The Ultimate Guide to Freelancing in 2020

• Benefits of hiring freelancers
• Process of hiring freelancers
• Top platforms to hire freelancers in 2020
• Top 10 interview questions to find the perfect freelancers 
• Simple tips for managing freelancers
• Top 4 engagement ideas & activities for freelancers in 2020
• Top 5 simple tips for motivating freelancers

Times are changing, and the number of freelancers is increasing every year. The sixth annual study of U.S. workers estimates that 57 million Americans freelance. The way people are working worldwide is transitioning from working in offices to freelancing. 

In today’s internet age, if you are hiring local talent, then there is a chance of missing a talented pool from across the world. Many startups are hunting for expertise in artificial intelligence, machine learning, robotics, data science, etc. to overcome a significant demand-supply mismatch for talent with knowledge of futuristic technologies. Using a freelancing platform is an excellent option for anybody looking to embrace the freedom of freelancing, or to develop their professional skills on their own time. If you are not choosing the suitable talent for your work, then it’s like betting on the wrong horse. A freelancing platform opens up an enormous pool of talent to choose from. 

Hiring freelancers for your company is a great way to reduce overhead costs and boost productivity. Startup businesses can save on costs on extra benefits such as reimbursement, paid leaves, performance bonuses, employee social security & insurance payment, etc. Also you can check out more benefits of hiring freelancers. So, one can easily say that the scope of expenditure is much more than the salary on hiring an employee. Instead, you can avail the services of an expert freelancer at an affordable cost. Freelancers can be leveraged to produce incredible effects for both businesses and individuals. But the crucial question is — How does someone start hiring freelancers? Well, just like you go on Tinder or OkCupid to find a date, you will need a freelancing platform on which you can find your best match. On freelancing platforms, you can choose your freelancers globally by their skill sets and abilities.

Here are the 6 best platforms to hire freelancers that offer unique and distinctive features :

1) Upwork

Founded in early 2000, Elance-oDesk was rebranded as Upwork. It is based in Mountain View and San Francisco, California. Upwork connects businesses and skilled professionals. On average, businesses find suitable talent within three days. These freelancers can help you with work ranging from small, quick turnarounds to large, complex, and longer-term projects.

What makes Upwork stand out?

Freedom to work on ideal projects

On Upwork, freelancers can choose their own clients by running their own business. When a profile is completed, ideal jobs will be highlighted. One can also search for projects and respond to client invitations.

Efficient Search and Reviews

As an employer, you don’t have time to look and investigate several profiles. On this platform, you can narrow down your search for the potential hires with Upwork algorithms. The platform thoroughly reviews the profile list so that during the interview, you can only spend time with the best of the best.

Safe Payments

Prior to the deadline, employers can fund their accounts. After a review of freelancers’ jobs, employers can pay for their work and hours. Upwork also supports credit cards and other electronic payments.  One can pay freelancers’ using the preferred and trusted payment type.

Pros

On this platform, freelancers interact on most occasions with clients which helps in  building long term relations.

Cons

2) Toptal

Founded in 2010 by Taso Du Val and Breanden Beneschott. Toptal connects businesses with software engineers, designers, and business consultants globally. When companies decide to add talent to their team, they pay only when they are satisfied with freelancers’ work.

What makes Toptal stand out?

Access top talent

On Toptal, the best talents are offered to employees. Screening of freelancers is done to ensure that they are fluent English communicators, having pleasing personalities and are skillful and knowledgeable in their own fields.

Fluent communicators

All freelancers on Toptal are tested to ensure that they are fluent in English communication. This gives a guarantee that communication between employers and freelancers is smooth.

Pros

Toptal members can communicate, discuss and learn with other Toptalers to improve their skills and knowledge.

Cons

The typical costs are on the higher side. Most startups won’t be able to afford the pricing.

Founded in 2009 by Matt Barrie, its headquarters is located in Sydney, Australia. Through Freelancer.com, employers can hire freelancers to do work in areas such as software development, writing, data entry and design right through to engineering, the sciences, sales and marketing, accounting and legal services.

What makes Freelancer.com stand out?

Practical Recruitment

The platform provides competitive freelancers who bid to offer the best rates for services. Through chat, employers can get in contact with potential hires with attractive portfolios. 

Robust Freelancer Search

Freelancer.com search is optimized, which helps employers to narrow down their lists of prospects. For your convenience, the talent pool is filtered to the best providers on the platform. In this way, you can easily make decisions to ensure the success of your project.

Setting Milestones and Secure Payment

Freelancer.com understands that flexibility is also essential for employers. So, to customize employee milestone settings, a tool for an employer is included in the platform, which helps an employer in setting milestones to qualify for receiving payments.

Pros

This platform is possibly the best to hire freelancers for short-term projects.

Cons

Founded in 1998 in Pittsburgh and acquired by eMoonlighter.com, Guru.com has over 3 million members worldwide. Guru is a platform designed to connect and associate employers with a talented pool of freelancers from all around the world. Moreover, to make the transactions between parties easy, Guru also facilitates communication between the two parties. Guru is perfect for freelancers, looking for good pay jobs in designing, writing, IT, marketing, administration, and related fields.

