30).Create a Project Agreement

Before starting any project, you must get into the habit of drawing up a project agreement. A project agreement outlines the exact project requirements, your completion schedule and terms pf payment. Most important, though, this will legally bind you and your employer to a project and will be of use in case a dispute arises with your employer. There are three parts to a project agreement:
Buyer/Provider Agreement
This part is a contract that outlines the basic project requirements, terms of payment and project milestones. A project milestone is a date (or multiple dates) of completion of each stage of a project. For instance, if you obtain a project to ghost write an autobiography,you may want to set a completion date of eight months. Then a milestone of 25% completion could be set for every two months after you start. You also set the payment requirement upon completion of each milestone, too. 
Statement of Work
Here, you get down to the nitty gritty and detail the project exactly. This is where you document all requirements the employer has and your methods of completing each one. I cannot stress enough that you take your time to understand every last detail of a project then make note of each one in the statement of work.
The statement of work is not necessary for shorter, simpler projects where all details can be mentioned in the buyer/provider agreement.
Most freelance work exchanges (FWEs) have a tool for you to upload a project agreement which must be agreed upon (online) by the employer before the start of a project. If not, you will have to make sure the employer signs and emails/faxes you the entire agreement. Either way, make sure you have this so you don’t get burned!
Change Order
This will not be a part of the initial project agreement between you and your employer but is necessary if any part of a project requires a change from the original agreement. The change(s) necessary are detailed including any additional costs. Most projects will require some change or another due to things that were forgotten by the employer or a change of taste. The change order ensures the change is fair for both parties.

29).You’ve Won a Project, Now What?

Winning your first project will be an exciting time for you. Now you will have officially started your career as a freelancer and all your work putting together your profile and writing bids will have paid off. It is very important after winning the bid to now concentrate on the project at hand and deliver the employer your best work possible within the time period you specified.

28).Important advice for bidding in Freelance Work Exchanges and job boards.

When you finally start bidding, one of the most important things you can do is login to your FWE or job board and keep track throughout the day on new projects posted in your category. Once you see any project that fits your capability, then do not hesitate to make a bid right then and there. The reason is that employers are often in a hurry to look for providers and you want to be near the top of that list of bidders.
If the first one who bids on a project happens to submit a reasonable bid and has the right qualifications, then they stand a great chance of being selected right away. Given this, I cannot stress the timing of your bid enough and this is an excellent way to reduce the competition from other bids. Also most FWEs allow a limited number of bids per month, so this also optimizes your use of them.
Also remember that the longer a project has been listed the less likely you are to win it. The truth is your odds of winning a project drop dramatically just after the first day it has been posted. With that in mind, only bid on projects over a day old if it happens to be really ideal for you or if there are no other brand new projects to bid on. Otherwise, only bid on same-day project postings, and keep an eye out for new ones periodically throughout the day. Be patient and they will come.
Also, don’t limit yourself to just checking one job board. Check up on other listings as well. I don’t recommend paying to use multiple FWEs (it can get costly). If you do use an FWE, then periodically check other free job boards since you never know when or where a good project that suits you perfectly will show up.

27).Bid Samples

The following pages will contain project descriptions similar to what you will likely to see in FWE listings and suitable bids that correspond to those descriptions. I’ll include comments in red for items to note in the bids.
Sample
Project Description:
I need a talented, creative, efficient, organized, self-starting ghost-writer who can help me create web and published content for a variety of different topics.
I will provide the outline and ideas to which I’ll basically need website copy review,tweaks, and edits. Also, I will be needing a feature article for my next newsletter.
I need someone that is marketing minded not just a great writer. Someone that knows how to sell, write good ad copy, etc. I'm looking to outsource a few projects in order to find the right long-term relationship.
Bid for this project:
[ Subject line ]
What luck! Now you have an expert ghost-writer published in successful websites!
Greetings, [or if you know name Dear Xxxx,]
[ Opening ]
Thank you for the opportunity to bid on your project seeking a ghost-writer to create web content. I’ll be more than excited to take on the challenge and you will find all information relating to my skills and experience as well as my cost and time estimates contained in this project bid.
[ Skills and experience ]
I have ghost-written several ebooks including the sales copy on the websites used to promote them. A few of which are, “Search Engine Secrets You Never Learned,” “The New Atkins is Here,” and “Million Dollar Jobs From Your Home.”
Here is what you can expect as your new ghost-writer:
• Expert in writing content for ANY subject 
• Will meet all deadlines. Guaranteed or no charge.
• Will accommodate urgent requests
[ Attachments (the follow ing is the alternative if you are unable to upload files) ]
For more information of my skills and work samples please view here:
Resume: http://www.myname.com/resume
Work Sample (New Atkins is Here): http://www.myname.com/newatkins Work Sample (Million Dollar Jobs From Your Home): http://www.myname.com/million
[ Cost and time estimate ]
I have a quick turnaround time for completion of sales copy which is three days for each 500 words of copy. Not to mention, the sales copy is keyword optimized for the search engines. Turnaround for newsletter articles is roughly one day for every 500 words of text. My rates are $0.50/word for search engine optimized sales copy and $0.10/word for articles.
[ Closing (breaking the ice in last sentence) ]
I am located in New York City and am able to begin working on this project right away. Feel free to contact me anytime at example@example.com, in MSN Messenger under screen name example or by phone at (555) 555-5555. I look forward to working with you and turning your ideas into dollar signs like I did for my previous clients.Best regards and I look forward to working with you soon.

26).The Bid: Attachments

Most FWEs and job boards allow you to attach files to your bid which you should take advantage of. Your bid acts more or less as a cover letter for you profile so including attachments make it complete. Attachments should include your profile and selected samples of your work you made in the previous chapter.
Remember to include only work samples related to the project itself.
In the event that you do not have the option to upload files, then provide links to your profile and samples of your work where they can be found online. These are best placed right after your skills and experience summary mentioned above.
Using attachments or links may seem redundant given that you already have a profile right there with the same information contained in the attachments. It’s not always obvious to a potential employer though so give them every opportunity to access your information quickly right then and there.

25).The Bid: Closing

This is a short paragraph that gives tells how to get a hold of you. Always give an email address AND the instant messenger you use plus your screen name AND your phone number AND your location. Though most communication is done by email or instant messenger these days, you want to leave an impression that you are accessible and are a living person with an address.
Sometimes in a project description, an employer will have questions listed for the potential freelancer. It should go without saying that you need to list these and provide a clear answer to each one in the bid before the paragraph with your contact information.
Another tip which doesn’t always have to be done is to include a sentence “breaking the ice.” This is just a simple statement personalized to the employer that will flatter, humor or make them smile. I would only recommend this if you are familiar with the area which the employer is or have something in common with the employer.
This tiny bit of personalization can go a long way. Be sure to make it subtle and harmless and not as if you were joking around or talking to your best friend. Otherwise, it could backfire on you.

24).The Bid: Time estimate

Though it is easy to say you can finish a project in a few days or a week or two weeks, some serious consideration needs to be taken when determining the estimated time for completion. Rookie freelancers usually never take into account ALL aspects of a project that can consume time and make it progress longer than planned.
Here are the steps in determining the time estimate of a project:
• Break the project down into the smallest tasks individual tasks required and write them down. Then determine the time estimate for each individual task and add them all up to get the total project time.
• Add 20% of the total time from above to the time estimate for completion or one extra day for every five days of a calculated estimate. This will be your overhead for revisions and unexpected occurrences that happen during the project phase.There is almost always some type of revision or “surprise” on every project. It’s better to expect them and take them into account.
• Now you will have to schedule that calculated time into your working schedule. Go ahead and determine the number of days it will take given that schedule.Again, the project description may be too vague for a time estimate so it is best to give a range for the time of completion or state “ roughly 3 weeks for completion.”

23).The Bid: Cost estimate

Though the simplest items to put on the bid, these can also be the most time consuming especially for rookie freelancers, not to mention, at times stressful.Now comes the important question to ask yourself: How much do I charge? It is almost useless to search the internet for freelance billing rates by profession since they vary wildly. If you can find or know other freelancers in a similar field, consult them to obtain a rough estimate of what they charge. I know that this is usually a long shot, though.It is good to start out with determining the hourly rate you should be charging then you can base your project fees on this rate. Using the Rate Calculator should give you a good estimate which applies to all fields of employment.So now that you have your hourly rate we are left with the next piece of the puzzle: 
what to charge for an entire project. This can also be a bit complex to a new freelancer who may not have enough projects under their belt to be able to determine this.
It is normal for a new freelancer to take longer completing a certain project than a more experienced freelancer tackling the same project. It will not be fair, however, if the new freelancer charges more because he will have to work more hours than the more experienced one. The project bid price has to be a competitive and fair price. Here are some ways you can create a competitive bid price:
• In some FWEs, you can browse similar projects and view the bids and bid prices that others place (Elance is one of them). You may notice a wide variation in bid prices, so also take note of what they offer in relation to the price. From there, you may be able to generate a rough estimate for your bid price.
• Look for the relatively simple projects where you can easily determine the number of hours necessary and apply your hourly rate. It should be no surprise, too, that the easier projects are also the easiest projects to win.
• Keep track of the first fifteen bids you make. A general rule is if a high percentage of them accept (eight of them or higher) then you are likely bidding too low. Conversely, if two or less accepts, you are likely bidding too high. If 3 - 5 accept, you have the pricing at an optimal level.
The quality of your bid also can be a factor here, too, so it’s important to stick with the methods outlined in this chapter.
What happens many times is that the project description is too vague to give an  accurate estimate. In this situation, it is always best to just estimate anyway and state that it is just an estimated amount. Employers most often like to see a price on a bid whether estimated or not.