How to Gather and Manage a Dream Team of Freelancers

It seems freelancing is getting more popular by the day. Freelancers used to be a very rare occurrence just several years ago, but now there are 57 million freelancers in the US alone. That number keeps rising because people see how freelancing can enrich their lives.

It is very beneficial to work as a freelancer, but hiring freelancers has a number of advantages, such as access to global talent and lower operating costs.

If you have an upcoming project and want to hire remote workers, you can start today by gathering a dream team of freelancers that will help you reach your business goals.

How to Find Freelancers

Finding reliable freelance workers is a simple process. You need to go to a platform and search for freelancers that fulfill your requirements.

There are many different platforms for freelancers, and some of the most popular ones include:

• Upwork. This platform you can use to post a job proposal ranges from complex and long-term projects to short tasks. Then, it would help if you waited for freelancers to bid on your offer.
• Toptal. Another excellent place to find freelancers, but some things set Toptal apart from other freelance platforms, such as their screening process for the freelancers. To find out more, check out this Toptal review.
• Onlinejobs. Find staff that will be willing to work on your terms. You can have hourly or salaried workers, those who work part-time or are full-time employees, it’s all up to you. You can post a job and wait for the freelancers to come to you, or you can contact them directly.  

Whichever platform you choose, the process of finding workers is similar. Once you post a job, wait for a couple of days and wait for multiple people to apply for the position. If you want to find a specific type of person, you can ask the bidders to answer questions about the job when they apply for it.

The next step is to review all the applications and compare bids and reviews to find the freelancers you feel are right for the job. Once you weed out the list to only a few people, you should probably message them to find out more about them and if they’re right for the job.

You can ask them questions about their qualifications to show you examples of their previous work, but be open to answering all of their questions as well. When you find someone you feel is good for the job, negotiate rates with them, and go over all the essential details.

How to Manage Your Team

This task probably seems daunting to you, especially if you never managed anyone or used to manage people who work in the same space as you. However, managing freelancers isn’t too different from managing an in-house team of workers.

Below are some pieces of advice on how to organize your management process.

Take The Time to Plan Everything Out

Don’t forget that planning is the foundation of everything. It would help if you didn’t rush into creating jobs and hiring freelancers before you make a solid plan every step. 

Here are some of the things you need to think about before-hand:

• Why you’re hiring employees. Decide what kind of tasks you want to hire freelancers for and then search for people who will be able to perform these tasks. Decide whether you want to find narrow-profile specialists or freelancers who are experts in multiple disciplines.
• Deadlines. Set a specific date and time when you need to have these tasks finished so you can give this information to freelancers before you hire them.
• Budget. Determine precisely how much money you have for your employee’s salaries and set what kind of rate you want to offer. Just remember to always leave some additional funds in case of unexpected extra expenses.

Don’t Hire Only Based on Skill

While the freelancer’s skills need to be a priority, it isn’t the only thing to think about while you’re hiring. For instance, if a freelancer has excellent work experience but doesn’t speak English very well, it can hinder communication in the future.

Another thing that’s important to keep in mind is that freelancers work from all over the world, so they all live in different time zones. While a time difference of an hour or two isn’t critical, a lot of problems can arise if you hire someone who lives in a time difference of eight hours, for instance.

Working with teammates from multiple different time zones can interfere with deadlines, and it will be almost impossible to maintain consistent communication.

Encourage Team Bonding

Once you have all of your team members, please get to know all of them, and encourage communication between teammates and create a top-notch company culture. Even though you may never meet each other in person, it’s good to get your freelancers to realize they’re a team.

It’s also good to create the semblance of corporate culture and etiquette rules to help prevent possible conflicts in the future. As they will come from different countries in the world with diverse religious and cultural backgrounds, make sure to establish strictly off-limits topics.

Hold Regular Meetings

As soon as you start a project, make sure all members of the team are clear on their assignments and tell them to contact you with any questions they may have. The next step is to hold regular meetings, whether they are performance reviews or one-one-one talks with individual team members.

While it’s good to use email and messenger apps for daily communication about minor issues, it’s crucial to make personal video calls via conference call services. Virtual conference calls are the best option for weekly meetings because they allow communication from anywhere in the world.

Some of the benefits of conference calls include:

• They’re cost-effective. Physical meetings require a lot of time and money, so it’s not worth spending so many resources for weekly meetings. A conference call can be done from the comfort of your own home. All you need to do is have an internet connection and a good conference call service.
• You can share multiple types of content. All team members can share information during an online conference call in almost any format. Whether you need to share a video, audio, or text, you can do that with just a few clicks.
• Increase productivity and efficiency. Virtual meetings allow all participants to be much more productive and efficient due to how easy it is. This is because written documents are easier to share than during an in-person meeting, while the benefit of spoken words is still present.

Bonus Remote Work Tips

If you’re new to working remotely, you’re probably still trying to adjust to it. That’s why you need some excellent remote work tips that will help you get the most out of the situation.

• Even though you’re working from home, dress like you’re going to the office. Wearing house clothes or pajamas will make it harder for you to focus on your job.
• Dedicate a special place that will be your “workstation”, preferably not in your bedroom or any other room for relaxing.
• Don’t allow yourself to get overwhelmed. Schedule breaks and daily time, blocking to avoid burnout or exhaustion.
• Allow yourself at least 15-30 minutes after your workday has finished to “shut down” and remove the idea of work from your mind. Otherwise, your job will seep into your personal life.

Final Thoughts

If you have any doubts about hiring a freelancer team, you need to forget about those doubts right away. As you have read in this article, it’s easy to create a dream team of experts from all over the world who are professional and eager to work.

As long as you find the right people and are determined to manage them efficiently, you’ll have an unstoppable team that will help you complete various projects.

We hope you enjoyed this post in collaboration with Dave Schneider.