Re: FN-FORUM Why Hire Freelancers

date posted 13th August 2000 19:57

Hi Peter,


> This is why I'm enjoying being in this group while writing my book. It's
> like being able to talk to the front line troops who can see through all
> the fallacies because they can see what is happening in the field.

I know what you mean. Ebusiness looks very different from this side of the
fence. The interesting thing about it is that whereas the business owners
are confused and looking to us for answers, if they really had any inkling
of the complexity of the task of setting up in ecommerce I doubt they'd ever
venture into it.

As a web site designer/developer full-time self-employed for 4 and a half
years now I see how this area of knowledge is rapidly expanding in terms of
possible solutions to business problems. I try and keep it simple for my
customers, but the truth is that there are a thousand different ways to skin
each e-commerce cat and another thousand potential future requirements that
the client has not yet thought of or discovered he needs.

This makes for a very dangerous land-mine situation where just as you think
you've defined the requirements and bought the right software and hardware,
along comes another truck-load of new requirements. You have chosen what you
think is the right solution for the customer based on their existing needs
whilst trying to keep costs to a minimum.... And then the requirements
change on you and you have to gently explain to the client that if they want
Amazon.com-like functionality, they're going to have to have an entirely
different system, most likely a proprietary system and at much greater cost.

What I'm getting at is that there is a growing expectations gap out there in
the marketplace at present. Customers just don't know how much things cost
or how much complexity is involved in decision-making, but their
expectations of what is possible are high. It is a problem I spend a lot of
my time managing as a small web design agency owner. I don't know what the
solution is... any ideas anyone?


> If anyone in the group wants to read the chapters as I write them and take
> part in the creative process of writing this book, please let me have a
> short bio and I'll include you in the reading list.

I'd love to receive the chapters as you write them Peter!

Short bio:

Name: Ruth Arnold, Age: 27

I started my first business at 14, doing data entry and analysis for the
Forum of Private Business. I used to earn £15 an hour as a teenager. This
inspired me to be self-employed as an adult. I studied Philosophy at Leeds
University and once I graduated got a very badly paid job as a P.A. at an
advertising agency in Sheffield. After a couple of months there I changed
jobs and worked at a graphic design bureau/publishing house and became an
editor/proofreader of computer and science books.

After nine months there I moved to London and worked for another small
publishing house editing and typesetting physics journals and computing
books. All the while I wanted to be working on web site design and
development, but none of my employers would let me as I was neither a
graphic designer nor a programmer. I eventually got fed up of being told
what to do and decided to go self-employed at age 22. I started out
typesetting and editing physics journals freelance and grew the web design
side of the business simultaneously. I gave up the editing and typesetting
and went full-time as a web site designer/developer two and a half years ago
now. I now live in Cheshire, near where I grew up.

I have stood for election for the Liberal Democrats twice and am constantly
working on 'my next business venture'. I currently have 4 projects in the
pipeline. I have yet to finish any of them ;-)

I work obsessively and my job is also my hobby. I am an entrepreneur at
heart and will try my hand at just about anything, believing that the world
is a big playground full of great opportunities. I also have rheumatoid
arthritis and have found that rather than this being a handicap it has
increased my passion for life 1000-fold.

ruth arnold
spacehoppa.com
www.spacehoppa.com
www.spacehopper.com