Focus Your Project

An important and commonsense aspect within the search process is often overlooked: make sure you know exactly what it is you want done in your job. Sounds strange? You’d be surprised just how many clients have a pretty good idea of what they want done, but in fact it’s vague enough that the selection of contractors who bid is far too wide. Or they’re unclear exactly what the project parameters are and time is wasted in clarification.

BEST PRACTICES

As you clarify in your mind what you want done in your project, also leave room for the contractors’ ideas and creativity. They’re the experts for good reason, and as you search you will get a feel for those who have the style you’re looking for.

This doesn’t mean you have to be an expert in the job itself. After all, if you’re hiring someone to build your website it could be because you don’t have the time, or, more likely, it’s because you simply don’t know how to do it well enough to take it on yourself. That’s why we hire people!

Focusing your project means identifying the end result as clearly as possible. I’ll go over how to explain this step-by-step in Chapter 11. But first, you need to have this end result in mind when you begin to target contractors.

If you’re thinking you want to have a website built to help you increase business, that’s great. But it’s vague. If it’s for business, do you want it search engine optimized? You may not have a clue about how to do that, but you may now want a contractor that can both build the website and do the SEO. Or you may want to hire two, one for each aspect of the project.

Will you be selling widgets directly from your site? It doesn’t matter if you know how to set this up, you just need to know that you want it.

If you’re looking for a virtual assistant, make a list of all the areas in which you need help organizing. If you need an iPhone app designed, understand who the end users will be and how they will apply the tool. By solidifying your project in your mind even before you write the job posting, you will have better luck as you search through contractors to target.