guru.com for freelance design?

April 17, 2004 12:02 PM

Anyone ever use guru for freelance design work? It looks promising for some freelance jobs, but I would like to hear some opinions before I drop $75 for a quarterly membership.
posted by sharksandwich to Computers & Internet (11 answers total)

I'd be interested in hearing opinions about this site also, particularly from designers outside of the US. Do clients on this site tend to stick to American contractors (to make taxes easier, or whatever)?
posted by Jairus at 12:04 PM on April 17, 2004

On first glance it looks similar to eLance, which is now largely an outsourcing service connecting US companies to web coders in countries such as India, Estonia etc. If Guru's anything like eLance, people won't mind employing contractors outside the States; in fact it can be advantageous price-wise.
posted by skylar at 12:46 PM on April 17, 2004

Ditto to skylar's comment, but I found it was really tough even to make back my fees on elance. Maybe it's just me, but you really have to put a lot of work into something like that before you see any returns, and there's usually someone willing to undercut you. I had to take on a lot of jobs practically for free to build up my user rating, and got sick of the process. Guru looks similar.
posted by loquax at 1:06 PM on April 17, 2004

I really hate this site. It makes things like Graphic Design a matter of the low bid, rather than the skills needed to provide the right solution for a design problem. Logos for under $250, the highest hourly rate is $100, it cheapens the whole process. Oh well, I always say that people get the graphic design they deserve...

I think I might start one of these sites for doctors, and let the low bidders beat out the qualified practitioners. Or maybe legal advice, or child care, or the nuclear industry, or...
posted by jpburns at 1:35 PM on April 17, 2004

Response by poster: jpburns:

I'm new to the graphic design freelance aspect. Are there other sites that do a better job? What do you reccomend?
posted by sharksandwich at 1:39 PM on April 17, 2004

Go to www.rentacoder.com instead. It's free.
posted by banished at 2:05 PM on April 17, 2004

My experience with sites like these is that they draw clients looking for the lowest bid, period... what's worse, clients that want the lowest bid tend to also be the clients most insistent ignoring sound advice --- they want production artists, not professional designers.
posted by silusGROK at 3:03 PM on April 17, 2004

Response by poster: OK, then, so what are some sound ways to go about getting freelance Graphic Design work?
posted by sharksandwich at 3:40 PM on April 17, 2004

E-mail me, I take work.
posted by banished at 5:19 PM on April 17, 2004

"...what are some sound ways to go about getting freelance Graphic Design work?"

Good question. I'm in the middle of a marketing push, right now, and man, it's a painful process. Here's my methodology, as it relates to graphic design, which may be useful for other fields...

1. Create a website to display your work and present yourself to the public. Here's mine. Be sure to point people to the site for additional information.
2. Create a list of prospective clients. Get their email addresses, web addresses, street addresses, contact names and phone numbers. Lots of this stuff can be gleaned from their websites in this day and age... Sometimes to get a contact name you have to call their main number and ask for the name of the person, guessing their title. I might call and ask for the name of their design director, or their promotion director...
3. Research your prospective clients. Go through their website, watch their station, become familiar with their work, so that you can tailor your pitch to them individually.
4. If you have a mail-able promotional piece like a postcard, now is a good time to send it to your list.
5. About a week later, start calling the list. Be persistent, polite, and professional. Try to get the contact on the phone, and ask if he/she got the mailing. Don't leave messages if you get voicemail, but try again later. Once you reach them, explain what you do, ask if they use freelancers, and offer to send them your tape/portfolio (I do graphic design for television, so I'm mostly sending DVDs...). Make notes of when you contacted them and what was said.
6. Be sure to send what you said you'd send. Include a cover letter with the material, explaining your history, focus, design philosophy, and the like. Thank them for their time.
7. Then about a week later, call them and ask them if they had a chance to review the tape/portfolio, and ask them if they had any questions. Try to arrange for further contact, like visiting their facility...
8. Cross your fingers.
9. Rinse, and repeat.

posted by jpburns at 7:30 AM on April 18, 2004

An old internet friend wrote this great series on the subject of getting design work as a freelancer, check it out.
posted by madmanz123 at 5:26 PM on April 19, 2004