Hiring full-time staff can become a drain on your financial resources. You have to train new hires, pay their salaries regardless of their output, provide them with benefits, and manage their work in the office. That’s why many entrepreneurs have chosen to boost their business efforts with freelancers. You spend less money, but you might get more rewards.
However, you don’t want to jump into a relationship with a freelancer without first knowing the best practices in the industry. Follow these four tips to make a freelancer relationship a success.
Create Clear Terms and Payment Expectations
Freelancers need to make money, but unclear contract terms can lead to disputes. Provide freelancers with specific, detailed contracts that include factors like deliverables, deadlines, and quality requirements. Ask your business attorney to draft the contract. Lawyers protect you from potential lawsuits and other conflicts after a project starts.
Additionally, get on the same page about the price with your freelancers. Will they receive payment per project, per hour, or by some other measurement? Write down the numbers in the contract so nobody can claim otherwise later. You can also add details about payments for revisions and any other eventualities.
Collaborate in a Secure Environment
When you work with freelancers, you often collaborate remotely. You might have offices in Los Angeles and New York City, but your freelancers live in Miami, Florida, and Des Moines, Idaho. Long-distance collaborations have become much easier thanks to the internet, but you still want a secure environment to protect your data.
The cloud offers the best security, but you still need to make sure that your platform takes security seriously. Whether you’re passing documents back and forth or sharing trade secrets, you don’t want your data to fall into the wrong hands.
Stay Open to Suggestions from Freelancers
Freelancers often have vast experience in the industries in which they work. Consequently, they can provide much-needed objectivity when you’re making creative decisions or looking for a way to solve a problem. Open yourself to your freelancers’ suggestions if you think they can provide valuable input.
Additionally, give your freelancers praise when they put in extra effort to help your company succeed. Everyone likes to feel appreciated, so don’t let hard work go unmentioned.
Share Feedback
Constructive feedback can make future projects with a freelancer go much more smoothly. You don’t want to write an angry email that berates the professional for mistakes, but neither do you want to pretend that you’re happy with work that doesn’t meet your standards.
Offer constructive criticism, so your freelancer doesn’t make the same mistake multiple times. Just remember to provide positive feedback as well to avoid inspiring resentment in your freelancers. Some people take criticism better than others, but freelancers should feel willing to adjust their deliverables to suit their client’s needs.
Working with freelancers can make your business more profitable and more resourceful. Before you hire a full-time, in-house professional, consider joining the thousands of entrepreneurs who work with contractors to achieve their goals.
