How to boost your business with online freelancers

In being able to call upon a workforce of outsourced Freelancers, small businesses are then able to dynamically scale themselves to fit the needs of any project.. Small businesses can th

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What is Outsourcing?

How does Outsourcing fit into Modern Business?

Key Benefits of Outsourcing

How can Freelancer.com help you to Reap these Benefits?

What does Freelancer.com do to Safeguard you as an Employer of Freelancers? First Steps in Outsourcing

How to Post a Project and Set Yourself up For Success

Choosing the Right Freelancers

Outsourcing Case Studies

Summary

To do business in the modern world, a successful business needs to extract the very best value from its workforce The global marketplace is constantly changing and any business venture that wants to lucratively compete in this global arena needs

to be both dynamic and able to scale its workforce to meet supply and demand Traditionally, this has meant employing more staff than required to ensure that there are extra employees on hand to cope with any unexpected workload How do you ensure that you have the resources to cope with a fluid work schedule without having to employ excess staff? Simple Outsourcing with Freelancer.com

Outsourcing describes the process of one entity employing the services of another entity on an ad-hoc basis This can take the form of one large company using a second company to provide certain services as needed, or it may simply be an individual who needs to procure a certain skill set to help complete a current project Usually, these situations will take the form of the Employer engaging the services of Freelancers on either a pay-per-project or pay-per-hour basis These Freelancers report directly to the entity that has employed them for an agreed duration either in time, or in project goals Once payment has been made upon delivery of completed work, the Employer has no obligation to keep the Freelancer on the payroll

Freelancer.com is the largest outsourcing site in the world with millions of registered users, enabling Employers and Freelancers to connect and do business together This is done using a set of web-based tools that have been designed to take remote outsourcing to a new level

What is

Outsourcing?

REGISTER FOR AN ACCOUNT

AT Freelancer.com

In recent years business has become globalized, which in turn means that competition has globalized too Many small businesses that may once have occupied a local niche are now forced to compete with similar businesses all around the world In some cases, this presents a costing problem; labor can

be cheaper, yet equally skilled in countries outside of the Western world Many Western-based companies find that they are unable to compete with international companies offering services at much lower costs Outsourcing enables companies to procure staff at competitive prices and, more importantly, as needed rather than hiring full-time employees

In being able to call upon a workforce of outsourced Freelancers, small businesses are then able

to dynamically scale themselves to fit the needs of any project

Small businesses often find they have to turn down opportunities due to limited

resources, therefore losing out to competitors However, if a company has

access to a readily available team of outsourced staff, this problem disappears;

the business simply uses Freelancers to make up the shortfall Small businesses

can therefore take on additional work, safe in the knowledge they can acquire the

resources required to complete any project There can be no doubt that a small

business that is able to utilize Freelancers is more dynamic and able to adapt

itself more quickly to the needs of its clients

How does

Outsourcing

fit into Modern

Business?

So far, we have briefly outlined a handful of the advantages of using Freelancers Let us now take

a much deeper look into the full range of benefits that a small business can reap from taking an outsourced approach to staffing

Staff can be employed on a demand-driven

basis Put simply, if you need eight staff one

month and then only five the next, then you

only need employ the right number of staff each

month This means that staff shortages become

a thing of the past and, equally importantly,

overstaffing is also no longer an issue You only

employ the people you need when you

need them

Key Benefits of

Outsourcing

SCALABILITY

REDUCED RISK

For small businesses involved in industries such as web development, the need for skilled staff is always present But what happens when a new client suddenly insists upon your team producing a set of instructional videos,

or a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation? Do you say, “No, sorry, we don’t have the skills to

do this”? By using outsourced staff to supply extra skills as required, the business is able

to confidently take on more complex projects that require a range of different skill sets, safe

in the knowledge that they will be able to find Freelancers to make up the skill deficit

As we have already seen, the emergence of

a global marketplace – not simply in terms

of commercial opportunities, but also with

regards to staff employment – means that many

traditional businesses are facing the problem

whereby they are savagely undercut when

tendering for new projects Skilled staff located

in a cheaper geographic location are now more

relevant than ever before in practical terms

Most business is won on price and employing

outsourced staff allows small businesses to

attain price parity with competitors large

and small

As any company that employs full-time staff will

be aware, the cost of keeping those staff trained

in current industry technologies and other tertiary skills can be high Outsourced members of staff are responsible for keeping themselves current and ensuring that their skills are kept sharp, at

no cost to their Employers

The points outlined above represent the major benefits of outsourcing, many of which are applicable

to small businesses in a range of industries Even smaller organizations or one-man operations must see by now how outsourcing can help them to maintain their profit margins and grow with their market, without the need to invest in more full-time personnel Utilizing highly skilled, professional Freelancers gives businesses the option to employ the people they need only when they need them, without incurring an ongoing overhead

DIVERSIFICATION

REDUCED TRAINING- COSTS

SIMPLIFIED ACCOUNTING

By outsourcing to Freelancers, a small business

is able to adapt its products and services and

expand its product base by pulling in skills that

it does not already offer For example, a web

development company may find it desirable

to offer Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

services as part of their overall package By

finding a good, solid Freelancer to perform

this task, they are buying a skill that can then

be resold to augment and improve the service

offered to their clients

As any company that employs full-time staff will

be aware, the cost of keeping those staff trained

in current industry technologies and other

tertiary skills can be high Outsourced members

of staff are responsible for keeping themselves

current and ensuring that their skills are kept

sharp, at no cost to their Employers

Small business that employ staff on the payroll

must keep accurate financial records and

ensure that taxes are paid on behalf of their

employees Freelancers however, must keep

their own records and are liable for their own

tax returns; the Employer does not need to

handle this process income and so accounting

is made much simpler In addition it removes

the need to employ payroll staff

Thanks to Freelancer.com, the difficulties in finding reliable and skilled Freelancers, verifying credentials, handling payments and managing your relationships are eliminated

