In the early stages of planning your business you will be thinking about the help you might need, and whether that will come in the form of hiring employees or outsourcing. Even if you’re a sole trader, you’re unlikely to be completely alone in your endeavour, and it can be a good idea to get in touch with people who are experts in the things that you aren’t, and who can help your business grow without huge overheads. Enter: the freelancer. Here are three reasons why you should consider hiring freelancers, and how they might fit in with your business plan.
1.Expertise
Freelancers are – or should be – experts in their field. Freelancers can come in the shape of writers, IT consultants, designers, marketers, accountants – in fact, just about any job can be undertaken by a freelancer. So when you are writing your business plan, think about your own strengths and weaknesses. Which areas might you need some help with? Even though freelancers are cheaper than full-time employees (as we will discuss in a moment), they still come with a significant cost and you’ll want to make sure that you’re spending your money in the most worthwhile places. If you struggle with marketing, for example, and you’re working alone, the decision to hire a freelancer marketer could be the difference between your business failing or succeeding.
2.Low Overheads
There are many costs associated with hiring employees. Holiday pay, sickness, National Insurance, and maternity/paternity leave are all costs you need to consider when hiring a member of staff, but these don’t apply when you hire a freelancer. Freelancers are certainly a cheaper option, so if you’re writing your business plan you should take this into consideration. You’ll want to mention the costs that are associated with hiring a freelancer and factor those into your finance section – and you may also want to address whether you see yourself hiring employees later on or if you are going to stick with freelancers for the foreseeable future. The low cost associated with outsourcing means that your business could potentially grow more quickly as you benefit from your freelancer’s expertise combined with low overheads.
3.Flexibility
As we briefly mentioned in our second point, you might want to stick with freelancers for a long time, or you might find that you want to hire full-time employees later on. Using freelancers means that you have options – you can hire more freelancers if you need to, you can hire a freelancer on a long-term basis, or you can hire people on an ad-hoc basis to work on projects as and when you need them. As your business grows, you can change your setup easily. Similarly, if you are in a bit of a slump or the type of work you need a freelancer for is seasonal, you can save money by only paying people to work when you need them. This is something else to consider when you are writing your business plan, in terms of whether it would benefit you to be able to change your costs in this way as necessary. Think about what you are realistically going to need and go from there.
If you would like some help with writing your business plan – whether you’re hiring freelancers, employees, or going it alone – you’re in the right place. Contact cbm online using the form on the right or call 01604 420 420.