I have been working as a designer with my company for many years and am interested in venturing outside on my own to do some contract work. Outside of referrals and this forum, where do you go to find work? Any tips for new contractors?
Network, network, and network with everyone, including relatives and their friends! (Seriously.)
If your area has a local chapter of ASTD, begin there by talking with the members.
Also, if there is a Chamber of Commerce in your area, or another association of business people, visit a meeting and begin networking there.
You could also do some small, pro bono, projects for non-profits in your location. Those work samples will help you "prove" your skills and give you something to show your potential, paying clients. Clients will always ask you for your online portfolio site address so they can see your work samples.
LINGOs is always looking for folks to help on pro bono projects.
Seriously - as above, Jenise says "network", and she's sooo correct.
Have a web prescence too...
I do not have a website, and my phone number is hard to find, (probably to hard...).
People find me on PeoplePerHour and LinkedIn and via my blog, and then track me down. I figure that if they get to the point where they call me they are actually interested enough to actually proceed!
I got one (ongoing) piece of work by by answering a specific question on this forum, so get involved, AND get yourself Storyline experience when it is generally available.
A fairly safe path is to subcontract to eLearning companies providing overflow work to start with. This helps you establish some cash flow stability, get a clear sense of market demands and be sure to keep a copy of what you create for them (being mindful of copyright issues). Another benefit is people from eLearning companies leave and join the trainign departments of large corporations, giving you a friendly inside a big corporate.
Perhaps my best advice is this. As soon as you are able (and it will take some time to do well) work out your own skills and value proposition so you have a very clear message to take to market. Also beneficial has been to develop a number of markets, niches spin offs whatever you want to call them. So for example my markets are:
Small projects (ie sub 10K) for big corporate. they have eLearning partners that do the enterprise software roll outs of 50 hours of eLearning or whatever, I just take the crumbs. I'm a one man show, so cant do 50 hrs anyway and the sub 10K leaves decent margin if there is only one of you.
Monetizing other peoples IP, by creating courseware for nothing up front, then retailing it and sharing the revenue.
Consulting to eLearning companies and other knowledge product based companies (publishers, training delivery firms etc) to help them with eLearning methodology, up-skilling, marketing strategy etc.
David makes a fundamental point - it's not just about "where to find work", it's more about "Why me?".y
I will do work for anyone, however, I will always set expectations in terms of the # hours per month. So at the moment I have one client who wants to throw 40hrs a week at me - thats's great, but it only leaves 30 hours a week for the others..(and I mean that very sincerely...).
I tend never to "sell" to the eventual end customer - because that means I can focus on production, but it means I am taking a smaller margin than if I worked directly, in most cases.
A couple of huge opportunities have presented themselves because of my web prescence (see above). In those cases, they found me on the sites I mentioned, I have referrals and Feedback that match my claims, and I have demonstrable experience.
My "USP" is that I am a "one-stop shop". I prototype, I design, I build, I voiceover, I deliver, on time, every time.
Try identifying people who you can "add value" to - are there any local (classroom) training companies that you could, for a nominal fee, produce work for - and see where it leads? I have done that on a couple of occasions and it has taken off in a spectacular way.
Remember what they say "I worked very hard to be this lucky".
My steps into work were firstly to write a strong resume (look for guides online) and then I made sure that I was up to date with getting a professional profile on Linkedin.com.
Research specialist recruitment agencies in your field, my last f/time job was found with the help of Hyperion Gaming who are London based, but have jobs world wide. They are specialist within my industry (gambling), but there are agencies that focus on everything from oil and gas to IT. I would recommend taking the time to speak with them on the phone, and meet them face to face if geographically possible.
Good luck, and when you get to the face to face interview don't forget to look them in the eye and give a good firm handshake!
Freelancer.com is a great site for most things web related. I also use odesk as well. After getting a resume together (www.rightfitresumes.com) you can almost visit any site and apply for them. Stay away from craigslist and just keep in mind that even freelance gigs are competitve, so be prepared.
First off, thanks to all you indies for the advice.
I'm in the same boat as Rachel. I'm starting off by building my website & online resume/portfolio and will contact some headhunter agencies and smaller companies to sub-contract. I've hired developers before at my day job, and personally, I weigh portfolio work much more than a resume or who your prior clients were.
First off, thanks to all you indies for the advice.
I'm in the same boat as Rachel. I'm starting off by building my website & online resume/portfolio and will contact some headhunter agencies and smaller companies to sub-contract. I've hired developers before at my day job, and personally, I weigh portfolio work much more than a resume or who your prior clients were.
