When Do You Need a Freelancer?

I had an interesting experience recently: I received an email from a company I’d applied to for a freelance job telling me that, as it turned out, there was no business case for the position, so they’re not hiring for it.

Huh?

I’ve been told before my experience didn't align with the needs of the job, or that their budget was below my rates. But this is the first time I’ve been told there was no business case for the position.

I was so close to writing an angry LinkedIn post about how this company wasted their time and mine (as well as that of the other applicants). However, I took a deep breath and thought about the situation. What is the business case for a freelancer—when should a company use one, and when should the company keep the project in-house (or invest in the project at all)?

Check out this handy list below to determine whether you need a freelancer or not.

Your Project Fits in with Strategic Goals

This is the most important thing your company should consider, and I’m pretty sure that the firm I applied to did not think about this when the job was first posted. Whatever idea you’ve come up with, it absolutely must fit in with your company’s strategic goals. For example, if your goal is to boost brand awareness, every initiative you take has to tie into that goal. If it doesn’t, don’t bother with it. You’ll save yourself and applicants time and effort.

Your Project Is Too Small to Justify a Full-Time Employee

Let’s say you need to write a white paper. It’s a one-time thing, and your current content team doesn’t have the bandwidth to handle it. That’s a good reason to turn to a freelancer. The right freelancer will have the time and effort to handle such a project.

You Don’t Have the In-House Expertise

What if a special project comes up, and your in-house staff doesn’t have the knowledge, skills, or experience to handle it? Turning to a freelancer might be the right call.

It depends on whether there’s enough work to make it into a full-time job, though. Let’s say you have the occasional need for technical writing, but you don’t have anyone on staff who can do that. Such an example would be a use case for a freelancer. You don’t have enough work for them on a full-time basis, but there's still some need.

You Have the Budget

You’re going through this blog post and saying to yourself, “The project fits in with our strategic goals. It’s too small to justify hiring a full-time employee. We don’t have the in-house expertise for this project. We need a freelancer!”

Not so fast. There’s one other crucial question you have to ask yourself: do you have the budget for it? Just because the word “free” is part of “freelance” does not mean you can’t pay freelancers. Before you start writing that job posting and/or asking your network for recommendations, make sure you’re able to afford the freelancer’s fees.

Not sure what it will cost you to work with a freelancer? Ask your network what a freelancer for this type of project would charge. That will give you a range for what you should be paying.

Ready to Work with a Freelancer?

If you’ve never worked with a freelancer before, I’ve included some tips here and here. And if you’re looking for a freelance content writer, editor, or ghostwriter in the B2B tech space, please feel free to reach out to me here to discuss your needs.