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Hiring Freelancers? Here’s How to Find the Right Ones

August 24, 2017 by Guest Author

By Kayla Matthews

If you’re a growing business, you can easily find yourself with more work than your team can handle.

While busy times may come and go, biting off more than you can chew can cause your work to suffer. If your team becomes overwhelmed, they could rush projects or make mistakes.

Outsourcing some of your work is a great way to take some of the pressure off your team without having to stunt the growth of your business. However, if you’re hiring freelancers, you want to make sure you’re working with the right individuals.

As a representation of your company and brand, you need to be sure you’re working with experts and professionals.

If you’re about to hire some freelancers, here are a few tips you should follow to ensure you’re only working with the best of the best.

1. Use Your Network

As a business owner, you’re probably in contact with at least a few other entrepreneurs in your space or area. When looking for a high-quality freelancer, your best bet in finding someone who will fit your needs and provide you with excellent service is to get a referral.

Ask around to see if anyone knows of freelancers in the area. Getting the stamp of approval from a trusted friend, family member or business connection can reduce some of the risk you take when hiring freelancers.

2. Check Your Expectations

One of the biggest struggles of working with freelancers is determining a rate you’re both happy with. As a small business, you may be a bit strapped for cash. However, when it comes to freelancing, you’re going to get what you pay for. Keep in mind that you’re saving money on payroll fees, healthcare and other costs that explain why many small organizations can’t afford to hire new team members.

Finding the right freelancer for your budget and needs will depend on your expectations. If you’re approaching freelancers with unrealistic expectations for the amount you’re willing to spend, you’re going to struggle to find someone you’re happy with. Instead, check your expectations to ensure you’re on the right path.

3. Know Your Needs

While you may know you need someone to take a project off your hands, you need to understand what expertise is needed to get that task completed. If you don’t know what you’re looking for in a freelance writer, you’re going to struggle to find someone who can get the job done.

Before reaching out to any potential freelancers, make a list of the skills you need to have in the freelancer you hire. Having this list of requirements will make it easier for you to know who’s right and wrong for you when you start interviewing.

4. Post a Gig Description

While you can turn to many gig websites to find freelancers, you’ll typically find the best quality workers through submitting a gig description of your own. However, you must craft your job description to ensure you’re only attracting qualified individuals.

Just as you would with a traditional job description, you need to make it clear what you’re looking for and what expectations you have. If you have any requirements for your freelancers, make them known in the description to weed out individuals who may not fit your needs.

5. Provide Clear Communication

When you’re talking with potential freelancers, communication is essential. Both you and the people you’re talking with need to understand what you’re looking for in this partnership. With the right communication, you can build a healthy relationship with your external worker.

Clearly explain what you’re looking for and what direction you hope the relationship goes. Whether you’re looking for a one-off project or someone you can keep on retainer, you need to ensure both you and your potential freelancers are looking for the same level of commitment. Clear communication can ensure this happens.

Hiring freelancers can be a great way to take some stress off your hands. However, if you hire the wrong external team, you may end up with even more stress than you thought.

You’ll save time and headaches by going through the appropriate processes to ensure you’re working with a high-quality individual.

Follow these five tips the next time you’re looking to hire a freelance team to make sure they complete your projects promptly and to your satisfaction.

About the Author: Kayla Matthews writes about communication and workplace productivity on her blog, Productivity Theory. Her work has also appeared on Talent Culture, MakeUseOf, The Muse and Fast Company.

Featured image by rawpixel.com on Unsplash

Are Your Employees the Best You Could Get?

August 23, 2017 by Thomas

Do you ever take a moment to look around your office at the hired help?

If things worked out the way you wanted them to, then there’s a good likelihood that you are happy with your team. In the event you are not, where do you think things may have gone wrong?

Hiring the right talent for your office isn’t always as easy as some may make it out to be.

For starters, what you see from someone in an interview and what they do once hired can be two different things. That said you oftentimes end up having to go with your gut when it comes to bringing someone on-board.

With that in mind, do you feel as if your employees are the best you could get?

