Your Guide to Managing Freelance Contractors

As a business owner, there will always be times when you need to hire freelancers or contractors. You won’t always choose to hire people in house or want to do the work yourself. And so, getting external support and help can feel like a great idea. Yet, what happens when you don’t know how this should work or how it can work for you? To make sure that it’s a success and that you’re able to grow, you may find that managing these relationships is the best thing to do. So in this post, we’re going to take a look at how you can do that.

Start By Hiring Well

First of all, you’re going to want to make sure that you start off by hiring the right people in the first place. When you feel like you need some support, it can feel all too easy to just want to hire anyone right away. But hiring the wrong person could lead to issues down the line. So, you’re going to want to make sure that you begin by hiring the right people. Getting qualified people that fit with your company ethos is always the best place to start. If you’re looking to find freelance designer for your business, check out talent marketplaces like goLance.

Set Expectations

Then, when you want to get the work underway, you need to make sure that your expectations are clear. Ideally, they are going to want to agree to these before they undertake the contract. When you both know what your boundaries are and what you expect from each other, you should find that fewer issues arise.

Have a Hub

You may also find that it really helps if you can have a hub that people can use and you can track everything with. It might be that a task management solution works for you or a dedicated job management software platform. Trying to keep track of every job and person manually could cause you a lot of issues and take time. So managing everything in one place makes a lot more sense.

Communicate Effectively

The best way to create lasting relationships with freelancers and contractors is for you to make sure that you are open and honest with each other. This always starts with strong communications. Of course, setting expectations will also help with this. But the way that you treat people and how you communicate with them can often set the tone and determine how the relationship will go.

Stay Organized

Finally, you’re always going to want to make sure that you stay organized with everything that you do too. You won’t want to leave people to it without checking in to see if they have any questions or need support. But at the same time, don’t micromanage. It’s all about finding a good balance so that you know where you’re at and that everything runs smoothly. When you can do this, you should find that managing your contractors is much easier than you’d think.

Charlene Rhinehart

Charlene Rhinehart walked a non-traditional path as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and became a corporate pageant queen, career blogging professional, and world traveler who motivates millennials to create career success and a lifestyle they love through The Career Goddess Academy. She won the title of Ms. Corporate America 2015 in a national pageant held in Orlando, Fl and is available to share experiences about career mistakes, networking best practices as an introvert, interviewing, career advancement, certification motivation, diversity & inclusion practices, and women winning in the workplace. Charlene has written for The Huffington Post, addicted2success.com, tut.com, Toastmasters International, Career Goddess Academy, and several other publications.