The role of freelancers in small business growth
Lately, I feel like every single small business owner I know is feeling particularly stressed or overwhelmed.
This could be because it’s Winter, or business is getting slower, or it’s getting way too busy. Whatever the reason, I’ve just noticed that lately so many of us are truly in the trenches with our mental or physical health.
Do you relate?
As an entrepreneur or small business owner, you may feel like you need to handle everything yourself. After all, are our Instagram feeds not bombarded with reshared cliches from Pinterest like:
“No pain, no gain”
“Don't stop when you're tired, stop when you're done”
“Hustle until your haters ask if you're hiring”
But here’s my controversial take: that’s all bullsh*t. Hard work is important, but what I’ve learned recently is that hard work isn’t sacrificing food and sleep. That’s just bad business.
The truth is, trying to do everything on your own is incredibly overwhelming and can lead to burnout.
I know this because I’m a business owner too, and I’ve been really experiencing it recently myself. I was so thankful for the good reception to the launch of BluSkye, but I wasn’t prepared for all the client work I got. I didn’t have enough cooks in my kitchen and so I tried to put on all the chef hats myself (bam! Double analogy).
And to my credit, I did get all the client work done. I was stoked. But what about my social life? My hobbies? My wellbeing? Erm. They’d all seen better days.
So, what did I do? I hired help.
This was hard for me because BluSkye is my little baby, but I recognised that was just my ego talking. It was far more important to keep my workload sustainable and protect my wellbeing. Because success and growth should be sustainable.
And that’s what this all comes down to.
Growth.
Small business owners can feel like they’re solely responsible for the growth of their business, even if they’re not experienced with marketing or growth strategies.
And then you can fall into the trap of trying to manage all the business growth yourself, plus you need to keep your business running as well. How can you do it all yourself? Okay, let me reword that - how can you do it yourself well while maintaining a solid work-life balance?
I’m not a mental or physical health professional. This definitely isn’t mental health advice. I just want to share my personal experience after hiring freelancers for my small business.
Hiring a freelancer can:
Reduce stress through hiring a freelancer
When you have a lot on your plate, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and stressed out. Hiring a freelancer can take some of the pressure off and allow you to focus on the tasks that are most important to you. I delegated tasks that were time-consuming or outside of my skill set, and noticed my stress levels went down almost immediately.
Increase productivity with the help of a freelancer
Working with a freelancer can help you to be more productive. When you have a freelancer working on specific tasks, you can focus on other important aspects of your business, like providing your product or service. In my case, I was able to be much more productive with my client work because I knew I had a lot of the background stuff covered. I got more done in less time and felt more accomplished.
Achieve better work-life balance by hiring a freelancer
One of the biggest benefits of hiring a freelancer is that it can help you achieve a better work-life balance. Your free time isn’t being eaten into by undesirable tasks. This was important to me because a few months ago, before I fixed this problem, I had people in my life telling me they were concerned for me and that they missed me. It was a big wake-up call. But now I’m feeling more relaxed and refreshed, which means I see my loved ones more and my output for my clients is better too.
Access to expertise through freelancers
When you hire a freelancer, you have access to their expertise and skills. You can delegate tasks to someone who has more experience in that area, which can improve the quality of your work and give you peace of mind. Knowing that I had people who were skilled and experienced working on certain tasks not only reduced my stress but also meant they could action tasks better than I ever could have on my own.
Increase flexibility with freelancer support
Working with a freelancer can give you more flexibility in your work schedule. You can work with a freelancer on a project-by-project basis, which can be more cost-effective than hiring a full-time employee. This can help you have more control over your workload and schedule, and can make things lighter on your pockets too.
In conclusion, it’s okay to reject your ego and ask for help. By reducing stress, increasing productivity, improving work-life balance, providing access to expertise, and offering increased flexibility, hiring a freelancer can help you to feel more in control and less overwhelmed. If you’re feeling overworked and stressed, consider hiring a freelancer to help lighten the load. I did, and it did wonders for me.