How to work with a freelancer?

 

Does your company have special needs and you don't have this expertise in-house? It's time to work with freelancers! Whether you are a start-up, an SME or a large organisation, using freelancers is always a possibility and has many advantages.

1. Why choose a freelancer?

Freelancers are professionals who have decided to go it alone, they are not fond of hierarchical organizations in companies and teamwork. They work alone and according to their timing and price for limited time missions. Which is often more profitable for your business.

The real concern is to find the right one! The freelancer who will be compatible with your needs. Ask yourself what your needs really are and if you don't have the opportunity to carry out this project in-house. If not, evaluate the budget you intend to use for the accomplishment of this mission and find out what is more profitable for your company: hiring someone on a fixed-term contract or using a freelancer? Many companies find many advantages in opting for the second solution!

Today, there are more and more freelancers on the market and making a choice remains a challenge. You will probably start by comparing the price of the services and this will allow you to make an initial selection, the same is true for the location of the service providers. If you need someone to work with you on your premises or on-site, the choice will be less broad than if you use someone who can work remotely and provide you with the various deliverables digitally.

 

During the research work, you have to ask yourself the right questions in order to convey the right information about the mission:

• What skills are in demand?
• What experiences?
• What is expected of the freelancer
• What deliverable?
• Dates and duration

 

Once your choice has been made, that is: after having selected a little less than a dozen freelancers; It is imperative to have a clear brief that you will have determined with your collaborators, or superiors. This is of great value and directs the rest of the project in the direction you have chosen. An unclear brief, in which crucial elements are missing, can slow down the mission, or even lead to a form of failure. If the deliverables don't suit you, question your initial instructions, those provided in the brief.

How do you start working with your freelancer before the start of their assignment?

Define a complete specification or an engagement letter. It must contain these essential elements:

• Why this project: explain your needs, your vision and give in a few words the objectives of the mission
• Who you are: explain what your company does what its values are
• Give a small idea of the composition of the team, other stakeholders, how the company works
• Project milestones: outline the schedule and goals for each milestone
• Deliverables and what you expect
• Working conditions: the environment, the equipment available, whether it is remote or on your premises, etc.

Recruiting a freelancer has several advantages. According to manager-go.com the main ones are these:

• Avoiding the rigidity of a fixed-term contract
• Use expert skills: freelancers work better and faster and will cost you less than an employee
• Expand your network
• Immediate availability
• Recruit as many people as you want if you're not satisfied

 

As far as the limits are concerned, there are not many:

• There are privacy risks: there is no guarantee that some of your information will not be shared with other clients of your freelancer, clients who may be your competitors.
• There is also no guarantee that a self-employed person is really an expert in his field. By going through agencies, the risks decrease.
• Finally, having a freelancer who is good at what he does and who suits you perfectly is difficult to find.

What are the characteristics of the self-employed?

As the name suggests, they work solo. But what most characterizes these workers, who stand on their own two feet, is their passion for what they do. They are autonomous and have acquired a certain amount of experience over the years that allows them to work independently.

Generally, they express this need to work in freedom, without the restrictions that companies and teamwork can put in place.

Independents also have ideas and opinions to defend, a clear vision of what they want to accomplish. Their determination makes them very talented people but also difficult individuals to integrate into a team that is used to collaborating and sharing ideas to reach consensus.

These profiles of self-employed people are very rigorous and demonstrate an ease in adapting to different types of missions for very different companies sometimes. Their active listening and desire to strive for excellence make them reliable individuals.

2. Use a resource planning to assign freelancers to missions and tasks

A resource planning has many benefits for your business. When you are in charge of a project, make a resource planning is essential to improve the project process by assigning each resource where it is needed. A tool allows you to do this even more efficiently thanks to the visibility it offers on the different resources and their availability, workload, time and other elements useful to the smooth running of your project management.

 

Read this article on the Management of the resource planning and its benefits

 

When you work with freelancers, you can include them in your management of the resource planning. And as you do for every project, list the other resources you need, whether material or human. Then make your schedule and estimate the costs, then start allocating your resources on the different tasks your freelancer includes.

Using a resource planning, you gain visibility into your employees' skills, performance, and project progress in real time. Everyone has the possibility to enter their data and this allows to create better collaboration and connectivity in the company and in the teams working on a project.

As remote work has reinforced this need for communication, the resource planning is a way to centralize data and exchanges. What many are looking for today are tools to make it easier to adapt to remote work, the upheavals of the last two years have highlighted some weaknesses in some companies. This is why using software such as Stafiz to manage your teams and projects in addition to your administrative management is essential for better productivity and responsiveness on the part of your employees and freelancers – who will feel more involved in the company.

Each person, once staffed on a task, can organize their schedule in their own way and report on their progress, difficulties and performance in the resource planning. This allows for better general monitoring in a period when planning, reporting and exchanging as a team is becoming complicated.

 

Read this article to More info on how to use a resource planning

3. Integrate freelancers into the company and team

Freelancers, despite the fact that they work according to their own schedule and rules, are more effective when they are well integrated into the team, and into the company. Here are some mistakes to avoid when working with a freelancer according to an article by Crème de la crème, a freelance platform:

• Poor communication before, during, and at the end of the project: this is even more important when working remotely. Don't forget to communicate all the information necessary for the proper progress of his mission. (change of schedule, missing equipment etc)
• Lack of integration
• Administrative problems and late payments
• Failing to take the time to get to know each other and understand their way of working

The objective is to build a relationship of trust with him, a lasting relationship so that we can perhaps work together again in the future.

 

The importance of remaining flexible and adapting:

Use tools that allow you to work properly remotely, for example, so that you can quickly exchange, share documents, etc.