What makes Guru stand out?

Portfolio Showcase

Guru lets you showcase your past work experience and provides you with access to new jobs every day. Being able to show your expertise to employers can allow employers to make the right decision (choosing you!).

Payments Made Safe 

With Guru, you can set up how and when payments will be made on your job. There are 4 arrangements to fit any job:

• Pay by Milestones
• Pay by Task
• Pay by the Hour
• Pay Using Recurring Payments

But what is really fascinating about Guru is SafePay. It doesn’t matter which arrangement you choose; SafePay gives you a simple and secure solution for payments. Always focused on convenience, Guru offers a way to automate your payments. And, in case of any dispute which cannot be resolved by words alone, Guru has Dispute Resolution Service dedicated to solving problems between clients and freelancers.

Simplified Onboarding and Job Posting 

Guru is focused on providing a relaxed and hassle-free onboarding and job posting experience. By leveraging above-the-fold content, Guru empowers employers to post a job for free. However, while creating a job post is free, Guru offers a way to boost your job posting by paying additional money for increased exposure. The advertised posts are featured on top of the search results.

Pros

The Guru Work Room lets you efficiently manage all your work in one convenient place.

Cons

The platform seems to have lost its sheen in recent years and one can feel it in the way the platform is designed, the quality of projects and so on.

Founded in 2007 by Xenios Thrasyvoulou and Simos Kitiris, the company is headquartered in London. PeoplePerHour is mostly aimed at bringing together people searching for services in writing, web development, designing, social media, business development, etc. PeoplePerHour empowers professionals around the world to take on work that they love doing.

What makes PeoplePerHour stand out?

Management and Collaboration 

With PeoplePerHour, you can say goodbye to the struggles of managing a project. The dashboard allows users to monitor the information they need to get the job done, along with the necessary management tools to make your workflow easier. PeoplePerHour gives you a marked inbox of tasks, structured threads for communication, and organized invoicing.

Secure Money Protection 

Unlike conventional freelancing platforms, PeoplePerHour has an intuitive payment system that holds payments in an escrow account until work is marked complete by both parties. Additionally, employers using the marketplace are required to provide down payments at the beginning of the projects to ensure payment is given.

Pre-defined Job Posting Template 

PeoplePerHour has a template to describe the work needed for the project. The website has an artificial intelligence system in place that does most of the heavy lifting — matching and contacts with the best freelancers for the job.

Pros

You can easily score both online as well as on-site freelancing gigs on PeoplePerHour.

Cons

Founded in 2010 by Micha Kaufman and Shai Wininger, the company is based in Tel Aviv, Israel. Fiverr offer services that include writing, translation, graphic design, video editing and programming. A service provided on Fiverr is called a Gig. Sellers have the option to choose their starting price point. With Gig Packages, sellers can offer buyers different service packages at different prices. 

What makes Fiverr stand out?

Full Transparency

On Fiverr, employers can see all the necessary information about the freelancers. These include ratings, feedback, number of jobs or gigs completed, and cancellation incidents. This offers confidence to buyers, knowing the kind of worker they are potentially collaborating with.

Secure Personal Details

After hiring freelancers on Fiverr, their personal details are kept secure.  The platform only provides information that assists sellers in learning more about their potential employer. Everyone’s privacy is protected, allowing them to conduct transactions peacefully.

Protected Buyer Payments

Fiverr assures users that their financial data is safe from prying eyes. This ensures them that their information does not get compromised. Payments can be made online through PayPal, credit cards or other forms of electronic payments.

Pros

On Fiverr, you don’t have to spend the entire day bidding on projects.

Cons

Fiverr takes  20% commission on each transaction, including tips.

RemotePanda

Founded in early 2017, RemotePanda is the pragmatic, prudent and organized way to outsource your needs. With RemotePanda’s concierge service, you have someone to take care of your needs right from recruitment to hiring and throughout the project. RemotePanda provides managed freelancers/teams comprising of Top Tech Talent to help you build your products with ease. It is built for CxOs who are looking for freelancers.

What makes RemotePanda stand out-

Customer success manager

A dedicated point of contact is assigned when the engagement starts, who manages your resources throughout the course of the project. The customer success manager will be communicating with the freelancers regularly to manage the project plan and KPIs throughout the project. 

Pre-Vetted Resources

Freelancers will go through a stringent vetting process to determine and verify qualification(s). Prevetted proposals mean you only receive top recommendations. 

Guaranteed security

Conclusion:

Clients have dozens of freelancing platforms to choose from, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. It depends on you which platform you choose to find your best match. The above list contains options to seriously consider checking, although the only way to know is to try them yourself.So, by reading the points mentioned above, you can easily conclude that RemotePanda is the best freelancing marketplace where certainty is essential with freelancers. Also, it’s super essential for entrepreneurs as it saves time and resources.