If you ask me the biggest issue is that clients don’t really know what they need. Any internet referral service automatically says I have a limited budget and while I’d like to pull the trigger, I’m scared because I have more research to do. During that research time they’ll meet somebody who has the answers and inevitably become their client.
LocoSolo is not the only service that tried to curate skilled talent and tried to insure folks get paid what they are worth to be running into this problem. I don’t think that relationships at that level are made through a service like this. I’ve tried two others that had to close their doors. They had almost the exact same mandate. They offered paid proposals, or subscriptions by the service agencies instead of to the clients.
I don’t know that this is the way to do it. I think a service like this is only surface and that another level of engagement needs to be explored.
I joined a brand new collective and it’s already starting to take off. Bringing in all levels and types of communication, branding, hr, design, and other consulting talents. The goal is to be set up across North America but it’s based on face to face interactions and working together to propose better solutions for the clients.
For example, as an illustrator I’m only selling that service as my expertise. But if a customer wants to get access to marketing and branding specialists I can tap into the collective to find those people and since they are referred in, and have been vetted I can trust that they will come through for me. And it’s my company that still owns the client.
I think a service like LocoSolo is great for one night stands or long service engagements of a particular skillset. But for real long lasting branding and marketing and other communications services, we need face time and the ability to create trust.
How do you put that into an internet system without wasting everybody’s time?
