Guest post by Joyce Wilson
Establishing a successful business often requires help. However, many new or small companies simply cannot afford to hire full-time teams. For these situations, working with freelancers may be the answer. Of course, hiring freelancers comes with its own challenges – especially if you’re unfamiliar with the process. Luckily, the following tips outline each of the steps necessary to build a happy and productive team of freelancers for your business.
1. Hire the Right People
First and foremost, it is important to work with the right people. While freelancers are not employees and you may be less inclined to care about personality and culture, it is still essential to find people with whom you can have a positive working relationship.
As you are searching for people, try to cast a wide net so you can consider your options. There are great websites that help with hiring freelancers. You can also offer jobs and connect with freelancers through social media. If you’re planning on posting any images, a photo resizer allows you to adjust the dimensions of photos in less than 30 seconds so you can customize image sizes.
2. Get Your Administrative Operations Organized
Like all business relationships, working with freelancers is centered heavily on payment. By providing your freelancers with adequate compensation in a timely manner, you not only ensure their loyalty but also their happiness, which means improved work performance. 
Of course, this requires you to have the right tools for paying them – including tools both for tracking who needs to be paid and a way to actually send payment.
Additionally, think about your legal setup. It may be beneficial to organize your business as a limited liability company. This can provide tax and liability benefits. You can easily create an LLC either by filing the forms yourself or by using an online formation service. Keep in mind that different states have their own rules, so make sure to check the process for your area.
3. Establish Good Lines of Communication
Communication is essential for being both productive and happy as a team. You need to maintain effective lines of communication in order to stay in touch with workers around the world. This could be done via email. However, you may prefer to set up an instant messenger to make chatting faster and easier.
4. Select the Right Project Management Tool
Project management is especially important for freelance teams because everyone is working on their own schedule. With a good tool, you can easily include information about work that needs to be completed. Plus, you can assign tasks and keep track of progress. Look for a solution that best fits your business’s unique workflows.
5. Get to Know Each Other
Finally, make sure to take time to get to know each other. Team bonding may not be as important with freelancers, but it is still a good idea to invest in building relationships. Consider finding a time to just chat with each of your freelancers via a video call. Small things such as that can make a big difference in your working relationships.
These tips can help you build and maintain your freelance team more easily. Understanding how to work effectively with freelancers is a key step towards ensuring the success of your business.
Joyce Wilson is a retired teacher and enjoys sharing lesson plans, resources, and teaching tips on Teacher Spark.
