out of money learning their first entrepreneurial lessons.
Then you come to what I'd consider the 'professional' client, who has a well established business and can afford to hire people at western rates. Your edge for these clients will be to understand them in ways people who live outside of their social culture can. Speaking their native language fluently and with the same fun, humor and slang is a huge plus. Look for clients who have spent more than $50k, a strong hiring rate vs contract posted, and average hourly rate pay of at least your federal minimum wage. Check their profile to see what they have been paying other for similar work. These client could afford to keep you on board for extended periods, or even permanently at a rate you can live with.
Again - I can't stress this enough - you need to build a relationship with them. I have had several contracts at rates far beyond what the client was hoping to pay... and they kept me on because I don't simply 'complete the job'. I talk to them, and more importantly LISTEN to them. It isn't merely a matter of acting functional (in my case, however some freelancer prefer the 100% business talk approach and it works for them).
They may refer you to their peers as well, especially in areas such as design. It's a very large and growing area of expertise right now. In that case, I would not only be good at design, but I;d also learn a but about the most common platform the clients use such as Wordpress, Joomla, shopping cart softwares, CRMs etc etc
These clients are the minority here, but they are still here. Yes, you need to compete with people offer the same service for less, so you need to create value in your service and then sell it.
In the case of a designer, I would not only be a designer but also someone the client can bounce ideas off and be able to make recommendations for software solutions. If they have no clue, you will not only be a designer - but an asset. Very important.
Hope that helps a little bit.. we could talk about this topic for days, but ya gotta start somewhere. Basically become an asset, not a quick and cheap solution.
You're a business, not an employee. Assuming every other business owner selling the same product as you, on the same street, is going to sell for cheaper than you possibly can. They have a cheaper supplier (living expenses and fewer opportunity) than you, and you simply cannot keep up with their prices.
You opened a mom & pop convenience store right across the street from Walmart.
How will you entice customers to buy from your store instead of Walmart where they get the same thing for 1/4 the price?
