The One Thing to Let Go of Before Hiring Freelancers for Your Business
A common question I get from creative entrepreneurs is how do I know if I’m ready to hire my first freelancer?
This is not surprising because there are so many things to consider. You might be thinking about your budget, what tasks to outsource, or what role you really need.
To be honest, it’s pretty scary for business owners to hire freelancers. And it’s even harder if you’ve hired someone in the past but feel like you’ve failed.
We get used to managing everything, usually solely out of necessity at first.
But if there’s one thing I’ve learned over the many years of hiring freelancers of all kinds for my business (and helping others hire), it’s this ONE BIG lesson…
You have to be ready to let go of control.
This realization doesn’t usually hit business owners until after they’ve hired and brought someone into their business. They suddenly have to hand over all of this responsibility to someone new — one of the unanticipated problems with hiring freelancers.
It requires trust and a willingness to allow someone else to step in and take over a task. Someone who might have a different work style, approach, or process.
That can be nerve-wracking, to say the least!
But trust me, it’s well worth it in the long run.
Maybe you're missing out on work opportunities and time with friends and family. Or maybe you're stressed out because you haven't had time to do things you otherwise could be if you had some help.
This is very common with entrepreneurs, but as I said in the beginning, you have to be able to give up some control. So, how do you know when you're ready to give up control?
It all comes down to these three signs.
3 Signs You’re Ready to Let Go of Control
You probably started your business because it gave you a sense of freedom and independence.
And because you’re used to managing everything, it’s not always a natural transition to hire someone and hand over responsibility for parts of your business.
However, even if you don’t feel ready to let go of control, you may be closer than you think. There are some signs that show you’re in the right position to start passing off tasks and learning to release some of the power.
Remember, it’s not an overnight thing to feel comfortable entrusting parts of your business to someone else, but it’s essential to recognize these things as you lean into accepting support:
1. You know what your time is worth
Just because you usually do a task doesn’t mean it’s truly worth the value of your time.
For example, you might spend 10 hours a month doing something like maintaining your website. But if you paid a professional web developer $70 an hour to do it, it would free up so much of your time. And it would possibly only take them two hours since it's their zone of genius.
Sure, that’s a hefty rate! But wouldn’t those 10 hours you just got back be worth it in the end?
You could spend that time doing something much more productive and in your zone of genius. For example, you could set up an $8,000 partnership to publish three blog posts collaborating with a brand you admire.
The hours spent on THAT work would be more aligned with your strengths, and the rate at which you’d complete that sort of project would blow that $70-an-hour task that you hate out of the water.
Your time is better spent focusing on what you’re good at and what you’re interested in doing in your business. Let other professionals handle the rest.
2. You’re ready to become a manager
This one’s big because hiring doesn’t just mean you continue doing what you’ve always done.
You have to be ready to adjust YOUR role as you adjust your business set-up. You can’t continue to have a strong hand in everything when you start hiring a team.
If you can step into more of an overseeing role for the tasks you're hiring freelancers for, it would instill trust throughout your team. Therefore, making your team's work (and the productivity of your business) thrive.
You’ll also gain more time back (the whole point of hiring freelancers) if you don’t handhold or micromanage all the time.
Going from Chief Doer of All Things to Manager feels strange at first. I won’t lie. But you have to at least be ready and willing to hand over responsibilities and trust the team you’ve brought on to deliver on them.
3. You know you deserve the support of a fabulous team
“Most men would never think twice about outsourcing a project.”
This is what my friend, Kerryn Hewson, said to me about outsourcing. And it has stuck with me.
The book Playing Big by Tara Mohr goes deeper into this topic if you’re interested. (I HIGHLY recommend it if you want to stop letting fear drive your life.)
Mohr reiterates that women can't do everything AND simultaneously pursue the opportunities that will bring them to the next level. You know, despite the societal expectation that we’re supposed to be everything to everyone.
It takes a pretty major mindset shift around management for us as women, specifically, to go from being a "good worker bee" to a powerful leader who’s permitted to ask for and receive help.
Because the truth is you CAN’T do everything and do it well.
Time is finite — your capacity is finite. To step up to a level of freedom, you need to recognize you're worthy of the support you need to be free.
There are many benefits to hiring and working with freelancers to help you in your business.
Benefits of Hiring Freelancers for Your Business
Hiring support for your business can be so liberating. It’s your first step to getting more time back so you can put your focus on other things.
Here’s a reference to some of the core benefits of hiring freelancers.
They can:
Free up your time, so you can put more focus on your zone of genius
Contribute specialized expert abilities so you don’t feel like you have to learn everything
Help with little tasks you would rather not have to deal with
Use their strengths to override your weaknesses — or limitations, as I like to call them
Help you stay more organized in your processes
The list goes on, depending on what type of freelancer you end up hiring.
Are You Ready to Let Go?
So, do you feel ready to let go of control and hire your first freelancer?
It may not feel natural at first, but it’s a learning process, just like everything else in your business. And you’ve nailed so many other things this far!
Once you have the right people in place, your work/life balance will feel so much more organic. And you’ll be in a much happier place in your everyday work.
So if you answered yes to everything above, then you, my friend, are ready to release control and outsource your business. Ready… set… go! Time to start hiring freelancers.
Want to listen to all of my freelance hiring tips while you’re doing the dishes?
Here’s my latest podcast interview from Into the Wild, where you’ll learn all about:
✔ Who to hire first
✔ The most common mistakes when hiring
✔ How to know what to outsource
And lots more.
You’re ready to hire, so let’s get you started!
