Sharing freelancers

[findtim]

hi, I posted this suggestion ages ago so I thought I'd redo it as now I know more about employing overseas programmers.

lets all have a rest over xmas new year and start 2014 with a BANG, I'd like to give over my freelancers I trust and have worked with to member so they can use them if they wish, i'll write up what they are good at and what they are not.

saves you searching in failing, same same I am looking for more freelances with certain skills so I'd like to know if you have one you have used a few times and would use again.

this way we can all benefit if we operate in total honesty and even PM each other for finer details about them.

this year I have found some GREAT freelancers (4) but probably its taken me 15 to find that 4, which has cost me MANYYYYY hours and $$$$ but now I am happy for 2014 with these people.

MY REASON for this: I want more good people so I can protect myself if things like typhoons, earthquakes, blackouts etcccc happen in these countries.

so think about it and get back to me after new year, my first thoughts are it could be a private club? not sure yet, I don't want my freelances being hassled by tyre kickers.

I just thought I'd get that out of my head for xmas and everyone can think about it.

tim

 

[Cooper Mills DomainLawyer]

Hey Tim

I have discussed this with some friends from the forum and the biggest issue most people have in sharing freelancers is that, the freelancer gets so busy that they don't end up having enough time to do our own projects.

Having said that I use a company that codes all my new designs which I am happy to share, as they are a larger organisation and have plenty of capacity to do work for everyone.

 

[findtim]

Hey Tim

I have discussed this with some friends from the forum and the biggest issue most people have in sharing freelancers is that, the freelancer gets so busy that they don't end up having enough time to do our own projects.

Having said that I use a company that codes all my new designs which I am happy to share, as they are a larger organisation and have plenty of capacity to do work for everyone.

I see what you mean, the 4 I use all have different skills so sometimes I may not have work for the database guys or the ecom guy etc, even all the work I give them they still ask for more so I'm happy to give over and see what happens.

I have database MySQL, studiopress & CSS, woocommerce and general small stuff covered.

what I am lacking is a good PSD ( or just concept) to WP designer.

tim

 

[findtim]

how would this all work??? please share ideas.

I'm thinking we can just post what we have access to and then PM each other when the need arises for that skill for a project.

also I have a great copywriter, Australian, normally what I do with clients is ask them to directly contact her and she quotes, so they either accept or not but I don't included her in my quotes. Then I either get the content from her or if they don't use her I get the content from them, I find it best to stay out of it.

tim

 

[Bacon Farmer]

Couldn't they join here and just get a feed back score like traders?

https://www.dntrade.com.au/domain-services/

 

[findtim]

Couldn't they join here and just get a feed back score like traders?

https://www.dntrade.com.au/domain-services/

interesting idea, I just don't think it would work well in the dnt system, they would post a welcome and then just get pushed down as more people came in and it could get messy.

my idea was I have a great wp person and I'd like to find another so I have a backup, so I would pick a job and give them a paid trial knowing that I already have a recommendation from a trusted dnt member rather then the millions on freelancer and elance and odesk etc.

this way maybe I am a little bit ahead of the filtering to find another good one?

so referral was my main idea, not open to anyone as no doubt they would tell their friends and that means we might use someone not tried and tested.

I'm really tying to not sound harsh with what I am thinking, I am just reflecting on my past year and working out how I can make life easier for ME and everyone in 2014.

but thanks for the brainstorming, keep it coming

tim

 

[johno69]

Nice idea Tim.

 

[findtim]

Nice idea Tim.

thanks, another thing I found this year was I shared one of my freelances to a few people and they used them with success ( as nobody has come back and yelled at me )

but what happens is the freelancers also sees you as a valuable source of income and this particular one is always 110% anyway but I think you do build more of a TEAM working relationship when you are loyal to your freelancers.

reflecting on 2013 I do not consider myself the BOSS, I consider myself at the mercy of trusting them to complete the job on time and to the brief

I just finished a job, started with my good WP person then she went offline because of the Philippines typhoon so had to get another guy in, a newbie for me that was working on another project and doing well but then stuffed this one up, still couldn't get contact with WP person so got another one of my team to fix it a bit but no joy, back to newbie " please fix it " , no joy he doesn't contact me !!! finally WP person pops up on line and YAA they fix it in about 15minutes !!!!

this process was over 2 weeks, clients pissed off with me etcccc so I just don't like that situation.

thankfully that is a rare event and I won't be using or recommending newbie

tim

 

[helloworld]

I need to pick you're brain about this topic, Tim.

