Freelance Heroes

When teaching about e-learning, what worked perfectly is the debate about classroom teaching versus e-learning. I explained that e-learning was in fact more related to traditional distance learning, where students were sent a manual and a test, and they sent it back by mail.

What worked less is to make them try to write the script of an example. They preferred to simply watch it. 

My students were most of them classroom teachers that thought they HAVE to learn about e-learning as it's the "future" (I'd say it's the present), some of them used to be teachers or people related to education and now were unemployed and were looking for a new profession. The big handicap is language, as most of them had difficulties in understanding English.

I'll let you know more reflections about this after session 2, next Friday.

Thanks for your support and advice!

Excellent Belen

Well done - sounds as though it was an interesting day.

Bruce

Yes it was!

Now I'll prepare class #2, where we'll go right into Power Point & Articulate Presenter with some of the greatest tips from Tom Kulhmann.

I'll keep you informed.

Belen

Hi, Belen:

Sounds like you had some fun, the most important thing, I believe, in classroom stuff.

Hi All,

Thanks, Daniel, for creating this forum!  I've read through many of the posts and look forward to joining this ongoing discussion.  

I quit my job about a year ago to go freelance and (knock on wood) things have been going well so far.  As of now, I am just working as a Sole Proprietor, but I'm considering the pros and cons of a LLC.  I'm curious what others in this group are doing and what you think about Sole Proprietorship vs. LLC.  I am sub-contracting out work, if that's a factor.

Thanks for any insights you can provide!

Jeanne

Jeanne - in Canada (where I'm based), the differences are: liability and taxation. In terms of liability, subcontracting is not a deciding factor either way. I was told when you were making at least 60k/year in a sole prop, that it is worth while to set up a corp. I'd check with an accountant for your area. Subcontracting can be handled with either (as long as you have a good contract with them that they are to manage their own insurance) and that you have adequate business insurance. Having said all that, hopefully someone from the US will provide more insight!

Holly

PS - welcome to the thread.

Jeanne:

Welcome to Freelancing Heroes, and congratulations on making the leap. To keep things as simple as possible, I'm sole proprietor of Brigham Communications, but I don't sub-contract out.

Heroes who use subcontractors--what are you doing: SP or LLC? Perhaps you could explain why.

Again, welcome aboard. --Daniel

I’ve been a sole proprietor for five years.  Started that way because I was kind of testing the waters – wasn’t sure how long I’d want to be self-employed.  Once I decided I was in this for the long haul, I already understood the tax side of things from a SP point of view, and I wasn’t too keen to make things more difficult (and potentially more expensive) for myself.

That said…  I have been thinking for a few months about incorporating.  I spoke with an attorney about the liability side of it, and an LLC seems like a good bet there.  We also talked about S-Corp and C-Corp, based on some other needs and considerations, and I’m talking to my CPA about those options, to see how things would work out from a tax perspective.  I have a feeling, though, that I’ll either remain a SP or move into an LLC.  I do use a lot of subcontractors, but that doesn't really play into it as far as I can tell, except for the increased liability exposure that comes from more people working with your clients and their info.  (As an aside: I think if you're a SP you definitely need professional liability insurance, but that's just my opinion.)

One thing I’ve run into is large companies moving away from doing business with SPs.  In fact, one potential client, a very large multinational, will not sign a contract with a SP, no exceptions.  So I may go the LLC route just to avoid missing out on opportunities.

Thanks for the quick responses.  Sheila, that is one of the reasons I'm looking into it, too.  I've been doing some work for a university for several months, but there are many restrictions on what they can contract with me for, how long, etc.  If I were a LLC, those restrictions wouldn't apply.

Jeanne, I'd love to talk offline about the LLC thing as well as using sub-contractors...  I'll send you a PM!

Phewwwww!!!!! Took me 2 hrs to peruse this forum. Thanks Daniel for recommending it. I may just get my e-jo aka mojo for elearning, back. I will probably be nagging all of you for some guidance since I am just a girl standing infront of the heroes and asking them to embrace me  ( who knows this paraphrased line?)

I am glad to be part of this!

Karen

Hi Karen - lots of big brains to pick here and troll through another doozy of a thread/forum that we started with: http://community.articulate.com/forums/t/14115.aspx?PageIndex=1 - lots of good stuff on how/where to find work. An ongoing topic for those of us who freelance or are vendors/developers.

Welcome to the "club".

Holly

PS - Notting Hill, right?

Hi - I'm new to this site - so apologies if this is the wrong thread..  We are a UK based e-learning design/development operation but are very new to Articulate and Storyline (I'm afarid we have been primarily Flash and Captivate up to this point).  We are looking for freelance Storyline developers for projects immediately.  Can anyone help?

We are based in Devon, England - not that that should make too much difference other than timezones!

Thanks

Hi John, and welcome to the forums.

This is the right place to post.

I'll be in Lyme Regis on holiday all next week just up the coast - where are you based?

Once again, a warm welcome to the forums, and I hope you find the person/people you need.

Bruce

Hi all,

This is interesting for all those who would like to start as freelancers but have some excuses that prevent them to do it:

http://www.successstories.co.in/10-excuses-that-prevent-you-from-becoming-successful/?goback=%2Egde_138953_member_173484361

Enjoy it!

That is a great link Belen - thanks!

In card magic, there is a move called "The Pass", it is known to be extremely hard. There's one teacher that does not tell new students it is hard, and they learn fast.

I have thought about each of those 10 points at some time or another, but you just have to get over them, and carry on!

Do I know if I will be a successful freelance Instructional Designer? I will tell you when I retire in 15 years.

Bruce

John:

Bruce is a first-rate e-learning pro and voiceover artist. I strongly recommend him. --Daniel Brigham

Thanks, for the post, Belen.

I've often thought that e-learning is a good place to be BECAUSE it is difficult and multi-faceted. If you know how to do difficult, you will be in demand.

My Articulate specialist is on leave for the next several months.  I have another Training Development Specialist on staff, but he is new and not familiar with Articulate.  He was hired to primarily create video segments that will supplement our Articulate (and PowerPoint) slides.

I'm looking to have someone take our PowerPoint slides and video segments and overlay them with Articulate, add some knowledge transfer verification scenarios and a quiz, and then post to our LMS.

Are there experts out there that would take on that kind of work on a per project or hourly basis?

For UK Freelancers, I have just discovered this wonderful resource:

http://www.pcg.org.uk/cms/

Membership would obviously be something that could be written off against Tax, and very useful especially if you are in or around London and need a space to meet clients.

Bruce

Hi, Freelancin' Heroes:

I know there are freelancers on this thread looking for ideas for portfolios and promotional material, so I thought I'd share this short Storyline prez I created on writing voiceover scripts. Super hero Bruce Graham helped out with the content. Here's the link: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/28783158/Writing%20voiceover%20scripts%20output/story.html

Hope things are well in your e-learnin' universe. --Daniel