Sometimes good help is just hard to find hey everybody. This is Roberto blake of robertoblake.com, helping you create something awesome today. So today I’ve got some advice for those of you who are looking to hire a freelancer, whether you’re trying to hire a freelance graphic designer, a freelance video editor of freelance.
Whatever you happen to need today we’re going to cover five things that you need to know when hiring a freelancer, and I think this is gon na be helpful for the far majority of you, especially if you are dabbling in something or you’re running a small business. I’M also going to give just a little bit of advice for freelancers out there, who should have an understanding of what a client might need and should be looking for.
I’M not be covering a couple of important things in this video I’m going to cover how to find a freelancer in the first place, how to choose one, how to work with them, how much to pay them and also how to make sure that you’re getting what You paid for so you’ll definitely want to stay tuned and take a few notes during the video one of the things.
A lot of people tell me that they struggle with is that they can’t find a freelancer in the first place and there’s a couple of different ways. You can go about it. One of the ways that I strongly recommend is that you get a referral from a trusted friend, business partner or somebody that’s already in your network. If somebody in your network has already used a freelancer for their services, then it’s probably going to be one of the best relationships you can have.
So, that’s probably where you need to start asking a friend, a family member or somebody that you look up to or that you know who’s hired for this kind of thing before. If you don’t have anyone in your network or you don’t have anyone that you trust that you can ask for a referral, then maybe just maybe you go and you look at a freelancing website, I’m going to recommend two here.
There are some people who are freelancers, who are not going to like these recommendations, but the thing is going to be an answer for everyone. I have had great experiences with up work and I’m planning to do you know. Videos actually is a review of my experience on that, and I’m also getting ready to run a few experiences in 99designs so that I can show you guys what my experience of that has been now a lot of my friends who are authors, public speakers and have Hired out for other things have used both of these services.
I’Ve used up work, I’ve also hired freelancers directly in my network. So those are things I’m very comfortable talking about I’m going to link to both up work and 99designs in the description for you, but you can use these online marketplaces to find people and contract them for services, and it makes this whole process a lot easier. If you don’t know where to start or how any of this works, so I would recommend that.
Ideally, I would prefer that you have a personal one-on-one relationship with somebody that you want to hire, but that’s not always going to be a practical answer or an answer that gets things done quickly enough for you. So there needs to be a solution for everyone. The one thing I’m going to caution you on is not to be tempted to go to Fiverr.
Do not do it. I understand that there are people about great experiences with it. If you want to play Russian roulette, I’m not going to be held responsible for what happens to you. You have been warned with those options in mind. How do you choose a freelancer to work with in the first place? Well, there are a couple of things that I personally look for when I’m hiring anyone I obviously look at their portfolio and their body work for whatever it is about hiring for, but I also try to get a sense of their personality if I am able to Call them and interview them via Skype or via phone or meet them in person, that’s easier to get sent to their personality, if not after a lie on that through their work, possibly by looking them it’s up in social media and have to decide if they’re comfortable Fit for me, a lot of you think that the work is the work, and I understand that, but to be honest relationships matter, a lot and being able to be aligned being able to communicate well with somebody is going to be the make-or-break point between whether you Get the most out of them for your money or not so, personality is at least as far as I’m concerned a huge priority in some cases, more than their portfolio and body of work again, they’re going to be professionals out there who disagree with me on this They’Re going to be business owners who disagree with me on this.
This is just what my experience has taught me whenever I’ve hired by prioritizing personality, I’ve never regretted it. When I’ve been very impressed with someone’s work and then they’ve been a pain in the butt to work with it’s, because I overemphasize the quality of their work versus their personality and how they communicate and how they behave. Finally, I also look at the presentation. I look at the way that someone represents them before deciding to put my brand in their hand, so I take a hard look at that again. This one is a take-it-or-leave-it. You have to decide what you’re most comfortable with now with regard to some other practical considerations and hiring.
You also can and should look at their depth of experience, whether that’s the volume of their body of work or their years of experience or specific skills that you would prefer that they have or whether or not they’ve served a key target market. Too often, people look at impressive work and they’ll look at whether or not the work that someone has done aligns with their industry or what they would need, or the style that they prefer to have things done in, and that could make a difference. Also. I look for people who have compatible workflows with mine. The thing is that I ultimately do a lot of in-house work myself for my business.
