Interviews with Digital Media Thought Leaders

Interview and Demonstration with eLance CEO

Podcast Video | Posted by Phil Leigh on September 8, 2008

If you would like to hire free-lance programmers and other white collar workers via an Internet site that brings together a World wide guild of qualified personnel, this interview is for you. It’s also for those who would like create incremental income by providing such services.

Our guest today is Fabio Rosati who is the CEO of eLance. His company is kind-of an eBay for independent white collar workers providing services ranging from programming and website design, to ghost writing. In addition to the interview, we provide a hypothetical demonstration of how you can use eLance to “drill down” to a selected provider appropriate to your project.

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Given the economic downturn, our interest in businesses that can cut costs and provide income has increased. That is partly why we earlier interviewed two eLance competitors, Rent-a-Coder and Odesk.

eLance has a higher profile than the other two and we wanted to find out why. Three points standout.

First, eLance makes considerable use of video to explain best practices. The actual mechanics of how to use the website, and similar ones, can be confusing without such videos. That is one reason our own video not only interviews the company’s CEO but also demonstrates how one might search for an appropriate provider.

Second, providers must pass a test before they are permitted to offer services. The test training materials teach them how to meet the needs of the buyers and thereby be successful at eLance.

Third, eLance is implementing collaborative tools that facilitate the use of a contract worker at a distance. By optimizing communications and oversight, the tools tend to result in a better experience for all.