Creatives: How To Be Great At Ideasicle X
Photo by freestocks on Unsplash
Ideasicle X is a new way for freelancers to work, virtually. It’s not your typical freelance gig where you get briefed, go away for a few days maybe with a partner, and come back with comps. Ideasicle X is a platform that allows teams of four freelancers to work together as a team over a few days posting, building, and riffing on each other’s ideas. One freelancer said, “It’s like an idea video game.” But working in this way requires a shift in how you do things. Below are just a few things to think about if you want to be great at Ideasicle X.
Leave your ego at the door.
When working on an Ideasicle X project you are on a team of 4. You’re an organism made up of notions, insights, half-baked, and baked ideas, all with one goal: to help each other come up with great ideas. It’s impossible to give any individual credit when an Ideasicle X session is at its best because everyone is contributing, everyone is posting, everyone is inspiring each other by building on each others’ ideas.
When in doubt, post it.
You go through the brief, watch the video, and this thought pops into your head. You’re not sure if you should post it or not, as it’s not a fully baked idea yet. Post it! Reason being, your half-baked idea might inspire a whole new idea in someone else. So always, always when in doubt, just post it and see what happens.
Don’t worry about time sheets.
Sounds crazy right? But we’re not about time sheets at Ideasicle X. We are about ideas. And we understand that creativity is not about hours spent, but about ideas generated. One freelancer once said, “I love how we work in all the in-between times of our day.” When the job begins get in there early and get inspired by the brief and let it infect your brain. Then go live life or work on other things and when ideas hit you (and they will), post them wherever you are—train, grocery store, library, wherever—right from your phone.
Take a sad song and make it better.
When your teammates post ideas, you will get an email notifying you and inviting you to make it better. Click the link, check out the idea and don’t be afraid to build upon it. Honestly, the building and riffing on the ideas is the magic of Ideasicle X.
If you agree to do the project, do the project.
While it’s not about time sheets, your clients will know if you’re not participating enough. You’ll know if you’re not participating enough. But in my experience creative people can’t help but get obsessed with the assignment and post at any hour (just not at all hours). Remember your clients will rate your performance at the end of each project. Participation level is one such rating.
If you’re not an IX freelancer and want to be…
We have a “invitation only” policy at Ideasicle X with respect to the freelancers in our database. We rolled over most of the original Ideasicle Experts and customers can invite whomever they want to a project—our freelancers, their own employees, or even their own go-to freelancers. We figure if a customer thinks highly enough of a freelancer to invite him or her to a project, then that’s good enough for us.
Nothing is unthinkable!
Will Burns is the Founder & CEO of Ideasicle X. Follow him on Twitter @WillOBurns.