[consulting] Getting Freelance Work

[Christian Pearce]

Sam, 

That is no doubt excellent. I think the point is winning RFP business is hard and takes a lot of work to win it. If you win 1 in 10 you spent a lot of time going after those 9 to win one. I have a company and we don't go after all the RFP work. it is time consuming. You don't get to interact with the customer in a traditional sales role. it is tough to differentiate yourself with a document. The firms who dedicate a resource have full time people working to win the RFP. 

In a lot of cases they want you to spec the whole thing our for free, quote it and hope for the best. We don't spec for free unless it is a small site we can work with the custom in a sales engagement. 

My advice is figure out how to go after business quickly and don't spend a lot of time on the RFP. 

----- "Sam Polenta" <sam.polenta at gmail.com> wrote: 
> On Sat, May 29, 2010 at 11:56 PM, Matt Chapman wrote: 
> > Easier said than done, which is why RFPs are usually a waste of time 
> > until you're large enough to support a dedicated sales person, and can 
> > make ends meet if s/he works for 3 months without bringing in a single 
> > project. I have yet to meet a freelancer who wants to sign up for that 
> > game. 
> 
> Dude, I was number 2 for this gig. Seems I have a pretty good chance 
> of getting work this way. No? 
> 
> On Tue, Jun 1, 2010 at 4:17 PM, Christian Pearce wrote: 
> > I only read one reason there. They got scared. What was the second reason? 
> 
> He said a couple of their directors have had trouble with freelance 
> developers in the past, including one who mysteriously disappeared 
> right before a major deadline. This has nothing at all to do with me, 
> of course, he even noted. But he said it did influence a few key 
> directors, who felt strongly that it was important to avoid the 
> possibility of something similar happening with this project. 
> 
> > All you freelancers do you subcontract to handle excess workload? If so why 
> > not start a loose firm of a couple people? 
> 
> Most / many freelancers prefer to be left alone. :) 
> 
> Not to mention that a "loose firm of a couple people" will soon become 
> "just another" dev shop with overhead and politics etc. etc. 
> 
> Sam 
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-- 



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Christian Pearce 
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