Living and working where other people make holidays. Our freelancer of the week, Antonio Carrasco, comes from Andalucía, the land of flamenco, wine, strawberries and “Pata Negra” ham! Despite these temptations, Antonio Carrasco managed to build a successful freelancing business in Spain, working as a social media consultant and web designer (among others). No wonder when we look at his profile! As a computer engineer and master in Business Administration, the freelancer knows both sides of the coin. Let’s meet the Spanish wonder weapon for social media projects: Antonio Carrasco…
1) First off, can you tell us a bit about yourself?
My name is Antonio Carrasco, I´m from a small town in Huelva, in southwestern Spain. I am Computer Engineer, Technology Consultant and Masters in Business Administration. I have a stable job where I advise public and private companies and associations on social innovation, social media strategies,
web pages and e-commerce. I started freelancing when these companies began to demand more personal and professional dedication to their projects, since 2010.
2) If you would search for your profile on Google, which are the three keywords you would type in the search bar?
Social Media, E-commerce, -Low (Not lowcost, not lowquality, not lowfunny)
3) What was your inspiration and when did you actually decide to become a freelancer?
Although I have been fortunate to avoid losing work with the global economic crisis, I have another open eye and have chosen to diversify risk, so currently developing a portfolio of clients personally and
e-commerce projects, one about wines and other about aeronautics.
4) What kind of services have your clients asked you to provide?
Managing social media, content creation, web management, wordpress, e-commerce consulting.
5) Do you use other freelancers or companies to provide skills that you don’t possess?
Currently no, because I´ve never tried to obtain a job that I did not have full knowledge of, but do not rule out to make use of other freelancers in the future. Sometimes I used my wife´s knowledge in tourism to outline social media strategies.
6) Now tell us, how do you find new clients that are interested in your services?
So far, I personally am currently testing various job portals as a freelancer because I need to work on higher-level projects to increase my knowledge.
7) What about freelancermap.com? Can you tell us a little bit about your experience with our IT-network?
The truth is that the quality of the projects and work that are offered are amazing. I hope to make several serious proposals and get my first
long-term project by the end of the year.
8) How do you set yourself apart from your competitors? What makes you special?
The difference is that I have been advising companies for years and, last year, I completed a Master´s degree in Administration and Management, so besides knowing the technology, I know well the operation of business and the place of information technologies in them.
9) What are the top three books, blogs or magazines you read to stay up to date in the IT-market?
I use Feedly as blog reader, so I have several blogs of IT-market, Entrepeneurship, Enterprises, Innovation, … I´m subscribed to “Emprendedores” magazine as well.
10) Freestyle! Is there anything you would like to tell our readers?
Because of my situation and my language, maybe some enterprises could find me to import or export products or managing your company internationalization (business or customer assistant). Also, I live in Andalucía, near Seville and Huelva beaches, land of Flamenco, Wine, Strawberries, “Pata Negra” Ham and “White prawns”. If you ever do business together, you may have the obligation opportunity to visit the place where I live and try their delicacies.
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The interview was conducted by Doreen Schollmeier – freelancermap.com team.
Pic: © Antonio Carrasco
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