Startup businesses should look at freelancers and contractors as a low cost and low risk way to grow their business. With rising Internet speeds and a truly global marketplace, more and more workers are choosing to operate on a freelance, self-employed basis. This means that there's a deep well of expertise and talent waiting to be tapped into whenever you need help with your business or start up. Freelancers and contractors can prove to be of great benefit for your company, but there are some important considerations to take into account before you take the plunge.

1. How Small Businesses Can Make
Use of Freelancers and Contractors
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2. • With rising Internet speeds and a truly
global marketplace, more and more workers
are choosing to operate on a freelance, selfemployed basis
• This means that there’s a deep well of
expertise and talent waiting to be tapped
into whenever you need help with your
business or start up
• Freelancers and contractors can prove to be
of great benefit for your company
• But there are some important
considerations to take into account before
you take the plunge
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3. • Make sure you work with freelancers and
contractors that you can trust (of which
more later), and get a contractual
agreement in place so that both parties
know what’s expected
• You have the option of choosing from local
or international freelancers, depending on
your needs
• It can bring some much-needed expertise to
your operation without the time and
expense usually associated with hiring staff.
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4. • For a bootstrapping business or start up,
employing freelancers and contractors is a
perfect solution
• it enables you to keep costs down and
maintain the flexibility that a small, selffunded company needs
• Once you’ve found your place in the
market, you can take on extra freelancers as
and when required, or choose to pull back
from employing extra staff when you need
a leaner, more focused period of growth
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5. • Do your research
• There’s a vast marketplace of freelancers
and contractors out there, and a cursory
glance at Twitter, LinkedIn or an online job
board is enough to get an idea of how many
people are actively looking for work of one
description or another
• This is good news for business owners as it
means you have many different skills and
rates to choose from
• But it’s essential that you put in the
necessary research beforehand to avoid
problems later on
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6. • Personal recommendations are one of the
best ways of finding freelancers, so reach
out to friends in your industry to see if
there are particular people you should be
working with
• When weighing up potential candidates,
look at the quality of their previous work
and their portfolio
• Check with previous clients for testimonials
— if you can’t get hold of any, your
freelancer may not be as good as he or she
says she is
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7. • Depending on the situation, a formal interview
can be a good idea. It gives both you and the
freelancer or contractor a way of getting a feel
for each other, and offers the opportunity for
your potential hires to ask any questions they
may have
• Remember that the cheapest option isn’t always
the best one, and if you cut corners trying to get
low rates then you might find these rates are
matched by low-quality work
• Once you’ve found the right people for the task,
don’t get rid of your shortlist. Should illness or
emergency strike, you make need extra cover,
and it’s handy to have some additional names to
call on if the need arises
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8. • Getting a professional Web designer to take care of your
online presence, for example, will give you a much more
impressive, bespoke website when compared with something
you’ve knocked together yourself
• Building smartphone apps, putting together a business plan
and producing content (whether visual or written) are all jobs
that you can assign to freelancers
• A virtual assistant to help you deal with your paperwork and
schedule on the occasions when everything starts to get on
top of you
• In fact almost any kind of job role can be filled on a freelance
basis, giving you the flexibility to adapt your workforce as
situations change
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9. • No matter what the size or goals of your
business, the freelance option is a great one to
have
• It’s inexpensive, it’s flexible, and it gives you the
ability to retool the capabilities of your company
as it grows and as different scenarios emerge
• Provided you put in the right fail-safe
procedures, it can be a very effective strategy
• Further down the line, you might even consider
asking some of the best and most ambitious
freelancers to join you full-time — they will
already know the various systems and company
culture, and will need much less time to get up
to speed
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10. For a free book on how to start and grow a small
business, go now to …
http://www.startupsuccess.co.uk/free-book/
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