Find the Best Freelancers with This Simple Mindset Shift
The power of mindset is fascinating. Because you can’t always change your circumstances. But you can always change your mind.
As an entrepreneur, your business would have never gotten off the ground if every stumbling block was perceived as permanent. No, you decided to overcome each one -- and you probably expect there will always be more. And you expect to overcome those, too.
So, I was super excited when I sat down with Jacinta Gandy from the Hustle with Purpose podcast (COMING SOON!), and she asked me…
What are the top mindset shifts bloggers and online entrepreneurs need to make when hiring?
Such a great question!
In that interview, I talked about how the biggest -- and most important -- mindset shift is to go from doing to leading and managing.
Now, while going from doing to leading may seem really obvious -- if you’re hiring a team, of course you have to manage them -- it’s not easy to do! In fact, this is one of the hardest jumps online entrepreneurs make.
3 Ways to Shift from Doing to Leading
Making the transition from being a solo operator to running a team can be tricky if you go about it without a plan. But it’s absolutely necessary if you want to propel your business forward.
Below is a series of intentional steps you can take to make this shift yourself. These are the exact same ones I teach my clients who are in the same spot you’re in. You’ll see that each step builds on the last one… and next thing you know, you’re leading like a boss. Literally.
1. Hire a specialized freelancer.
Shifting from doing everything in your blog or online business to leading it starts with hiring a talented, reliable, high-performing freelancer.
Sounds easy enough, right? Well, it is when you know how to go about it. This is how I break it down for my clients:
Be clear about the responsibilities.
Freelancers are highly attuned to whether you know what you’re doing when it comes to hiring. And they can tell when you are trying to hire a replica of yourself.
They know because the responsibilities in your job posting aren’t aligning with the position you’re looking to add to your team.
You see, bloggers and online entrepreneurs tend to be generalists… that means you can do a lot of things. Partly because you have to and partly because you’re wired that way.
But freelancers are specialists.
And the best freelancers (the amazing ones you want to work with) aren’t going to apply if they aren’t specialized in (or don’t want to do) most of the things you’re looking to outsource.
That’s why it’s so important to strike the right balance with the responsibilities you include in your job posting.
Except, how do you know what that perfect balance is? You can actually find out how to craft a stellar job posting using my foolproof method in my free mini-course on hiring you can access right here.
Look for someone with experience.
On top of having clear responsibilities that align with the position, it’s also important to hire someone with some experience.
When I’m recruiting for one of my private clients, I usually include 2 to 3 years of experience in writing, social media management, or whatever industry they need a freelancer for in the preferred qualifications section.
And when you’re reviewing all of the applications, be sure to notice how long each candidate has been freelancing.
It’s not that you can’t or shouldn’t hire someone who is new to freelancing but it’s important to be aware so you know where they are at.
If you want to see how I go about crafting job postings for my clients, you can get my full job posting formula in my free mini-course here.
2. Provide enough space in your deadlines for feedback.
This one is absolutely key to shifting from doing to leading and managing because if you don’t provide enough space, no freelancer is going to be successful.
It doesn’t matter how talented or reliable or high-performing they are. If you don’t tell them what you want more and less of, they are going to struggle.
That’s why I love a good feedback loop so much. Here are six steps that make it super easy to give your freelancer feedback.
Step 1: Make an assignment.
This might sound obvious… But, it can be easy to overlook that you need to give your freelancer an assignment when you’re running at 100 mph doing so many things in your business.
Step 2: Allow the freelancer to complete the assignment.
This is a common stumbling block in managing freelancers. If you aren’t used to outsourcing, it’s understandable to forget to plan ahead.
It’s actually one of the greatest gifts of hiring… it forces you to get more organized and plan ahead so your team has enough time to do the work.
Step 3: Review their work.
One of the greatest barriers to reviewing a freelancer’s work is a fear of micromanagement.
But there is a difference between micromanaging a freelancer and reviewing their work because they are new to working with you. And it really comes down to intent.
The intention behind most micromanagement is really control. The business owner is having a hard time trusting the freelancer that they’ve hired.
But reviewing a freelancer’s work in the early days is about helping a freelancer get to know you, your brand, your business in the early days through feedback.