Hiring and Managing Top-Notch Employees

To best improve your odds of getting the right talent time and time again, remember a few pointers:

Resumes do matter

Be honest; do you pay attention to all the resumes coming across your desk?

Sure, you may not even be in on the hiring process until the very end or in some cases at all. At times, you may delegate that authority to the H.R. department or even a manager or two.

That said someone needs to go over those resumes with a fine tooth comb. To do otherwise would be negligence on the part of the company.

Did you proceed with background checks when you hired these people now employees? If not, you could be setting yourself and your company up for trouble.

By combing over resumes and background checks, you are more likely to get the right people on board.

Tasks outside the office

As part of the checks of those you consider hiring, work activities outside the office matter.

What if you need to hire someone for deliveries or meeting with clients? Something as simple as their driving skills becomes a much bigger deal.

Like the background check one hopes you did on them, this is why in fact a license plate search matters.

Stop for a moment and ask yourself the following questions:

Would you consider hiring someone with a reckless driving record?

Would you consider hiring someone who has one or more DUI’s to their name?

Would you consider hiring someone with a vehicle that is unsafe to be on the roads?

When workers go on deliveries, networking, and to meet with clients, they represent you. As such, you want to make sure they’re responsible and have solid driving records.

Character references

Although some potential hires will put down best friends or relatives to vouch for them, be smart.

The people you really want to talk to would be former or current co-workers and even a boss if at all possible. These types of individuals know how someone is to work with. Best of all, they more times than not will give you an honest opinion.

If you’ve not be one to ask for references in the past, change that moving forward.

To improve the odds of getting the best employees, character references can go a long way in that process.

Photo credit: Pixabay

About the Author: Dave Thomas covers business topics on the web.

How to Get More Done by Managing Your Energy

August 17, 2017 by Rosemary

We all aspire to be Dicky Fox from Jerry Maguire.

I’ll bet he doesn’t even drink coffee.

The reality is that, for most of us, our energy ebbs and flows throughout the day. We aren’t going 100 mph all day long.

Around 3pm, trying to get something accomplished is like pushing a cooked noodle uphill.

So what if we leaned into our energy flow to take advantage of the Dicky Fox time, while accommodating our natural low-energy time?

Here are some tips for working with your own natural energy flow, rather than fighting against it.

You’ll get more done, I promise:

ZONE OUT: Figure out what time of day is your “zone” and load high value tasks within it. For a few days, take active note of your routine and how energetic/productive you feel at different times of day. Note when you’re in “flow state.” Then try to schedule difficult or challenging tasks during that time (whether it’s first thing in the morning or late night).
OWN IT: Stop beating yourself up for cruising Instagram; give yourself a break to do that, then return to work. You might be spending more time unproductively being guilty than if you just took a moment to goof off.
SLEEP RHYTHMS: Do you need a power nap? Lots of famous go-getters included a brief nap in their routine (Churchill, Benjamin Franklin). Are you getting enough quality sleep in general? Your body needs that restoration time, so don’t skimp.
TLC: Don’t try to “push through” injuries or sickness. Take time off for recovery instead of doing half-baked work while ill. People who force themselves to keep going aren’t going to win a medal; they’re just going to infect the rest of us with that virus.
FUEL YOURSELF: Watch your snacks. Grab a handful of almonds or some apples/peanut butter instead of a Snickers or another cup of joe. The sugar or caffeine high will give you an artificial burst of energy, but then the crash will come.
CHANGE IT UP: When you start to feel your energy flagging, change scenery and/or your state of mind. Stand up at your desk, walk down the stairs, or use a technique to change your entire state of mind.
PERSONALIZE: Don’t use others’ schedules, follow your own body’s queues. Not everyone can do 4am crunches, and not everyone is jamming uninterrupted at Midnight. Listen to yourself, and set a schedule that is optimized for you.
MOVE: Exercise doesn’t sap energy, it creates it. Be a body in motion, and create your own energy source. Elevated endorphins can last a few hours after intense exercise!

