I’ve just finished my first freelance web job that did not involve in any way a single phone call. Considering I own four mobile handsets, three of them currently active and regularly buzzing - that’s not a bad feat. Emails, regular updates via GoogleTalk and no face to face contact with the ultimate end user have resulted in the job being completed.

It has certainly been an interesting one.

It is the first job in three years I’ve decided to take out of the county, opting to do so as there was a local contact for the project - again dealing via email, IM or the rare SMS.

But yet through all that and with no face time on the project, we’ve been able to see things through to the end. One of the joys of freelancing online. Because there are so many ways to communicate online and given I’ve been able to increase my accessibility through mobile broadband, it is becoming that bit easier to start accepting pure web-only freelance work - for me anyway.

Usually it’s phone calls, meetings, phone calls and plenty of face time. But when you’re taking work from overseas, or out of county as I’ve done in the past, the same tends to apply at least phone call-wise.

I don’t know what the end user looks like, what they sound like but I’m comfortable in the knowledge that we’ve taken the job to 100% and seen it launch well.

I certainly wouldn’t work every job that way - working as a freelancer the opportunity for personal contact on a job is often welcomed but I’m happy with how this one has worked out.

Does anyone working strictly online miss the personal contact? Do you need - at some point - to speak to or see the end user of your project?

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