I also work with people all over the country, if not over the world, and we have to be on the same page and in my case what that means is we’re using Adobe software across the board. So, if you have software compatibility issues, if there’s a reason where you guys are using all Mac software, for example, let’s say that your workflow is something that’s very Mac specific. Lets see, you’re using ScreenFlow or you’re using Final Cut Pro. If you hire a video editor, they need to be on Final Cut Pro or ScreenFlow or whatever you’re. Using a lot of people who are creatives will argue that no no no it’s about the results. It doesn’t matter what tools you use from a business standpoint. We know better, we know that workflows, matter systems, matter, system, scale, businesses and that’s the difference between someone who might be a business owner or have an agency versus somebody who’s. Just a freelancer is a hired gun.
They can work with whatever they prefer and whatever is best for them. The problem is that if we have to hire them, they have to conform to our constraints. Much in the same way that if we hired an employee and they’ve worked in the office, they would have to use the tools that we provide them in most cases. So, as a business owner as an employer. I prioritize people who use the systems and workflows that I’m accustomed to and that all my other vendors use and that my in-house people are going to be using. So that’s something you might need to look at whether that means that people need to be using specific software or operating systems or hardware. You need to look at that for those who are creatives, you need to understand that if you were a professional photographer and you hire a second shooter, most people who hire a second shooter as a photographer is going to hire someone who’s using the exact same camera System as them why they can swap out accessories batteries and lenses very easily, and they can explain things to each other and be on the same page very rapidly.
You might like to shoot Canon, I’m shooting Panasonic. I don’t have lenses that are compatible with yours, or I would have to invest in a speed booster to be able to swap out and use your lenses, and it doesn’t mean that they’ll produce the same results, etc, etc. Is the same thing with file compatibilities and systems, so I understand where you’re coming from you want to be valued on your work, only and not your tools, but their business owners who that’s not going to work out, for I happen to be one of them. Lets talk a little bit about how to work with a freelancer, once you’ve decided whether you hire someone through a referral or that you reach out directly or maybe even took out an ad and hired somebody. You have to figure out what the working relationship is going to be like you have to figure out how you’re going to communicate with them.
So you have to know, is it going to be via email that change requests are made and that you are communicating with them or is it going to be via phone calls? Is it going to be via Skype meetings? Are you going to be using slack or using a project management system? This has to be clear and you have to have a consistent form of communication and you need to be able to reach each other. One of the reasons I don’t like certain websites, five or being examples, is I don’t like situations where I don’t feel like I own the relationship with my vendor with my freelancer with my service provider. I like that sense of control.
A lack of control creates anxiety for me, especially when it comes to getting work done, and so I need that in order to feel comfortable, which is like why I love to hire directly more often than not, rather than using a website or a service or a Platform where I don’t have that now with regard to communication and things like that, I feel that up work does a pretty decent job of allowing you that they are not sponsoring this video. I’M just saying that that’s what my experience has been using that particular platform. So, that’s why I recommend up work and 99designs over something like Fiverr. Thats one of many reasons um, but you just have to keep that in mind in general.
You need to go ahead and have that agreement in place of this is how we’re going to communicate. This is how we’re capable or allowed to communicate, and then you need to make sure that all communication is clear. You as a client need to set clear expectations for your designer from Jump Street, or it’s going to be a problem. You need to also make sure that you understand what it is that they’re going to be providing to you and that you ask appropriate questions. If you don’t know, then ask you: are the employer, don’t worry about being embarrassed?
Clarity is the most important thing. Don’T worry about how you’re going to look or be perceived. I guarantee you that they’re, not judging you and even if they are, they want to get the work done for you and they want to deliver because that’s the only way they’re going to get paid. So don’t worry about the embarrassment just be clear. We can get paid. Lets talk about that. Typically in a given situation, when you’re working with a freelancer you’re going to either have service fees, flat rates or hourly rates, there is a temptation by many people who hire freelancers to get the cheapest hourly rate possible.
I prefer to pay in flat fees for a project. This might require you as someone hiring to do your research as far as what something cost. If you don’t know what something cost and you don’t know, what’s appropriate, ask somebody find a person in social media who provides that service reaches out to them DM them whatever, and ask how much they would charge for something like that and then start to figure out Whether that’s in your budget and then negotiate with your freelancer or you can just ask your freelancer what their rates and what their fees are. You can just ask and then you can haggle if you want to one way or the other. I prefer to do this. I prefer to set a fixed budget for what it is. I know I am going to spend both in a maximum and then I set myself an ideal range of what I would like to get as far as a deal or what I would like to save.
But I set myself a minimum and a maximum, and then I usually do my own research to understand and what the pricing that is reasonable and what is the average and so on and so forth and I get some quotes and then I’ll ask the freelancer. What is it that they feel comfortable to charge and then I’m able to make a decision from there? I usually find that you get better pricing when you do this. I also feel that when you let the freelancer tell you what they’re valuing their work at you get a more honest communication.
