How to Work with Freelancers and Get Things Done

If you read this article, then you are perhaps facing the question “how to work with freelancers”. It may be tough in terms of time, communication, and budget. When you don’t properly manage these three aspects, you run the risk of failing your project and wasting resources. But at the same time, having all these correctly set makes them work towards your goal and achieve great results.

The Advantages of Hiring a Freelancer

• Maximum flexibility
• Quality
• Savings
• Less supervision
• Risks reduction
• Faster work and hiring

Flexible Schedules and Part-time Work

Hiring a freelancer to do a job for you, you don’t need to worry about thу time when you have no tasks for them. You agree to a particular task and a payment that your freelancer will have, and that’s your deal. Whether you plan to hire a freelancer for a small-scale project or a larger one, you may discuss the schedule before entering the agreement. Freelancers are flexible with their work hours and can cover your needs outside of your regular working hours, providing staff support.

Quality and Access to Top Talent

Working with freelancers gives you access to a vast pool of talent. You might need a designer today and a good copywriter for another two days. Sometimes it just doesn’t make sense to have all these people in-house.

Freelancing is a sort of business, and therefore, people doing freelance work are business owners who value their reputation. They strive for the best quality in their work, so you can be assured that you are getting highly skilled professionals when you need them, for the exact amount of time you need them.

Savings

When you hire freelancers, you can save a lot of money. First of all, on the salary itself, because you only pay for the time people actually work. And second, on the cost of the office, supplies, etc., that you would have to bear if you weren’t hiring people who have their own home offices equipped exactly as needed for the type of job they do. Sometimes you may even hire more professional people at less cost because they may reduce their rate deliberately compared to if they worked for you in-house, just because they don’t need to spend money on daily commuting, eating out, etc.

Less Supervision and Training

Speaking of the in-house staff, you invest a significant amount of resources in training your employees. Because you are interested in their professional growth, with freelancers, it’s their expenses; they pay for their training, courses, and so on.

Another great advantage of freelancers is that they require less supervision. They have likely performed this job many times before and know exactly what to do, particularly when it comes to the specific work that can be performed independently. Similar to creating a website or an agreement template.

Risks Reduction

Legally, freelancers aren’t your employees, and that reduces the risk that your company may incur. Freelancers can’t claim unemployment benefits or make insurance claims. You can easily terminate their contract in case they do not perform as expected.

The rates you agree on when hiring a freelancer are defined by the amount of work to be done, so you don’t risk paying more than the output you get.

Faster Work and Hiring

Again, having someone who has performed the work you need done a thousand times before provides you with the opportunity to get things done faster. Sometimes, a freelance specialist can perform the task twice as fast as an in-house worker who is not as narrowly specialized.

The process of hiring a freelancer is much faster than that of an in-house employee. You can always start with a small pilot project using a freelancer before involving them in larger projects.

How do You Make Sure You don’t Make a Mistake?

The freelance market is currently flooded with people. You need to be prepared before you hire someone. This instruction should help you avoid mistakes that may occur when hiring freelancers and achieve a valuable result.

First of all, you need to clearly understand what the result of posting a job on a freelance platform is. Website, blog article, review, document?

Then, you need to evaluate the best possible understanding of how many hours a freelancer may spend and make preliminary calculations for the cost. Even if the project is based on an hourly rate, it’s possible to discuss the task with a freelancer beforehand to get an estimate of the hours that may be spent on it. This estimated time may be set as a maximum; it’s always possible to extend the contract later.

You may want to consider researching to understand the average cost of the type of work you hire a freelancer for. Also, you may look at how much other freelancers charge for the same kind of work. Check their listed skills. Keep in mind the opportunity cost. There might be a significant difference in the rates of freelancers from different countries. Consider whether you are ready to work with people from other countries.

When posting a job, be precise and clearly explain exactly what you need. If it’s a particular output that can be named (article, document), list it as the desired output. Provide as many details as possible for the right person to identify themselves as suitable for this job. If there are any particular requirements for a freelancer, they should also be listed.

When you have a pool of applicants, check the reviews they have received from other people. How many positive reviews do they have? Is there any specific information in the reviews that you’re interested in? If you don’t mind hiring freelancers new to the platform you are using, and who don’t have reviews yet, ask them to provide examples of their previous work. Check the requirements (skills, certificates, education, etc.). If the project is complex, it may be necessary to schedule a call to discuss the details.

When working with a new person, consider checking their progress regularly to ensure they are claiming a reasonable amount of time for the actual work they are doing. Consider consulting a freelancer if you believe they are spending too much time. As time passes, you will identify trusted individuals with whom you will work more frequently in the future. They will require less, even if no supervision at all.

Whenever possible, prefer fixed-price contracts over hourly rates. In most cases, it’s even easier for a freelancer to identify the exact end cost of a particular task or the scope of functions. Set up milestones if the contract is extended and requires a scope of work that may be split into steps.

Keeping Track of the Freelance Work

The question of keeping track of tasks arises not only when working with freelancers. However, in this case, it may be the very crucial one. Consider having a system that will support you during this process. Kanbanchi boards can be used to track tasks assigned to your freelancers.

You may even share your boards with them and make these boards the ultimate placeholder for the information about your project. Assign cards to different freelancers and ask them to update their cards so that you are always aware of their current tasks.

Related article to read: 5 Ways to Make Remote Project Management Easier

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