1484240898 by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-11-02T15:07:24+00:00

Thriving in the Gig Economy

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I have worked with an agency that sold my coding skills in the past that actually asked me how they should grow their business. I pointed out that they had a

problem with flaky programmers because they didn’t pay enough to attract

the heavy hitters. I recommended they should pay their coders more and they should make a big deal of the caliber of programmer they hire in order to

attract bigger customers. They could even see themselves more as a talent

agency, rather than a white label service provider.

They took my advice and, lo and behold, I got a raise and I got my skills

promoted on the Web.

This is a dangerous game, but it’s one that can really pay off.

Going Through Agencies

Speaking of agencies . . .

If you want to make your life considerably easier, then one easy strategy is to

use an agency or agent.

An agency is basically a company that is going to help you look for work and

will then sell your services on your behalf. This is a “development company”

or a “web design company” that works like a contractor: hiring freelancers to

complete work on behalf of its clients.

That helps you to avoid dry spells, and also means that work can be spread

between a team of service providers to better manage volume. But that’s

not the real benefit. The real benefit is rather that the agency will act as a buffer between you and the client. The agency will most likely want to keep

communication to a minimum and so they’ll simply pass on the clear-and-

concise instructions to you.

And that means you’ll be able to start each day with a list of tasks that you can simply work through. It means you’ll never have to answer pointless questions,

and it means you will get paid even when a client requests a revision or a

refund (as long as you haven’t made any glaring errors). That is no longer your

problem.

Of course, agencies are also going to take a cut of your profits (a commission)

in exchange for this. And sometimes it will be high.

This also means you’re putting the power in the hands of the client—the

agency is the client here. They get to choose what service you are providing and how it is going to be advertised and marketed. And negotiating a

change in rates will be harder because they will still want to make a profit

(so they’re either reducing their cut or discussing the change in rates with

their clients).

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