Building great relationships with your employees is easier than building relationships with freelancers. Freelancers see you as clients rather than seeing you as their boss, which is the reason why you cannot seem to make a connection with them.
That being said, working with a freelancer requires a lot of trust and very minimal micromanaging. When you give an assignment out, you expect that individual to complete the assignment to your expectations and within the deadline given.
If you want to build a great relationship with your freelancers and continue working with them, here are some tips that can help:
#1 Pay them based on their experience
Every freelancer comes with their special skill sets and experience which you need to consider when sorting out their pay.
Usually, their hourly rate is based on their last full-time salary. Pay them under that and they will be declining your request. If you pay them over, you will break your budget.
While it can be difficult to talk about money with your freelance recruit, you do need to consider building a good relationship with them if you want them to work for you longer.
Read More: 7 Ways You Can Effectively Manage Your Freelancers For Your Business
Even if they charge you cheaply, it may not be a good investment because it will take a long time to finish the job or produce poor work.
#2 Pay on Time
One of the major reasons why it is difficult to build great relationships with your freelancers is the issue with payments.
Businesses do not often have a set schedule when they pay freelancers. Freelancers are not here to work for you with a delayed payment scheme, they also deserve to get paid for their work.
They are also running their own business so any delays to payments are not good. As much as possible, pay them early even if they do not ask for early payment.
Read More: How Freelancers Can Make Sure They Get Paid on Time?
#3 Open communication
The best way to build a relationship with freelancers is through opening communication with them.
Contact them through their preferred contact channels and update them with things they need to know. You can word your messages in a friendly way so they welcome your communication.
But, don’t fill them up with the information they don’t need because remember, they are not your permanent employees.
#4 Give them all the details they need to know
If you want freelancers to respect you, you need to give them clear instructions when you contact them. You need to detail the entire project and give them enough time to work on it.
Freelancers have other jobs to work on and their schedule may be full when you reach out to them. Don’t call them for an immediate job and expect them to finish it if its not worth the amount.
Be considerate with their schedule and they will be inclined to do your request even late at night.
#5 Thank Them
If you want freelancers to stay with you, you need to show them that you appreciate their help. Thank them in every job they do and let them know if things will improve, like a promotion or pay raise.
Showing your appreciation of their work will help them know that their time working for you is worth it.
Conclusion
Maintaining a good relationship with freelancers will help you both meet your business goals. Freelancers will do their best to work for you, while you can expect high quality work every time.
As time passes on, you may be surprised that new opportunities will open for both of you.
Hiring someone for your business? You may want to check out these tips first:
Hiring Help: An Essential Guide To Making The Right Employee Decisions
Are You Ready To Start Hiring?
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MiddleMe 
Very nice post Kally
I just posted my novel about the Chinese Triads
Hope you enjoy reading it
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Thank you. I love your novel. Very interesting and well written.
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Thank you very much
Please tell me if you liked the ending
I hope you enjoyed the idea of the Chinese Triads
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Yes, I love the ending very much.
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Thank you
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Off-topic, but I have some experience on the other side of the fence. I was an industrial ‘freelancer’ for about five years. I worked for a labour hire firm that sent me literally everywhere across Perth, from a dog food factory to the Mint.
In all but a few places I and the other hires from my agency were treated like family. We worked alongside the full timers, sometimes doing the dirty jobs they didn’t want to do, but all in all we were equals. To be honest, I can’t even recall any instances where I didn’t get paid – but the agency was doing all the chasing on that side!
It was a great time for me, it was the closest I’ve ever been to being my own boss. I was only as good as the last day’s work I’d put in, so it kept me up to the mark. When the office told me that previous clients were asking for me by name, I knew I was doing something right.
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Thank you for sharing your fab experiences. It is really eye opening and yes, you are definitely doing something right.
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Hi Kally!
Love your tips 🙂
I´ve been hiring freelancers from Workana since November. I hire them for very specific tasks, let them know exactly what I need from them, and negotiate a reasonable due date to complete the tasks. Of course, I pay on time 🙂
And I guess I´m doing it right because I get top qualifications from them on my client profile… I got 5 over 5 stars as a client in every one of 17 “projects”, haha!
Big hugs!!
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Hey Dave! Awesome sharing on your experiences hiring freelancers. And yes, you are definitely doing it right! Big hugs! I’m so happy to bask in your success.
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Thanks Kally,
I get “it.”; treat THEM the way I would like to be treated.
God Bless,
Patrick
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Thank you, Patrick and right on point!
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Do you have tips on how to break into the freelance market? Thanks for any recommendations. Great post.
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Sure, check out this link: https://middleme.net/2018/06/25/the-ultimate-checklist-for-new-freelancers/
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I knew you’d have a handy blog post available. You are Da Woman!
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Haha!! You made me blush! Please drop me an email anytime if you need more assistance. Especially since the articles are more generic.
Email: Kally@MiddleMe.net
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Another great post Kally! I am trying so hard to get involved with freelance work, but it has been a little frustrating. I completed my Upwork profile, submitted proposals, one of which still might work, but the others were closed. Do you recommend a certain platform for freelance writing?
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Thank you. Hiring freelancers has been something I have done in the past and is something I will probably be doing in the future. It always boils down to the Golden Rule. Treat others the way you would like to be treated.
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I was surprised by the advice in #1. Do some people hiring freelancers offer more than the asking salary to try to make sure they get a particularly good freelancer? It makes sense to me to just stick with what they ask unless it’s clearly unreasonable. Haggling always leaves room open for things to fall through.
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