5 Freelancers Every Startup Business Needs

Freelancers and/or independent contractors have been a lifesaver for my businesses over the last few years. I quickly realized that professionals can help you with a ton of different work, but it’s very costly to keep them on your payroll.

The next best solution I could find was a freelancer. A freelancer is someone by definition who does projects with many different people, essentially they’re not tied down to any one person or organization.

Freelancers take projects as they come and are free to go once they’re finished. In this article, I’m going to share the 5 freelancers ever startup business needs and where you can find them:

1. Designer

We’re in the year 2013. Design rules the world. If it looks like shit, people aren’t going to be drawn to your product, service, website, app, or whatever it is that you want people to visit.

I learned early on that you need a designer literally for everything. I hired freelancers designers to design mobile applications, websites, flyers, press releases, banners, proposals, and just about anything that was important.

I found my best designers in two ways. I started by reaching out to local art schools in the area and asked the professors in these schools to help me recruit a designer. It turned out that these kids really had an eye for design.

The second way I found designers was through Elance. The great part about Elance was that I could check out the portfolio of each of the designers so that I would have a really good understanding of the types of design skills each person had.

No matter what your business does, it’s crucial to have a designer close by that can help you get things done professionally before you push it out to the public.

2. Writer

While most people can write their own stuff, I found that it’s not worth my time or any founders time. If you’re running a business, you want to focus on the most important metrics and duties in your startup.

Writing blog articles for your startup isn’t necessarily the best use of your time, especially when you can outsource it to freelancers. For all my company blogs, I’ve always outsourced the writing to freelancers since it wasn’t worth my time.

Don’t worry, I actually write my OWN blog posts. I’m going to share two ways to find great writing freelancers.

Look at other websites or publications in your space and figure out who’s doing the writing for them. Typically, writers are passionate about a certain genre and are always looking for more gigs.

Single out these people and ask them if they’d be interested in freelancing for you. The second way I found writers was by posting internships at colleges to journalism majors and I was able to find a ton of amazing writers!

3. The Busy Bee

I look at this freelancer as a really skilled virtual assistant that offers their services only when you need it. When you run a business, tons of different tasks come up that aren’t often worth your time.
Instead of spending time doing it, you should really consider outsourcing it to someone who can do simple tasks. These individuals have probably saved me tons of tedious hours of work thanks to their service.

I don’t know why, but stay at home moms have been the BEST at these jobs. These jobs don’t necessarily require someone to work in your office, but usually require an eye for detail. From my experience, stay at home moms have been simply amazing at doing data entry, bookkeeping and other simple tasks.

4. The Consultant

Startups are a really long roller coaster that never ends. You have your highs, your lows and everything else in between.

It’s always great to have a freelance consultant who is experienced and knowledgeable about your business. If you ever hit a roadblock or need someone to help you move your business to the next level, you should call your freelance consultant.

When trying to find a freelance consultant, I used two ways to find them in the past. I would look for people in my industry who have been able to achieve immense success (people I looked up to) and recruited them to be a consultant for my business.

I also spent a lot of time networking at meet-ups, conferences and other local events where I had the opportunity to connect with some really intelligent people.

5. Media Master

With technology growing every day, it’s always good to have a media expert who wants to freelance for your business. I’ve had to use media freelancers to take photographs, build out explainer videos, social media campaigns, and other tech-related things.

In your startup, you’ll be presented with tons of different opportunities. Often times, these opportunities will be worthwhile but will require some sort of technology that you can’t easily access.

In times like this, a media freelancer is very crucial. I found my go to guy for media related jobs through Fiverr. If you’re looking for videos and virtual things, Fiverr is a great source for finding talent. If you’re looking for something more local, you can try the search engines to find some skilled freelancers in your area.

Conclusion

As you can see, a startup business often requires many different roles to be fulfilled. It’s not often possible to do them all yourself or to hire someone on a salary. Thus, hiring a freelancer is a great way to get things done without committing to anything long-term.

photo credit: See-ming Lee 李思明 SML via photopin cc