When you run a small or medium-sized business, the costs of professional services can add up quickly and hurt your bottom line, future, and ability to do what you do best. To save money and find new opportunities for growth, expansion, or diversification, it is important to always look for better ways to run a business.
Top 5 reasons why SMEs should hire a freelancer
#1- Pay-as-you-go flexibility
In the long run, hiring freelancers is cheaper than hiring full-time employees, and they also give you more freedom.
You can hire a freelancer only when your business is growing or when you need their services for specific projects or when you need a very specialised skill, like a copywriter for your ad campaign or a photographer for a photoshoot to show off your products, etc.
Then, when business is slow, you can easily cut back on spending by using freelance platforms like Fiverr, where you only pay for the work you order and don’t have to make a contract or spend a minimum amount.
This flexibility works both ways, since freelancers also like to work on a variety of projects. This gives them a chance to learn new skills and come up with creative solutions for their clients.
#2 – Work around the clock
One of the many benefits of the global gig economy is that you can hire freelancers to work for you and your business while you sleep. This gives you access to expertise from all over the world. Literally, let’s say you need a quick turnaround on an investor presentation for the next morning, someone to change your email template, or someone to quickly create a social media campaign to sell excess inventory. In that case, you can always find a skilled professional who can do it right away.
And while it’s great to have loyal and trustworthy employees, you won’t make yourself more attractive as an employer if you keep giving them tasks at the last minute, especially after hours, when a copywriter or developer in a different time zone would be happy to help.
#3: Pros have a lot of experience
You can find the right freelancer(s) by setting clear goals and looking at different platforms. You will be able to talk to a large number of experts in many fields. This is a huge benefit, especially in a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) world where small businesses can’t succeed if they only use tried and true methods.
Even if you put a lot of money into training your employees, hiring a freelancer with the right skills will help you stay ahead of the competition, despite the challenges and changes that keep coming up.
#4 – Managing tight budgets
When first starting a business, it’s important to have a clear goal and keep costs low. But it may be hard to hire more full-time permanent staff, even after the business has gotten going and hired some people. So, hiring a freelancer will save you money while giving you the chance to learn new skills and gain expertise in different professional fields without making a long-term commitment.
#5 – Freelancing is the way of the future
Research shows that the number of freelancers as a share of the total workforce keeps going up, not only in the US but also in the UK and Europe.
This trend has been influenced by a number of factors, such as increased mobility, an increase in the number of people working from home or as digital nomads, and the desire of younger people to use their skills in different ways and not work for just one company.
In Europe, things are different in each country. It keeps getting better for graphic and web designers, copywriters and editors, photographers, SEO consultants, and a few other jobs in the top 20 most-searched for on Google.
Spread your nets wide
Once you know where your business is lacking in skills or have a long-term or short-term project in mind, you can cast as wide a net as you want to find the right help at the right price and within the expected delivery time.
Make sure you know what’s important to you so you can find a good freelancer. You can ask about skills, experience, a portfolio, and references from other customers.
If you’re afraid of making the wrong choice, start small. Once you’ve built a strong network of freelancers or found the right one, keep working with them until they’re an important part of your business.
Remember that every freelancer is an entrepreneur, so you may have more in common than you thought. If you use this to your advantage, you and I will both be better off.
