Small Business | Forum « What’s your experience with freelancers?

What’s your experience with freelancers? (9 posts)

Topic tags: client, management, product, project, specification, wireframes

Milan Steskal said
6 months, 2 weeks ago:
Hi, I believe that a lot of you need websites and apps to be built and that you work with contractors and freelancers. What is your experience? How often they provide the detailed specification? If you are planning to get some work done, be sure to ask for the specification. I wrote a short blog post describing what usually happens, when the specification is missing – http://goo.gl/KXfvU
(If you believe this is a self promo, feel free to delete the thread. I believe, that it’s gonna help everyone, who isn’t experienced in working with freelancers)
@milan-steskal | # | Top
E N Brown said
6 months, 2 weeks ago:
Hi Milan @milan-steskal
A nice piece and it does describe a situation many of us have found ourselves in, at one time or another. I’ve certainly done this (more than once) and know the outcome, so it does hit home.
One way to be exact about a project when you meet with the client is to have a questionnaire ready and encourage them to expand on their answers so an understanding of exactly what they want/need is forthcoming. Interject your own ideas (from your experiences) and add those to the answers as needed.
Meetings of this type can really be a great way to have the information set down for when you write the contract or if you have one prepared you can use the questionnaire as and addendum, already mentioned in the contract.
Eileen
PS – You need to proofread your article.
@supereb | # | Top
Milan Steskal said
6 months, 2 weeks ago:
@supereb Thanks for the feedback. English is my third language only, so it’s not perfect. I’m aware of it and trying to improve it
@milan-steskal | # | Top
E N Brown said
6 months, 2 weeks ago:
Hi Milan. @milan-steskal
Ahhhh,I see – Perhaps I can proofread it for you tomorrow – if you want that, just let me know.
Eileen
@supereb | # | Top
Rich Brooks said
6 months, 2 weeks ago:
@milan-steskal
I have both inhouse staff and rely on contractors (freelancers.)
I’ve had mixed results. My best results are from local people who I can occasionally call into the office and look them in the eye. Also, I’ve found by giving my contractors regular business it keeps them happy, cuts down on learning time, and builds trust.
@rich-brooks | # | Top
E N Brown said
6 months, 2 weeks ago:
Hello @milan-steskal
I’ve had researchers all over the U.S. – Only a few local employees at times. Right now I have 2 local and 3 spread out working on industry research.
We do our own web building and such but need direction with many of the open source platforms which are out there these days.
Nobody knows every darn thing, you know?
Eileen
@supereb | # | Top
Milan Steskal said
6 months, 2 weeks ago:
@rich-brooks I agree, especially with keeping them happy by giving them regular business. Maybe you know where should I look if I wanted to find someone who needs external project managers?
@supereb I find using too much open source really confusing. You need to watch for many updates, make sure that everything works together, what may be really overwhelming. Do you need any particular advice?
@milan-steskal | # | Top
E N Brown said
6 months, 2 weeks ago:
Hello @milan-steskal – no, not really. I do have a client that uses Drupal and we have them doing their own changes for SEO as we give the direction as to what needs to be done. The Drupal platform is not something we know much about.
@supereb | # | Top
Claire Broadley said
6 months, 2 weeks ago:
I’ve worked as a freelancer, and I’ve also hired freelancers.
I’ve had very mixed experience, like @rich-brooks. That’s why I’ve always tried to be ultra-reliable, particularly when writing for people I’ve never met.
I like to think that reliable freelancers set a high standard that will eventually push unreliable freelancers to the bottom of the pile. Unfortunately, some freelance agencies and websites aren’t really able to deal with unreliable freelancers effectively, which can give others a bad name.
@redrobotmedia | # | Top