Step 4: Provide feedback to the freelancer.
Feedback has a pretty bad reputation. Thanks to those old-style “sandwich tactics,” insincere compliments, and “pile-on” practices.
But those days are gone, and open and honest communication can strengthen your relationship with your freelancers and build greater understanding for projects going forward.
When it comes to the best freelancers -- the talented, reliable, high-performing ones -- they totally want to know what you think… the good, the bad, and what you think might be ugly.
Step 5: Allow the freelancer to implement your feedback.
This is the step that so many bloggers and online entrepreneurs short cut and it’s a common mistake in managing freelancers.
Oftentimes, we think it’s so much easier just to fix it ourselves.
But, when we do that, we rob our team members of a valuable learning opportunity.
Step 6: Check that you communicated clearly.
Finally, be sure to check that you communicated clearly and give additional guidance if your feedback wasn’t implemented the way you intended.
This might sound time consuming, but you won’t have to do this forever. Once your freelancer has been working with you for three to six months, you should be seeing a considerable decline in how often you have to complete step 6.
And really, the whole feedback loop gets shorter and shorter the more the freelancer knows what you want and what you don’t.
3. Expect onboarding to take longer than you think.
This might sound ridiculous but it can take anywhere between three and six months for a freelancer to really hit their stride when working with a new client.
While this may seem like a long time, it’s important to keep in mind that it takes time to build a trusting relationship.
Even if the freelancer is a high-performer, there are likely going to be some hiccups.
Back in the summer of 2019, I recruited a project manager for Tara from Tara Teaspoon, a food blog and multi-channel media company.
Now, all of my private clients are incredible, but Tara really stands out as an incredibly high-performer herself. She worked directly with Martha Stewart as a food editor. She was the food director at Ladies Home Journal for many years. And she’s a regular contributor at The Today Show.
With that kind of background, you know she has high expectations of everyone who works with her at Tara Teaspoon. So when Tara wanted a spectacular project manager to get her more organized, I knew I could deliver.
And I did because my process for finding the best freelancers works every time. It’s a method I’ve perfected over the years -- and you can learn how to do it yourself. If you’re interested, check out The Hiring Fix, my step-by-step process that basically teaches you how to hire like a professional recruiter.
So I wasn’t too surprised that my process led me straight to Julie from JMF Virtual Assistant Services. On paper, she had the perfect background… a Master’s degree in library science and had spent many years in charge of all the digital content for a major food manufacturer’s recipe website. And in the interview, she shined as the best fit for Tara.
But as we all know, interviews can only tell us so much about a person. The moment of truth comes after they’ve been hired and the onboarding process begins. And while Julie delivered even more than Tara had hoped for, it took a while to discover the full magnitude of her abilities.
Here’s what Tara had to say about the process. “While Julie on paper is amazing, she's even more amazing in action. I didn't know the extent of her capacity, or also what she was willing to take on and manage. So that took time. And depending on the role, like Julie's, she was suggesting and implementing new processes and programs and that all felt like part of the onboarding process.”
Notice the give and take. The onboarding will and should be a flexible, feeling-out period. Yes, there will be set expectations, but this is also a time to learn each other’s strengths and weaknesses and figure out together how to best work with them.
When I asked Julie about her side of the onboarding experience, she agreed with Tara that the process had to take its natural course to find their groove. She said, “In my opinion, there is no way to onboard in two weeks and be a functioning team member. It's not enough time to learn how your client thinks, feels, prefers everything and it takes so much trust.”
Yep! Even two high-performers had to take time to build a long-lasting working relationship.
Ready to Stop Doing and Start Leading?
If you’re like most entrepreneurs, once you make the decision to grow your team, you wanted it done yesterday. Which I get.
This is where I say in my coaching voice, “Hire slowly,” because you’ll never regret finding the best talent out there. You will, however, regret making a poor hiring choice.
My free mini-course, The 5 Things No One Tells You About Hiring Freelancers, will give you everything you need to help you figure out how to get started. Including which role you should hire, where to find good freelancers, how to know which applicant to hire -- and even what to do if the one you choose doesn't work out.
Sign up here to get started.