In using the service that Freelancer.com provides, all of these problems are negated Freelancer.com provides a robust, secure and intuitive platform for recruiting and managing outsourced freelance staff The process of finding the right staff for your needs, verifying that they are equipped with the required skills, managing project milestones and dealing with payments is all handled within the Freelancer.com platform, making outsourcing simple Freelancer.com has a feature set that has been perfected over several years to provide an optimal interface between Employers and Freelancers, and to deal with every foreseeable interaction between both parties effectively and efficiently Finding freelance staff using Freelancer.com is very simple and is accomplished by using a reverse auction-style system An Employer, posts a project detailing the work involved, the skills required, the project timeline and budget Freelancers from all over the world are then able to bid on the

How can

Freelancer.com

help you to Reap these Benefits?

project, presenting the Employer with detailed information regarding the services they are able to offer Employers are then free to discuss the details of each bid directly with the Freelancer, using the Freelancer.com messaging system Once the Employer has found a match for their requirements, they accept the bid made by their chosen Freelancer and work commences

Projects may be split into “milestones” to enable the Employer to measure performance and ensure that the project remains on target at all times The Freelancer.com messaging system facilitates communication between the parties allowing for correspondence to be monitored and files to

be exchanged

Once work is completed, the Employer pays the Freelancer for their services and both parties are free from any further commitment However, many small businesses find that once they have found

a good Freelancer, they like to use the same person for future projects Likewise, Freelancers find that they naturally develop a client base using the facilities provided by Freelancer.com

Post a Project

in Seconds Compare & Select Bidder(s) Milestone Create

Payment

Work completes Release Milestone

Payment when work is complete and you are satisfied

What does

Freelancer.com do

to Safeguard you

as an Employer of

Freelancers?

Outsourcing is not without risk – there is always a slim chance that Freelancers will fail to perform

to the level of quality they committed themselves to or that Employers will fail to pay Freelancers for work that they have produced Freelancer.com has systems in place to protect both Employers and Freelancers during their commercial dealings These include:

Employers and Freelancers are free to use the

secure milestone payment system provided

by Freelancer.com and it is advised that both

parties take full advantage of this service

When a project is started, the Employer pays

funds to cover each project milestone into the

Employer’s milestone account; the Employer

and Freelancer can mutually agree the value of

milestone payments in advance The Freelancer

cannot withdraw these funds until the Employer

releases them upon satisfactory completion of

the milestone, which safeguards the Employer

from losing money if the Freelancer does not

deliver what they promised

Once a Freelancer.com project has been completed and funds have been released, both the Employer and the Freelancer are able to leave a service rating and s a short feedback comment is also given at this time Employers can instantly see from a Freelancer’s profile how well they have performed historically, and Freelancers are able to judge prospective Employers in a similar fashion

SKILL TESTS DISPUTE SYSTEM

Freelancer.com allows Freelancers to take

a range of skill tests, which enables them to

showcase their skills to prospective Employers

Employers are able to vet applicants by

checking their skill test scores and making

sure that they are adequate to warrant being

employed for a specific project

On the rare occasion that an Employer and Freelancer reach an impasse and are unable to resolve problems with a project, Freelancer.com offers a dispute resolution system The preliminary rounds of this system are automated and prompt each party to try to reach an amicable solution to their problem If either party is unable to reach a solution, then they may choose to escalate the dispute to full arbitration, whereupon professional mediators employed by Freelancer.com will help each party to reach a resolution

First Steps in

Outsourcing

For Employers and small business owners, the logical first step is to post a project Your project listing will be promoted by Freelancer.com to attract bids from Freelancers It should contain all the information that a Freelancer needs to know about project requirements, the timescale and the expected level of remuneration for the project so that they can make a considered bid Take the time to think through your project before posting it – the better the project, the more chance you have of finding the right person to do the job, as quickly as possible Freelancers are able to view your project and decide whether or not they are able to bid on it based upon the requirements you have specified If they think that they are qualified to do the project, they are free to make a bid and provide the Employer with further information privately by using the messaging system attached to the project It is recommended that both parties communicate and agree upon the terms of the project before the bid is accepted and work on the project begins Once an Employer is sure that they have found the correct candidate for the project, they simply accept the bid, set up any requested milestone payments – using the milestone system provided by Freelancer.com – and work commences

Finally, when both the Freelancer and Employer have mutually agreed that the project is complete, the Employer can release payment to the Freelancer The project is then flagged as complete and feedback may be left by both parties if applicable

For Employers, the key to finding the best outsourced staff for their needs lies in the project they post for a given task Quite simply, a badly written project description will result in a much wider range of Freelancers feeling that they fit the project well, making the process of sorting out those who actually are of the right calibre quite a tricky thing to accomplish As a guide, each project posted needs to address the following items:

The name of the project should accurately

describe what you need in as few words as

possible Simply entering a title of “Looking

for Freelancer” or similar is not going to give

prospective Freelancers an appropriate idea

about what the project will entail Freelancers

are presented with projects in a list, with only

the project name and a small excerpt of the

project information visible, so a good name

will help Freelancers to find a project that fit

them best; it will also ensure that your project is

considered by professional Freelancers

How to Post a

Project and Set

Yourself up

For Success

This is where you outline your requirements

It is vitally important to be as accurate and informative as possible in this section If, as

an Employer, you wish to attract only the most professional freelance staff, then your bid request needs to portray your business as entirely professional A good project description

is a way of letting prospective Freelancers know that you understand exactly what you would like them to do, and that you are able to manage the project effectively