A Startup is a company that is in the first stage of its operations. These companies are often initially run by the founders as they attempt to capitalize on developing a product or service for which they believe there is a demand. As the Startups have limited revenue or high costs, most of them are not sustainable in the long term without additional funding from venture capitalists or some investors. They are always in need of good people to work on their tasks but they can’t afford to employ them.
Prepare for using freelancers for your Startup
- Determine where you need help
Hiring a freelancer works best when you don’t have enough workforce for a certain project, you have a job that requires special skills, and you have limited funds. Working with freelancers is an easy way to bring talent into work on specific aspects of your business.
Prepare a list of tasks for outsourcing to freelancers. List each task individually, with a bit of detail including who it was outsourced to when it is due back from them, and what your internal deadline is. It will help minimize delays and confusion about accountability and keep the tasks on track.
- Choose who your hires carefully
It is not much of a difference when hiring a freelancer versus an employee, but you don’t have to go and dive into the deep details of a freelancer if you want to get a small job done quickly. The skills, experience, and cost are obviously important in this case. As with any new hire, check profile, previous work, testimonials, etc. before you hire freelancers.
- Lowest bidder may not be the right choice every time
Whether it’s copywriting or coding, freelance rates tend to vary widely. There are multiple sites to help you find the best freelancers, and you have put the right tests to get the best ones within your budget.
- Time for reviews
You need to keep some time of your schedule to follow-up with your freelancers, and the reviewing of all outsourced projects. Also remember, you may not get all freelancers in the same time zone of your own, and it may take time before you receive a response from them.
The type of work you can outsource to freelancers:
- Accounting
Accounting is a primary required area which Startups can always select for outsourcing as it has no direct day-to-day involvement in your business.
It is definitely the most important thing for you but still it is not your core business. That’s why you need a freelance accountant working for you. A freelance accountant will give you one-on-one time. You’ll have him or her under control. Go for local freelancers as opposed to hiring somebody you may never meet.
- Digital Marketing
Digital marketing consisting of Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Marketing are great tools. If you are a Startup, you can go for a freelancer with these skills and start digital marketing journey.
The truth is, experts, do cost more, but don’t be fooled by the price tag. There are many ‘SEO experts’ who doesn’t know the required details, so selecting the right one is what you need to understand. But don’t go with a requirement of being in Google search results on the first page in the first month of SEO. These kind of requests are only frustrating for you and the freelancer, and they are not practical.
- Design
If you always need a designer, it is better to hire one, but if it only to design your website and website designing is not a part of your business, the best idea is to find a good freelance designer. You can outsource logo creation, website design, banners, and flyers creation and customizing a website template also. You need a design which is easy to implement, not just something which looks great.
- Software Development
The coding or development experts don’t go ahead and market themselves. It is difficult to find them unless you register with good aggregators. As more services are getting listed on these freelancing sites, more developers are getting attracted towards them. You can also give a small assignment to a freelance developer before hiring him/her.
There are two options you have in this case. One is to hire a freelance web developer, and another is to hire another Startup if you need multiple skills or a big chunk of work to be completed in less time.
- Blogging/Content Writing
There’s no reason why your company shouldn’t own a blog. You may be very busy in your business, but creating good blog posts and articles always help. Get a freelancer for this job, which is not a critical task of your core business, but it helps you to get more leads and more business. You can blog about any product or service, and people will visit your website if the content is good. You never know, the blog might become a business in itself.
- Customer Care
You’ll find cheaper local labor and even if you don’t, it’s worth paying more to get a local person who can still be a freelancer. Customer care (CC) is the interface between you and the customer.
You may want a local employee, whom you can supervise. A freelancer can also be working from your office, and it is not always necessary to have him/her work remotely. If the freelance work requires local people to meet, you should keep that option open.
Benefits of Outsourcing to freelancers:
There are many benefits to outsourcing non-core tasks to freelancers:
- Free-up your time and using freelancers can be more cost-effective than employing full-time staff.
- The process can be simpler, and faster, than recruiting a full-time employee.
- You have a choice of switching between different freelancers based on the quality of their work.
- You can expect a fast turnaround from work provided to freelancers.
- The Startups are in need of good people and freelancers are in need of good work and the combination works as a good ecosystem for development of both.
