Today, a number of people are choosing to be a part of the gig economy with the freedom to sell their services on their own terms. There has been no better time to hire professional freelancers online, notably keeping the current COVID-19 situation in perspective.
During these times where the world’s economy is witnessing a severe deflation, businesses have started to recognize the cost-saving benefits of hiring a freelancer. The year 2020 has witnessed a great boom in the outsourcing industry.
Not to mention the time one can save, which otherwise is invested in screening lots of resumes and hiring the right fit a particular job.
In the case of freelancing, you can get nearly every type of service for any kind of business including marketing, social media marketing, software development, copywriting, publicity, writing, technical support and web programming, web design, bookkeeping, and many more.
Freelancing is flexible, which means you can set your working hours, set your price, and have the freedom to work part-time or full-time on projects according to your will.
It also gives clients the freedom to offer specifications to work; meanwhile, a freelancer works similar to an independent contractor. It is also an essential distinction for tax purposes because the IRS views employees and freelancers differently.
If survey stats by Freelancers Union are to be believed, 55 million Americans, 35% of the total workforce, have made a mainstream career as freelancers. This estimates earnings totalling $1 trillion a year.
Let’s take a look at the benefits of hiring a freelancer for your business:
- Cost-efficient
Freelance business functions and processes can help cut down business costs. How? Well, freelancers only charge for the time they work, implying that you don’t have to pay for a full salary (or benefits for that matter).
You also save on the overhead of office space and supplies. Outsource workers usually work remotely so, they have little to no impact on your overhead costs.
With freelancers, you have the advantage of getting work done in time, or on time, which is not always the case with hired employees as they aren’t always focused on just one project for your business.
Freelancers, also, are often more skilled or experienced in specific areas than employees and deliver quality work on time.
- Improved efficiency
Freelance portals provide the freedom to choose the specialist for your work, which consequently will lead to a more productive and efficient service. If you have the right person on board, you can produce a higher quality service than in-house.
- Greater flexibility
Businesses tend to work in the traditional operation styles. Flexibility often is not worked into this style. Hence, it can be challenging for businesses to become agile in a natural way. However, by hiring professional freelancers online for specific projects, it can bring about flexibility in their businesses processes and increase productivity.
- Keeping it fresh
To keep pace in today’s digital age, if you do not infuse fresh ideas and new ways of carrying out various business functions, then your business will start to stagnate.
Doing things in the same old way can lead to lack of innovation and originality.
With freelancers, this is not the case; you get immediate access to a new and fresh perspective of doing things. This not only turns out to be clean but also cost-effective to hire new talent to shake things up and thus, an outsourced professional could be a better match than a full-time hire.
- Better access to services
Freelancers can provide better access to services that may not be affordable or accessible. For example, hiring software developers online is a great way to get better access to the services. Hiring a software developer in house, however, can come with a hefty price tag, and you may not need the type of services this role provides on a full-time basis.
- Improved workflow
In case a business experiences fluctuation in the workflow, using a freelancer can be an excellent idea to take up the slack when things are busy, or when business is quieter, you let them go.
The good news is that most freelancers work on a retainer or a fixed-term basis, which gives you a chance to plan for busier times and make sure you never lack the resources.
Hiring freelancers: what to look for?
When planning your outsourcing carefully, firstly, recognize what kind of resources or services you need, when you need it and for how long you will need it. Make sure you get a well-qualified person for the job. For this, check their qualifications, expertise/experience and references from your list of potential freelancers—all this is going to take time. In case you are thinking of hiring a freelancer, start planning months before hiring.
The best part is once you found a good fit for your project, if you like their services, work with them on future projects. This is an excellent way to eliminate the tedious process of hiring people full-time when you really need them only for a specific type of project in the short term.
Freelance hiring: mistakes to avoid
It may take a while when you first bring someone new to your business for things to come together, and your freelancer will probably have a lot of questions. This is something that is expected.
However, the worst case could be if your freelancer doesn’t understand the brief, the outcome of the project, or their role in the project. Therefore, communication is the key to getting work done and, the management of their work is done in the same way as of your employees.
Don’t forget about the contract minimizes the risk of the freelancer ghosting your project midway; always have the contract in place, particularly with big/high profile projects. The contract also simplifies the expectations and responsibilities of both parties.
For all the above mentioned reasons, it would be a good choice to hire a freelancer.
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