This week, we broadcasted and released episode #2 (which is really our 3rd) of Freelance Jam. Here are some things I’m learning as we go, in bullet form:
It’s OK to launch sooner, even if things are rough around the edges. I’ve always had the perfectionism bug (as many in our industry do), but it takes time to get to where you want to be. The only way to get there is to work through all of the mistakes and bumps along the way. You won’t have it right out of the gate. As you can see in our first 3 episodes, we’re trying out different software, different hardware, as well as tweaking our content and performance. The website is also a work-in-progress. We’re gettin there.
Podcast / live web show production is A LOT more complicated than it seems. You’d that these days it’s easy to talk to two people and broadcast it live on the web. Not the case. We’ve hobbled together about 8 different applications to make it happen, and we’re still tweaking our set up. It’s kind of rediculous that it’s this complicated, but it is. Check out this article I wrote for Mashable, which includes a list of tools we’re using.
It’s better to do LOTS of pre-show preparation, than go in cold. In episode 1, I spent time preparing a bullet list (gotta love the unordered list) of points I wanted to hit on in our discussion. As soon as some dead space came on, we went right onto the next point in the list. In episode 2, while we planned the main theme for the episode, I left the rest to improvisation. It went OK, but I felt it lacked a coherent flow and progression (mostly on my part). It also helps with time management. In episode 2, we cut out our “recommendations” segment because we lost track of time.
Having a schedule set in stone is a fun challenge. We broadcast live every other Tuesday night at 8:00pm EST. This doesn’t change. Consistency is key when you’re trying to build a loyal audience so keeping to this schedule is important. But sticking to a set schedule for anything kind of goes against my lifestyle as a self-employed web worker who works from anywhere, anytime. Sure, I have no problem scheduling single meetings and calls and whatnot. But a repeating event is tough for someone like me to stick to. No matter how busy I am with work, or how many other things are going on in my life, Freelance Jam happens every other Tuesday night. No getting around it. I kinda like this curveball in the routine
This has been an ongoing theme as I work to develop and grow my business. As I’m partnering with sub-contractors more and more, I’m beginning to feel more comfortable embracing the “we” when talking about my company, CasJam Media.
Over the past year, I’ve been slowly phasing in communication like “we do design and development” and “we’ll have these design updates ready for you by the end of this week”, rather than “I do design and development” or “I will tweak these designs”. In the past, I felt a bit uneasy sneaking in these “we” statements. I felt it was somewhat deceptive or something, since I’m still physically working alone in my home-office. But it’s not deceptive
It’s fair to say that I’ve been comfortably outsourcing chunks of my workload over the past 1-2 years. For a typical all-in website project (strategy, design, development), I might hire a designer or a developer (or both) and handle the remaining tasks myself. It’s been working out well. Sub-contracting has helped me take on more work and deliver better results.
But it’s taken me a long time to get to this point. Hiring was very much a learning process in the beginning. It still is today. I find it very difficult to find and partner with freelancers who are great at what they do, but more importantly are consistently reliable. Luckily, this past year I met and worked with a handful of rockstars in this regard. I now consider them my “go-to” people for certain types of projects. The one down-side of partnering with the best? They get booked a lot! So it’s time to expand my network of “go-to” freelancers so that I always have someone I can call when another is unavailable.
The hard part is determining who will become a “go-to” guy, and who will become a “one-and-done” hire. You really can’t be sure until you complete at least one real project with them. I’ve been surprised to find that some who have very impressive portfolios and high hourly rates still fail to deliver on simple—but crucial—things like meeting deadlines and communication. But based on this experience, I can better my chances of finding a “go-to” guy by changing my initial approach.
Crafting a Freelancer Interview
In the past, I made the mistake of focusing too much on the immediate project at hand. During those initial calls with the potential sub-contractor, I wanted to know whether or not this person can meet the requirements for this project. Instead, I should have been focusing more on getting to know them.
The web is like a living, breathing organism. It’s constantly changing and evolving. You might say this animal has a serious caffeine addiction, considering the lightning-fast pace at which things move. Cutting-edge technologies arrive then fade away into the distant 6-month history of the medium. Apps obtain mainstream success only to be overshadowed by newer, shinier apps. Just when we started getting a grip on multi-browser compatibility, a whole slew of new platforms have emerged with the widespread adoption of mobile web devices.
But despite the highly dynamic nature of the web, some things in the web design industry never change.
We as web professionals must remain acutely aware of the age-old constants that make our businesses sustainable and allow us to thrive over the long-term. The fact that we live in an age of information-overload — coupled with the fact that we happen to work right in the center of all the noise — means we must work even harder to stay focused and recognize what’s important in the grand scheme of things.
This article highlights the few aspects of being a professional web designer that remain intact, year in, year out. These constants hold true for other fields as well. They have for a very long time, and will likely be a fact of life well into the future.
If you work as a freelance web designer or developer, you probably rely on a number of applications to perform daily tasks. From crafting code and pushing pixels to productivity and business management, it’s usually safe to say, “There’s an app for that.”
Shiny new apps are popping up more than ever. You are well familiar with the routine: a hot new URL sporting early beta invites buzzes its way across Twitter, picks up a handful of users and eventually falls off the map, never to be heard of again. This pattern is particularly strong for productivity apps (a.k.a. “getting things done” apps) and web development tools.
Don’t get me wrong: some of these little gems find success in segments of the market. They add to a vast reservoir of quality solutions that can be found for every task. With so many apps to choose from, how does one decide which to try and which to ignore?
In this article I will highlight a few apps that I’ve relied on heavily over the course of my career as a freelance web designer.
I’m excited to let you know about a project that has been brewing for past few weeks: It’s a new web show called FreelanceJam, hosted by myself and Dave Yankowiak. The one-liner:
The show for independent professionals who build the web.
Here are some facts about what’s in store:
The video broadcast will be shown live, two evenings per month.
The recording will also be available as an iTunes podcast.
We’ll invite a different guest on for every show.
Music will play a significant part in the production.
Freelancing, running a business and web design are the jumping off points, but we’ll probably touch on many different topics.
