Effective Strategies for Successfully Managing a Team of Freelancers

If you are already running a business or looking to start one, tapping into the freelance market for employees may well be a great pool of resources. Freelance represents the future of employment, so let’s see how your business can benefit from this type of workers and how to spare yourself some of the common headaches when recruiting.  

The pros and cons

Hiring a freelancer can be an affordable solution for your business over in-house staff, especially considering that some businesses need work getting done on weekends, public holidays and at night. This is particularly true for companies that have international outreach.

Having a pool of freelance workers gives you the opportunity to choose between huge numbers of potential associates offering a variety of skills. While recruiting, you will be in charge of establishing rules and managing different components of freelancing such as deadlines, and budgeting, etc.

Finding people that meet your needs means a less painful experience since you will be in touch with those who agree on your requirements from the very start. You have to take into account that freelancers might not be as loyal as you would want them to be since they are offering their services to others as well. There is also always the risk that they will not be available once you need them for the project to be done.

Communication is key

A professional involved in the management of user-centered creative projects has to adopt an approach that is both systematic and critical, explains the IED Forward's online course in the principles of design thinking. What this practically means is that you should keep in touch with your freelancers during the course of the whole project and let them know you are around and that you have an eye on their work and progress. In this way, you will be establishing a healthy relationship and communicating your expectations well. Freelancer platforms offer text chat and video chat options which are quite handy in the beginning but you might also consider other platforms such as Skype to handle communication, especially when dealing with freelancers sourced from multiple platforms. On the other hand, exchanging emails can be convenient when sending larger documents.

Once you have recruited a freelancer, you could also explore different channels for indirect communication such as Trello, Todoist, Wrike, MeisterTask, TrackingTime, Lighthouse, and OpenProject. These platforms let freelancers organize their tasks and add notes to them. You can also have access to the tasks and track the work in this way. Furthermore, you can even further interact, adding new tasks, leaving comments, etc.

How to find them?

Once you have decided to hire your chosen freelancers, you should specify what roles you want them to perform. Set out clear job descriptions that support your goals. Before hiring, think through the important things such as deadlines, budgeting, the number of people needed, and the qualifications you want them to have. All these things should be identified and outlined once you post your offer or approach potential freelancers. Those who organize work should use their strategic minds in such situations to find people who are the right fit for a specific area.

There are many freelance platforms where you can find the right people for your business. Most of these platforms cover a broad range of skills but some have more active members in specific fields. Popular platforms include LinkedIn Profinder, Craigslist, Fiverr, Upwork, Freelancer, and PeoplePerHour. Don’t overlook or underestimate social media as you can add a personal touch to the recruitment process and make it more humanized. Groups on social media are a great way to find the team members that you need.

The skill versatility of freelancers is a major advantage when choosing the right people for your project. For example, as this Bachelor of Arts in Graphic Design, pathway in Media Design explains, specialists in this field should be capable of combining the art of programming for websites, mobile and fixed devices, and installations with creativity. They should be confident in employing all kinds of media and languages as well as new extended reality technologies, applying them to the different spheres of contemporary visual communication and the creation of interactive products.

Keep track of your expenses

Hiring freelancers can help save money, in part because it’s a way in which to avoid the extra costs of traditional employment. However, the costs of multiple employees can soon add up, so if you don’t get a grip on your base costs and overall spending, you might face some budgeting issues further down the line. This issue can be proactively avoided if you start out with a good strategy and set up some limitations concerning monthly or yearly outgoings and define exactly how much your business can invest in freelance work. This will also help you to choose the right freelancers for your business, ones with enough experience for the task, that are affordable, and who can deliver quality work in a fair amount of time.

While choosing freelancers, keep in mind that cheap, and affordable is not the same thing, your budget should never compromise on quality. Sometimes by paying a little more, you will get a lot more in return, so think about the long term goals and effects. Use them wisely so that they provide the opportunity for your business to expand through having access to many skilled people that can contribute to all the different areas of your business.

Choosing a payment method

As well as communication and outsourcing platforms, you also have a choice to make regarding the payment method that you want to complete transactions with. You can follow the preferences of the freelancers provided on their profile if you have many options available to you. Freelancing platforms often allow you to include your own bank account details for direct payments as well as your PayPal account. These are safe choices when it comes to ensuring that transactions execute with ease. Alternatives include Google Wallet, Payoneer, Skrill, Payza, and Escrows.

Escrows are financial accounts held by third-parties where employers can deposit their payment in advance of the freelancers starting work. This shows the freelancer that you are a reputable company that will pay upon completion. The money will only be released once you have had the chance to review your freelancer’s work and approve it, making this a great tool for both parties.

Time counts

There are plenty of resources on the internet which covers this topic in great detail that offer many solutions and help to find the best method for your needs. Depending on the type of work, you can decide which option fits your business the best. Time tracking websites or apps offer not only data about the amount of time spent on the task, but also the logging activity and provide screenshots that bear witness to the quality of work. Some jobs are not easy to time track this way though, these include HR jobs, and contracting jobs.

With that said, before investing in tracking software, think through whether new software is really necessary for your business and see if you can still track that time through your own existing software. By tracking progress, the feedback you get will give great insight into the efficiency of your employees. Comparing their results will allow you to retain the best people for future projects.

Before you get stuck in rounding up freelancers, there are a few things to remember. Make sure to keep track of the good and bad experiences that you have with freelancers along the way, so you can avoid having an unsatisfactory experience twice and save some money in the process. Also, be sure to check out the ratings and portfolios provided by prospective freelancers to get some insight into their capabilities. Looking into their social media profile can also help a lot with final impressions.

With all these points carefully considered, you’ll be more likely to recruit an ace team of freelancers that can really help your expand your business operations. In this economy, who doesn’t need that?