I know that question is sort of like where's your favorite fishing hole. Hi, all -- I've been a freelancer for about a year and a half now, and for the first time, things are slow. I guess I'm on the famine side of the feast-famine freelancer cycle. Two questions: 1. Are there e-learning groups (besides Articulate of course) that have helped you generate leads/work? 2. How much of your work comes through cold calling? (I have an aversion to cold calling, but will pull up the big boy panties if need be.) I'm guessing that your work comes from a little bit of everywhere (traffic to your site, repeat business and referrals from clients, cold calling, etc), but I don't really know that till I ask. Thank you in advance for your time and input. --Daniel

Always a great topic, Daniel. We had a similar thread last year: http://community.articulate.com/forums/p/908/3243.aspx I've heard from several folks that their Screenrs helped get them gigs while others have received offers after sharing templates and other freebies in the community. A lot of work can be found from established vendors and boutique studios--companies who specialize in e-learning design and development. Getting into their contractor pool is one way to bring in steady work.

Hey Daniel, I'll echo the others here. I just finished my 90th day as a full-time freelancer. The biggest thing I've learned thus far is having a full project plate pretty much eliminates business development. To answer your first question, this community is by far the best I've associated with in terms of networking and leads. My participation here is not to get leads but to help others and share tips. Occasionally I'll get a ping either directly or as a referral. As for your second question, I don't cold call and don't anticipate ever needing to, nor wanting to. Couple tips that helped me over the past couple years to be able to go out on my own: 1. Follow Bruce's points about your site. Get some visibility. Even if you don't have a portfolio ready, at a minimum have a blog where you can share ideas, tips, etc. to show readers what you can do. 2. Follow other industry blogs, communities, groups and participate in those conversations and comment on articles. 3. Take small projects to get used to managing your time. Don't worry about money at this point. Your goal is to show you're a trusted contractor to your client. THAT will bring you return business and referrals. One of my first ever clients is still with me for two years now. 4. If you can, attend one or two of the big annual conferences. The sessions themselves are fabulous, but the face-to-face networking is invaluable. 5. Set some goals. Max # hours you can work a week. Manage 1, 2 or more projects at once? Learn a new skill. 6. Finally, be patient. It's about your passion for the craft and producing quality outputs. Your work will speak for itself. Crush it!

hello daniel, I think a good idea is to join some elearning groups on linkedin. beside tips and tricks there are some business opportunities. launch a search and join them!

Daniel - I'm coming up on my 5 year anniversary as a freelancer, and all my work comes from referrals - so network, network, network is my advice. I find that the online stuff typically supports or validates your track history, but may provide leads for you. Instead of cold calling, I`d be more strategic than that and figure out if you have any connection to an organization and get a warm intro instead. Kind of like "six degrees of separation". The ups and downs are a pretty natural part of freelancing and while it can be stressful, you have to know it's there and plan/prepare for it. Use the downtime to create a business development strategy, otherwise you might get a bit panicky and take anything that comes your way, which may end up being the wrong thing. Best of luck.

David: Thanks for the link to last year's discussion and the sharing idea. And, of course, for all your help on this forum and youtube (e.g., Audacity tutorials). Mindmapping tutorial was very helpful. Holly: Thanks for reminding me that this "downtime," which is actually nice to have -- I mean when you're slammed you can't really read about ID or learn new skills -- is the time to develop strategies for new biz. Congratulations on the five-year mark. That's cool. Hope we cross paths again. --Daniel

Freelancers -- where do you find most of your work?

DanielBrigham
Community Member
13 years ago

Sarah Blake said:

Not sure if this is appropriate to post here, but the company I work for needs to hire three or four ISDs/e-learning developers ASAP for a recently-expanded project for the U.S. Army. Full-time temp work from July 9 through the end of September. We've had an extremely hard time finding people who actually have the skills they say they have, particularly in Articulate Presenter & Storyline, so I'm hoping some of the freelancers in this community might be interested! Ideal candidates will be in the Washington DC/Northern Virginia area, but exceptional remote candidates can be considered.

To learn more, shoot me an email and resume at sblake@afsc-usa.com.

Hi, Sarah: I am a contractor and Articulate specialist. I will email you my resume and my portfolio. --Daniel Brigham
KevinThorn
Super Hero
13 years ago

That's awesome Bruce! Congrats on getting invited as a guest blogger. Be sure and post the link to it here once it's published.

Oh, and I'll speak for everyone here that our contributions to your blog post is valued at $1,000,000 each.
KevinThorn
Super Hero
13 years ago
Fine, but the next time I'm across the pond I expect a tall frothy beverage.
HollyMacDonald
Super Hero
13 years ago

I'll take my payment in pints! Well done Bruce!

But seriously I hope that this thread has shown that:

1. if you ask for help, others will help

2. if you are helpful, it does get noticed

3. others often have the same question as you do, so just ask it

I know it isn't totally related to the articulate product, but am glad that the forum exists for people to talk about how to integrate the product into their work, even if it is freelancing.

Do you want to start a freelancers discussion group or special interest group (sig) like the health care and higher ed ones? I'd participate...
PhilMayor
Super Hero
13 years ago
Congratulations Bruce. I worry about all your picture changes knowing you studied psychology I think you are playing some strange game. The worst thing is I think I am losing
PhilMayor
Super Hero
13 years ago
DanielBrigham
Community Member
13 years ago

Probably be nice if we just kept this thread, unless it's somehow cleaner or easier to start as SIG. Perhaps someone can enlighten me more on SIGs and their benefits.

Whatever the place, I'll surely contribute.
DavidLindenberg
Community Member
13 years ago

Wow! I just read through this thread and have that exhausted but hyped up feeling. There has been some great discussion here. Thank you Daniel for kicking it off and to everyone else for contributing. I recently took the freelance plunge too and the advice/conversation here has been excellent.

-David
BelenCasado
Community Member
13 years ago

Daniel Brigham said:

Belen: I believe there is a large market for translating course into Spanish. In the U.S. job seekers who speak Spanish are quite coveted. You are the person to translate these courses. You might begin a search on US companies that employ many Spanish-speaking people. Perhaps start in select southern states: Texas, Arizona, California.

Perhaps an even better idea is to translate part of a course into Spanish and post it here and other appropriate places. That's probably where I'd start actually. --Daniel

I still follow all of you...

Well, Daniel gave me this good suggestion, and now I'm updating my profile in Elance and oDesk, in order to be found by U.S. companies. Any idea of how to be found? I mean: I perfectly know Spanish websites for this, but entering a new market... maybe I need some tips.

First of all: do you think I need a website in English? Maybe this is a stupid question, but I was thinking to translate just courses.

Well, I think that this thread is not over!

As for SIGs, I don't know what is this, but I like to find this info inside this community; maybe the others do too?

Thanks!!!

Belén
BelenCasado
Community Member
13 years ago

Thanks Bruce!!

I wanted to post here the first unit of a course about Coaching I'm building. It was a struggle to manage Amazon AWS, but I really wanted to contribute with this modest example, as long as eCreators let me translate their player.

https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/manualcoaching/player.html

As for thinking big, what a great idea!

Yes, definitely, yes. I'm starting my search right now.

Thanks for the explanation about SIG, now I need to know what is IMHO (LOL -this one I already know)

Belén