Freelancers can greatly benefit start-up businesses by providing specialized skills, reducing initial financing needs, and minimizing risks associated with hiring full-time employees. They offer flexibility and allow startups to pay only for the services they need when they need them. Effective management of freelancers involves clear communication, setting expectations, and providing constructive feedback to ensure successful collaboration.

1. Bootstrap Your Startup With Freelancers
www.startupsuccess.co.uk

2. Freelancers can be an incredibly valuable
resource for start-up businesses.
Imagine them as a highly experienced
workforce with a huge range of specialist skills,
that you only need to pay for when you actually
use them.

4. A recent report from PCG, The Role of Freelancers
in the 21st
Century British Economy, defined
facilitating start-ups as one of the key
contributions that freelancers make to the UK
economy.
It stated that the flexibility of freelancers, as well
as the financial benefits that they can bring,
helped to drive innovation and entrepreneurship
in uncertain economic times.

5. So why should you make use of
freelancers in your start-up business?
Here are the top three reasons:-
Freelancers can…

6. Reason One – Reduce the Need for Financing

7. As a start-up one of your main initial costs
is likely to be employees.
If you employ freelancers instead you can
operate a variable cost model, or a pay as
you grow model, only paying your
freelancers as and when you need them.

8. Reason Two – Reduce the Risk of Starting a Business

9. If your business doesn’t take off as
quickly as you anticipated, or it takes off
in a different direction from the one you
expected, you may find the staff you
initially employed are surplus to
requirements.
By using freelancers you reduce the risk
as well as the overheads.

10. Reason Three – Provide Specialist Skills

11. Freelancers can provide the experience,
knowledge and skills you need to get the job done
quickly and efficiently.
They supply a pool of talent that would be
impossible to employ in-house.
Even if you are a one-man start-up, freelancers
can be a great way to get specific tasks
completed if you lack the specialist skills, leaving
you free to concentrate on developing your
business.

12. Tips on Managing a Freelance Workforce

13. Freelancers have a number of benefits for start-
up businesses as we have seen, but managing a
freelance workforce does bring some challenges,
especially in communication and setting
expectations.
Here are some tips for managing your
freelancers ...

14. Ask for Work Samples

15. Whether you use freelance platforms such as
Elance, oDesk, or People Per Hour, or you
employ freelancers directly, make sure you ask for
examples of previous work and references.
You want to be sure your freelancer has the
experience they claim to have.

16. Beware of Scope Creep

17. The project or role that you want to outsource
might seem clear in your mind, but you need to
make sure you explain it thoroughly to your
freelancer, especially if they are working
remotely.
Give examples, list the expected deliverables,
and explain the eventual goals of the project.
Over-explaining may sound patronising but it is
better than not explaining enough.

18. Don’t micro-manage

19. This might seem to contradict the last point,
but once you have agreed the role or
project scope with your freelancer, give
them the space to get the work done their
own way.
Freelancers are used to a certain amount of
autonomy so avoid dictating their work
schedule unless that is part of your
agreement.

20. Provide Feedback

21. Every business is different, so your
freelancer may not get the first piece of
work you give them exactly as you want it
right away.
Providing feedback can help them to
improve and understand what you want,
but make sure you keep your feedback
positive and tell them what they’ve done
well as well as areas for improvement.

22. Whether you use freelancers as an integral part
of your business, completing tasks on a daily
basis, or you just hire them for specific projects
that you lack the in-house skills for, they can be
an invaluable resource during the start-up phase.
You never know, once your business is up and
running you may find that you want to
permanently employ your freelancers to drive the
business forward.

23. To find articles on all aspects of starting and running a small business, go
to …
http://www.startupsuccess.co.uk/