Freelancer

I want to give Freelancer a fair and unbiased review, but I’m already biased towards them, because they’re not Upwork. I won’t hide it – I dislike monopolies. Upwork has established itself as the only freelancing platform that matters and they did it by undercutting the competition and merging several successful platforms under one umbrella. I wouldn’t be surprised if they buy Freelancer and merge with it as well in the future. I wouldn’t be so upset about the whole merger if they didn’t also use it as an excuse to jack up their prices several times over. Well, Freelancer hasn’t gone that route, yet. They’re still pretty damn respectable and affordable. For the time being, Freelancer is the viable alternative to bending over backwards for a freelancing site that doesn’t deserve you.

Let’s pretend for a second that you don’t know anything about this site. They’re a social media platform, for work. That’s about as simple as I can make it. Think LinkedIn, but with actual work being posted on the site itself. You either make an account as a freelancer or an employer and shit gets done. Money is funneled through the site itself, the work gets done and everyone departs happily. It’s a great place for freelancers to make a name for themselves and put food on the table. It’s also the perfect place for an up and coming porn empire developer such as yourself to get some quality manpower.

The Fees and Charges

It’s already on your mind, so let’s get it out of the way. Freelancer makes its money by skimming off the top. They’re the middle man and they should be paid for it. It’s only fair. Well, they skim a low fee of $3 or 3%, whichever’s greater, for fixed-price projects. Three bucks on a c-note is a fair trade, as far as I’m concerned. They follow the same ratio with hourly work. 3% on everything earned. Freelancer knows that the key to good business is not raping your client’s wallets.

Freelancers don’t get off so easily, as they are the ones… doing the work. I’ll never get behind this whole capitalist mentality, where the person doing the work pays more than the person getting the benefit, but I guess you have to respect the trickle-down. Anyways, freelancers on Freelancer lose 10% across the board and that’s only the beginning. They take 20% off of services, deducted from the worker’s payment.

There are ways for freelancers to lower this fee to 15% if they’re under the preferred freelancer program, but all of this makes me kind of uncomfortable. Upwork are exactly the same with their nonsense. It didn’t use to be this bad, but I guess when the market’s saturated, the middle men make off like bandits. Oh well. It’s not like they have much of a choice.

There are some ways to get your fees lowered to 0% as a freelancer, but it involves referring people to work on the site and there are many caveats. You have to read all the fine print under their terms to learn more. It’s too complex to go into here.

Finding the Right Person for the Job

Let’s get straight to the point. You can’t grow a porn empire without subjects. In the digital capitalist dystopia that we currently inhabit, workers are your subjects. You pay them, sure, but they do all the work and you reap the rewards. The best part for you is that they’re kind of used to this treatment. You pay them to work on your site and then they fuck off back to Freelancer until you need them again. Considering the porn world will have you coming back to regular maintenance time and time again, you’ll want to build rapport with freelancers who clearly know what they’re doing.

It shouldn’t be too hard to find someone who is good at their job, but the bottom line is that you want to find someone you are comfortable working with. This rings especially true when you’re working with web developers, content creators and curators. There’s a lot of creative input that goes into those tasks, which means that good enough won’t do. You could have a freelancer do a great job the first time around, then get complacent down the line. That’s exactly what one-off projects are great for. Unlike services, which are kind of like retainer gigs, you can hire people for exclusive tasks that need to be done once and withhold payment until they follow through with what they promised to deliver.

Building a Team

Whether you’ve got your freelancers on retainer or you’re hiring them for each task individually, you’ll want to remember who they are. A basic rule of thumb in the freelancing world is that once you’ve found someone who does the job right, you trust them implicitly over anyone else you might run across out there. New hire is always a liability. If a freelancer did a particularly good job the first time, just hire them again. There’s no point in shuffling up your roster.

In this way, you are indirectly developing a remote team of freelancers that you know you can count on. Plus, the average freelancer is always down for more work, so it’s unlikely they’ll up and disappear. This is their profession. They’re always online, at least once a day. You know you’re going to get a response.

Browsing Freelancer Profiles

This is arguably the hardest part of the job. How do you know exactly who to hire when you don’t know these people personally? Well, you don’t. It’s always a gamble. Sure, you’ll be bombarded with offers from reputable freelancers the very instant you put up a job posting, but how are you supposed to tell them apart? Some people will bid high, others will bid low and they’ll all have a ton of quality feedback under their belt. Then, there are the newcomers who have zero to show for their time, because they’ve just arrived on their site. You’ll have to go by their external credentials. My advice is that you hire new freelancers who underbid and old freelancers who overbid. It’s a simple system and it works for me.

The newbies are looking to break on through to the experienced side. The folks who have been successful on Freelancer for years know their worth and they know they can get away with charging a premium. They won’t risk stiffing you on a task, since that would tarnish their shining reputation. So, one way or another, you’re covered. And, don’t forget, the site automatically assumes that you’re right about any complaints you might have. It’s the capitalist dream.

Milestones and Time Tracking

I’ll just come out and say it. Fuck time tracking. It’s just going to upset your workers and make them feel like you’re breathing down their necks. Instead, outline exactly what you need done. Be crystal clear. Draw them a fucking diagram if you have to. Make sure that they know exactly what they need to do in order to get their money. Then, feel free to let them set the milestones and see what they come up with. They know how much time they’re going to need to get everything done. You don’t. If they say they can show you progress in a week on a four-week project, fine, roll with it. Just make sure you’re not being played.

And finally, if you’re not comfortable picking your own freelancers, the site offers a recruitment service that pairs you with the right people for the right tasks. I’ve never tried it myself, but it only costs $9.50 and you get direct contact with an experienced Freelancer recruiter who will pretty much take care of the job for you. They’ll invite top freelancers, find the best man for the job and help set up your milestones. Using this site is a goddamn breeze.

The Bottom Line

As a client, you’re protected six ways to Sunday. As a freelancer, you’re just praying you get paid. It’s a brutal world out there for freelancers, but they make do. Keep this in mind and try to show respect for all the work that gets done for you. After all, you’ll be reaping all the rewards in the end. As a final note, I remind you not to break any of Freelancer’s strict policies as that is going to be a one-way ticket off the site for you, permanently. Anyone you find on the site must be hired through the site. Don’t be the guy who tries bending the rules in order to save a few bucks.