It’s more important to know how to assemble the perfect remote team. The argument for a complete in-house, in-office team of staff is becoming weaker because of COVID-19 and how businesses have adapted. Most tasks can be effectively outsourced to freelancers and dedicated companies, reducing costs and boosting flexibility. By identifying which of these tasks you want to outsource and investing in the tools to manage people remotely, you can build the ideal distributed team for your company.
Identifying Your Remote Roles
First, you need to decide which tasks within your company are most in need of outsourcing. These can be jobs beyond your skillset that you don’t enjoy or would simply benefit from professional expertise. The most important thing, however, is that freelancer roles are well-suited to remote work. Common examples include:
● Web & Mobile Developer – Coding is a foreign language to most people, which is why web development is one of the most popular jobs to outsource. Even if you use a user-friendly web builder for your website, a developer can use a specific coding language to personalize it beyond the basic templates, like CSS for Squarespace or PHP for WordPress.
● SEO Expert – High-quality SEO is one of the most reliable ways to drive traffic to your website. Not only does it increase conversion rates, but it can help establish brand awareness and credibility.
● IT Support – In-house IT support is a big expense that most businesses, especially smaller ones, don’t need. Remote support is the most cost-effective solution. You can expect to pay $60 to $85 per workstation per month for remote help desk packages, which include anti-virus, anti-spam, and remote access.
Freelancer, Employee, Or Company?
Once you have identified what jobs you want to outsource remotely,
you need to figure out what model you will use. Your main choices are hiring a freelancer, hiring an employee, or hiring a company with its team of workers.
The trickiest decision is choosing between freelancers and employees. According to Forbes, freelancing works best for short-term projects, one-off jobs, and anything that doesn’t involve a 9 to 5 commitment.
However, this isn’t a hard-and-fast rule: for example, a personal assistant is a job you would usually associate with traditional employment, but you can hire experienced remote assistants who can do a similar job to a traditional assistant – fielding phone calls, managing data entry, arranging your schedule – but with much more flexibility.
As for companies, there are several situations in which they are particularly useful. For example, when it comes to marketing and branding, there are several benefits to hiring a team like Rogue Creatives. Not only do you get a fresh, outside perspective, but you can also rely on the creative talent of several experts without having to pay for each one individually.
Choosing The Right Tools
Once you have figured out who will comprise your remote staff, you must invest in the tools to manage them effectively. You will need:
● A way to communicate with them regularly. Email and Skype can work fine for individual freelancers, but for larger teams, you should consider a platform like Slack.
● A tool to keep track of invoices and payments, like a spreadsheet or, for more complex cases, some accounting software like FreshBooks, Intuit Quickbooks, or Xero.
● An established strategy for keeping track of their progress, whether it is daily updates or a time-tracking application.
Entrepreneurs need to be able to do whatever it is they do best. This means recognizing their blind spots and knowing when to delegate. You need to surround yourself with the best people, and the best people can be found all over the world. We are lucky enough to live in a globally connected world, where all of the world’s talent is accessible in a few clicks – take advantage of it!
Tina Martin is a Copywriter, Life Coach and author of IDEASPIRED.