Becca
Let’s face it – a young, fledgling business outsourcing freelancers is a breeding ground for business mistakes. In fact, it’s not only start-ups that make these mistakes, sometimes it can be large corps too!
Deciding to hire a freelancer – whether it be to design you a brand new website, update your logo, or simply manage your social media – isn’t the problem. The problem is when (easily-avoidable) business mistakes are made in the process!
Here are the top 10 business mistakes that are made when hiring freelancers – grab your pen and paper, it’s time to take notes…
Mistake #1: Rock-bottom prices
What is a common mistake that small-business owners make when their businesses begin growing? Choosing rock-bottom prices, that’s what!
While it’s important to keep prices down, it shouldn’t be the main factor when choosing a freelancer to help you with your project. It’s vital that you do your research before deciding to hire anyone: browse their portfolio, take a look at their testimonials, and of course, check out their pitch. If everything is up to your requirements, wonderful news – you’ve found yourself your next freelancer!
But whatever you do, don’t decide based on price alone. You may bag yourself a bargain, but is it really worth it when you walk away with a disappointing result? Try telling the next person who walks away from your website how you got it for dirt cheap – we doubt they’d be impressed…
Mistake #2: No written contracts
Even if you’ve never made a contract before, and have no idea where to start (by the way, we have an article detailing exactly how to create a perfect contract), there’s still no excuse for not having a contract. This is one of the classic small business mistakes.
To put a long story short, a contract protects not only yourself and your hired freelancer, but also your business. If you’re sharing private business information with your freelancer, you want to make sure your agreement is air-tight. That and your finances are fully protected!
State your budget and requirements very clearly in the beginning, so you aren’t paying the consequences down the line.
Mistake #3: Not expressing what you want
Startup mistakes like this are made all the time – putting too much trust and pressure onto your outsourced professional.
“I don’t mind really – you decide!”
Sound familiar?
You may not have a bulletproof business plan, but you at least need an idea of what you’re asking of your freelancer. Do some brainstorming about your project, maybe even use an online mind-map creator like Miro, so you can visualize your ideas in action.
Otherwise, if you leave it entirely up to them, you really can’t complain about the results.
Mistake #4: Not considering the type of work
You want someone who is specialised in exactly the type of job you need doing. Do you need your entire web designed or just a simple landing page? Figure the task out before you go choosing your freelancer.
If your freelancer has a real fancy portfolio – with all the bells and whistles – and your project is actually pretty simple, you’ve maybe gone with the wrong candidate.
Note: many freelancers use Flash in their projects to impress clients. While this may look good sometimes, it can be a turn-off to a lot of people and should be avoided…
Mistake #5: No deadlines
When you construct your contract – you need (and we can’t stress this enough) to have deadlines implemented. Seriously. Your freelance professional is probably working on several different projects at the same time; how can they keep a schedule if they don’t know what needs to be done, and when?
Also, we know that when a client says there are no deadlines, that there actually are. Remember, your freelancer can’t read your mind and probably doesn’t know anything about your business, so don’t expect them to!
Not to mention, having a contract with bonified deadlines and specific targets to hit makes the legal side that much easier – whether a small business or big business. If you don’t want to get into legal drama when outsourcing a contractor, (which is a whole other ballgame, trust us), then get those deadlines written out. In bold.
Mistake #6: No back-up plan
Disaster strikes – your freelancer emails in sick, just as you were about to go through a few project revisions – couldn’t get any worse, right? Well, this is a highly unlikely predicament, but, it’s better to be safe than sorry, and get prepared.
If your freelancer doesn’t have a backup for this type of situation, then you definitely need to. If it looks like a long-term situation that your freelancer will be missing, have someone else in mind who can cover the project for you. That way, your deadlines aren’t being missed, and although it’s an inconvenience, you’re not having to completely throw in the towel on your project.
Don’t let your hard work be for nothing – get prepared!
We hoped you enjoyed our article on the top business mistakes you shouldn’t make when hiring freelancers. Have you made any of these in the past? Don’t be shy, we all have at some point…
Feeling lost with hiring freelancers? Check out our archive of articles, from creating a project brief to choosing the wrong freelancer – everything you need as a client, all in one place.
Ready to hire? Our marketplace of over 410,000 freelancers have the skills and expertise needed to skyrocket your business to the next level. From marketers to designers, copywriters to SEO experts – browse the talented bunch here!
Stuart Logan
awork
