"I'm on vacation." (An account idea.)
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I have an odd little idea that I want to get some opinions on. Posting here doesn't officially make it a suggestion but since we do have visits from the Guru tech gang, I thought that I'd drop it here and maybe they will find some merit in it. So here goes. What would your opinion be about having a feature on your freelancer account, where you could indicate that you are away - whether on vacation or even just busy working long-term for another client, where you can also indicate the date you expect to be back or active again? It would be a form of "Do not disturb" on your account so that you aren't receiving invitations or having your regular clients waiting on return email or PMs from you, when you aren't around to provide them. Having a return date gives them the option of either waiting or going forward with their project publicly if it's a rush job. What do you think - does this have any merit? Do you see any potential issues with this? Do you have any further ideas to add, that would improve the idea? Thanks! :)
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Not sure how I missed this, but yes.. its a good idea :)
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I like this idea but would suggest another route. How about being able to send emails to previous weeks (or other time frame) bids like you can do in Outlook with auto respond email saying you are out of office till (date). I'd sure love to have that.
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It's a good idea, the only concern I would have would be with rankings- that is why you are not shown as number 'whatever' when you are hidden, and others have the chance to be shown at the top. Let's say that the top 5 were 'unavailable' but still held their top spots, potential clients might not want to hire lower ranked professionals and just not invite anyone or return to the site, thinking that the best were already taken.
To clarify, the ranking list, displays freelancers' "marketing" abilities; it is not a ranking of their skills/abilities. I certainly hope that employers understand this, so there would be no concern that the "best" were already taken. It would be a disservice to the many talented Guru professionals that may not be in the tippy-top of the "rankings" list.
The list I am referring to is when you go to a category for a professional, they are listed in order...based on earnings. I get a lot of people that find me that way- before even posting a project. I would not want to 'hide' as that could/would make me miss out on a really good project! People are going to think what they are going to think..and positioning yourself to be found and stand out is really important. I don't think I have ever hidden my profile...not in a long time!
Thanks for the clarification, Betsy! That makes sense :) I still have a big problem with the annual earnings, rather than overall earnings being displayed here -- particularly for us old timers (which I know you are one as am I) who have not done a lot of work through Guru recently. But that's another story...
I think you have to plan to stay in the game to keep current- I don't work off other freelance sites, (do have people contact me directly through my site) so everything is in one place. The minute you drop the ball someone will pick it up and run with it, just a thought...