FM
I have just merged these 2 aspects and am building my new website entirely in StoryLine - shows what I can do and gets over the whole "...my clients have me under NDA" issue for content/content re-use.
I saw this article appear in my tweetstream and thought it might be of use to you: http://designm.ag/freelance/starting-freelance-business/ - there are some suggestions about getting work near the bottom. I'm sure I've commented on other threads related to this topic as well.
Maybe someone should organize a subgroup of freelancers here, like others have done.
12 Replies
Hi, Rachel:
Network, network, and network with everyone, including relatives and their friends! (Seriously.)
If your area has a local chapter of ASTD, begin there by talking with the members.
Also, if there is a Chamber of Commerce in your area, or another association of business people, visit a meeting and begin networking there.
You could also do some small, pro bono, projects for non-profits in your location. Those work samples will help you "prove" your skills and give you something to show your potential, paying clients. Clients will always ask you for your online portfolio site address so they can see your work samples.
LINGOs is always looking for folks to help on pro bono projects.
http://ridgeviewmedia.com/blog/2012/01/mlk-service-day-lingos/
Wishing you all the best as you venture out!
@jenisecook
Everywhere
Seriously - as above, Jenise says "network", and she's sooo correct.
Have a web prescence too...
I do not have a website, and my phone number is hard to find, (probably to hard...).
People find me on PeoplePerHour and LinkedIn and via my blog, and then track me down. I figure that if they get to the point where they call me they are actually interested enough to actually proceed!
I got one (ongoing) piece of work by by answering a specific question on this forum, so get involved, AND get yourself Storyline experience when it is generally available.
Good luck.
Bruce
A fairly safe path is to subcontract to eLearning companies providing overflow work to start with. This helps you establish some cash flow stability, get a clear sense of market demands and be sure to keep a copy of what you create for them (being mindful of copyright issues). Another benefit is people from eLearning companies leave and join the trainign departments of large corporations, giving you a friendly inside a big corporate.
Perhaps my best advice is this. As soon as you are able (and it will take some time to do well) work out your own skills and value proposition so you have a very clear message to take to market. Also beneficial has been to develop a number of markets, niches spin offs whatever you want to call them. So for example my markets are:
David makes a fundamental point - it's not just about "where to find work", it's more about "Why me?".y
Try identifying people who you can "add value" to - are there any local (classroom) training companies that you could, for a nominal fee, produce work for - and see where it leads? I have done that on a couple of occasions and it has taken off in a spectacular way.
Remember what they say "I worked very hard to be this lucky".
Bruce
My steps into work were firstly to write a strong resume (look for guides online) and then I made sure that I was up to date with getting a professional profile on Linkedin.com.
Research specialist recruitment agencies in your field, my last f/time job was found with the help of Hyperion Gaming who are London based, but have jobs world wide. They are specialist within my industry (gambling), but there are agencies that focus on everything from oil and gas to IT. I would recommend taking the time to speak with them on the phone, and meet them face to face if geographically possible.
Good luck, and when you get to the face to face interview don't forget to look them in the eye and give a good firm handshake!
Freelancer.com is a great site for most things web related. I also use odesk as well. After getting a resume together (www.rightfitresumes.com) you can almost visit any site and apply for them. Stay away from craigslist and just keep in mind that even freelance gigs are competitve, so be prepared.
You can also try this site other than LINGOs, http://www.e-learningforkids.org/getinvolved.html
First off, thanks to all you indies for the advice.
I'm in the same boat as Rachel. I'm starting off by building my website & online resume/portfolio and will contact some headhunter agencies and smaller companies to sub-contract. I've hired developers before at my day job, and personally, I weigh portfolio work much more than a resume or who your prior clients were.
FM
I have just merged these 2 aspects and am building my new website entirely in StoryLine - shows what I can do and gets over the whole "...my clients have me under NDA" issue for content/content re-use.
Will post it when allowed to/at launch.
Bruce
Sign up as a provider on LearnCreate!
We do a lot of project work focused specifically on creating and improving Learning Content.
http://www.learncreate.com
Don
I do a lot of contract work and almost all of my contracts come from having a resume on monster.com. I haven't starved yet!
Hi Rachel (and others)
I saw this article appear in my tweetstream and thought it might be of use to you: http://designm.ag/freelance/starting-freelance-business/ - there are some suggestions about getting work near the bottom. I'm sure I've commented on other threads related to this topic as well.
Maybe someone should organize a subgroup of freelancers here, like others have done.
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