

Show HN: Wheelhouse – A directory of freelancer-created products - robwco
http://inwheelhouse.com/

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robwco
Creator here - here's a blog post explaining the reasoning for the site -
[http://knowingwhattosay.com/confessions](http://knowingwhattosay.com/confessions)

Basically as a freelance client hiring a freelancer is a weird proposition
because you don't know what you're getting before it's too late. Productized
services take care of this because they outline exactly what you're getting
before you buy.

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rwhitman
I think the landing needs some work. The value prop of the landing page is
vaguely discussing a service product in a similar pattern to Fiverr.com -
however the listings are from very experienced consultants, and the
productized service offerings they give are very different from the Fiverr
model.

High end consultants will offer packages like a "Roadmap Session", which is
typically just a flat rate consulting session where the deliverable is a
polished project proposal, with the anticipation that the client will gain
confidence and hire the consultant for the full project proposed in the
roadmap.

In the case of Fiverr they do service-as-product really well, however the
suppliers basically use a grittier version same loss-leader method of charging
for the $5 product package on Fiverr and using that as a gateway to having the
client hire them on at full rate for other projects longer term. (Though in
many cases they just sell simple info products)

The difference with Fiverr is the client often gets a deliverable that they
need right then and there like a design or a video etc. A high end consultant
rarely delivers something like "a new website design" as a product package,
they'll instead deliver a powerpoint presentation about how to approach your
new website.

A high quality custom website design can't be just packaged up, it takes a lot
of time and effort. There are nuances and requirements that change from client
to client and different levels of value contributed. Charging a single flat
fee for every website would be a disaster. But a proposal wrapped up as a
roadmap is pretty cut and dry and pays dividends with more client work.

So those are the types of products you're getting on this website. They just
need to be communicated in a more honest way

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codingdave
I'm not getting it - the marketing says products are already created, so you
can jut buy them, but the front page is giving you options to purchase
consulting sessions from freelancers, not products.

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tnorthcutt
It's talking about "productized services". This post explains a bit more:
[http://knowingwhattosay.com/confessions](http://knowingwhattosay.com/confessions)

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techaddict009
I feel its somewhat like fiverr.com!

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pauljarvis
It's EXACTLY like fiverr...