Giving freelancers access to as much information as possible, the visibility they will obtain will allow them to be more efficient in their tasks and to feel more involved in your company.

Here are 4 tips for really working well with your freelancers:

As you are used to doing with employees of the company, act as you would with them:

1. Express your satisfaction
2. Remind everyone of their roles and define certain rules
3. Be available, listen
4. Make the exchange possible

The experience of a freelancer at Stafiz

Interview with Cyril Coulange

"How long ago did you start this career as a freelancer?

This was done in several stages. The first was to set up the legal structure more than a year ago. Then I had to define my offer. I knew that I wanted to be independent, but after doing about ten years in consulting and finance I was able to do a lot of things and I had a fairly wide offer. I really had to define what I wanted to offer and the best way to enter the market to get customers quickly.

It took me a little time. I started my website, I also did a few missions here and there without it being very targeted and without canvassing.

I started to define my offer in September 2020 by making my website. I thought it was a good showcase. I put my offer into production in October 2020, and since then I have been actively working on it. Technically, there are three, on the one hand, closing automation and the implementation of reporting tools. On the other hand, financial and strategic advice had a slightly broader meaning for support in the context of mergers and acquisitions, etc. Finally, I have a part-time CFO offer, which is the one I sell the most. I work with clients to take care of the entire finance function.

 

What types of customers do you have?

I have a core clientele, but it's still very broad. These range from very young companies – as well as clients who do not yet have legal status – to consulting firms that make tens of millions of euros in turnover. My core clientele is more like startups that have been in business for between two and four years, that have a turnover of around €1 million and €5 million, that have reporting needs as well as forecasting to be able to make strategic decisions; or because they have investors who need regular reporting on their investments.  

What can a freelancer bring to a company or a project?

In finance, for example: Managers do all the financial work themselves, they are quite capable of doing it, but it's time-consuming, it takes them a lot of time. This is time that they cannot spend on their activity. The advantage of using a service provider is that he can take care of all this part and leave this burden to the manager who will be able to concentrate on the operational activity and delegate.

The advantage for the company is that it is a very flexible status. If there is a very high demand, or need for a service, she will be able to take her "tailor-made" service provider. If there are months when there are fewer needs, the company simply does not call on him. The service provider adapts according to the activity of its client and according to the budget.

It is expensive for a company today to recruit someone, and it is not very flexible if it does not go well. With a freelancer, we can monitor the budget very closely and decide whether or not to use their services.

It can happen that things don't go well between a service provider and a company, in which case it's very easy to end a contract.

 

Is it more profitable to turn to a freelancer, or to recruit someone?

It depends a lot on the profile. On the financial function, and with a comparable budget, we can bring in a self-employed person with a profile of 10 years of activity for 2 to 3 days a week in a company for the same price as a full-time junior with only two years of seniority. The senior will intervene fewer days, but he will be more effective in 3 days than a junior in a week.

 

What was your best experience with a customer? Or your favorite mission?

My favorite mission is with a company that has been in existence for 4 years and with whom I have been working for several months. I work with a team of seven people and it's a company that is very active, which is developing well. The leaders are very sensible and with a head on their shoulders. It's very interesting because it's an exchange with people who know my job. It's going very well and we have a lot to bring to each other. We work together for the good of the company.

It's nice compared to what I used to do in the firm, it was more one-off missions that ranged from a week to a few months where we established links with the client but in the end, at the end of the mission we submit a report and then we never see this client again.

As a freelancer, I can create real relationships and intervene on a recurring basis, which facilitates communication and interest in the mission.

 

Sometimes clients don't know what to expect before working with freelancers. Based on you and your experience, what should customers know before using your services? What advice would you give them so that they know your job better, your way of working?

I don't know exactly how the self-employed work in general. I was fortunate enough to work in a consulting firm for a long time, and I was trained in the strict procedures of the firm. The service I offer today is a firm, cheaper and more flexible because I have fewer clients than when I was in a firm. I am closer to my clients, so it is in my interest to go through a service provider than a consulting firm. After that, you have to make a benchmark and compare the different service providers who can work on the project. We have to look at those who are the most competent to carry out the mission.

 

How can choosing to work with a freelancer rather than hiring someone full-time guarantee the success of a project?

Flexibility, and know-how. A self-employed person generally knows his job well because he has been doing it for several years. He knows well the missions that will be offered to him, whereas a recruit will need to be trained, because his level will be lower.

 

Can you share your experience as a service provider on an assignment at Stafiz?

I worked for one of your clients, on the onboarding of the Stafiz solution. The client had a problem with the format of its databases in Excel. I have accompanied you to get all this back in shape and integrate the customer's data into Stafiz as it should be. It was IT consulting, I had no financial input at all on this mission.

It was in September/October last year and it was very interesting. It was during the period when I was still defining my offer, which is why it was very interesting to work on these issues that I had not been confronted with before. I worked a lot with the client face-to-face without going through Stafiz.

 

So you weren't really integrated into the team, you only worked with this Stafiz client?

Exactly. I was more of a service provider for the client than for Stafiz in the end.

 

What is your general feeling? Are you well integrated into the teams or do you work more solo?

It depends on the clients, some are used to working with service providers so we are well integrated and part of the team. We even have email addresses in the name of the company. But there are also clients who are less used to working with service providers and with whom I continue to work under the banner of my consulting firm. As a general rule, communication goes very well, we are lucky today to have tools that allow us to communicate in real time such as with Slack and Teams (it depends on the teams).

So I never had a problem with my customers. As we provide them with a solution, it is in their interest to communicate well and provide us with all the documents we need, and that we feel comfortable in the team. As the clock is ticking, it is in their interest that it goes well and quickly. We work with customers for the well-being of the company.

 

Thank you Cyril."

 

 

Other source: joptimisemonsite