I’m trying to get going on a new long-term project.  It’s a service that goes by the name BikeAble that offers free consulting to anyone who has a physical limitation of some sort that keeps them off a bike when they’d rather be out riding.

This naturally spawned from two events.  First was going through the paces of getting Gareth his bike and adapting it accordingly.  Second was going to the PSU retiree fair and talking to a bunch of people who long ago gave up on bicycling because they had no idea what possibilities existed for them.

As usual, I’m going about things in a backward manner.  Instead of just saying, “Hi, I represent BikeAble” and getting out there to help folks, I’m working to get a site set up, get my partnerships in place (RBR is on board), and get a logo designed.

I thought for sure that I could make up something suitable for a logo, but after purchasing a Wacom Bamboo tablet, I came to the sudden realization that hardware purchases do not translate into artistic skill or sudden knowledge of Adobe Illustrator.  (Not that I regret buying the tablet.  It’s awesome for me in Photoshop.)

What to do?  I posted an ad at work that resulted in a hit from a graphic designer in NYC who waived his usual $3K “creative” fee but still wants to charge me $50/hr with an estimate of 9-10 hours.  Come on now.  I don’t really have $500 to throw at a logo, no matter who designs it.

So then I hit Craigslist and found somebody in Williamsport willing to do one up for $125.  That’s much better.

But then I hit the mother lode - I hooked up with Elance and put in a project.  Bids have been flying in from as low as $75 and as high as $500+.  There are a couple in the $120-140 range that look promising, so I’ll be combing their portfolios to get a sense of their usual clientele.

Of course, I thought about hitting up INART on campus, but I figured the semester is nearly over making it unlikely that any students want to pick up my little project for the fun of it.

It’s good to have options, but I really had no idea how challenging it was going to be to find somebody to help me with this at a price that won’t kill me.