How to work with a freelancer?

 

Does your company have specific 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 organization, using freelancers always remains an option and has many advantages.

1. Why choose a freelancer?

Independents are professionals who have decided to go solo; they are not fond of hierarchical corporate organizations and teamwork. They work alone and according to their timing and price for limited duration missions. Which is often more profitable for your business.

The real concern is finding the right one! The freelancer who will be compatible with your needs. Ask yourself what your needs really are and if you do not have the possibility of carrying out this project in-house. If this is not the case, evaluate the budget you plan to use to accomplish this mission and find out what is more profitable for your company: hiring someone on a fixed-term contract or calling on a freelance? 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 surely start by comparing the price of the services and this will allow you to make an initial sorting, the same goes for the location of the service providers. If you need someone to work with you at your premises or on site, the choice will be narrower than if you hire someone who can work remotely and provide you with the various deliverables digitally.

 

During the research work, you must ask yourself the right questions in order to transmit the right information concerning 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 to say: after having selected a little less than ten freelancers; It is imperative to have a clear brief that you will have determined with your colleagues or superiors. This is of great value and directs the rest of the project in the direction you choose. An unclear brief, in which crucial elements are missing, can slow down the mission, or even lead to some form of failure. If the deliverables do not suit you, question your first instructions, those provided in the brief.

How to start working with your freelancer before the start of their mission?

Define complete specifications or a mission letter. This 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 little idea of the composition of the team, other stakeholders, how the company works
• The stages of the project: outline the schedule and objectives for each stage
• Deliverables and what you expect
• Working conditions: the environment, the equipment available, whether it is remotely or on your premises, etc.

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

• Avoid 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 are not satisfied

 

Concerning the limits, there are not many:

• There are risks related to confidentiality: in fact, 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 freelancer is truly an expert in their field. By going through agencies, the risks decrease.
• Finally, having a freelancer who is good at what they do and is a perfect fit for you is hard to find.

What are the characteristics of independents?

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 which allows them to work independently.

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

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

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

A tool for 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 progress 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, their workload, their time and other elements useful for the proper functioning of your project management.

 

Read this article on resource planning management and its benefits

 

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

By using a tool resource planning , you benefit from visibility on the skills of your employees, their performance and the progress of the project in real time. Everyone has the possibility to enter their data and this helps create better collaboration and connectivity in the company and in the teams working on a project.

Remote working having reinforced this need for communication, the management tool resource planning is a way to centralize data and exchanges. What many are looking for today are tools that make it easier to adapt to remote work, the upheavals of the last two years have highlighted certain 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 collaborators and independent workers – who will feel more involved in the business.

Each person, once assigned to a task, can organize their schedule in their own way and report their progress, difficulties and performance in the reporting tool. resource planning . This allows for better general monitoring in a period when planning, reporting and discussing as a team becomes complicated.

 

Read this article for more information on how to use a resource planning tool

3. Integrate freelancers into the company and the team

Freelancers, despite the fact that they work according to their own schedule and (their own 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 from 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 advancement of your mission. (change of schedule, missing equipment, etc.)
• Lack of integration
• Administrative concerns and payment delays
• Failing to take the time to get to know 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 exchange quickly, 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 truly working in good collaboration with your freelancers:

As you are used to doing with company employees, 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 I wanted to be independent, but after doing around ten years in consulting and finance I was capable of doing quite a few things and I had a fairly wide range of options. 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 while. I started my website, I also did a few missions here and there without it being very targeted and without canvassing.

I started defining my offer in September 2020 by making my site. I told myself 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 has a slightly broader meaning for support in the context of mergers and acquisitions, etc. Finally, I have a part-time DAF offer, which is the one I sell the most. I work with clients to take care of the entire financial function.

 

What types of customers do you have?

I have a core customer base, but it remains very broad. This ranges from very young companies – such as clients who do not yet have legal status – to consulting firms with tens of millions of euros in turnover. My core customers are rather startups which have between two and four years of activity, which have a turnover of around 1 and 5 million euros, which have reporting needs such as forecasting to be able to take strategic decisions; or because they have investors who need regular reporting on their investments.  

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

In finance for example: The managers do all the financial part themselves, they are entirely capable of doing it but it is time-consuming, it takes them a lot of time. This is time they cannot spend on their activity. The advantage of using a service provider is that they can take care of this whole part and take this burden off the manager who will be able to concentrate on 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 choose 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's expensive for a company today to recruit someone, and it's not very flexible if it doesn't 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 do not go well between a service provider and a company, in which case it is 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 freelancer with a profile of 10 years of activity for 2 to 3 days per 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 client? 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 is a very active company that is developing well. The leaders are very sensible and with a good head on their shoulders. It's very interesting because it's an exchange with people who know my job. Things are going very well and we have a lot to offer each other. We work together for the good of the company.

It's nice compared to what I did before in the firm, it was more one-off missions which ranged from a week to a few months where we established links with the client but finally, at the end of the mission we hand over a report and then we never see that 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. In your opinion and your experience, what should clients know before using your services? What advice will you give them so that they can better understand your profession and your way of working?

I'm not sure how freelancers work in general. I was fortunate to work in a consulting firm for a long time, and I was trained in the firm's strict procedures. 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 beneficial to use a service provider rather than a consulting firm. After that you have to do a benchmark and compare the different service providers who can intervene on the project. We must 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 freelancer generally knows his job well because he has been doing it for several years. He knows the missions that we will offer him well, whereas a recruit will need to be trained, because his level will be lower.

 

Can you share your experience as a service provider on a mission 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 Excel databases. I helped you get all of this back into shape and properly integrate the customer's data into Stafiz. It was IT consulting, I had no financial input at all on this mission.

It was 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 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 company name. But there are also clients who are less accustomed to working with service providers and with whom I continue to work under the banner of my consulting firm. Generally 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've 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 for us to feel comfortable as part of the team. As the clock ticks, it is in their interest that this happens well and quickly. We work with customers for the well-being of the company.

 

Thank you Cyril.”

 

 

Other source: joptimisemonsite