Hey everyone! I'm one of the makers of Domino (I share the honor with @clbecker). We want to make freelancing as easy as tying your shoelaces (single knot, not a double). There's currently far too much friction involved in getting started as a freelancer, let alone succeeding, and we believe that education is the first piece of the puzzle.
I was a freelance photographer for 7 years and made many, many mistakes. I hope there's even one or two that can help you. Are you looking for a suitable victory dance for when you get your first client? Need a good pen to sign your service contract with them? Do you need help with invoicing or managing your cash flow? Ask away and I'll do my best to help.
If anyone has a question on the major stumbling blocks for first time freelancers, or the patterns and trends that seem to crop up for freelancers generally, I'd be happy to answer them here.
@v4violetta There are. Many stem from our own psychology. Imposter syndrome is very common, which can stop people from promoting themselves (or even from freelancing in the first place). Another common problem, and one I struggled with for years, emerges when you equate your work with your self-identity, making a professional rejection feel like a personal one. Many people are also often inherently uncomfortable with self-promotion. I think this may be a cultural thing.
The other issues stem from education. How do you market yourself? Where do you even begin? Do you know who you're trying to market to? What's the best channel to reach them? Since very few people are taught how to market themselves or their work there's a lot of trial and error that's involved. The answers to the above questions aren't particularly hard to find, but you need to know what questions to ask in the first place.
Congrats to Alex and his team! They've nurtured a wonderful community — both on their website and on Slack. As someone striking out on their own, I spend a lot of time in my own headspace, so having a group of creative, entreprenurial types that I can mindmeld with at anytime for expertise, recommendations, feedback, advice, encouragement, or even a little comedy has been a huge benefit.
@poetichentai Wow, thank you for the kind words, Michael. You've been a great member of the community :)
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I like it! It comes to be pretty useful. Good to focus on freelancers and connect them. I've already found valuable advice. Congrats Sin @automaticyes and @clbecker! :)
@paolatorv Thank you, Paola :) We've been very surprised by the diversity of people in the community. There are Dominoes all around the world, from Europe and the U.S. to China, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Australia, Brazil and Argentina. I think that level of cultural diversity helps provide a broader range of answers to the questions people are posting
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This is really awesome. As a design focused community, I would love to see the UI updated, but hey! This is an early version. Great work!
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