Freelance Heroes

@Bruce,

Do you feel that with a freelancer approach you can meet different goals in life?

I.e. All your hard work and effort will go towards yourself and not a company boss.

Nicholas

Hi Paul,

I'm also aware of working in 3, 6, 9 contracts due to my experience working in education and training.

It can be interesting for a while but does get tiring when you have to move on again and find the next position.

And then you also have the 'gaps between' that you need to fill if you're unable to find the next working contact. If you do work as a freelancer you can fill that time or in a permanent position you'll never have that problem.

I'll second Bruce's perspective that: ''remember that the recruiters will always tell you the world from their perspective.''

I've had that experience many, many times dealing with different recruiters either government or company based.

Did you look at www.blueeskimo.com ?

They deal with training, eLearning style recruitment.

Nicholas

@Nicholas - I believe that anyone can meet most goals, in pretty much any circumstances, so long as they set the goals realistically and react proactively when the goals are not being met. For me it's more about freedom to control my life, my destiny, and get paid for doing what I love doing (and seem to be quite good at....), by a wide and varied collection of great clients, across the world. It's not really about "the money" per se. It does all go a company boss anyway - me.

@Paul - when you see those "big numbers", remember taxes, expenses, profit, margin, insurance fees, fees to bookkeepers and accountants, VAT, savings for troughs etc. etc. You HAVE to do the maths, unless you were forced into an immediate change, (as I was). Saying that, now is the best time for you to make the jump - you only have you to look after, so take charge of your life, and then make it work for you.

@Bruce,

''It does all go a company boss anyway - me''

I'll agree with that but in my case it goes to my wife who's the real boss.

That could be down to cultural values though. (Chinese)

Nicholas

And now I need to get back to focusing on work and then making sure I don't work through lunch.

That's the downside of having a separate office next to home.

Enjoy your lunch Bruce (As we're both in UK time.)

Nicholas

I have never really done "lunch" for 20 years - none of the companies I worked for ever really had that mentality, (we worked through), all of my US clients are just starting for the day (so it's a busy time), and assuming one is busy - stopping represents an opportunity cost on many thousands of pounds every year.

Back to Paul's point ... opportunity costs, time allocation and lifestyle also need to come into your decision. Many people think the life of a contractor/freelancer means you get a great "work-life balance". The reality is that it can get MUCH harder, as you feel you need to take and do work when and where you can get it.

Contracting is not quite the same as freelancing - perhaps the best thing is to be a contractor and ALSO do some freelancing, (which will fill in those troughs)?

@Bruce

 My experience in the education sector lunch has been sitting, eating and working at the same time.

No other choice given the workload. So I do understand having to work through lunch.

Nicholas

Hello,

My company www.idealearninggroup.com is looking to develop a group of "go-to" developers of Articulate Storyline and other elearning tools. We prefer to work with folks based on the US west coast. Ideal candidates are highly skilled and able to collaborate with instructional designers. Please forward hourly rate and work samples along with a brief letter of introduction to: hello@idealearninggroup.com.

thanks - Jillian

Hope you find some good responses Jillian.

A services/jobs forum is looking to be created in the near future by Articulate.

Should help your company.

Nicholas

I am not sure "near future" is necessarily accurate. It has always been a popular request (as David said), but for now I cannot see it whilst Mike's weekly jobs curation project is on the go. Maybe at some point in the future, but for now we have the existing two current systems, and anyone with the requisite skills can get work via simple posts like Jillian's.

Jillian - I hope you find the people you are looking for.

For the freelancers and business owners I have a question about sound.

When you design/develop a training course, how important is the right use of sound considered as a factor?

I'm sure 'the right use of sound' and 'training courses' could be considered generic but it's a fairly general question.

In designing an eLearning program through Articulate Storyline is the sound factor a big issue and how did you learn about suitable sound design?

Thank you for any replies or thoughts. I'm open to be corrected on this question.

Nicholas

@Bruce,

The streamlined response is the most suitable then.

Post then reply (and contribute.)

