The Freelancer Universe

One of the magical qualities about hiring in the virtual work world is your amazing access to talent. The freelancer universe is deep and wide and jam-packed full of potential. These talented individuals are online for the sole purpose of finding quality work. Whatever their motivation—laid off, career change, haunted by a dream, work while the kids are at school—their goal now is to take on freelancing projects.

However, given the irascible laws of nature, not all of these talented people will make it. For whatever reason, the 80–20 rule applies to online hires. Eighty percent of the talent will arrive for a while and then gradually fade away. But the twenty percent that remains will achieve success and hopefully work for you.

BEST PRACTICES

In the beginning, you won’t have the free advertising provided by the feedback and statistics that other clients have. Don’t worry, you can overcome this by being clear, honest, and easy to communicate with. Contractors develop a second sense about who the best clients are, just like clients do with contractors.

In the next chapter, I will give you specific steps to search out and invite specific contractors to bid on your projects. But first, it’s important to understand not only how broad a field you have to choose from, but also how the best are in demand. It’s your job to not only find them, but to get them as interested in you as you are in them.