Ryan’s 7 tips to managing freelancers

My role in Genesis is head of product. It’s my job to have the vision to create an incredible game, and to execute it. Easier said than done, right? My ultimate aim is to bring an everlasting augmented reality gaming experience to our users.

My time so far as product manager for Genesis has been filled with an assortment of small to large invigorating tasks. A large portion of this time was spent producing tedious game design and mechanic documents. Furthermore, I’ve done a bit of graphic design for the app’s GUI, because it’s best that you don’t leave the user interface to the developer (I found this out the hard way…Long Roos).

Predominantly, I have been dealing with freelancers; in our modern connected world the support our business can call on from across the globe is endless. In the long run, pursuing freelancers abroad can save a small fortune (Not to mention the diversity of talent available is practically limitless). Yes, there are certain hurdles to overcome (Such as the language barrier), but ultimately, sourcing abroad is the way to go.

Back on topic; I manage a wide variety of content for Genesis, including: concept art, card art, models, textures, animations, promotional content, banners, storylines, memes….so on and so forth, lots of creative stuff.

As a result of this, I thought it would be fitting to share some advice on freelancers which I have gathered over the past 2 months; a period in which I’ve contacted almost 85 freelancers, and sprouted long-term connections with 29.

So without further adue, introducing ‘Ryan’s 7 tips to managing freelancers’ (Queue fireworks).

1. Check if they’re available – This might sound like assumed knowledge, but the amount of times i’ve received replies from freelancers saying that they’re occupied with other work is almost embarrassing – Only because their profile initially stated so. Take the extra 30 seconds to read their bio, and see if they are available as contractors. This will save those wasted few minutes writing an email to them, which is precious time you can’t lose in a business!
2. Make an enquiry template – With freelancers, you can never have too many quotes. That’s why making an enquiry template can save you copious amounts of time – Once you’ve crafted the perfect email; Copy and paste it to each freelancer you’re interested in, and be sure to include any extra points/questions, specific to their skillset.
3. Request regular updates –  Regular updates (I ask for 3 days) remove the possibility of any miscommunications, and therefore minimise wasted time. My inability to follow this, set back some of our illustrations by weeks. This doesn’t have to be evidence of progress, rather just a general update. When you are managing multiple freelancers at once, it’s easy to completely forget about one, only to find out it’s been 2 weeks and they haven’t returned the contract.
4. Create a relationship – If they are working with you, as opposed to for you, you will have a better end result, and that is the truth – This is easier to accomplish if they have a genuine fascination in your project, or if better yet, if you ooze with passion, and have a fiery desire to work with them to produce something great.
5. Keep a database – A database of the freelancers you’ve contacted (And their portfolios) can prove to be very beneficial. The longer you are on the search for freelancers, the more likely you’ll start to send enquiries to contractors which you find at the very deep ends of the internet – And when they reply to you the next day, there’s a good to fair chance you will have NO idea where you found their portfolio. Consequently, you won’t know whether that quote of $2,000USD for a model is getting you a high-poly next-gen dragon, or a potato sack. To make things even more difficult, saying “I forgot where I found you, can you send me your portfolio” isn’t exactly professional, not to mention more wasted time. “But Ryan, don’t freelancers usually have their portfolios in their email signatures?”. My answer is nope. I wish. So here’s a bonus tip to freelancers – Have your portfolios in your email signature!!
6. Check your currency – Again, this knowledge can seem like common sense. I find it’s best to deal in the preferred currency of the freelancer, and they will specify what that is – If they don’t label their quotes with the currency, make no assumptions – Just ask!
7. Schedule and Deadline – I touched on this in point 3, but it’s worth re-emphasizing. Set time frames, deadlines, expectations, blah blah blah. It’ll save time whilst underpinning a professional standard.

Managing people is certainly an art – So hopefully these few simple tips will increase your productivity while pursuing and managing freelancers.

Sincerely,

Ryan

When Worlds Complement: From Corporate To Startup

Recently I was interviewed for an article about the benefits of starting in the corporate world before moving into the startup world (check out the full article here). Around the same time, I caught up with an old mate for lunch, who was also interested in my transition to the startup world. And it got me thinking – how much has my previous work impacted what I’m doing now?

Full disclosure – my ‘corporate’ experience is somewhat unconventional. I spent five years on a coal mine, with BHP Billiton, in a professional engineering position. There weren’t any suits to be worn, but – as you would expect with an organisation the size and scale of BHPB – there was plenty of bureaucracy, endless corporate talk, and big business attitude at every turn. I like to think of it as the high vis corporate world.

I’m happy to say the five years I spent with BHPB were some of the best of my life. Professionally, the people I worked with had huge experience from a variety of sectors, the equipment was huge (always fun for a mechanical engineer), and (to begin with, at least) the work was challenging. I also was reasonably lucky in my job choices, I always had an opportunity for roles that involved transferrable skills; for example, I didn’t spend much time with draglines (if you’ve got no idea what that is, check this video out), which are coal-specific, but I did work a lot in project management in fixed-plant infrastructure.

With my newfound powers of hindsight, however, the transferrable skills I took away from BHPB were even bigger than I ever anticipated. Covering my big ticket takeaways:

• Communication – this is so often overlooked (or straight out ignored) in the startup world. You’re in a small team, working all hours to kick goals. You don’t have to worry about telling people things, or getting approvals for things. Coming from a world where every task started with ‘identify your stakeholders’ has been invaluable to me; we ensure our communication is clear and consistent.
  This is one that’s hard to quantify, but I swear on the fact I’ve avoided over a dozen significant arguments heated discussions, purely through upfront communication defusing issues in advance.

• Time Management – billable hours aren’t quite as prevalent when you don’t pay yourself a salary. But the underlying precepts of corporate work – planning your workload, deadlines, prioritising and goal setting – all something that can easily get lost in the noise of a normal work day. I personally believe this is one of the biggest issues for startups in general, and something that (fingers crossed!) we’re working through reasonably well.
• Business Process – my number one gripe with BHPB was the sheer quantity of pointless, frustrating paperwork and process to do anything. Admittedly, they’re probably a bad example (anyone who’s worked for them can attest to that), but no corporate is exempt from process.
  The thing we’ve quickly learned, however, is that a startup needs process as well. One of my co-founders had a go at me a few months back “Dave, we’re not a corporate – this s*$# is just getting in the way of us being a successful startup”. So we tried the evil business process for a week (it was something trivial about posting on social media) and bam. Problem solved. We don’t want to become a corporate before our time, but we need to make sure we’re working efficiently.
  So, in summary, I don’t miss BHPB’s business processes; but I respect where they’re coming from.

• Professional Development – BHPB loved training and development, most business will send you away for upskilling and learning. Using that hindsight thing again, it was amazing how much extra knowledge I jammed into my brain on their account. It’s going to be a while before my startup can pay for formal coursework in IT systems or project management.

If you are thinking about a corporate exit, why don’t you list what your skill sets are, and how they can be applied elsewhere? You’d be surprised at what you can unplug from your current career, and connect into wherever the wind takes you next. I’d also suggest taking the time to look at what the current role can give you that you haven’t got squared away yet. For example, if I had my time again I’d spend more time with the business analysts, really honing my accounting skills. I got the basics, and I’d like to think I’m at least competent; but I never liked it, and my boss dropping “over budget” in a meeting was a great way for me to mentally vacate the room.

In a future blog I’ll go over where I think the shortcomings are in the Aussie resource sector; maybe I can encourage one or two people to innovate and get some more mining startups prodding things forward! In the interim, I encourage you to have a look at your skills portfolio!

Dave