Outsourcing Guidelines for Freelancers

Whether you have given up your 9 to 5 job for freelancing or are new kid on the block; at the outset you would enjoy the freedom from the nerve-racking office environment but gradually you might experience the encumbrance of working all alone.

As your clientele amplifies, your work load would certainly increase and managing all tasks single-handedly may hamper your productivity.  However, the backbreaking billing process can be smoothly handled by any efficient online invoicing software but what about the other crucial tasks?

Accomplishing projects within deadlines is just nightmarish. Thus, outsourcing can be the secret sauce to deal with your work loads and accelerate the execution process. But as a fresh freelancer, outsourcing will come up as new undertaking for you.  Like most of freelancers, even you may slip up when you outsource for the first time.

Let’s solve the dilemma of outsourcing:

Jack of all trades master of none:

Is it wise to hire someone who can manage any task or to employ someone who is a specialist? You don’t need a jack, you need a master, thus outsource professional to perform particular activity.

• First analyze what is your requirement and accordingly outsource the professionals
• Looking for someone who knows a bit of every task but doesn’t have finesse in anything will ultimately increase your workload as you may have to redo the work
• Outsource someone who has good experience and can perform a particular task with flair

Hire remotely or locally?  

Hiring remote employees is a preferable choice. Local workers are not a bad choice either but remote hiring, open doors to welcome talent from worldwide.

• You can get in touch with marketplaces that provide competent freelancers all around the world
• If you are working with limited budget then you can go with local employees

Overseas or domestic Staff, what is better?

Well, there is no harm in hiring either of them or both. Overseas as well as domestic employees have their own advantages and disadvantages, so hire who suits you the best.

• There is often a misconception that hiring talent from developing countries can be a bad choice but it’s not true
• In fact the fresh talent would perform their best to get noticed and acknowledged
• If you require a specialist then hiring an experienced teammate will be better
• If you are running with tight budget then employ domestic talent but ensure they are skilled or it will be of no use

Whom to take up, contractors, part-time or full-time employees?

Your type of hire depends upon the level of your work.  As a freelancer, you would work only when you get projects, so will it be sensible to pay even when there is no work? Paying fixed salary to employees even when there is no project will put you in loss.  Thus, hiring a contractor will definitely work in your favor.

• It will be easy on your pockets as you will need to pay only on the basis of project
• After certain period, surely you will be engaged with many projects at a time or on regular basis thus in such scenario, hiring a part-time employee or a contractor on regular basis will be productive
• It will simplify your task as well as help you to build strong and lasting relationship with your new teammates that will benefit your freelancing profession
• Rather than changing the contractors consistently, stick to one reliable part- time contractor
• Looking for full time worker is a big NO. As said before when there is not much work, paying unnecessary salary will be a disadvantage

 Are you sure that your new teammate will benefit you?

This is the most common doubt of most of the freelancers. So, how to solve this problem? Now you cannot judge the capability of a person without seeing their real work but you can’t even risk with the hiring process. Like every company recruitment method, even you will conduct an interview, right? Hence, during this course you can identify whether the applicant is worth outsourcing or not.

• The best way to judge the ability of any person is through his communication skills. No matter what is the designation, if the person is good in communication, he will be capable to learn or grasp quickly
• You can test the communication skill of candidate by conducting oral as well as written interview
• In case if you are hiring remote employee or from abroad then you can arrange a video talk
• You can handover any trial project and test the candidate skills on the basis of their performance. This is also a smart way to check the overall ability of the prospect

There are very rare chances of outsourcing a perfect contractor on the first time but you can always polish them by training.  Your ultimate aim is to eliminate the burden of handling all tasks solely. So even if you need to edify your new teammate, there is no harm in it, rather than struggling with workload and smashing your efficiency.

FAQs

Q1. When does outsourcing actually start making sense for a freelancer?

Honestly when you start dreading your own to do list. When deadlines feel impossible, quality starts slipping, and you are working weekends just to keep up, that is your sign. Trying to push through it alone stops being brave at some point and just becomes counterproductive.

Q2. Should I hire someone who can do a bit of everything or a specialist?

A specialist every time without question. Someone who does everything adequately sounds useful until you realise you are spending your evenings fixing their work. Find someone genuinely brilliant at one thing and let them own it completely.

Q3. Is remote hiring actually worth the effort compared to finding someone local?

For most freelancers yes because the talent pool is just incomparably bigger. You are not limited to whoever happens to be nearby and available. Some of the best working relationships in freelancing exist entirely over email and video calls between people who have never met in person.

Q4. What about hiring someone from overseas, is that risky?

The notion that foreign talent entails risk is completely an old school mentality. Foreign talent coming from developing nations usually puts their heart into doing well and delivering high-quality results. If you’re clear about expectations with regard to deadlines, modes of communication, and your preferences, most problems will resolve themselves.

Q5. Contractor or part time employee, which one should I go for?

Start with a contractor and do not overthink it. You pay for work done and nothing else which makes complete sense when your project flow is unpredictable. Committing to a fixed salary when you might have three quiet weeks in a row is just unnecessary pressure on your finances for no real benefit.

Q6. How do I actually figure out if someone is worth hiring before committing?

Give them a small paid trial project and watch everything, not just the final output. How do they communicate? Do they ask sensible questions? Do they flag problems early or disappear and deliver at the last second? The way someone handles a small project tells you almost everything about how they will handle the bigger ones.

Q7. What do I do if the first person I outsource to just does not work out?

You dust yourself off and try again with a clearer picture of what you actually need. Almost nobody gets this right on the first attempt and that is fine. Each bad hire teaches you something specific about what to look for next time so treat it as information rather than a failure and keep going.

Q8. Do I really need to train someone I outsource to or should they already know everything?

A bit of training is almost always worth it and expecting someone to slot in perfectly from day one is setting yourself up for disappointment. Someone who is mostly right for the role and just needs some context about how you work is far more valuable long term than holding out for a perfect fit that probably does not exist.