There's 2 types of clients. 1, the perfect client, let's you build and design on how you think it should look. Easy to quote for.

2. They seem easy at first. But then want 10+ revisions blowing your set pricing out of the water.

How do you handle this with freelancers ? Do you give a set Quote for say $4k and then hand them an invoice for $10k ?


I never thought I'd consider os coders but latest project which was responsive custom built site and a piece of art took 1 month. For a similar price the larger mobs bang these put in a week. I know there sites don't have the same functionality but farkkk I really need to reduce costs and get more done.

 

[findtim]

I need to pick you're brain about this topic, Tim.

There's 2 types of clients. 1, the perfect client, let's you build and design on how you think it should look. Easy to quote for.

2. They seem easy at first. But then want 10+ revisions blowing your set pricing out of the water.

How do you handle this with freelancers ? Do you give a set Quote for say $4k and then hand them an invoice for $10k ?


I never thought I'd consider os coders but latest project which was responsive custom built site and a piece of art took 1 month. For a similar price the larger mobs bang these put in a week. I know there sites don't have the same functionality but farkkk I really need to reduce costs and get more done.

I've posted before on this subject " scope bleed " many people call it, you get a brief from the client and they keep adding to it so how I get around that is have the scope in writing.



SO, start with a mind map of all the pages and subpages they require before you quote, think of if you need to purchase plugins or are they free? is the plugin purchase forever or yearly?

try to cover all the bases and detail that in your quote.

once they approve and pay a deposit I then ring them and say " thanks for the deposit i'll get right onto it, NOW you know as we go through this you may think of other things you may need so I tend to call them "stage 2" because what we REALLY want is your website up and running quickly.... don't we ! , so start a file and type in the extras you think of but tell me them as you go as some may be able to be done NOW and others will definitely need to remain in stage 2, if I think its best to do the extra work now so it saves you money later then I will but we will need to add that to my quote "

so that's a quick overview of the type of conversation I have at the start of a project.

a typical example is they say they want a contact form and later they say they want a newsletter which is completely different.

I always ask them to think 3 years ahead and then tell me that but for now we back off to whats really important.

telling them that websites are never finished as they always grow and change is a good thing to put into their mind, I say " if you owned a shop you would sweep the floor, clean the windows and change the light bulbs when they go out...... its the same for a website"

its catch 22, you want the job so you just say yes to everything but don't get the correct info, its hard but you have to stop that otherwise you end up working for $10 an hour.

I think the skill of quoting is in asking the right questions to the potential client, trying to drag out of them their vision of the website, ask them about things they haven't thought of eg: newsletter setup to mailchimp, facebook link, downloadable price lists, photo gallery, SSL, etc etc depending on the client.

eg: I have a client right now that has 5 items for sale but plans to have 100 in the next 12 to 24 months so I'm building it on a theme that is compatible with woocommerce but not using it, we will just use basic paypal buttons till she gets some revenue. benefit for the client is lower cost to entry online and less pain for me when she says she wants full ecom which also means less cost to her.

charge a fair price but let the client know you are working it for their benefit and you will just keep getting more clients.

sorry for the long post, I'm basting the xmas ham so I had some time spare

honey and ginger marmalade triple smoked Victorian free range ham, yummmmmmmmmmmmmm

merry xmas
tim

 

[m8e]

this year I have found some GREAT freelancers (4) but probably its taken me 15 to find that 4

Exactly!

Of the 15-odd freelancers I have hired, I only still employ one on a regular basis.

He's not so much for doing front end websites, but mainly backend and hard core programming more C# / VB.NET / ASP.NET / Webservices etc. He's been learning Phonegap/Cordova lately so he can wrap my HTML5/CSS/Javascript code into a phone app.