Nicholas

Hi all:

I wanted to raise awareness of a post for a position in the Baltimore area:

http://community.articulate.com/forums/t/42568.aspx

Hi Guys,

Ashley though someone might benefit from this post being move to this thread:

I got this question the other day - here is my 2 cents worth response - hope it helps.

You should have a series of interactive Learning Objects (LO) that you can repurpose and again and again - like you own set of editable “Engage” interactions.  (LO0 -Text and draw/find Pictures, LO1 simple click and reveal, LO2 interactive with a linear path, LO3 Interactive with Branching and multiple paths, LO4 immersive 3D environments.

Have a good understanding of the time to build these LO (Learning Objects) ie:

LO0 - 5hrs - reformat text and find or draw pics/graphics

LO1 – 10hrs - click and reveal text - pop ups, interactive timelines, add/draw graphics 

LO2 – 20hrs - interactive elements ie decision Trees ie: users make a choice and branches off and make another selection

LO3 – 40hrs - 3D models etc etc

If your client has content, typically in the form of the powerpoint – Then do Instructional Design (ID) cut (map out a course) - go through the content looking for ways you can collapse or remove verbose or irrelevant content and replace it with an interactive elements or learning objects (LO). In this way users can interact with the material, even get users to find the information about HR policy or visit a mentor out-side your course and then return to the course to continue.

In an Compliance Induction example ('bread n butter work' for eLearning developers) : So an existing client 30 page induction powerpoint could end up say 10 screens (after the ID cut) in storyline (or AP) containing say 5 Learning objects of different LO mixes. In  this example: 10 pages of text LO0 ie: 50hrs, 3 x LO1 = 30hrs, with 2 x LO2 = 40hrs. Total up you hours ie approx 120 hrs x your hourly rate (utilities, cost, profit etc) say $150 per hour or $18,000. Now it probably won’t take 5hrs per page for LO0.  Remember it costs least 15% of the total quote just to keep you door open and light on.

You need add time for interface design if the client wants a customisations, ask them about who has the backups, who owns IP/Copyright, hosting etc etc - Get client sign off before starting, if you need a plan B, reduce the LO mix in the ID phase. So the outcome will tied to the amount of interactivity the clients wants 

Cheers Garry

Also:

I can tell you the way to make money in eLearning is:

1: Know what your cost are (elect, s/w & upgrades, your time over a yearetc) know have project you need to win and at the very least cover your costs on every project 

2: Get clients to fund you to build a library (or suite) of interactive learning objects.

3: REUSE and customised those interactive learning objects as much as possible to increase profitability

4....and sadley, outsource to a cheaper 'labour base" if possible and if the quaility is suitable.  However be aware your proje 

project management time will go up so use clearly defined templates, design ect to lessen any miscommunication.  Another advantage  or disadvantage (depending on you point of view) of outsourcing is the time difference - they build while you sleep, you make edits during the day and the outsource team re-edits.  To make real money you have got to let go of you doing all things for all clients unless you want to stay boutique.

Hope it helps

Garry

Thank you Garry,

That's useful information.

Could you post the original question?

Nicholas

Hi Everybody!

I am new to Articulate and in need of an Instructional Designer/ Storyline expert who speaks Spanish (freelancer or firm). We are located in Miami, if you are around would be a plus!

The material will be provided by professors in the respective fields who together with the ID will put together the Story board to later create Storylines. 

In total we have 10 courses. Each one would require approx. 10 Storylines of 10 - 12 minute duration.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Ellis

Hello Ellis,

I sent you a PM

Hola Ellis,

Te acabo de mandar un PM.

Saludos,

Oscar.

Found this on twitter today, might be helpful for those who are grappling with the age-old question "what should my freelance hourly rate be?" http://www.mor10.com/value-time-charge-youre-worth/ 

Holly

Thanks for sharing it Holly.

Nicholas

Thanks a lot for the resource Holly.

Thanks, Holly, for the post, and good to see you.

Did a video post this week that elearning freelancers most likely can relate to, if anyone is interested.

Four things to keep in mind when your client is unhappy

Yes, perhaps not the most flattering of posts, but it's honest.

@Daniel,

I can say after seeing the video that it's very useful!

Nicholas