Busting 4 design outsourcing myths for startups and small businesses
“I think we’re going to go with an in-house designer because they are a cheaper resource.”
“We aren’t sure if we want to outsource, so we’ll experiment and see what would work for us.”
“There is a product disconnect with outsourced designers because they aren’t there all the time.”
And the list goes on. These are just a few of the lines I’ve heard from smaller businesses that aren’t sure if they want to outsource or hire somebody full-time and so they go through a long time-consuming process battling between choosing freelancers or actual hires. While it’s completely your choice to choose what suits your business needs I am here to bust some myths on hiring outsourced designers, so let’s get on with it!
#Myth 1 — Hiring in-house designers will double your company growth and you have to invest less energy following up with them.
In 2015 I was hired as a full-time junior designer at a startup and it was the best experience of my life. However, the CEO had to invest a lot of his personal time and energy to grow my skill-set till the point it matched the company’s needs. I worked for a whole 4 years there but it was only after the 2nd year I could read the CEO’s mind and deliver at a higher speed.
When you are a small company, your needs are going to be very generic and your budgets quite low. So you end up hiring a junior designer or a low budget designer who might not be very good at their jobs just yet. You say “they will catch up, after all, they are a full-time hire” but the output is just as good as you designing things yourself.
Quick Solution — When you are small, your energy has to be invested in growing your company and not your employee's skill-set. If hiring a designer is your 3rd or 4th priority on your ‘hire list’; OUTSOURCE. You will get a higher expertise level for a much less price (compared to paying an average salary of 6 months training a junior designer) and get your work done much faster.
Another advantage is that outsourced designers are highly responsible for the work they deliver and if you do not like their work you can cut off your relations with them anytime you wish (after their project payment is completed, obviously) without having to deal with the consequences of firing a full-time employee.
#Myth 2 — An outsourced designer/agency will never commit to outside companies and their products, as an in-house designer would.
This is a huge myth I hear from several clients that have been in the industry for less than 2 years and have tested only a few freelancers in their new company life span. Any person hired — in-house or outsourced will be completely committed to your product and company simply because you are paying them for it! Wouldn't you do the same for your own clients?
I have seen outsourced design agencies pull out their own employees and hand them over to their client companies to cater to the constant attention that they need for their product designs. Smaller companies like Pineapple (us) have more time to commit to our clients compared to bigger design agencies because they are too, just like you, starting out and can form brilliant design relationships that could last a lifetime.
Quick Solution— The golden egg lies within the contract. You should decide the number of hours you require committed by a freelancer and they will always, ALWAYS fulfil it. In fact, they work faster to deliver to you what you need compared to in-house designers so that they can take on more clients and grow their business too.
If you need longer periods of commitment from freelancers; do retainers. Freelancers would be ecstatic and motivated to commit to your company more than any other project-based clients because you are enabling them to run on a regular income that comes from you.
#Myth 3 — Outsourcing is costly
We small agencies really wish we could charge like the bigger players in the market but sadly that is a HUGE HUGE myth. Here is an example why — Pineapple is founded by two UX/UI designers that come from the top design agencies in India. Our ex-employers would charge you 10X the price we do and yet those same designs in the backend are designed by us, daily. They charge more because they have grinded their way up the ladder, while we are still in the process of it.
When you look at smaller design agencies, the guys who run them have worked with massive brands previously and can give you the highest level of expertise at a much much lower cost just because they are starting out. You should take advantage of that.
Quick Solution — When you hire freelancers your company costs go way-way down because you are not responsible for costs like; increments, a constant payroll, tax payments, employee benefits, equipment costs and much more. Outsourcing is not costly if you target the right guys. Single freelancers have brilliant portfolios you can work with. They understand you are a startup and they always provide negotiable prices. So aim for the smaller design agencies and your costs will be definitely lower than an in-house hire.
#Myth 4 — There is a client-product disconnect with outsourced freelancers
Third party individuals actually bring in fresh points of view to things. Things you would generally not think of because you and your team are constantly working on your product day in and out and so you miss out on a few things.
Quick Solution — Use a freelancers knowledge of dealing with different product designs that vary across many platforms they have worked on previously. They might just give you a successful product tip that could make it or break it for you.
Because I love my readers so much, I am also offering 2 major reasons when you do need an in-house designer as a startup and they are listed below -
Major 2 reasons when do you need an in-house designer?
- When your product is altering every single day and you need to implement those changes constantly and immediately; hire an in-house designer.
- When you have budgets like — 15L — 25L annually you can hire industry experts full-time and grow a small in-house team to support your product’s needs from the beta phase and so on.
If you like what you read, do clap for us and check out the articles recommended by us below :)
Startup guide — How to pay the best price to outsourced/freelance designers?
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