It has finally happened: you realized that it will not be possible to clone yourself in the near future, and even though you undoutedly could learn how to code / write case studies / design a beautiful brochure, there is a the pesky limitation of a finite human lifespan. It’s time to…
Hire a Freelancer!
Where do you find one? Google? Craigslist? Temp agency? There are many venues available. Here’s my list, from recommended to less so:
- Ask your friends and business associates. You will learn not only how much they like the final product, but also what process they went through, how long it took, and how easy the freelancer was to work with.
- Check the footer of a web site you like or ask who designed a brochure you admire. There’s less personal feedback this way, but you don’t have to winnow through dozens of possibilities.
- Contact a local association or guild: Women Communicators of Austin and their subgroup Freelance Austin, Austin CPA Society, Capital City Scribes, WP Austin, you name it, there’s probably a local organization for it. They maintain an up-to-date list of members who are interested in freelance work and can connect you with a reasonable number of possibilities.
- Search listings on a professional organization’s national site: EFA for editors, AIGA for graphic designers. Your search engine of choice is your friend in this one.
- Last and least recommended are Craigslist, Elance, 99 Designs, and the ilk. The downside with these is that you may spend a lot of time winnowing down the possibilities and still not know whether the result will be what you need.
Needto.com was part of Tech Ranch’s Venture Forth™ program and now is ending unemployment by connecting freelancers to jobs.
Did this get you started? In part 2, we will discuss how freelancers and entrepreneurs should vet each other.
[author] [author_image timthumb=’on’]http://www.penultimategeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/moi.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]Marina Braverman is an Austin-based writer, editor, and ebook designer. Contact her with your feedback, blog topic suggestions, and requests.[/author_info] [/author]