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I will ask a question here that I wrote on the original link, because I think it may be useful for others here. I recently started freelancing (the last 12 - 1
by marcamillion 14y ago
I will ask a question here that I wrote on the original link, because I think it may be useful for others here.
I recently started freelancing (the last 12 - 18months) also, and one thing I did - to generate new business - was wrote a script that sends me a bunch of leads. Right now, it's primarily from Craigslist, but I will add other sources.
I showed it to a friend and fellow web dev and he loved it. So that made me start wondering if others would find a service like that useful.
Would you pay, say $9/mo, to get a handful of curated Craigslist leads (5 - 10) sent to your inbox every weekday?
Thanks.
P.S. The reason I would sell access to these leads is because I can't manage everything. There are some leads that want someone local, there are some that want say an iPhone or FB App developer - none of which I do.
- alinajaf 14y agoIt would depend entirely on the quality of the leads, though I'd definitely sign up for a one month free trial to test it out. Many a thing like this exist, both paid and free. Jobpile has netted me some work in the past. Jobpile: http://www.artypapers.com/jobpile/ http://www.artypapers.com/jobpile/
- marcamillion 14y agoAgreed. Admittedly - I am working on increasing the signal to noise ratio - but I never realized how valuable it was to have a constant stream of leads coming to me daily was, until I stopped doing it. I am also thinking of finding a way to make the entire process more efficient - but all it takes is a handful of leads a year and it has more than paid for itself. Does jobpile email you links - or is it just a search engine that you go to?
- alinajaf 14y agoJust a search engine you go to. I was already paying a VA to trawl through most of the sites that it scrapes so using it saved me a few dollars a month. I'm quite sure there's a paid service at a similar sort of price range to what you're describing that does email you. Don't remember the name atm.
- marcamillion 14y agoI see...ok, well keep your eyes peeled - if you are interested :)
- aantix 14y agoI'm interested as well. :) jim.jones1@gmail.com
- marcamillion 14y agoGreat! Will keep you posted :)
- marcamillion 14y agoHere we go, finally: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4144245 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4144245 :)
- marcamillion 14y agoFinally launched just now - http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4144245 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4144245
- freshfey 14y agoCount me in, I'd love to see what you came up with.
- marcamillion 14y agoI wish I had a URL that you go to immediately and put in your email address. Ok, will try and get that up asap =)
- marcamillion 14y agoHere you go sir: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4144245 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4144245
- vitomd 14y agoThis is similar http://freelancefunnel.com/ http://freelancefunnel.com/
- marcamillion 14y agoThanks for this! I guess this is just validation that the idea makes sense.
- vitomd 14y agogreat, I am interested in your project too.
- marcamillion 14y agoGreat! Will keep HN posted. Will reply to this thread once I have something up.
- marcamillion 14y agoHere you go: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4144245 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4144245 Finally launched :)
- bravura 14y agoIf you have a bunch of leads sitting in your inbox, can you discuss how you rapidly qualify all your leads? Surely there must be value around the process behind that. [Aside: I'm on the fence about you selling this software. Once everyone has it, the value of it decreases, because everyone is competing for the same leads.]
- marcamillion 14y agoThe truth is, right now I just email the ones I am interested in. Some work out, some don't. I definitely agree that there is value behind that process - and I have some ideas about how to solve that issue. But I first want to verify that there is a market-based need for the core product. Once people find it useful enough to pay for, then I will continue tweaking it and adding stuff on, etc. I am not selling the software, I am just selling access to the leads. So you sign up, and my software sends you an email with 5 - 10 leads every single day. I doubt that everybody will act on every single lead, every single day. Plus, I do agree that if we are to look at extreme cases - where I have as many freelancers as I can get, and everybody is replying to every lead - then the value of each lead decreases (or increases, depending on your perspective), but I will be tweaking it and adding sources and listening to feedback. If the problem I am having is that too many people competing for the same leads, I think that would be a good problem to have :)