You have a much better relationship because they don’t feel like they’re getting screwed, they feel like they ask for something, and then you either said. Yes, to it, or you act more detail what you might be getting for, that you can negotiate, maybe not on the price, but on value rather than trying to talk the freelancer down in price, I would say: well, if I pull back these requests, could we Get this closer to this number, because that’s what my budget is. So if I make it a little easier on you and you don’t have to do nearly as much work, can you work out a better deal for me. I would use that language and I would go that route if you want more things, which is usually direction I go, is I actually usually end up asking for more rather than less, and then I just increase the price accordingly in terms of what I feel comfortable And ask them if that’s alright or if that’s what they’re comfortable and here’s another tip that I use.
If I have something that the other person may value or may want, I put it on the table to say: hey. Is this something you’re interested in? I let them say yes or no, and then I ask them if they’d like to make a consideration in terms of either adjusting the price in exchange for a service of mine or a product of mine and do some bartering there. I put it on the table as an option. I don’t usually lead with that. I let people tell me what they’re comfortable with. Sometimes people come to me and want exactly that scenario or it’s something that they think about, because there are things that I do have to offer them. So you have to be aware of that. Be careful with this as well. Don’T offer exposure per se, but if you actually really do have leverage or you want to offer something in terms of saying well, I have more business to do with you. I’M going to be doing bulk orders or ordering your services from you at a high volume, or I have a network that can introduce you to in terms of referrals or I have a large email list. Would you like to have some type access to it?
These are things that you can discuss if the freelancer isn’t open to them: they’re not open to them, but just be upfront and have a position of integrity and value when you’re negotiating prices and fees. Something else that I consider is, I avoid hourly rates whenever possible. At all cost, I don’t think, there’s really an incentive when it comes to hourly rates, if you’re, if you’re painting my house and you’re charging by the hour, you have every incentive to take six months. If I need something done timely, I don’t go in an hourly rate. I pay out right because it gives you every incentive to get it done, get paid and move to the next job. With regard to those payments, you can, if you’re using a platform the payment is held in escrow, and then you have to review and approve everything before the payments released.
If you’re doing this on your own working with a freelancer, maybe ask if payments can be made in terms of installments based on stages of work that are completed and reviewed and approved by you as the client, or do something like a deposit, one-third or half up Front and then the rest incrementally figure out what you’re comfortable with and, if possible, try to either have a general agreement, a contract or an invoice in place from the freelancer to just have some paperwork behind this transaction. In terms of how to make payments, PayPal, stripe and venmo are great payment systems. I highly recommend those and those are great ways to work with freelancers.
Typically, if you’re using an online platform, it is compatible with those things PayPal being the most widely used of all right now. Finally, let’s talk about how to make sure you’re getting what you paid for. Ultimately, you should put some kind of review process for approval in place for final payment, and it should be clear how many revisions you are allowed, as the client does not make the assumption of assuming you have unlimited revisions or that you’re entitled to that. This is someone’s time and livelihood, so just try to do a fair deal and be honest and upfront about what your expectations are. What you need, what deadlines are?
I would also make sure that, when you’re working with freelancers give them soft deadlines, if something is due on Friday, don’t tell them it’s due on Friday, ask for it by Tuesday or Wednesday to give yourself room for flexibility like just give yourself that for in the Worst case scenario, because there’s a lot that you don’t control in this situation and you don’t want to be left holding a bag, you don’t want to be an uncomfortable situation for you. You also don’t want to put your freelancer under the gun.
So you know just give some slack where it’s needed to get a deposit in place and then holding the remainder of the money until the project is completed. Is the best-case scenario in terms of making sure you’re getting what you’re paying for in terms of getting the final files? You know you can do that at roughly the same time or same day as far as a transaction. I think that that’s usually fine just make sure that clear communication is being had by you know you and your freelancer. If you want to make sure that you’re both getting what you’re paying for no one likes to have a bad referral or bad reference, no one likes a bad testimonial. Everyone wants to feel that they’ve been treated fairly, so just make sure that you’re operating accordingly and that you’re making it easy for them and for you so clients out there.
I hope this helps. You understand how to hire a freelancer and tells you some things that maybe you needed to know if you’re out there in your freelancer. Maybe this gives you a better insight into the way that a good client should deal with you, how you should be treated, and also maybe you understand what a client might be looking for a little better I’d love to know. You guys thoughts on this video and the five points guy covered. Also, if you have any tips or advice, you want to offer either freelancers or clients leave those in the comments section.
I would love to have a really thorough discussion about this. So let’s go ahead and get that going like this video. If you liked it don’t forget to subscribe check out the other awesome content here on the channel. As always, you guys thanks so very much for watching and don’t forget, go out there and create something awesome.
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