Many of us are fascinated by the ponytail, espresso sipping, twenty-year old kid who can code twenty hours a day and have been known to get really cool Web sites up and running in a few hours or days.

This mythical-like figure is what I call the Genius Freelancer. They do exists. According to my experience, a genius freelancer is like a cheetah, great sprinter but not a good marathon runner.

If you are interested in getting something up and running quick such as a business Web site, a genius freelancer is the way to go. However, if you are interested in expanding your Web platform into a true business platform for you, your employees, and most importantly your customers, you need to think about marathon runners. Another analogy you can think about is a juicy burger that satisfies your hunger at the moment but does not so well for your long-term well being.

Genius freelancers are often attracted to sexy projects; most business projects are not sexy.

Most business projects involve:

* Relational data model
* Data entry forms
* Tiered business logic implementation
* Analytical and summary reports
* Quality assurance through software check and balance
* External service integration

These are not for sprinters; making a true business project successful is a team work of specialized skilled individuals who are good at specific area of the above work load.