eLance vs. Rack Rates

[wildsoul]

Thought I'd share this experience with you...

I needed a graphic designer to create brochures for a series of DVD's.

Was thinking I'd hire a cheap outsourcer. The lowest bid for 8.5x11 tri-fold brochure design was $150. (My too-busy American guy charges $250. He's cheap, but not meeting deadlines so I let him go.)

The portolios in the $150 price range were okay, but a little on the photoshop cheezy side. I almost picked one provider at that price, but knowing I'd have to push to get the quality up.

The highest bid ($300) came from an Argentine company. Their portfolio was fantastic and at the right quality level for my DVD sets which retail for $250-500 each. I chose them, thinking they would be easier to work with. (So far, fast responses! No mockups yet, but great customer service.)

The interesting part is that their regular biz website lists tri-fold brochure design at $449. So the eLance price of $300 was MUCH better.

Anyone else find that going through eLance is cheaper than going direct?

[GAtkins]

If you don't mind, would you share the designer you picked.

Also, I would interested in your DVD set in terms of what it's about, etc.

In the interest of sharing I engaged a fellow by the name of Steve Soto I found through elance and he is in the midst of doing some logo design for me. I liked his portfolio and so far, so good. His direct site is http://www.ssgraphicdesign.com/.

Thanks

Glenn

[wildsoul]

I don't mind sharing resources at all. That's a huge benefit of this board!

Here's the graphic design company I mentioned:
http://www.thenetmencorp.com/
Their samples seemed much cleaner and more polished to me that the other 10 bids I received. I'm waiting for my first mockups to be delivered on Friday. I will say that they've been awesome about communicating. I already work virtually, and it's refreshing to work with a company that knows how to do that well.

My DVD's are business training seminars for spa managers & employees. I'm a consultant for holistic type businesses, and spas are a big part of my niche. I've wanted to get DVD's done for YEARS, and finally, through a professional parternship I have with another consulting company, we got some done. First, we created the live seminars. Then we started having them filmed. One is for sale now, a 2nd is in final editing, and we're filming one next week, and another in Oct.

We haven't even marketed them much yet beyond our own mailing lists and our tradeshow presentations, but I'm already so pleased to be getting paid for seminars I've already presented (and got paid for already too.)

So I thought I'd try a little direct mail, hence the need for brochures.

[jdp]

I've used netmencorp and found them to be very good. I wasn't impressed with the first designs, but they took feedback and came up with something great.

[RobertB]

Wildsoul: I was wondering if you give some tips on making an instructional DVD. I am a lawyer wanting to make instructional DVD's on cross-examination, closing arguments, etc. I already give some live seminars for my office, but I don't think the production quality will be that good. Do you have a website that promotes your DVD's? Thanks for any tips or advice you are willing to share.
RobertB