Everyone wants their money to be utilized properly. In the case of hiring a freelancer, you want to get the most out of them. To achieve this a lot of things are accountable.
Hiring a freelancer for the specific project provides flexibility as it helps to scale and accelerate growth. With the help of a talented freelancer, it is possible to get astonishing results without disturbing our financial resources.
Nevertheless, the trick to extracting great results forms freelancers lies within structuring the project appropriately. Here we have gathered 7 tips and productive tools to get most out of your freelancer and we will also see how time tracking for freelancers actually works.
Match your budget with expectations
Managing your budget with a freelancer’s expectation is important. You cannot overlook pricing. Look for a freelancer whose expectations are aligned with your financial budget.
But make sure that your expectation is quite realistic. If you are ending with freelancers demanding $400 for your project, and your budget is $300. Either you want to adjust project scope or your budget expectations with the market rates.
Embrace two-way communication
Whipping off project requirements on freelancer may sound easy, but it does not work every time. Sometimes just sitting back and waiting for flawless results will do the work. Nevertheless, every project requires two-way communication. Some alterations and tweaks require back and forth discussions. Don’t always settle for the first delivered result, if it isn’t what you expected. Give your freelancer an opportunity to make a few amendments so that you can get you paid for.
It’s important to encourage your freelancer to ask questions. The more your freelancer understands your work the better will be the results.
Go easy on a new freelancer
It is best to start with a small and non-technical project while working with a new freelancer. Take it as try-out. It is your chance to test freelancer’s skills. Allow some extra time if he or she is unable to get the project delivered in a given time. Provide them a few rounds of revision to get desired results. In this way, you will be taking less business risk, if you are not providing any critical project.
Share past success and failure stories
Share your past experiences with a new hire. Discuss former successful freelancers. That way, they will know what you loved about your previous experiences. Talking about failures is also important, share what these failed freelancers did that did not work for you.
Share your concerns. Think about ways to address your freelancers. This intuition will help them know what pitfalls they need to avoid.
Encourage giving & receiving feedback
Freelancers flourish on feedback. It is your job to give them their earned feedback on what you loved or what were the downsides. And don’t forget to ask them their feedback on you. So, you could know what you did them out and what were the roadblocks for them.
Getting an idea about these things will help you out to get the best possible results from a freelancer.
Regular check-ins
You want to keep track of people you have invested in. Try scheduling weekly check-ins. So, it will stay on top of your to-do lists. If not use remote employee monitoring software. It will also force freelancers to show progress and enables them to avoid delays.
Treat them as partners
Freelancers are partners in terms of success. Treat your freelancer with respect not only for their time but also for their expertise. Don’t just throw your work on them, ask for their opinions as well, what do they recommend. They need to be treated as experts in whatever field they are. You get respect by giving respect. They will value you more if you value them and their work as well.
In the same way, don’t hold back your constructive feedback, if you are not getting the desired results. A freelancer can not simply just jump into a mind to understand what is required. By providing constructive criticism, you are actually helping your freelancer to conclude the project.
Top comments (1)
Thank you for posting this! I remember being a freelancer in my first year, and I had many lessons to learn. After some trial and error, I found the best way to manage my work is by using the right project management software. I can use the time tracking feature to improve my time management. I like to use either Trello or Quire.