Interested in reading more about how to manage your energy? Check out “The Power of Full Engagement,” by Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz, which contains a step by step approach to increasing performance and productivity, or this HBR article co-authored by Tony Schwartz.

How do you keep yourself energized and manage your priorities? Please share your own tips!

Author’s Bio: Rosemary O’Neill is an insightful spirit who works for Social Strata — makers of the Hoop.la community platform. Check out the Social Strata blog. You can find Rosemary on Google+ and on Twitter as @rhogroupee

3 Reasons Why Proper Project Management Can’t Be Overlooked

August 11, 2017 by Thomas

No matter your business size, you know that managing various aspects is crucial.

With that being the case, how would you assess your company’s project management skills?

If you’re running a one-person show, you know that the project decisions fall on your shoulders. While you may get a few wrong, it is imperative the bulk of project management decisions you make come out on top.

When you have many employees, finding the right one to direct project management is key. By having the right minds in the right places, you can make the right decisions time and time again.

So, is proper project management a staple in your business world?

Review Your Project Management Efforts Going Forward

So that your project management efforts are always moving forward, remember these keys:

Knowing who to pass responsibilities to

Whether you make the final call or a manager does, make sure the right person or persons end up with the projects.

For instance, you have a big customer service initiative coming up that you’ve been waiting to unveil. The one catch is that the project is going to need some heavy marketing, especially in the area of social media. While the individual you’d like to head the campaign is great at many facets, he or she is not strong with social media.

So, do you still give them the keys to the project despite the social media shortcomings? Or, better yet, do you trust them to find the person who gets social media to collaborate on the initiative?

The answer depends on if you trust that lead person to do whatever it takes to promote the project. If you do, there should be no worries moving ahead. If you don’t, you may need to intervene at some point.

The bottom line is to know the strengths and weaknesses of those you put in charge to execute any project.

Some people can think on their own two feet and will not need guidance. Others, meantime, may need some extra nurturing to get the job done that you’ve entrusted them with. This can at times include finding the best product support.

Prioritizing the Right Projects

Depending on the number of projects your business has on its plate at any given time, things can get quite busy. That said a busy company tends to be a healthy one.

With that in mind, always do your best to review each project and where it falls on the importance totem pole. To do otherwise is putting your company in a dicey position. Without the right project structure, you can end up with a free-for-all on your hands before you know it.

In prioritizing those projects, look at the following:

Customer needs and expectations
Which projects have the greatest potential for financial return?
Those projects your team can handle with nary a concern

The better you do at prioritizing projects, the faster you become a consumer favorite.

Getting Customer Feedback

Although you make the final decisions, taking customer input is important.

For example, a new project you unveiled recently was a huge hit with the bulk of customers. In not resting on your laurels, get some feedback from customers on why they liked it and how it benefited them.

On the other end of the spectrum, another project you recently put in motion met with muted applause. Customer feedback is essential on why this project did not work as others have.

Once you have all your feedback, both positive and negative that is, be sure to meet with your staff and discuss it. In doing this, you are better prepared when you move on to upcoming projects.

Often, top business owners and project managers learn from yesterday and act today.

In dealing with many projects and people at once, you have your hands full as the company owner.

Step back for a few moments and assess how things are going.

If you’ve for the most part made the right hires and the correct decisions, your company should be doing fine.

So, does that sound like you and your business?

Photo credit: Pixabay

About the Author: Dave Thomas writes about business topics on the web.

Should You Sell Your Business?

July 28, 2017 by Thomas

There will come a time in most cases where small business owners have to make a difficult decision. Should they sell their business or if possible, keep it within the family?

If you find yourself in such a situation, you may find yourself dealing with some restless nights.

Of most importance, making the right call can set you up for years of stability if all goes well. If you make the wrong decision, all that hard work up to this point could go away.

So, what factors should go into whether you sell your business?

What Makes for the Right Sale?

In considering selling your small business, note these thoughts:

Who are they?

If you ponder selling your small business, will you find the best person available for the deal?

There is a lot that goes into such a decision, so expect to do some soul-searching and of course research.

