Working with a Freelancer

Posted on 01. Sep, 2009 by admin in Freelancing

A freelancer is someone who works without the chains of an overbearing employer. Freelancers are a company of one, they work when they want and how they want. Like anything working with a freelancer has its pros and its cons. Freelancers are free to be creative, the only boss they have is the person who hired them, and this relationship is often much more appealing than the relationships they had with the employers of their pre-freelance life.

One thing you should always keep in mind is that freelancers are often dealing with an uncertainty of work, therefore they are often willing to negotiate. If a freelancer does not offer to do the work on your budget the reason is a mix of two factors, price and workload. These two factors coincide constantly. If you low ball a price when the freelancers workload is low, they will be more likely to negotiate. If you low ball when they have more work than they can handle, they will most likely reject your project. If you experience the later scenario, and you are not in a rush to complete your project, request that the freelancer contacts you when they have a lack of new jobs.

Give your freelancer a deadline. Without a deadline a freelancer may put off a project, especially if they have other projects they are working on simotanously that do have deadlines. Be reasonable with your deadline, and expect to pay more or risk the quality of work if the deadline is very short.

More to come…