5 Tips For Working With Freelancers
Working with freelancers can save you money and free up time for growing your business. But it’s a subtly different kind of relationship than the one between a boss and an employee, and it needs special attention.
A lot of this will be trial and error, but here are a few tips to get you started.
1. Let them know how flexible the brief is
Freelancers tend to be a creative bunch, with big ideas about your project. In fact, creativity is a major part of what you’re paying for. But, as a wise man once said, ‘who pays the piper, calls the tune’.
If you want a freelancer to put their own stamp on your project, tell them — they’ll be more than happy. But if the idea is crystal clear in your mind, with no room for deviation, that’s your prerogative.
2. Haggle
As the client, you hold almost all the cards. Now, it hardly needs saying (I hope) that you shouldn’t abuse your position — but businesses should always be on the lookout for a deal.
That doesn’t mean forcing prices down. Low income security is among the biggest challenges for freelancers, and they can’t work well if they can’t pay their mortgage.
What you can do is find creative ways to get more mileage for your money. Good options include seeking discounts for repeat business, and finding out what extra assets they can build into their core product. (For example, your blog writer might be able to create graphics at no extra cost)
What is the age distribution of freelancers?
3. Create a brand style guide
Freelancers are there to bring expertise, and to save you time and money. But if you have to explain every brief in explicit detail and follow up with a lot of editing, you start to lose the benefit.
Putting together information on your design preferences, submission guidelines, and tone of voice can prevent a lot of problems before they occur. It also help you to get the facts straight for yourself and your core team.
The more time spent working with freelancers, the more questions you’ll answer for them, and the more useful information you’ll add to your guide.
4. Arrange time for regular feedback
Conventional employees get performance reviews, one-to-ones, and end of years reports. They might not be crazy about them, but there’s no doubt they’re helpful.
So what do freelancers get? Often, nothing at all. Admittedly, it would be strange and a bit patronising to ‘coach’ freelancers, but they still want to hear what you think of their work.
The number of freelancers has rocketed by an unprecedented 25% since 2009, so there’s a fair chance that any freelancer you hire is quite new to it.
Arrange an informal talk about their work at one month, and six months — that way, you both have the chance to voice any changes you’d like to see. And don’t forget to praise them — they probably need it!
5. Try to provide some stability
Being self-employed is a tough road to walk, and the freelancers you hire are probably working with stresses that most people don’t have to deal with. It’s not all late mornings and three day weekends, and financial concerns tend to among the most pressing.
The average freelancer is owed almost £5,500 in overdue payments, so the easiest way to help them out is pay on time. Reasonable terms are within 30 days of receiving an invoice, but if there’s any reason you can’t meet that, let them know quickly.
When you find someone you want to keep working with, try to draw up a schedule for when you’ll be sending them work. Anything you can do to make their life easier will help them focus on your projects.
CircleLoop works with both freelancers and SMEs to provide the telephony tools they need to compete. If you want to spend less on a service that provides more, get in touch with us today.
