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When They Go Cheap and Global, Double-Down on Premium and Local
Transcend the rat race and let your unicorn shine.
I hear a lot of complaining about the gig-economy. Sites like Upwork and Fiverr have ruined freelancing. Now we all have to compete with a global marketplace of dirt-cheap labour from countries with less developed economies and lower rates. Or so they say.
They’re not wrong. Competing on price sucks when there’s someone across the world willing to undercut you and work for peanuts. Beating a global market is difficult when there are millions of people who appear to offer similar services as you (oh, and they’ll also do it for less).
How do you stand out?
The answer is, don’t play the same game. That rat race — down in the dirt of cheap contract labour — isn’t the only way to freelance. In fact, it’s the worst way. Professional freelancers don’t do gigs.
If competing with cheap remote work sounds too daunting a challenge to win, that’s because it is. You can’t win that game unless you’re one of the people who’s location offers such low cost of living that you can make a comfortable income off those scraps.
The system is designed to push prices down. It turns everyone into interchangeable commodities. It’s rigged against true freelance success. Only the bottom feeders are happy there.
Search Google or Medium and you’ll find too many “experts” claiming they can teach you the way to make a killing on these gig sites. All you have to do is fine-tune your profile, master the rating system, and learn how to send tailored proposals that get noticed. Buy my course or watch my webinar and I’ll make you an Upwork rockstar!
It’s like tuning a bicycle to win your local wheel-a-thon, and you think you’ve hit the winner’s circle. Meanwhile, professional freelancers are driving Formula 1. Or investing too much time in winning the little leagues when you should be training for the World Series.
