I always thought of freelancing websites like freelancer.com as being platforms to meet clients with the goal of removing them from the platform and establishin

I always thought of freelancing websites like freelancer.com as being platforms to meet clients with the goal of removing them from the platform and establishing long term relationships. Basically, meeting clients and then quickly getting them to use a service where you and them work and manage payments directly. There's no way I could consider freelancer.com to be a worthwhile long term investment, the fees they take are preposterous to say the least.