It’s me again. This time I’m reviewing Guru.com. This is a great site for making a lot of money quickly. Guru is one of those sites where you literally get out of it what you put into it. If you are willing to put in the time and effort you will be rewarded with long term clients, a diverse selection of individual writing jobs and a healthy bank account.
As I always caution, never put all of your writing eggs into one basket. You want to have several well-paying clients or sites that you write for so if anything happens to one of them you still have a reliable source of income. Guru is different in that you could end up with several great clients without ever leaving their site!
Unlike many writing sites, however, Guru is a bit more complicated to get the hang of and the more you know the faster you can reap the rewards. This is not a site where you are accepted, write and get paid. There is more to it than that so I’ll break it down piece by piece.
Applying to Guru
You don’t actually apply to be a writer at Guru; you open an account. After you head over to Guru.com and open your account you will need to complete a profile. Be sure to complete it as much as possible and include the best samples that you have. You will get to 80% completion on the basic account.
Unlike many sites, Guru has a free basic account as well as a paid Guru account. It probably goes without saying that the absolute best jobs are only available to those with a paid account but that doesn’t mean the basic account is worthless. I know many people who are routinely paid between $300 and $500 per 1000 word article and all they have is a basic account.
Your Profile
After you fill out your profile you can take a look at the various jobs that are available. They have a great search engine that allows you to break down the jobs so you are only shown those that you might be interested in as well as are qualified to take. One really great aspect of the Guru search is that it allows you to see what is available if you upgrade your account. Many sites keep that a mystery.
It’s important to note your skills when setting up your profile. You will select from lists within categories. This will help streamline the search possibilities later.
Guru is also not specifically a writer’s website. They are a freelance website. This means that all types of freelance jobs are available here. This is another reason why the search option is so useful. You will find website design jobs, coding jobs and pretty much any other type of job a freelancer can do up for grabs on this site.
Finding Jobs on Guru
One of the first things that you will notice is that the pay range is all over the place. This is because there is no set rate via Guru. Each client has a budget and posts what they are willing to pay for the job. If that isn’t acceptable to you then move on to the next job. As with any international job site such as this, there are going to be low paying jobs offered. Just move on from them and let those who find that pay rate acceptable have them. The best clients looking for great writing are going to come from the European, Australian, Canadian, Asian and United States markets. They want native English writers and will not settle for anything less than outstanding grammar and spelling.
Each basic account has a specified number of jobs that you can apply for per month. When you find a job that fits, apply for it simply by clicking on the button and then you will need to complete a proposal. This is not a bidding site; the amount of your fee is fixed. What you are doing in the proposal is pitching your ideas for the work to a potential client. If they like them then they will hire you. As I was writing this I popped over to Guru and checked: There are currently over 600 open writing assignments.
Time Tracker
There is an unusual and unique aspect of Guru that I will allow you to judge for yourself. They have software that you can download called Time Tracker. This is useful if you are hired on a per hour basis for a client (I do not recommend this) and it allows the client to monitor how much work you have done for the project. It also takes periodic screen shots while you are working within the software. This was designed more for website design and coding but some clients seem to like using it.
The reason that I don’t recommend being paid on an hourly basis is that it actually punishes you for being a fast typist. It’s better to be paid per assignment. The idea of a client monitoring the process just strikes a sour note with me. It might be fine with you but I have rejected several clients who wanted to employ that option. Interestingly, I have not lost a client as a result; they all agreed to work without the Time Tracker and on a per assignment basis.
Skills Assessment
The other unique aspect to Guru is the skills assessments. This is found in your accounts area and is a testing center that allows you to be ‘certified’ by the site based on your scores. I highly recommend the English ones for all writers. It will open up many writing jobs that have specified passing the English test. Without this the site will not allow you to apply for the job. These high-end clients want only the best writers and this weeds out a lot of people very quickly.
Working in Guru
Once you have been awarded a job through Guru you have a deadline, like any other client. After you have completed the work and the client is satisfied then you will be paid. Also after completion of the job, the client will rate you and the client will be rated by you. This helps future applicants and future clients know the kind of person that they are dealing with. No matter what else happens, keep it professional.
There are a few things you need to clarify with your client from the beginning. Things such as what word processing program they prefer you to use, length and any keywords or specifics that they want mentioned. There is no writing platform at Guru, you upload the completed document to client on the workspace. Guru maintains control over it to ensure that your work is protected.
Editing
Editing on Guru does not exist. Once you submit your final results they go directly to the client who may ask for some changes. This is not unusual and should be accommodated unless the requests are unreasonable. Even then, until the client is happy you are not going to get paid. This is a case where it pays to self-edit.
Guru Dashboard
There is a Guru Dashboard and I haven’t mentioned it sooner because it is really only useful after you are working for Guru. The Dashboard is your welcome screen and it will show you what projects you have ongoing, which ones are completed and waiting for the client to approve and which ones have been completed. It will also show you your latest ratings and that sort of thing. It’s designed to display a lot of information at a glance and it does this very well. It’s also where the search function is located but until you have actually started working with Guru that’s basically the only thing on your Dashboard.
Communication
There is great communication between the writer and client through Guru and you can contact each other with questions and comments at will. This is important because so many sites don’t allow you to communicate with the client making it difficult to give them exactly what they want.
Getting Paid
Payment procedures are a bit different with Guru than other sites. Guru holds the money from the client until the transaction is complete. You have several options for payment including Paypal and direct deposit to your bank account. Payment is generally within 24 hours.
Payment isn’t as basic as it seems. Within your account you will complete an invoice for the client and send it to them. Guru takes their share of money as transaction fees and you are paid the rest. Once it posts to your account you can choose where it is transferred to so that you can access the money.
Guru is a great site to find very well paying writing jobs. You may have to wade through a few low paying jobs until you get the search down pat but in no time you will be scanning the list and applying for high paying jobs. Pay attention to those jobs that you can’t apply for because you are using a basic account if there are a lot of them that pique your interest, consider upgrading.
Until next time, Happy Writing!