Guru.com woes

[ddude78]

Hi. This is my first post on this forum, so I'm a newbie here. I have been trying my hardest to create a first product and start my own income. However, I need to have freelance work do that since I don't know a thing about scripting and probably never will (just can't catch onto it).

A few months ago, I tried out Guru.com and it has been a nightmare for me. I finally got something from one of them (a couple of months overdue) and it still doesn't look like market-worthy material. The pic is an example of what I'm talking about.

A lot of this could have been avoided if the freelancer just did what I told him. What should I do?

[Charles Washington]

Pay more!

Dont go for the lowest bidder with little or no rep. Instead, pay more money up front to get more established freelancers. Then, you will have less headaches.

[hilltan]

Also make sure you do some reasearch into the Freelancer before you hire him. Dont just hire him to do the job make sure he has the ability to actually complete the task that you are asking of him.

You could also put out some simple step by step instructions. They can be quite useful if he is a bit brain dead lol.

[Zeus66]

If you need good content written, hire a Warrior! No, not me. Although my fancy writin' skills are widely known, 'specially 'mongst the womenfolk, I'm talking about the Warriors For Hire section here. Peruse it and you'll find some good writers for not a lot of moolah. Look for lots of good feedback in their threads. Then hire away!

Sorry I went all Texan on ya back there. I'm not right today.

John

[CDarklock]

Originally Posted by ddude78

A lot of this could have been avoided if the freelancer just did what I told him. What should I do?

Hire a better writer...

*ahem* (points to sig)...

Keep your lines of communication open. You shouldn't go from nothing to everything in one shipment. You should get some idea on the progress along the way. Freelancers that take your money and disappear are not going to give you what you expect.

Some of us take payment on delivery *ahem* (points to sig again) so you never pay for anything that isn't up to your standards.

I get a lot of clients who simply don't match up with me. I recently had one who complained I was taking too long and he'd just go to his other guy who could deliver overnight without the "twenty questions" routine. I try very hard to deliver exactly what you want, and that doesn't happen overnight - but you'll hear from me, and I'll be in touch. Communications are critical in an outsourcing relationship.

[BIG Mike]

Don't give up - hiring a reliable freelancer is not something that is nearly as easy as it used to be. I'd suggest you try and hook up with someone here - maybe you could trade services or give them a percentage of the product sales or something.

[sbucciarel]

I have used scriptlance.com for ***ahem*** scripting projects.
Guru is difficult because you get so many bidders you get overwhelmed.
Elance is good but usually more costly.
Scriptlance has done well for me, but make sure to hire someone with feedback from other customers.

[morry]

You've just gotta get better at picking which people to hire. Some freelancers make your life easy, others make it a nightmare. After they've made a bid, ask them questions. See how timely and accurate their answers are.

You want to deal with someone who can actually deliver on what he says and this isn't always the case. This is why it's also important that when you find a great freelancer, hold on to him!

And as Charles said, the cheapest guys aren't always the best to go with. Often you'll find people who are a bit desperate bidding really low and most of the time they just aren't as good as others.

Freelancing is great when you hire the right people, don't give it up because of one bad experience.

Sean

[ddude78]

Originally Posted by Charles Montgomery

Pay more!

Dont go for the lowest bidder with little or no rep. Instead, pay more money up front to get more established freelancers. Then, you will have less headaches.

I paid $2250 for this project. This is also what I have currently in the bank at the moment. Is this too low?

Also, this is about how much I have saved up at the moment. I also have a house insurance payment coming up in a month along with other bills, so those will keep my savings shaved to around that much for at least a month. I work a swing shift at my job, so a second one is not optional due to schedule. Is there any other way to get money I need if $2000-3000 range is too low?

[ddude78]

Originally Posted by CDarklock

Hire a better writer...

*ahem* (points to sig)...

Keep your lines of communication open. You shouldn't go from nothing to everything in one shipment. You should get some idea on the progress along the way. Freelancers that take your money and disappear are not going to give you what you expect.

Some of us take payment on delivery *ahem* (points to sig again) so you never pay for anything that isn't up to your standards.

I get a lot of clients who simply don't match up with me. I recently had one who complained I was taking too long and he'd just go to his other guy who could deliver overnight without the "twenty questions" routine. I try very hard to deliver exactly what you want, and that doesn't happen overnight - but you'll hear from me, and I'll be in touch. Communications are critical in an outsourcing relationship.

I actually stressed about communication and he did do so. Keeping track of progress wasn't to hard. The problem is that no matter how simple I kept the instructions, he didn't seem to catch what I was saying.

I will say that his name was Raj and he had an odd accent when I talked to him over the phone. He does know English, but I think that he didn't study it well enough.

As for length of time, just for as long as it doesn't exceed how much I have in the bank and it's a good product, I'm cool.

[winebuddy]

can you inform us what type of product he is producing for you? Maybe someone here could help.

I have hired people many times on scriptlance and have never had a problem. Thie prices were ALWAYS in the hundreds - NOT thousands.

[ddude78]

Originally Posted by winebuddy

can you inform us what type of product he is producing for you? Maybe someone here could help.

I have hired people many times on scriptlance and have never had a problem. Thie prices were ALWAYS in the hundreds - NOT thousands.

I am thinking of trying some of the freelancers here first, but anyway, it is a puzzle game that involved math and visual perception. Technically, the product is finished now, but it didn't come out too well. I asked for a max extent on the numbers to avoid having graphic overlay issues, but he didn't do it.

By the way, did my attachment show up in the first post? I don't see it, so I'm not sure.