Fundamentals Of Building A Fantastic Freelance Team
by Ethel Lair
published – June 6th 2022
Many companies get to the point where they can no longer get everything done in-house. If you find your business in that situation, congratulations! It’s a sure sign of healthy growth. Now, it’s time to figure out how to fill the gaps in your operations.
One of the best options today is to hire freelancers. These talented workers often specialize in one or more areas and work by the project or hour, meaning you can pay them only for the tasks they do best.
And if you approach it the right way, your company can save money and headaches by working with freelancers. Below, I will show you how to build the best freelance team in your industry!
Take your time with interviews
Your interview process is crucial when it comes to hiring freelancers (or any workers, for that matter). You want to vet candidates to find the ones who are not only qualified for the roles but also mesh with your vision and core values.
Think of the interview process as your company’s gatekeeper that protects it from eventual damage or destruction from the inside. The ultimate goal is for any remote worker to perform at a high level off the bat. Don’t hesitate to conduct several interviews with each candidate to discuss the necessary:
- skills
- attitude
- communication guidelines
- other essential aspects
Provide superior communication
Distributed teams simply cannot work without effective communication. Make it clear to your freelancers what you expect, such as when and how they should stay in touch with their leaders and colleagues.
Freelancers should always give updates and reports when appropriate and remain available as project details change. If there’s a problem, your distributed team members should promptly reach out to their supervisors.
Most remote teams operate more through deadlines than regular work hours. Make sure your freelancers have all the tools and information they need to perform at a high level. This will help your team members collaborate effectively and maintain healthy client-worker relationships.
If you’re working with a freelancer on branding or other design projects, look for tools that will let you convert a JPG to a PDF. Because they’re larger, emailing multiple JPGs can be complicated and time-consuming.
And sometimes compressing a JPG lowers an image’s quality — a problem you won’t have with a top-notch JPG-to-PDF converter. You can even put several JPGs into a single PDF.
Decide how many team members you need
Don’t make the common mistake of bringing too many freelancers onto your team at once. This can hurt your business in the long run.
It’s understandable if you’re afraid of losing exceptional workers who are eager to contribute to your mission. But you must consider that you need to pay your freelancers fairly, and the more people on your distributed team, the more complex it is to manage the team.
Make a list of all the tasks you need to outsource and those that you can perform in-house. Then, rank your outsourced tasks by importance. Doing so will show you precisely which freelancers you need to hire to handle specific tasks.
Keep your vision at the forefront
Don’t lose sight of your vision as you build your team of remote workers. And make your vision clear to everyone in the onboarding process. More times than not, freelancers don’t pan out like we imagine because they’re not on the same page with the company’s mission and values.
Sharing your vision upfront with any person you are considering hiring can help them connect with their colleagues, provide them with a sense of ownership, and motivate them to work hard toward company goals.
If your business is overwhelmed by to-do lists, or you’re thinking about launching a new company, building a team of remote workers is an excellent option.
Remember to be thorough in the interview process and prioritize consistent communication. Also, only hire the freelancers you need, and keep the company vision at the center of everything you do. While there are other ways to develop your freelance team, these tips will help you get off to a strong start.
If I were you, I would begin searching online for freelance workers for hire. One of the biggest and best platforms for finding freelancers is Fiverr. Here you will find a marketplace full of talented workers from around the world.
Running a company can be tough on even the most hardened entrepreneur. If you are thinking of reconsidering your career then I would suggest checking out 142 Reasons Why You Should & Shouldn’t Work For Yourself.
What are the best qualities you look for in a freelance worker? How do you personally plan on finding freelancers and building your workforce? Please don’t forget to share this with your friends and like it on social media. You can subscribe to our newsletter and comment below too. Thanks for reading!
Related Posts: