Not a fan of this approach, but I was on the other end today.
Some people like to give great value first and hope to be hired and PAID later.
Free this, free that, as a "foot in the door" method. Nothing wrong with it if it works, I would personally never build a website, design a flyer, etc. without being paid first... But this happened to me today.
I put out a job in an online marketplace to find some technical talent. I described my gig and posted it.
I got some really solid qualified offers in my budget range with professional cover letters and work samples.
I got this one guy who skipped the cover letter and all the other shenanigans and "I think I understand you. But see my attached mind map I drew to verify."
I was blown away. He mind mapped out software which is incredibly time consuming when you do it well. It was masterful work.
He did not include his bid within his original inquiry, but after quickly checking his perfect rating (others had perfect ratings too), I hired him (no interview necessary) and then asked him; "how much."
He doubled everyone else's price. Which was 20% lower than my high bid price on avg.
No problem.
He's demonstrated that he's fully invested in the success of this project without even being hired. Incredibly risky - but it worked for him.
Still in awe of this experience.
EDIT: Some of you may have seen my posts on the inspiring book; "Business Brilliant." It just dawned on me that this guy made the Business Brilliant decision to not just accept the job, but he used the offer as validation that he was the best, and so he asked for more money than what was advertised.
How in the heck could I have told him no???
Free this, free that, as a "foot in the door" method. Nothing wrong with it if it works, I would personally never build a website, design a flyer, etc. without being paid first... But this happened to me today.
I put out a job in an online marketplace to find some technical talent. I described my gig and posted it.
I got some really solid qualified offers in my budget range with professional cover letters and work samples.
I got this one guy who skipped the cover letter and all the other shenanigans and "I think I understand you. But see my attached mind map I drew to verify."
I was blown away. He mind mapped out software which is incredibly time consuming when you do it well. It was masterful work.
He did not include his bid within his original inquiry, but after quickly checking his perfect rating (others had perfect ratings too), I hired him (no interview necessary) and then asked him; "how much."
He doubled everyone else's price. Which was 20% lower than my high bid price on avg.
No problem.
He's demonstrated that he's fully invested in the success of this project without even being hired. Incredibly risky - but it worked for him.
Still in awe of this experience.
EDIT: Some of you may have seen my posts on the inspiring book; "Business Brilliant." It just dawned on me that this guy made the Business Brilliant decision to not just accept the job, but he used the offer as validation that he was the best, and so he asked for more money than what was advertised.
How in the heck could I have told him no???