Read on and learn why hiring freelancers for your start-up is key to get you off the ground and running. Companies of every size today are hiring freelancers for all types and sizes of projects. Long gone are the days when freelancing was considered a hobby or a cheap method to get work done. Nowadays, freelancing is serious business. In the U.S., for example, there are 53 million freelancers who contribute an estimated $715 billion to the economy .
In our ever-changing start-up world where innovation and efficiency are all that matters, and limited budgets are a constant constraint, the hiring of freelancers has become a popular solution. And it makes perfect sense! It is much easier to employ a person who does not require an office and a company supplied a laptop to work.
Let’s explore this topic in-depth and define why it is a good idea for startups to hire freelancers.
1. Saves time
Freelancers are busy people. They like to work fast because there are so many other projects they want or need to apply for. Moreover, freelancers develop expertise in a particular area and are able to perform that particular kind of work quickly. Speed goes hand and hand with quality. Freelancers are not only striving to deliver fast but want and need you to be happy with their work product so that you will refer them to their next gig. Tight deadlines are not typically a problem for freelancers, they are used to that kind of pressure: about 50 percent of freelance projects are urgent!
Takeaway: For startups, hiring a freelancer is a great way to save time needed to complete a project. Hiring a local one is an even better option since working in the same time zone and language can increase productivity. There is no need to conduct several interview rounds or evaluations. Just post a job on popular services like Workhoppers and you will get tons of applications or you can be proactive and just choose one from their database of full profiles for immediate hire.
2. Gets you the best experience
Flexible workers are increasingly professional, experienced, and strategic. If they weren’t the freelance economy would not reach millions of dollars, right? It does not take a lot of time to know if a freelancer is skilled and experienced. For instance, Workhoppers platform has full profiles and pretty accurate Search filters that highlight the most expert professionals.
Takeaway: Freelancers can work independently and are increasingly professional. There is no need to supervise everything, so you can focus on doing something else.
3. Saves cost
Money is a concern for every business. For startups, the constant flow of cash is especially critical. Let’s consider the following scenario: you are a startup. You decide it’s time to develop an Android app to boost the sales of your products. Once it is ready you need to maintain it. You can consider hiring a full time permanent specialist but adding an additional full time employee may be too expensive and overkill, adding an unnecessary costs to your already tight budget. On the other hand, hiring a freelancer on a part-time basis can be a cost effective solution. You will find a cost-benefit analysis in this Huffington post article. As reported by an Elance’s survey on small business hiring practices, 78% said freelancers give them an advantage over competitors. Of course, they met huge savings.
Takeaway: hiring a freelancer is fiscally responsible because it removes unnecessary fixed costs.
4. Lets you concentrate on your Core functions
Every startup survives and much has to do with its founder. Founders have a lot on their plate when they are just starting out and running on a limited budget. This can include the sales, accounting, administrative work and more.. But what about the core development? It is important to stay focused on the big picture and often founders just do not have the time to do it all.
Takeaway: hiring a freelancer for a startup allows the founder to concentrate on core tasks and frees them of routine.
5. Keeps you flexible
Many startups are on hectic schedules that require their employees to work overtime. To complete an order or a project, they often have to work on the weekends as well. For a full-time employee, working on weekends is something that gets old really quickly. As a result, their motivation and performance can suffer. With freelancers, however, you might not have this problem. Many of them are happy to work weekends because their schedule is flexible.
The Bottom Line
Takeaway: freelancers are great for startups because they often agree to work in the evenings and on the weekends to get the job done fast.
Freelancers provide flexibility that is key for growing a startup. Proper management of your freelance team could allow your startup to do a lot more while keeping costs down.
Diana Clark believes that freelancers are changing the way we define work. Diana is an experienced HR specialist connecting the team of the best American freelance writers at college paper writing service. Feel free to Connect Diana on Linkedin.
