In the traditional business model, the employer will hire the services of a contractor or if they’re on a tight budget they’ll hire a freelancer for a project. A meeting is set up to discuss the details, and if both parties agree on the terms and rate – they sign a contract and proceed on with the project until its completion.
That was then this is now…
The employer opens a contest with all the details of the project then enters the amount of the prize; freelancers enter and submit their entries hoping that their entry is selected as the winner. In the last step, all entries are reviewed and after several rounds of revisions a winner is selected. Sounds fun right?
A lot of Crowd Sourcing sites have been launched in the past 4 years mostly in the graphic design industry that I’m part of – 99designs, crowdSPRING, and PimTim to name a few. These sites operate on a Crowd Sourcing principle – the employer asks a group of people to perform a task without any guarantee of compensation until a winner has been chosen.
There’s a lot of debate regarding Crowd Sourcing – there are people who say that this kills the industry because of the low market price, that the contractors are taking advantage of people joining these contests, getting ideas and mockups without any compensation aside from the winner.
On the other side, these contests are big opportunities for newbies to get their feet wet in the industry, a freelancer’s chance to earn a good living – especially for those living in developing countries, and also to build a credible portfolio and a customer base which is extremely important.
Which side are you on?
I’m a believer in this, not only the opportunities it presents, but because it helps a lot of people. Not everyone will have the opportunity of finding first world clients who’ll pay above average rates for a potential project.
This is not for everyone, a freelancer will have to be extremely patient and be a sponge to soak up all the knowledge and experience from every contest they join and apply all that they’ve have learned in future contests. If they don’t have that patience and drive, I’m sorry to say that failure is imminent.
For businesses, I don’t think this is for them, I’ve seen a couple of them try and eventually give up because of the time needed in every contest in order to be successful.
What’s the success rate?
Typically on average 10% (1 win for every 10 contests joined) is pretty decent – I’ve seen a handful of really talented designers who have a 30% – 50% success rate which is pretty remarkable, but that’s the exception rather than the norm.
Should freelancers join?
Like what I said earlier, this is not for everyone, but if you’re starting out, this is the perfect venue for you to hone your skills and build your portfolio. Don’t worry about the prize, the better you become the money will follow.
I hope this article will give you an idea about crowd sourcing – the pros and cons, now it’s up to you to decide if you want to try it out. The information I’ve shared is based on personal experience from joining contests – 411 and counting. Please feel free to send me a message if you have any questions or just want to comment on this topic.
Cheers.
