The Freelance Farmer

So, you ignored my last post because you know you can hire someone to do it all. You have cooked up the perfect get-rich-quick scheme where you will hire one freelancer to write books for you, edit them, format them for Kindle and Nook, develop a website, post weekly to a blog on it, and reply to any comments. The freelancer will also design a monthly e-mail newsletter keeping everyone posted on how things are coming. Plus, you have figured out that you will simply keep the freelancer working on an hourly basis- with time tracked- so you will only pay for what the freelancer is doing. You will pay a meager $10 per hour and only allow the freelancer 20 hours a week to work. 

Yeah, nice pipe dream. I can think of any good freelancer who would accept this awful position. At 20 hours a week, you couldn't even get a book written for several weeks. Add that to all your other work and you would have nothing to market because it could take years to finish. 

So, you will either get a new enthusiastic freelancer who has no clue what they are doing and quickly "disappears" or you will end up with a freelance farmer.

No, a freelance farmer will not show up on your doorstep to turn your beautiful lawn into an agricultural production plant. The freelance farmer is basically another middle man. They know how much it costs to live in India and plan to hire out the endless list of jobs to someone there. They will pay a mere $1-2 per hour and the work will be subpar. If they are a good freelance farmer, they will edit it themselves to prevent you from discovering the treachery or at least to ensure it is acceptable. Sometimes they will let you know they are doing this, but other times they won't. Your work will take longer to get because they have to get it first. Also, if there is a serious problem, they probably won't fix it. They might know a little bit more about what you need, and they might have a pool of decent freelancers to choose from, but if it comes down to it, they are looking at a bottom line, just like you. 

There are a few businesses where the freelancers actually work together in an office (digital or not).  But, if they have American employees, they need to charge more to meet certain tax requirements without taking a loss. Also, you have no idea if you rehire them what there turnover is and whether or not the same person will be working on your project.