4. Working With Other Freelancers

When running your own business, the name of the game is usually to try to keep as much work as possible to yourself. There may be occasions, however, when you are faced with a project of such scope or complexity that it is worth bringing in other freelancers to help you out.

It may be that you are simply farming out a large piece of copywriting work, or that you are entrusted with a more complicated project, such as developing a magazine or a website, and need to bring in specialist help in the form of designers, photographers and so on.

This is where a network of business associates, if you have one, can really come into its own. When working on a large project, particularly if you have overall responsibility, it helps to be able to rely on people whose abilities you trust and perhaps with whom you have worked before.

If you do not know of anyone first-hand, it might be worth asking around business contacts and friends before resorting to non-recommended sources such as you might find advertised in industry magazines or on the internet. Alternatively, your client might be able to suggest someone they have worked with before.

Assembling and working with a ‘virtual team’ can be very satisfying if you usually work alone, and can theoretically give you access to much larger contracts. Another attraction is that teams can be assembled and disbanded as and when needed, much more flexibly than if you were employing people directly.

How you split the rewards will depend on the nature of the work and the makeup of the team. In some cases it may be easiest for you to invoice the client for the entire project and then pay your associates at an agreed rate. In other instances it might work out better for them all to be paid directly by the client. If you have any say in the matter, try to pick a method that involves the least risk to your business and ensures the quickest possible payment.