Hiring A Freelancer to Grow Your Small Business Online

One of the challenges of running a successful small business is figuring out how to make the most of your small staff.  In a large company, each employee only has to do a specific task, but in a small business, each employee may fill multiple roles.  This may mean that you do not have people with the specialized skills and knowledge to do certain jobs, but you may not be able to justify hiring a full-time employee to fill in these gaps.  One of the best ways to expand your company’s capabilities without additional staff is by hiring freelancers. 

The first thing you need to figure out is if you need to hire a freelancer.  To do this you must look at not only the abilities of your staff but also how important the project is and how important it is to do it right.  For some tasks not having an expert may just mean it will take longer to complete or end up costing a little more, but for others, having the job done poorly may have a lot bigger impact on your business.  For example, your salespeople may take a little longer to clean your office than a professional cleaning service, but if you let your receptionist install your telephone hardware you may lose potential customers because they can’t reach you.

Freelancers for Small Businesses

The other situation where a lot of small businesses start using freelancers is when they don’t know how to handle a project.  In this situation, it is often necessary to talk to an expert before you can even understand what needs to be done.  Here one of the keys is to first understand what the expert is recommending; this includes not only what will be done, but understanding what the finished product will look like.

The first thing you need to do once you have decided to hire an expert is to find the right one.  The easiest way to do this may be to ask friends and business contacts for recommendations.  However, make sure you review your expert’s experience and try to find reviews from other people they have worked for.  If you can’t find any recommendations, there are web services that help connect freelancers with their customers.  Some sites specialize is a specific type of work, others will have freelancers with a broad range of expertise. 

How to Hire a Freelancer to Grow Your Business Online?

 The first step in hiring a freelancer is to discuss the project with them.  You should let them know what part of the project you need help with and what you want the finished product to look like.  The expert should be able to let you know how long the project will take, how much it will cost, and any potential problems that may arise.  Keep in mind that any changes to the project may lead to more time and expense.

Once you have discussed the project and have agreed on the details it is very important to write everything down in a contract.  This doesn’t have to be a formal legal document, but it should list what the freelancer is expected to do, what the end product should be, how much it will cost and how to make changes if anything unexpected happens.  Most freelancers will want some part of the total cost up front, and it is often helpful to create a list of milestones that when complete the freelancer will get additional money.  For example, if the project is to write a press release the freelancer may get a little money up front, some more money when the first draft is sent and the final payment when it has been corrected and finalized.

Once the project is complete it is also important to formally conclude your contract.  This lets everyone know that the work has been done satisfactorily and that both parties are happy with the outcome.  Make sure that before you make the final payment you have received everything you are entitled to; this may be passwords to the website they created so you can make changes later, source files for your logo so you can use it on multiple platforms, or diagrams for your new telephone system so it will be easier to upgrade later.  Finally, make sure to give your freelancer feedback either directly to them or on any social media or freelancing platforms they are using.

Full Power Webs is one of the options you’ve to hire quality freelancers, you can reach us out to have a discussion on your project. Thank you for reading.