Before you post your project, be sure to have a very good idea of your requirements. Service providers ( our term for freelancers ) will be pleased to find out that you have done your homework. You won't believe how often people with no idea of what they need approach our freelancers.
Coming prepared will save you a lot of time and money because you avoid going through endless discussions with your chosen service provider. This is especially true when you are dealing with someone online. Not having a clear idea of what you require will result in an endless exchanges of emails between you and your service provider. If email is the only means of communication between the two of you ( which is usually the case if you have an offshore service provider ), this can mean several days wasted just for the service provider to have a clear idea of what you need.
Often, there is a fixed sequence of steps that must be done in order to achieve something. It will help if you make a diagram to illustrate these steps. You can also write an outline. A lot of things will be much clearer to you and your consultant if you prepare this diagram or outline.
Sometimes, something is just too complicated to illustrate in a diagram. If your problem can't be reduced to a simple drawing, just create a list of the things you want done. Your service provider should be able to formulate the right questions to ask you after going over your list.
As soon as you have a clear idea of what you need, you have to find yourself a service provider. This is the easy bit, just post your project on this forum with the information that you have prepared and service providers will study your proposal and submit bids with descriptions of what they can offer you. Then its simply up to you to decide, perhaps after a few pChats ( private chat ) which service provider you want to do your work.
|