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

Hi, Lisa:

Regarding getting paid, I usually construct the contract around three or so installments--1/3 at the beginning, middle, and end. Of course, if they are selling the training, you might choose to work for a percentage of sales, too. Not a bad way to go, if you are confident they can sell it.  

I think the hardest thing is bidding the project, as many times your clients have no idea what they really want. Of course, that's part of our job. And when you are helping them determine what kind of training they want, you are also shaping their expectations, which is huge. When bidding, I usually have three or so in-depth calls about what I think they want. I'll then send them examples of courses that I think accord with what I think they want (you could always use the Articulate Showcase for this). I also find it helpful to talk to the client about lesson length--e.g., three lessons of 30-45 minutes, etc.  

Once I have a decent idea of what they want, I can bid it. It's sort of like building a house in that way. Hope some of this helps. --Daniel 

Hi,

Really a very good thread, I found many ideas here.

I have a good experience of coding but I am new freelancer, I am just starting.

I understand that I have to create my portfolio to get some work and I want to create one. But I am not good in graphic design / instructional design, I am purely a programmer, so my question are -

1. How can I create a e-learning portfolio without graphic design and instructional design?

2. How can I show my skills to a client without a portfolio?

Thanks

buck

In addition to Bruce's feedback (that needs to be clear), you can write case studies if you are not able to share visuals to describe your work:

• Problem
• Solution
• How it helped the client (saved money, time, reduced errors...)

Holly

Hi Bruce,

I want to sell my coding skills - Action Script 3.0 / Javascript / HTML5 / CSS / SCORM and AICC coding / Making courses 508 compliance/ Articulate custom templates etc.

I don't have any "product", I just have my coding skills.

I can create a custom course player for you in HTML5 / Flash AS3.0, or any thing you want which can be made in these scripts.

buck

Thanks Bruce,

Now I realize that there is not much work for me in tool based e-learning courses, I will try to learn some graphic design skill and instructional  design so that I can get some work here. I will try to use my 6 years industry experience to learn these skills quick.

I am just thinking that the tools like Articulate are getting more powerful, what is the future of a programmer in e-learning?

buck

There will always be a place for tools that fill a need. Folks without the time or capacity to produce those tools will rely on those that do. That's one potential market segment. What can you provide that makes process more seamless? What can you build that saves time or increases accuracy and / or convenience? 

The world needs good tools. The world needs better tools. The greatest tools are simple, flexible, and future proof. Find those natural things that make people go "wow, I can't believe I ever lived without that" and you'll have found your product 

Agree with Steve (in fact, I think I always agree with Steve!)

I think that tools like Articulate have opened up an interesting ecosystem of related/supporting products services.

One of the things to think about is: service based freelancing, which is what the original thread was about or product development. They are two different paths and I would suggest that you need to do one or the other.

In terms of services, you could provide services to instructional designers, and they call you for projects that need something customized. And you market yourself as the preferred coder for instructional designers who might want to kick things up a notch on a particular project. Those are your clients (people like Daniel, Bruce, Kevin, etc)

Or, you take a product approach like James Kingsley http://frameentered.com/ or Bryan at elearning Art http://www.elearningart.com/  have done. Build a product that would make lives easier for articulate storyline users, bits of code that would speed things up, different skins, etc.

Either way, you should look through the forums and figure out: "is there something that people ask for commonly that I could easily offer" and explore those. Maybe you can re-focus what you are good at already rather than switching completely. 

Hope that helps,

Holly

Thanks Steve and Holly,

I will definitely try to find some way to speed up the work you people doing, Thanks for the links these are really motivational for me and giving me a lot of hope.

can you people help me to provide some links to threads where people asked for some custom requirements.

Sorry I am asking for too much help which is not related to the main topic of this thread, but it will help some of the programmers like me.

Thanks

Buck

Hi all,

Happy that this thread is alive.

Well, I think that there're several facts that influence the eventual success of any freelancer, and not all are in our control.

There're some things that I've encountered which may have been mentioned here but not studied deeply:

• the industry: how much money does the e-learning market move? Which are the main companies and how much does each of them get?
• the local market: as you may know, my country (Spain) is going through... what I see as a shipwreck, so I'm open to international markets 'cause things are a bit weird here.
• perceived quality: no matter what you say you can do or even show in a portfolio, there're still 'others' out there -those who are outrageously cheap (it happens to me when it comes to translations) or those who are real Heroes.

I've got a different image about e-learning since I read these forums and tutorials. In Spain at least, the market is mostly concentrated in big companies with lots of designers, IT guys and script writers, and the voice over is always contracted outside. Are these my competitors? Well, maybe this is only a thought, I'm interested in your point of view about the industry, local markets and perceived quality.

Thanks!

Belén

Bruce is right here - this isn't a job board, it is a community of users for a product. 

@Buck, if this is your potential market (i.e. we are your customers), then you need to do the hard work of listening to the market. I can't do that for you. If you look at the two examples I gave you, they contribute on the forum when they have something to add to the conversation, not to simply sell their product/service. Honestly I think James and Bryan are good examples (others out there too). 

@Belen - you are so right, what a good observation - maybe once a freelancer has defined what they think their target market is and matches up their skills they should consider doing a SWOT analysis and then a TOWS to follow it: http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newSTR_89.htm - sometimes you can be great at something and the world economy tanks. Build yourself some scenarios around "what ifs".

Hope this helps,

Holly