Freelancers and the Small Business Owner
In
today's economy, freelancing has become a popular means of earning a living for
many people. From writers to graphic designers, and accountants to tutors,
countless jobs lend themselves perfectly to freelancing. The benefits to
individuals of working as a freelancer are obvious -- flexible work hours, no
commute and freedom to grow, just to name a few. What you may not realize is
that, in many cases, there are just as many benefits to small business owners
who hire those freelancers. Quite often, working with a freelancer as an
independent contractor can be a significantly better option than hiring an
ordinary employee.
Savings
Simply put, freelancers can save a small business quite a bit of money.
Business owners have to provide their full time regular employees health
insurance, equipment and a workspace. They also need to pay for workers'
compensation, state unemployment insurance, Social Security and other taxes and
so on. Freelancers provide their own health insurance, pay their own taxes, own
their own equipment and generally provide their own office or studio space.
Flexibility
Freelancers also provide extensive staffing flexibility. Ordinary full-time
employees usually rely on the jobs alone to provide for their families.
Unfortunately, as workloads fluctuate, many employers are forced to lay off
employees during slow seasons, leaving the laid off employee in a very tight
financial situation. Freelancers, however, generally work on a temporary basis,
completing one or two jobs before moving on to the next client. This saves the
employer the stress and expense of laying off employees once the busy season
ends.
Expertise
Unlike ordinary employees, who must be trained extensively in their jobs,
freelancers are specialized in certain tasks -- and therefore can be hired
specifically for those tasks. For example, if you need product descriptions for
a list of items for sale on your website, you could hire a freelancer who
specializes in writing product descriptions.
Of course, plenty of other benefits of hiring freelancers could be named as
well, including a quicker hiring time and faster job completions. To say the
least, freelancing is an area today's small business owners
should explore.