Now, lets crunch numbers: Jane was spending $50 a week at Joe’s. Subtracting two weeks for Jane’s vacation time, that means she was spending $2,500 a year at Joe’s. Ten Jane’s in a year (if Joe is really lucky) and that is Twenty-five thousand dollars Joe will not be putting in his back pocket this year. Ten more next year and Joe is losing $50,000.

But if Joe had handled situation correctly, Jane could have turned into one of his most loyal customers. Here’s what he (and you, when it happens) should do next time:

1.Own up to mistake. The sooner better. It’s hard for people, and businesses, to admit mistakes – but do it anyway. In story above, employee passed mistake off to “the dry cleaning process.” Never do that. Even if problem is something completely out of your control, stand up and take responsibility. Yes, it may be hard on your ego. But what’s more important: your ego, or your wallet? 2.Make it right. Immediately. Don’t make them jump through hoops to get a refund or a replacement (or better yet, both.). Jane should have been allowed to come down right then and have her blouse treated while she waited. If stain still wouldn’t come out, she would know Joe’s had done their best. 3.Make it better. Your customer hasn’t just been irritated. She’s been inconvenienced. Give her something extra for her trouble. After treating Jane’s blouse while she waited, she should have been given an entire weeks dry cleaning for free. Joe would have been out $50 in short term, but his $25k for year would have been saved. And Jane would never even consider another dry cleaner as long as she lived.

Following these steps will give you rabidly loyal customers. And when you combine that with steady new ones, your business will grow exponentially.

This addiction has grown into a decent part-time income for past six months. I’ve worked for clients as far away as Australia and Turkey, in addition to clients in East and West coasts in United States. I became fixated with how easy it was to do business this way over Internet, where whole world became my market. Then I got hold of a book called Free Agent Nation, by a fellow named Daniel Pink. It was about how “teleworkers” such as myself are transforming America by doing business this new-fangled way, working for “gigs” instead of permanent commitments to one employer. I was part of another Big Thing.

Don’t misunderstand, I haven’t quit my day job just yet.

Am I getting rich?

Hardly. I make a few hundred extra dollars a month, and yes, I do get competition from workers in India. But now I am competing with them. The winning bid, in this case, doesn’t always go to lowest bidder. Writers from America have an edge in this arena. Some buyers of writing services prefer native English speakers.

As I said, however, there are programming jobs posted on most of these sites too. Can programmers from United States make a living strictly off these sites? Probably not. But programmers who choose to freelance can use these sites to supplement their income while contracting through normal staffing channels. They might make some meaningful connections in process.

So there it is. I got it off my chest.

“My name is Nader Ghali, and I joined outsourcing revolution.”

I feel much better. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go make some more bids.