8 min read

How To Hire The Best Freelancers For Your Business

Written by

Aiman Kabetenova

Published on

June 3, 2022

Do you want to take your business to the next level? There are freelancers you can hire for almost any part of your business: from marketers to web developers. If you know what you are looking for, you will find it.

That being said, there are many things to keep in mind when hiring a freelancer for the first time. Check out this article to learn how to find someone that is a great fit for your business!

Choose your platform:

Freelance websites

There are many freelancing websites that offer a variety of freelancers and skills. How to choose the right one for you? n general, bigger platforms like Fiver or Upwork are great if you are comfortable working with people from all over the world.

If you are more interested in searching for local talent, or you are interested in being able to have the freelancers work in person, you might be interested in looking at local websites. For example, Unicorn Factory operates as the largest freelance marketplace in New Zealand, and we have recently launched Unicorn Factory Canada. Unicorn Factory makes it simple to connect freelancers and businesses in New Zealand. We get high value clients who post on our job board and provide personalized introductions to the most recent openings.

Finding your freelancers on websites offers a great variety of skills and levels of experience, as well as more flexibility for your budget.

Smaller platforms offer greater credibility in that sense because every freelancer is hand-picked and the team ensures all job postings are responded to in a timely manner.

Your network

While the easiest way to find freelancers would be online, there is great power in reaching out to your network. If you feel more comfortable working with people who have a proven record of work that you can see in your circles, don’t be afraid to reach out.

Hiring people from your network is going to be beneficial for you in the long term too. It is going to increase your visibility within professional spaces and let your web of business connections grow. However, you might run into one issue: not having enough options to choose from. Freelancers from your circles might not have the same budget or expectations as you.

With that being said, it is always a good idea to reach out and explore all possibilities, before deciding to stick to one.

Describe the job

Listing your job is the first step to finding the right fit freelancer for your business. You should talk about:

The type of business you have and what stage you’re at

One of the important factors in whether you will find the right fit freelancer for your business is how well you are able to describe the job you’re expecting them to complete.

You should start with the description of your company. What kind of things do you do, what is the size of your company and what is the company culture?

Normally, questions that freelancers will ask you before they can make any judgments about the opportunity is what stage is the business at. Moreover, depending on your enquiry they will ask whether everything is set up for them to complete the task you are hiring for. For example, someone who is a web designer might not be into building the foundations of a website that is a web developer's job and out of their expertise.

Specific skills you expect

First, you need to understand the skill set they should have. That would require having a bit more than just a broad understanding of the task. You might want to consider figuring out what skills are required of freelancers to complete what you need prior to hiring them.

There is a greater chance you will find the right fit for you (and leave both parties satisfied) if you have an idea of the ideal freelancer for you. Tasks that you need help with might be easy to identify (for example, a graphic designer to help you design your logo and social posts) but other tasks like building a website will require more research on your part. In the website example, you need to understand what platforms you want the website to be built on, and what you want the end product to look like.

You might also want to consider whether you’re looking for a one-time service or ongoing help. That is important if you want to be able to make changes and updates in the future, or kind of build the website and be done with it.

What your budget for this project is

There is a direct correlation between the level of expertise and experience of freelancer and their rates. That's why your pricing is important in determining what kind of freelancers will respond to the offer.

Keep in mind that hiring newbies might be a cheaper choice and seem more compelling, but it requires you to have more time on your hands to supervise the freelancer.

Pricing your project will also depend on the platform that you are looking at. International platforms like Fiverr or Upwork tend to have competitive prices because people from outside North America post their work there.

Local platforms like Unicorn Factory would require costs on the level of the country you’re looking for. That doesn’t mean that those freelancers who are on international platforms are any better or worse than others. It simply means that you might have to do your own research into the background of the freelancers and determine their credibility.

Know the criteria to choosing the right freelancer

So what should you consider when choosing which freelancer to hire? You should consider these when making the final decision:

Experience

The experience of the freelancer is generally a good thing. That should not make you shy away from hiring newbies. They generally have lower rates. But you should understand that there’s a trade-off between the level of rates since you will probably spend more of your time supervising them.

Fees

Higher fees might seem like a turnoff, but they actually represent a higher level of experience in the market. Here again, you need to think about what is the most important factor in the project for you: if you are looking for a specific task that you just need to delegate, you wouldn’t necessarily need expertise in the industry.

However, if you are looking to invest in the task long-term and aren’t willing to put in your own work, later on, it may be best to pay the freelancer to do the job early on.

Reviews

Something else to look at is reviews and references for the person’s work. This one could be tricky because the freelancer would probably not share negative feedback with other clients. However, you can really learn what other people enjoyed the most after working with the person. You should decide whether that aligns with what you consider the most important traits of the freelancer.

Portfolio

The most important thing you should look at is whether the person has experience in your industry and with your type of business. Most freelancers have their portfolios attached to their online profiles, but you can also find out more by searching their online presence for a broader sense of their background.

Communicate efficiently

Have the initial call

While the first interactions with the freelancers will probably be over email, you would want to have a call before actually jumping into working together. A couple of back and forth emails are not enough to properly assess whether you will be a good fit for working together.

Ask whether you have everything the freelancer needs to finish the job

In many instances, that would involve sharing creative assets with freelancers. Social media marketers would probably need some information about your company, including the logo, the poster and so on to start the work. The same goes for many other projects.

For example, if you are willing to invest money in quality marketing and advertising, you should be able to share creative assets that freelancers can work with. And while that doesn’t have to be the case, you might want to consider whether you have everything that the freelancer needs to successfully complete their job.

And if you don’t have them, you might want to be prepared to pay extra for the freelancer’s work to do extra work.

Set boundaries and expectations

Before starting work together, you might want to establish boundaries. For example, how often would you want to communicate with each other? Otherwise, you might get surprised when the freelancer informs you that extra revisions are going to cost more than you thought they would.

That being said, you should be able to have enough trust in the freelancer and their ability to deliver the work you expect them to. For them to achieve what you want, you need to communicate exactly what you expect. That way, you both have a clear picture of the result you hope to achieve from the project. Pro tip: do not micromanage the freelancer after that.