@johnvangie hi! just register lang po sa elance as basic individual member. it's free unless you want to upgrade your account. as basic member, you'll have 40 credits that you can use to apply for each job postings.. it will automatically replenish every month..
There are plenty of jobs to choose from in elance. It is categorized into different areas of skills. I am under ADMIN works. There are IT jobs too as well which is i think is the highest paying job listings there. Those who are good in writing articles will have a good future in elance din.. As of now I'm handling ongoing clients as their virtual assistant.. There are times din na I do one-time job like typing, audio transcription, marketing research, etc.. Try browsing about their job listings muna if you're interested. I recommend to apply with those clients na may proven payment record na just to make sure all your work will be paid off and never send any payments!!
I use paypal as mode of transacting my earnings. So from elance to paypal then from paypal to my bank. It's up to you how will you rate your service. There are clients which are budget conscious so they mostly employ indian or filipinos as contractors but there are clients din naman na very sophisticated wherein they will not care how much is your rate as long as you deliver your work with high quality..