I’ll be brief here, but here’s the setup: this past fall I hired a bunch of freelancers for various things, which means they had various skill sets, and I paid them according to the market value for the services they provided. I got mixed results — some excellent, some really bad, and some mixed — and I learned a bunch in the process. If you’re hiring freelancers…
- Check backgrounds and references. Just like hiring an employee, you need to be sure that people can do what they say they can do.
- Get a written contract. I’ve been doing this since day one, so I was okay. When problems arose (and they invariably do), we’d just go back to the contract and do what it says.
- Get a written quote, either in the contract or separately, for all work to be done. That includes specifics about what’s included in the base price, what types of things are not included, what types of situations could change the base price, what the schedule is, and how to handle changes.
- Be clear about your standard of work. How fast you go, how carefully you check for quality, how much communication is needed, what your schedule for payment is, etc.
- Make sure everyone shares the same commitment. This past spring, I had a freelancer get a better contract midway through mine… and poof. He was gone.
- Understand that you are not a full-time employer. Freelancers work several projects at once, unless your contract stipulates that yours is exclusive. This freedom allows them some flexibility in hours, working days, etc… and for many freelancers (including me), that’s a big attraction. As long as the work is being done on time, you shouldn’t expect to control when or how it gets done.
- Sometimes things go wrong. Believe me. That’s another story, but I learned that when someone I subcontracted the work to dropped the ball, it landed on. Not a good time…
- Be careful about giving away too much expertise. If other people are doing all the work and have all the knowledge, you will be tied to them forever. Be sure you are comfortable with that, or arrange to be trained (and expect to pay for the training).
- Manage the project. Break large tasks down into smaller ones and set milestones. Check in with your crew and be sure they really are getting things done on time and correctly.
I’m sure there’s a book here to be written on this subject (it already exists, I’d guess). And I’m sure this list barely scratches the surface. Got any other suggestions to add?
