As an entrepreneur, you are always looking for ways to bring your ideas to life. And when it comes to developing a product, outsourcing to freelancers can be a great option. That’s what I did when I decided to create a prototype for a heart rate monitor app. Inspired by the book “Who Not How” by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy, I decided to delegate the development job to someone I thought would be a better programmer than me.

I started off by comparing different outsourcing platforms: I got the tip from Ali Abdaal that Fiverr, Upwork and Peopleperhour were recommended right now and I did a comparison of their popularity on google trends:

As you could see Fiverr is the most popular freelancing service the last five years and I decided to go with them.

This was my first time using Fiverr, and I was scared that the developer would require me to extend the job beyond a simple prototype and I would end up with a much higher price than originally agreed upon. This was indicated in one of the reviews of the developer. It’s understandable that as a first-time Fiverr user, I would be concerned about potentially going over budget or being taken advantage of by a freelancer.

I reached out to 44 developers on Fiverr, hoping to find the right person for the job. However, the pricing they requested was much higher than what was shown on their gigs and indicated on YouTube. This was a bit frustrating, as I had to spend time negotiating prices with each developer to find one that fit my budget.

Out of the 44 developers I contacted, only a handful were able to do the job I required. This is where I began to realize that finding the right freelancer for your project can be a challenge. Not every freelancer is qualified or capable of doing the job you need, and it can take a bit of time to find the right fit.

After some back and forth negotiations, I finally found a developer who could do the job within my budget. However, when I received the final result, I was a bit disappointed. While the heart rate monitor app worked, it did not look similar to my suggested design at all. I knew I would need to invest more money to get the app to look the way I wanted it to.

This experience taught me a valuable lesson. When it comes to outsourcing work to freelancers, it’s important to be patient and take the time to find the right person for the job. It’s also important to be prepared to invest more money than you initially planned, as freelancers may not be able to deliver the quality you want within your budget. Don’t have too high expectations.

Overall, while outsourcing work to freelancers can be a bit nerve-wracking, it can also be a great way to bring your ideas to life. By doing your due diligence and communicating clearly with the freelancer, you can minimize the risks and get the quality of work you want at a price that works for you. I am happy with the end result, though; The app prototype was for the tricky functionality was finished in short time and I can now pick up on the work and continue my app development.