You name the skill, and there is a freelancer out there that can do it. Do you want a lightweight app built? There is a freelancer for that. Perhaps you need regular content for your business blog; there is a freelancer for that too. 

Photo editing, ghostwriting, website building, promo, pr… the list is endless. 

And many successful home-based businesses leverage a completely freelance workforce. It enables them to get much more done than they might alone, and it also means they don’t need to hire people in-house. 

Hiring in-house people can be expensive and complicated, and many small businesses don’t have the available finances to make that happen. 

If you are on the fence about hiring a freelancer, it pays to know the benefits. 

Photo by Faizur Rehman on Unsplash

Global

Perhaps one of the best things is that when you are hiring freelancers, you are not reliant on the local talent; instead, you can find talent from all over the world. The talent pool that you have to choose from is so much wider. 

Quality 

Freelancers (for the most part) can’t afford to submit poor work – because, unlike in-house staff, they run the risk of not getting paid for their efforts at all. Freelancers will be looking to make lasting relationships to secure the chances of having regular work, bigger contracts – or getting in on projects that make an impact. So, in general, the quality will be higher. 

Less supervision 

Although it is to your benefit to find the best time card calculators so that you and your freelancer can keep track of hours – you most likely don’t need to be as hands-on with many other things. They are used to setting up their work day to get the most from their productivity. 

Once you have given them the brief and scheduled regular catch-ups, you can get to your own work. 

Less responsibility 

You don’t need to take care of their taxes, payroll or anything else. You also don’t need to offer any benefits – you can hire for a set length of time and then let them go when the contract is over. 

It is less taxing for business owners to hire freelancers when they are needed rather than in-house staff. 

Savings

Perhaps one of the best things about working with freelancers is that they are usually cheaper and more efficient than in-house staff. Freelancers typically have more than one client at a time and will be motivated to get their work done in a timely manner. 

Flexible 

If you suddenly find that you have a lot of work and need more hands, you can hire freelancers to help you get the work done, and when the work is finished – you can let them go again. Of course, you should be transparent with them and let them know that when the project is finished, their contract will be up – this will allow them to plan effectively. 

But once you have a team of freelancers working hard on their tasks, what is the best way that you can manage them?

Guidelines 

Before you hire any freelancers, take the time to create some guidelines that will let the freelancer know what you expect – and all of the information that they will need to perform their task. 

The job description is not enough in terms of guidance; this just outlines the role. Your guidelines should give the relevant information to ensure that they give you the best performance. 

It should also cover things like what to do if they are ill or unable to complete something if there are any mandatory meetings, and what the expectations are. 

Hire carefully

When hiring in-house, you will usually see a track record of work completed within another company. However, it is not uncommon for freelancers to have only work from their freelancing career – and in some cases, they are unable to show that work. 

If they have some references, check those, or hire directly from sites like Upwork so that you can see the feedback that they have, the experience and other projects that they usually take. 

Long interview processes aren’t something that freelancers will usually take part in because their time is what makes them money. When their time is tied up, answering questions that a portfolio could answer can be frustrating. 

If you choose to interview them, then make sure you have your questions ready, have their CV in front of you, and keep it short. It benefits both of you to not take up too much time at this stage. 

You can choose to skip the interview process completely and instead opt to see the portfolio, create an agreement, pay for a test piece and see how it works out. 

Budget 

You might be surprised just how much you can get for your budget, but you should always be clear with the freelancer about the budget. If you are working per hour and you haven’t set budget boundaries – the freelancer might blast through these hours to get the task done. 

Keep your budget clear so that they know from the start how they can best plan their time and effort. It will enable them to tell you which parts of the job will and will not be completed. 

Communication 

Whatsapp, Slack, Zoom, Emails, IM and more… It can get messy pretty quickly if you don’t care. Choose a main point of contact and stick to it. Streamlining your communications means that nothing will get lost. Ahead of hiring any freelancers, decide which channels you prefer – and which ones offer you the flexibility and any integrations that you need to get things done. 

Before you schedule a call – ask, could this be an email? And then ask if it even needs to be said at all. Often business owners spend much more time than they need to on communications rather than just focusing on the task at hand. 

Keep communication lines open – but with the idea that you don’t always need to ask something. 

Time management 

Your freelancer will already know how they best manage their time, and most are willing to work within your time management system. However, there should be some clarity on what is due, when and why. 

Some issues can be fixed in a single 10-minute conversation, but if you aren’t booking those calls until the last minute on a Friday – then there are issues. 

When your freelancers work in a different time zone, you’ll need to make allowances for how long it takes them to reply to your requests and so on. 

Contracts

If you are working on a platform like Worksome or Upwork, then contracts are easy to create and stick to in the platform. If you are hiring outside of those places, you might find that you struggle with creating a contract that makes sense for your freelancers. 

Seeking legal advice on how a contract should be set up can give you the peace of mind you need to make sure you are protected, and your freelancers have clarity too. It is the freelancer’s job to seek legal advice when it comes to contracts for themselves. 

Make sure that your contract covers things like if the work doesn’t arrive, payments, and liabilities. 

Insurance 

Not all freelancers have insurance, but you can choose to only work with those who do. What the insurance means is that if their work brings you some issues or causes a breakdown of the project and legal action against you – you can point them in the direction of the freelancer with the insurance to cover their work. 

It is also wise to have those liabilities within your contract too. 

You should make sure that you have the right insurance too. 

Payment 

It is not uncommon for businesses to shirk the responsibilities of paying freelancers on time. Or ignore their invoices for a long time. Make sure that you have an agreement that suits your cash flow and the freelancers. 

What’s more, is that you should always make sure that you have their cash ready for them to invoice. 

You can choose several different ways to pay them. Hourly, by milestone, weekly, monthly or per item. Look at what will be most beneficial for you first, then discuss the options with the freelancers. 

Do not be shy to give bonuses for good work either, as this can prompt the freelancer to produce even more extraordinary work. 

Don’t micro-manage 

One of the biggest learning curves for people who hire freelancers is that they aren’t used to having ‘management’, and you don’t need to micromanage them. They will do the job they have been assigned to do – because their livelihood depends on it. 

Since they aren’t used to micro-management, you can ask how they prefer to be worked with. Since they are working with you, not for you, you can have a healthy and collaborative working relationship that benefits you both. 

How do you make sure that you hire the best freelancers for your business? Read on: 4 Tips to Finding and Hiring Freelancers for Your Small Business – 60 Second Marketer @AskJamieTurner