Comments on: Freelance Radio, Episode 17: A Riddle Shrouded in a Mystery

By: CSSJockey

CSSJockey — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 02:58:12 +0000

Freelance Radio Rocks!!

You guys really helped me and motivated me to go full time freelance, where as I was struggling with this for last one year.

Now I am ready to roll and will be launching my site on 1st Jan 2009 with all the tips I leaned from freelance radio podcast.

Thanks so much guys!! Keep up the good work!!

By: forcedlogic

forcedlogic — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:19:42 +0000

Really good and helpful eps. I did have a great question. What type of pre-qualifying documents/elements do you guys use to weed out clients? I know some people use forums, others use very strict contracts…what do you guys use to stay away from those type of clients?

By: Marc Roman

Marc Roman — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 15:12:18 +0000

Enjoyed the episode. Think it offered many bits and pieces on how to improve my organization. Especially in the fonts department. When John mentioned tagging of files, I immediately thought of the application called Leap ( http://www.ironicsoftware.com/leap/index.html ). Think that might be worth a shot. Haven’t tested it myself, but it seems the tagging module is pretty extensive. Keep up the great work!

By: ron sparks

ron sparks — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 00:09:39 +0000

@ Prescott Perez-Fox= it could just be where i am but it seems agencies are hiring a lot of freelancers. They seem to have a smaller core staff and then just bring people [ like me ] in when then add projects. But like I said it couuld just be my location.

By: Alex Fraiser

Alex Fraiser — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 00:01:35 +0000

I have subscribed to this and will be watching them all on my iPod.

By: Prescott Perez-Fox

Prescott Perez-Fox — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 17:09:16 +0000

On the recession and economic problems: I have observed two things first-hand. First, the nature of freelance work has changed in that I am no longer able to find multi-week gigs, but instead my roles are very sporadic and only last for 3-4 days at a time. This is frustrating because it means I have lot more downtime, which is always bad in general. I think that staff is being worked harder because companies (both agencies and clients) are less likely to bring in freelancers. Even though freelancers are easy to “bill back”, if project budgets are smaller in general, it means that freelancers are the first to go.

The second thing I’ve noticed is that rates have gone down! Lately, I find myself making the same hourly rate that I was making in 2005! Forget cost-of-living increases, I’m having to take what I can get because the jobs are scarce.

There is a conventional wisdom that indicates that when times are tough, companies will cut staff in favour of freelancers. Therefore, it’s good for us. I have not observed that trend, or at least have not been in touch with those clients who are in a position to hire premalance or staff-replacement. Instead, as I’ve said, they will put more burden on the existing staff, or in general take on less work.

By: Chuckanucka

Chuckanucka — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 16:54:18 +0000

keep up the great work!

By: Niki Brown

Niki Brown — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 15:13:39 +0000

love the podcast! You should have more questions via twitter