Small Business Blog

This article is the second in a series about working with freelancers and independent contractors. Once you’ve made the decision to retain a freelancer, the next step is to find the right person. Try these five tips to help you find and select the right freelancer. 

Get referrals

Ask everyone you know for a referral to a qualified freelancer. Post a note about your search on your LinkedIn and Facebook accounts. Colleagues who’ve worked with an exceptional freelancer are usually happy to share information. If someone does pass on a name, press the referring individual for details. Questions to ask include:

1. What were the freelancer’s strengths? Weaknesses?
2. How well did the freelancer accept direction?
3. Was the freelancer able to work independently?
4. How quickly did the freelancer adopt the goals of the project?

Price shop

Finding a freelancer isn’t like getting a mortgage; you don’t need to get the lowest price out there. And that’s exactly the reason you need to price shop. A freelancer who low-balls the price may be radically underestimating what it takes to get your project done. That low price doesn’t help you if it leads to incomplete or substandard work. On the other hand, you may not need the most expensive freelancer in town either. Pricey freelancers tend to be more like small firms: they may have access to more resources, but they have higher overhead. Stay focused on being cost efficient, and only pay for what you need.

Select career freelancers

There are freelancers and then there are freelancers. More specifically, there are those who freelance while between jobs, and then there are those who have made a financially productive career out of freelancing. You can get quality work from someone in either group — but someone who is a long-standing, experienced freelancer is the far safer choice. This is because the job of a freelancer is worlds different from the job of an employee:

• Freelancers must be innately motivated to work, even when no one’s watching.
• Freelancers must wear many hats. There is no IT department to bail them out when the laptop blows up. There’s no co-worker to pick up the slack when they have the flu.

Someone who doesn’t have experience working indpendently and without corporate resources is more likely to get sidetracked or to underestimate the time and/or inputs required for your project. An experienced freelancer is comfortable tackling challenges, while still getting the work done — on time and to your exacting standards.

Ask for what you want

When interviewing prospective freelancers, be very clear about what you need. An experienced freelancer should ask you a lot of questions about your project, but he still only knows what you tell him. At a minimum, you need to share these details with your prospective freelancers:

1. What you want
2. How you want it
3. When you want it

For example, don’t ask for a Web site; ask for a dynamic, database-driven site that allows you to sell your products online. Share as many details as possible and then listen carefully to the prospective freelancer’s response. An experienced freelancer should ask questions and become engaged in the conversation.

Start small

Design a mini project that you can have two or three freelancers complete. Established freelancers won’t work for free, but the expense will be well worth it: there’s no better way to compare two freelancers directly. A starter project gives each freelancer the opportunity to show off his skill at interpreting your vision and producing cost-efficient results. You’ll get a taste for each freelancer’s working style, and you may learn a bit about yourself too. If you feel the urge to micro-manage the project, for example, you may realize you need an employee rather than an independent contractor.

Ultimately, you want to retain a professional you can trust. You don’t want to be worrying about the progress of the project or whether you are wasting your money. The best freelancers know that their role is to make your life easier. Find someone who’s genuinely committed to fulfilling that role, and you are already one step closer to a successful project completion.