An amateur practices until he gets it right.
A professional practices until he never gets it wrong.
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A request for coaching someone in using DEVONthink reminded me of elance.com, a website that connects freelancers with customers and vice versa.
I think this site is beautiful and very useful for two reasons:
First, I have written a couple of times about the possibility to outsource the parts of creative projects that require skills that you lack, e.g., focusing on the design of a ring and leaving the actual forging/laser engraving to professionals. This site gives you a lot of easily available options to get the (semi-)professional you need to complete your creative project: You have written a book and need a cover illustration — you find illustrators there. You want to improve your blog — there are also people who can adapt/change wordpress themes. You want to finally realize that App you dreamed of — you find programmers there. You can see their hourly rates, their ratings, their previous work. You probably should be careful in whom you trust and hire, but still, great pool of resources.
Second, if you are creative, you have a place where you can (try to) market your skills. It’s hard to get a realistic estimate of your abilities, but the price strangers pay for it is as honest as it can get. Many people experience a “big fish, little pond” effect when they move beyond the limits of their small social circle (e.g., moving from school to college). And to make matters worse, with the Internet and high quality work circulating widely, it’s not even a big pond in which you are moving, it’s an ocean. Advertising your skills on this site can show you how well you fare as a freelance creative on the open market (see also book on page 274 on becoming a professional).
So, very interesting site … personally, a few projects I had in my mind (and my idea collection) just became possible to realize.
We truly live in the golden age of creativity. 🙂
