web craftsman, blogger, author, speaker
Thursday, May 26th, 2011
Very regular occurrence:
Somebody: Hey we have this project and we need a freelancer, what are your rates?
Me: Sorry I don’t freelance.
Somebody: Can you please recommend somebody?
Me: No, because I don’t know you. You could suck to work with, and then I’d be the asshole. I like to help people, but my relationship with people I refer to is more important than my non-existant relationship to you.
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Except for that I usually don’t say that last part because I have yet to find a way to say it that isn’t kinda rude. What I usually do is tell them to post the job on Authentic Jobs, which I think is fine solution. It’s just not what people want to hear. Doing it that way means freelancers come to you, which means you have choice and can vet them. Isn’t that better anyway?