According to statistics from FinanceOnline, 65% of hiring managers and businesses will employ a vetted freelancer rather than a staffing agency. This means, that rather than spend time and energy training new hires to take up roles, a typical business will hire a freelance to do short or recurrent task. Hence, as a business owner, there are tell-tale signs you need a freelancer.
Before this media age, most solopreneurs could do their operations alone. As time went on and businesses began to sell beyond their local reach, the demand for expansion and seasonal help grew. Because most business owners would not want to spend time recruiting or carrying the overhead cost of a regular employee, most employers just decide to outsource help. That is, employ the services of a skilled freelancer.
Since you have been the only employee of your business and doing all the work, what makes you think it’s time to hire a freelancer? Are you looking for a particular skill set for your business? Or do you want to take the non-core tasks off your plate?
Here are 9 signs your small business needs a freelancer:
1. YOU NEED SUPPORT FOR SOME OF YOUR BUSINESS PROCESSES
Most small business owners, especially ecommerce, prefer to handle all aspects of their business themselves. But along the line, due to one viral product or good marketing, help is surely needed.
So, if you think you can still manage other intricate aspects of your business but can assign tasks like customer service, order processing, and management, updating and managing your accounts to make sure you’re reporting your tax correctly, etc., then you can hire a freelancer.
This way, you have time to focus on how to grow and scale your business while a freelancer manages other tasks behind the scenes.
2. YOU NEED A TEAM BUT DON’T WANT THE OVERHEAD COST
Most small business owners understand that in their business accounting, the cost of hiring a freelancer to run some aspects of their business can be overwritten in the tax records (story for another day).
If you plan to hire employees, you will need to organize their insurance and other benefits that come with hiring employees, including using a recruitment agency to find and screen new hires for you.
But, let’s assume you don’t have that kind of money yet and desperately need more hands. Then, hiring a freelancer will be the best bet. Of course, some talented freelancers may be a bit pricey, but think about their skills, especially if you are only hiring for the tasks.
3. YOU HAVE A BIG PROJECT COMING UP
This project could be short or long term but it is so crucial to your business that you need an extra pair of hands.
If you hire a full-time employee, you may not find them useful after the project and may end up assigning versatile roles to them (which may not sit well with many). But if you hire a freelancer instead, it is common knowledge that the contract ends after the project and there is no need for extra commitment (unless you still need their expertise later on).
4. YOU NEED A UNIQUE SKILL
Let’s say you have a Shopify store growing pretty well but hope to have a mobile app so that customers can shop better. You would need someone with mobile application or software development skills for a short project, if no one in your team has this skill.
A freelancer can easily fill this gap for the period, and you can still consult them occasionally for updates or app monitoring. This way, you keep your business running without taking in permanent employees.
5. YOUR TASKS FLUCTUATE
I see this commonly with handmade businesses that make seasonal products (like knit clothing shops). If you figure out that you need an extra pair of hands to make the most of your peak season, then hiring a freelancer will make sense so you don’t commit to a permanent staff.
Hiring a freelancer during your peak season will increase your manpower, and results, and help you make the most out of this period. And even when the period elapses, you can consult them periodically, saving money too.
6. YOU ARE BREAKING INTO NEW BORDERS
Your business is growing and becoming a global sensation but, there is a little issue – you did not plan for the cultural differences or know how to handle the tickets and emails written in foreign languages. Somehow, you can’t ignore them because they make up a big chunk of your customer base and you don’t want to lose them.
Of course, you can commit to a permanent employee. But if you hire a freelance bilingual customer support specialist (part-time or full-time) to take this off your plate, you will have a diverse team, get more business insights about that market, and gain your customers’ loyalty.
7. YOU ARE SCALING
Your operations have been onsite at your walk-in store and has been good. But now you want to scale and expand your business to serve customers outside your geographical location and increase your brand’s visibility.
Great, right? Or not so great, because you are on a tight budget and can’t imagine hiring permanent employees to design your online store, improve your social media presence, handle incoming mail or tickets, etc.
Hiring freelancers on a project basis to help you scale your business, in this case, will cost you less and get you ready in time for launch.
8. YOU WANT TO REPLACE YOUR EMPLOYEES
I currently have a client who has had her fair share of unmotivated and poor-performing employees to the detriment of her business.
Naturally, there are stricter laws when it comes to terminating employees than with freelancers – a 14- or 30-day termination notice is enough to curb freelancers that do not live up to your expectations. This way, it is easier to weed out nonchalant team members than manage them.
9. YOU WANT TO DELEGATE NON-CORE ACTIVITIES
You have been managing your small business alone but you need help in essential non-core tasks so that you can create more time to expand and run your business.
For example, you have no issues managing your personalized jewelry business but you need to be on Instagram and TikTok so that your business can reach the other side of your world. Hiring a freelancer, like a social media manager, customer support specialist, graphic designer, or product photographer to handle non-core tasks will give you more time to focus on growing and managing your business.
CONCLUSION
The list is exhaustive as there are many reasons a business would need a freelancer, but if this post points to you, you should make haste now.
With the opportunities for growth in this ever-growing tech era, hiring a freelancer can be a good move for you and your business.
As a freelance customer support specialist who supports business owners, I have a range of questions that I ask my clients to understand their needs better and give the results they need.
How did you know that it was finally time for you to hire a freelancer? Let me read your thoughts below.
Toodaloo!
