I really appreciate your email, too, Mark. And completely empathize with the dilemma.
I’m surprised I haven’t seen more remarks about UpWork essentially causing havoc in the online freelance world and driving down competitor’s numbers over the last two years since they infested the planet. It’s become the superfund site for freelancing. A veritable cyber-cesspool of humanity. But nonetheless, when you check their Alexa ratings, they have maintained a daunting rank of 341 in the U.S. and 453 globally. That explains a lot as to why LS (and other freelance sites) has found itself in this dilemma in the first place.
It’s not about making the wrong decisions for LS’s direction, it’s about trying to compete against the Amazon of freelance sites. (Just ask the board of directors at WalMart about how Jeff Bezos is kicking their asses.)
I haven’t used LS yet, I was taking a long break from freelance work at the same time you were ramping up, but I left my profile on your site because I knew I’d be returning, which I have in the last week.
I’m open to trying different solutions to keep the good fight going. I absolutely hate UpWork and what it has done to the marketplace. I was on Elance since 1999 and when the O-Desk merger was announced, I was appalled and did not transfer my profile to their fetid pool of scammers and bank account hackers. I keep hoping that the employers will wake up and desert the site. But that’s where the real problem lies, UpWork’s monopoly on the freelance marketplace still has a strong hold.