[simmsimaging]

Looking at people's location, I think that may have something to do with it.

Maybe, but the beginning of this year was the busiest I've ever been - it's cyclical, always has been. I've been in the freelance business for 15 years, 12 of them on my own, and it's just how it goes.

That said, I'm all for keeping driving when it's slow - and just about everything Ivox put in his unfortunately and mysteriously deleted post. That and booking a holiday.



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[Hervé]

Tha place IS INDEED very important,.. if I was waiting to do business here with 3D in Luxembourg, I'll be dead by now...

[w i l l]

Tim's got too much work now - just pm me the boring stuff. Cheers.

[siliconbauhaus]

The biggest problem I see is the fact that none of you live in the USA. For a small business owner like me, that causes problems with payroll, liability etc., and is just another reason why I would hire a person who lives here if I had the choice. Sorry to be blunt, but that's just business.

I live in the US mate and do modeling for several people. Unfortunately they've all dried up at the same time.

[wagurto]

I am trying to expand my arch/viz business and I may need help in the near future and I just wondering what kind of money we are talking about here? Since we are all over the world it would be difficult to establish a fair rate that works everywhere. Any ideas how your work can be pay?

[Tim Ellis]

My business partner and I are restructuring right now, and we've been discussing the prospect of bringing in help on a freelance basis. I'll definitely let you know if there's something that comes up that I need help with. I can't guarantee the work will be too sexy because we're looking at passing off the less interesting work so we can concentrate on the fun stuff.

No 3D work is boring to me sir, I can't afford to be that choosy.

Tim's got too much work now - just pm me the boring stuff. Cheers.

Hey mate nothing doing here yet. Is there a freelance agency for UK artists?

The biggest problem I see is the fact that none of you live in the USA. For a small business owner like me, that causes problems with payroll, liability etc., and is just another reason why I would hire a person who lives here if I had the choice. Sorry to be blunt, but that's just business

&

I am trying to expand my arch/viz business and I may need help in the near future and I just wondering what kind of money we are talking about here? Since we are all over the world it would be difficult to establish a fair rate that works everywhere. Any ideas how your work can be pay?

Not sure if there's a standard world rate of pay and whether it would be per hour, per day or per image. I have no idea if I'm pricing myself out of the market either.

Are Paypal and BACS transfers not potential solutions to the international payment complications. A contract to cover liability etc could be arranged I'm sure.

Hey ivox3, any chance you could repost your advice please?

Cheers,

Tim.

[w i l l]

Tim, i'm doing quite a bit of cheap logo/flyer stuff for DJ's in the US - they all pay through Paypal. Soooooo easy.

[glebe digital]

Regarding the U.S market, right now it's kinda difficult for us Europeans to crack due to the exchange rate and the weak dollar...........add to that the general pressure on budgets and you have a situation where it can be hard to make a decent margin.

A bit of advise though, pick a field of business and target it........I've recently been doing a lot of work in the renewable energy sector, primarily after researching the market and then targetting those companies who've been getting a variety of state handouts etc......there's a big pie out there and I want a slice please!

[nicole]

Hi everyone,

We have now opened a Jobs section in this forum. Hopefully it will help in your search for work or to find artists and MW experts to take over a project or fill a position. We will try to promote the jobs section as much as we can.

Thanks,

Nicole

[ivox3]

Hey Tim ...

I yanked the original because it felt silly giving advice to seasoned freelancers ....

..but I will revise the content and repost something , ...hopefully beneficial to the less seasoned.

* Very nice NIcole .....

[Maximus3D]

Good to see the jobsection finally back again, thanks Niccy!

/ Max

[dilbert]

Are Paypal and BACS transfers not potential solutions to the international payment complications. A contract to cover liability etc could be arranged I'm sure.

Tim.

Unfortunately, it's not the actual money transfer that is the biggest problem, it's the fact that I have a registered business. This means that every Dollar I pay out to employees/freelancers has to be accounted for under my payroll, which requires Tax Payer identification such as a US Socialm Security number. I'm looking into all the regulations.

[Tim Ellis]

Tim, i'm doing quite a bit of cheap logo/flyer stuff for DJ's in the US - they all pay through Paypal. Soooooo easy.

Cool system then but.....

Unfortunately, it's not the actual money transfer that is the biggest problem, it's the fact that I have a registered business. This means that every Dollar I pay out to employees/freelancers has to be accounted for under my payroll, which requires Tax Payer identification such as a US Socialm Security number. I'm looking into all the regulations.

Ah, I now understand. It's a way of keeping trade inside the country I guess.

A bit of advise though, pick a field of business and target it........I've recently been doing a lot of work in the renewable energy sector, primarily after researching the market and then targetting those companies who've been getting a variety of state handouts etc......there's a big pie out there and I want a slice please!

Good call mate. I spent two hours last night emailing property developers, in the hope of a slice of that pie.

Hi everyone,

We have now opened a Jobs section in this forum. Hopefully it will help in your search for work or to find artists and MW experts to take over a project or fill a position. We will try to promote the jobs section as much as we can.

Thanks for putting it back online Nicole.

Hey Tim ...

I yanked the original because it felt silly giving advice to seasoned freelancers ....

..but I will revise the content and repost something , ...hopefully beneficial to the less seasoned.

Many thanks mate, it would be greatly appreciated. I didn't get enough time to commit it to memory and there were some good tips.




Cheers,

Tim.

[Tim Ellis]

Forum is acting up a bit, loads of error messages and double posts.

TIm.

[Stephen]

The database needs to be restored. I can't send or read any PM's without getting an error.

I would start a thread regarding this problem, but I can't post a new thread either. Maybe some one could post a thread about the database problems in Off Topic.