[pbackx]

I think Elance (and others) are a great proving ground. In a very controlled environment, you can experiment with what works and what doesn't.

Over the last year I've been part-time freelancing on Elance. I've religiously documented everything I did. From the way I do my sales process to time tracking in 10 minute increments. I now earn about $1000-1500/month with small $400 projects

You do need to give it a little time. It's a very competitive world out there. But in the past 3 months I've done virtually no sales. All of my projects have been previous clients or invitations.