On Competition and Recommending Others
The industry that we work in is a popular and crowded one which has multiple levels of separation. There are those that can build websites for next to nothing in their spare time competing for jobs with people who are working their socks off doing this as a full time job day in day out. I think that’s great and there is definitely room for everybody in this space, the caveat being of course that you get what you pay for.
I was sitting with Elliot, Sarah and Jason at an event last year where one of the other patrons at our table was bemused to find out that we were in fact all freelancers competing in the same industry for the same types of jobs, sitting side by side. It came as a bigger shock to him to find out that we are all great friends who meet up regularly in both a professional and social setting.
This is one of the many reasons I love our industry, I’m not sure there are many other industries where competing individuals are so open, friendly and engaging towards each other.
Over the years I have competed for jobs with many of my friends and colleagues, lost some and won others but there is definitely a great level of respect between those involved. If I am too busy to take on any new projects I will 9 times out of 10 forward that potential client onto one of my extended network, this has been reciprocated many times too.
The biggest issue I have is that there is a great wealth of undiscovered talent out there, I’ve been posting shots of upcoming projects to Dribbble which in-itself has turned out to be a superb place to source super talented individuals.
Keeping track of people to pass on work to has become increasingly difficult: Who to recommend? Who is good at what? Who has the availability? More often than not I have been forwarding potential clients onto others that are just as busy as myself leaving the clients scratching their heads. Now, I’m going to scratch my own itch.
Along with my good friend and mighty fine developer Mike Singleton we have been building an app in our spare time that will help people connect through friendly recommendations.
Endorse will allow you to create a profile where you can list all of the people you would personally recommend to others and what you would recommend them for. That’s it. It is really that simple.
It will become an even more powerful tool when you and your extended network list your availability, areas of expertise and desired URLs – not only allowing you to pass on work to your contacts but your contacts will be able to easily and better recommend you to potential clients.
We will be launching Endorse soon and if you are interested in helping test the app, in it’s infancy, in the very near future be sure to follow along on Twitter for updates: @EndorseApp.
Competition is healthy, it pushes you stay at the top of your game and encourages you to continue learning and building on your skill sets. We hope that Endorse will further help you and potential clients find the right people for the right jobs.
Ryan Lineker 2 June 2010, 11:56
Jono 3 June 2010, 04:44
