Outsourcing – Save Time and Grow Your Business

Outsourcing is the smart way of doing business. Building an established presence in your industry quickly. And developing a life-long brand that stands out and apart in your niche.

The bottom line is that delegating important tasks to qualified professionals,is simply the fastest way to grow your business and skyrocket your income.

Outsourcing Quick-Start Strategies

If you’ve never hired a freelancer before, You’re probably wondering how they’ll fit into your business.

Or how best to utilize the skills they bring to the table so you’re maximizing their value.

Freelancers can be beneficial to almost any part of your business, regardless of your niche or industry.

For example, you can hire:

-Seasoned writers and authority bloggers.

-Creative web designers.

-Skilled graphic designers.

-Expert marketers and copywriters.

-Freelance accountants and bookkeepers.

-Freelance admin and virtual assistants.

-Coders, programmers and app developers.

And the list goes on.

How to Integrate Freelancers into Your Business

When you’re deciding which freelancers to hire, you’ll want to start by analyzing your business and then deciding what key areas need attention.

Start with a solid (and detailed) business plan.

That outlines where you need help the most. What takes up too much of your time. And how you can tap into the skills of others to broaden your outreach.

Then, fill those spots with seasoned professionals.

Your focus needs to be on identifying the most important tasks that keep your business afloat. Or that would help your business get to the next level.

Outsourcing Tips on Budgeting

Budgeting for freelancers means being willing to invest in your business.

While being reasonable with your expectations.

It may be helpful to shop around and get an idea of the going rates. So you know what to expect.

And keep in mind that you get what you pay for!

Here’s how to figure out a reasonable budget before hiring your team of professionals:

1.)Decide what your top freelancing priority is.

2.)Look at your budget and figure out how much you can afford to spend.

3.)Post the job, being clear about your spending parameters.

Outsourcing Step-by-Step Guide to Getting Started with Freelancers

1.)Review your needs and decide which tasks you’re going to outsource.

*Remember, your focus should be on gaining access to skills you and your team don’t have.

2.)Create a budget to pay for your freelancers.

3.)Write accurate job descriptions. (More about that below.)

4.)Post your job descriptions.

5.)Evaluate freelancers and make offers.

Anatomy of a Stand-Out Job Description for Outsourcing

The quest to hire the right freelancer for a task starts with a stand-out job description.

If your job description is vague or unclear, you may end up attracting the wrong people.

Tips for Writing a Great Job Description

Here are the critical components of a clear job description that will attract the right attention:

-Compelling headline.

Something that will make a freelancer stop and read your offer. Your headline should include WHO your ideal candidate is.

-Clear description of the work you want done.

Along with date ranges / time frames, if applicable.

-List of qualifications.

For example, you might want only freelancers who speak English as a native language and have at least 2 years of freelancing experience.

-Range for compensation.

Including whether milestones are paid out as tasks are completed or at the end of a project.

-Whether the job is an ongoing one or short-term.

You want the people who read your description to be excited to work for you. But more importantly, to only apply if they can meet your needs.

Where to Post Your Jobs

Guru is a well-respected freelancing site with thousands of qualified professionals looking for both short and long-term projects in various fields.

LinkedIn is a social media site that’s ideal for finding freelancers and employees in IT/marketing/writing/design and programming fields.

Freelancer is very popular with thousands of freelancers looking for jobs in countless markets.

Upwork is another respected freelancing site and one of my top recommended spots if you’re looking for seasoned professionals.

Qualifying Freelancers for Your Outsourcing Jobs

How to Evaluate Freelancers

It’s essential to qualify freelancers before you entrust them with any work. Fortunately, this isn’t hard to do.

Here are the steps you can take to make sure the people you hire are good at what they do.

1.)Request samples of their completed work.

Any qualified freelancer should have a portfolio of samples they’re willing to share. The samples should be relevant to what you’re asking them to do. If you’re hiring someone to write blog posts, they should have sample blog posts.

2.)Interview them in person or on Skype.

One of the biggest risks is that a freelancer will present themselves as being fluent in English when they’re not. Having an in-person or Skype interview will allow you to evaluate them. If they can’t speak coherently, they’re not going to be able to write coherently, either.

3.)Give them a test job.

If someone doesn’t have samples to give you. You may want to ask them to do a test job for you: a sample piece of writing or a sample design. You should plan to pay them for their work. But it’s a good way to get a feeling for what they can do.

4.)Google them. This might seem like an obvious step. But I’m amazed when people skip it. If someone’s made a habit of plagiarizing work or skipping out with a deposit. There’s a good chance their previous victims have written about it online. You owe it to yourself to check.

How to Minimize Your Risk when Outsourcing Freelancers

The other part of qualifying freelancers is minimizing your risks. You can do that by taking a few steps to protect yourself.

1.) Get every freelancer to sign a written contract.

That spells out their duties as well as what and how you’ll pay them for each completed task or project.

2.) Have every freelancer sign a non-disclosure agreement.

Referred to as an NDA. That makes it clear that you own the completed work. And they are not allowed to talk about what they do for you. (This can be a clause in the main contract.)

3.) Set up milestone goals and payments. You should never pay a freelancer up front. Unless you have worked with them before and are sure they can deliver as promised. Instead, create milestone payments. That aligns with project delivery. You should be prepared to make a partial payment up front, but every subsequent payment should be tied to a deliverable.

4.) Check for plagiarism.

When you hire freelance writers, it’s a must to check for plagiarism. You can use sites like Grammarly or Copyscape to do it.

If you do find that work has been plagiarized.

You are within your rights to go back and ask them to rewrite the content until it passes a plagiarism check.

Never deliver your final payment until you are satisfied with the content.

Creating Contracts when Outsourcing

Why do you need a written contract when outsourcing?

Written contracts are necessary because they ensure that all parties know what’s expected of them.

It’s a good idea to include a non-disclosure clause in your contract. Although some employers choose to make that a separate document. That’s up to you.

Here are the items you should include in your contracts:

-The names of the parties and the scope of your relationship

-The work that falls under the contract

-Delivery dates and milestones

-Deposits and retainers, if applicable

-Payment amounts and dates

-A termination clause

-A non-disclosure clause

Including these items will protect both you and the freelancer.

You may find that some experienced freelancers have a contract they ask clients to sign.

If that’s the case, make sure to read it carefully and have your lawyer review it before you sign.

Where to Find Contracts Online

You don’t necessarily need to hire a lawyer to create a freelancing contract. If you have the money to hire one, you can, but there are lots of resources online.

Here are a few that I recommend:

Jotform

Hloom

SquareUp

TemplateLAB

Keep in mind that these are templates.

You should feel free to eliminate clauses that don’t apply to you or add new clauses as necessary.

Conclusion

I hope you’ve found the information here to be useful and that you’re ready to start building your freelancing team!

To Your Success,

Joshua