One of the reasons why background searches can make a difference is the information.

Given all the information that is floating around the worldwide web these days, one can learn a lot of details about others. From potential business sales to whether or not the person you are dating is who they say they are, the Internet can be your best go-to information source.

For instance, what if a prospective buyer has past money issues?

Although once you sell any problems are those of the new owner, you likely don’t want a negative impact on clients. Another potential issue is what if the prospective buyer’s money issues kill the deal at the last minute?

By going online and researching, you can get a full dossier in the person who might be buying your company.

Is it time to sell?

Before you look at potential buyers, there is of course the need to decide if selling now is the right decision.

Depending on your age, you may be thinking about calling it career. But, this decision to sell might be you wanting to do something else in the business world.

Among the possibilities:

Starting a new small business venture
Going to work for someone else
Investing your money in other businesses

No matter what path you choose, know that selling your business isn’t something you need to make a rush decision on.

Take your time to weigh the pros and cons of unloading your business. Over a period of time, you might come to the conclusion that selling now is not in your best interests.

Being financially sound

In the event you do sell, will you be alright with financial stability moving forward?

Keep in mind that the age you decide to sell out can very well have an impact on financial health down the road.

If you sell later in life, the money you receive in return can likely set you up for a nice retirement. In the event you sell earlier, will that money last? Remember, you still have personal expenses to handle. You also might have the need to go out and work again or look for another business venture.

Yes, you are likely to have much to think about when deciding if selling your small business is the right call or not.

Photo credit: Pixabay

About the Author: Dave Thomas covers business topics on the web.

How to prepare a disaster plan for your business

July 27, 2017 by Rosemary

Every business should have some minimal type of disaster plan.

Even if you’re a solo entrepreneur or have a remote team, you need to be ready for disrupted communications, the potential for lost data, and project delay due to a disaster.

We had to shut down and evacuate our Charleston, SC office last year due to Hurricane Matthew, so these insights are based on that (rather eye-opening) experience.

Your disaster could be something totally different…a fire, earthquake, incapacitation of someone on your key team, or an emergency you can’t even anticipate.

But there’s no need to panic if you have done some preparation ahead of time.

Here’s a basic checklist to run through now, while all systems are normal:

What types of natural disaster are more common in your location? Our Charleston office is in the hurricane zone, but our Seattle office went through the 2001 Nisqually earthquake. You might have offices in wildfire or flood zones. Tailor your plan accordingly.
Consider insurance on your physical site (are you renting, do you own your furniture/IT equipment, what’s covered). Is your landlord responsible for utilities, repairs, access during an emergency? Do you have “key man” insurance if needed?
Where is your data stored? Are there backups? Does your data center have its own disaster plan? Do your employees back up their data individually, and do you have access from a central location if their access is interrupted?
Do you have multiple Internet service options?
Where will you go if you have to evacuate? Have you shared that plan with your colleagues?
If you have a team of far-flung remote workers, is there a way for everyone to “check in” and say they’re safe? (Facebook has added a feature called Safety Check that helps with this.)
Is your office fire-ready? Do you have smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, and fire extinguishers? Does your staff know how to use them?
Have you had a fire drill? Do you have an emergency meeting spot outside the building?
Who is in charge if the person in charge is not available? Who makes decisions?
How will you communicate during the disaster, with colleagues and clients?
Who is responsible for public messaging on social media, etc.? Do they have passwords and access available remotely?
Who gives the “all clear” for staff to return to the office? How do they communicate that?
Have you done cross-training as much as possible? Especially for small teams, be sure that critical responsibilities are double covered for continuity if a key staffer becomes ill or injured unexpectedly (payroll, client billing, etc.).

Once you’ve considered all of the above, and come up with your answers, don’t forget to share and communicate the plan with the rest of your team. You may even want to share some elements of the plan with major clients, so they know what to do in case of emergency.

Be sure to store your plans and instructions in an offsite, accessible location (that’s where services like DropBox come in handy).

Have you gone through a natural disaster with your business? What tips would you add to the list?