I find that the best way to work with freelancers is to work out what they want – and then find the way to give it to them.

Many freelancers want to work from home – or perhaps, more accurately, want to be able to work flexibile hours.

However, they also really enjoy and value team time and meeting face to face – so, every now and then, it is a really good idea to pull everyone together.

We’ve been trialling group instant messenger meetings – using skype – it allows everyone to tell what they have been doing – get some recognition for the work that they’ve done and see how their work is helping others.

BR
Neil

For me, I want four things:
1. A clear, concise brief
2. Measurable KPI’s
3. Regular feedback on performance
4. Payment on time

Rich

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Neil Lewis. Neil Lewis said: Freelancers – what makes the perfect client? http://lnkd.in/ed64g7 [...]

You can expect a freelancer to do everything an employee can do – and more. As a business owner it is important to have have regular contact with your freelancer to ensure that expectations are being met and for forward planning if the project is ongoing.

I think a freelancer can be as valuable a member of the team as an employee is. It is really important to work well together and to keep in touch, whether it is by electronic method or in person. I also think trust is essential.

I must agree with Richard on the four points. In addition, some form of meeting on a regular basis, weather it’s face-to-face, or through a messenger works wonders for me. It really makes me feel as a part of a team, provides me with valuable feedback and boosts my overall performance.

You know regarding the last point I think it makes no difference whether your freelancers are sitting next to you or in a different country. Local labour usage is one of those things that people like to rant about as an argument for call centres etc.. What really matters is the effectiveness of the team and in my opinion it doesn’t matter where they are as long as you have sensible streams of communication in place and have meetings where necessary.

I think that different people work better in different ways so actually allowing them to work from your office using your resources might work in some cases but then each member of ‘staff’ carries an overhead.

If you pay people per project then I suppose there is an incentive to get it done and signed off but I think that it also encourages mediocrity in the products delivered where speed is more important to the freelancer than getting to done properly and elegantly. I don’t think a fixed price encourages creativity, in fact I think it stumps it!

thanks
Sean

That is a really interesting point Sean – “I don’t think a fixed price encourages creativity, in fact I think it stumps it!”

I’d never thought of it like that before – but I think you are right.

Obviously, the business is running an open ended cost – which actually means the business is putting a huge amount of trust on the freelancer – which means the freelancer probably feels empowered? ie. empowered to do the right thing.

Curiously, this does suggest that your relationships of trust needs to be very strong – and that is true when you have like minded people. But it might just be easier to find those people locally?

BR
Neil

Hi – there’s a lot of talk of trust in the previous posts and I would totally agree that it’s key in the relationship between freelancer and business. It works both ways too. I’d also agree with Sean’s point re. fixed price jobs. I’ve seen some ludicrously cheap fixed price bids for jobs on some of the freelance websites I frequent from time to time, and I just don’t believe that the business is going to get good value for money from them. It’s like anything, you get what you pay for. I rarely work on a fixed price basis if I can help it.

With regard to getting the best way out of your freelancer, I think setting clear goals and objectives (as you would hopefully do with any employee) is the best way to motivate and get a good result. And as always, good communication is key, so keeping your freelance informed and where possible, involved in decisions that might affect the work they are doing for you.