“Should I hire independent contractors?”

It’s a hand-wringer for many business managers. It might come up as your business experiences a sudden surge, or when the chance to bid on a huge contract presents itself.

The independent workforce now makes up over 40% of US workers, so there may be no better time to tap into that resource. But is it right for you?

While we can’t answer that question outright, we can give you the tools to understand why hiring independent contractors could be a real benefit to your company.

Give yourself flexibility

Everybody wants to be able to do everything in today’s commercial marketplace.

Partly that’s because we all want to be ready to respond to the latest changes in our industry. That could be anything from developing technology to a social media trend.

Hiring independent contractors is a great way to add that flexibility to your organization. With traditional employees, your ability to capitalize on situations is limited by the skill set of your employees and the long lead-times involved in the hiring process.

You could hire new employees, sure, but then who’s to say their skills will remain relevant to you over time?

Independent contractors are also great for managing changing business needs. You can bring on a retinue of contractors to cope with high volumes of work or a particular project without needing to find a niche for them when the work reduces back to normal levels or the project comes to an end.

Save on expenses

It’s no secret that regular employees come with a lot of requirements and expenses employers must meet or incur.

Among the considerations for a company hiring employees are:

• Providing space for employees to work. This will include health & safety considerations as well as comfort.
• HR support to deal with parental needs, ambitious or underperforming employees, requirements to show continued professional development, and other personal and interpersonal issues such as stress and disputes.
• Benefits such as health insurance, pension etc.
• Continued payment for employees outside of a usual working pattern, such as long-term sickness and parental needs.
• Compensation in the event of accident or injury
• Meeting travel and training expenses

All of these add up to a lot of expense for an employer. And that’s fine if you’re investing in your company’s future and trying to build a skilled in-house team.

But you don’t always need that. By hiring independent contractors, you can bypass a lot of these expenses while still completing work.

Independent contractors may have a higher payment per hour, but when you factor in the extra investment of time and money into regular employees, the savings soon become obvious.

You can hire independent contractors fully-trained without any of the other financial obligations to your company except their salary.

Protect your company

As we’ve covered, regular employees can need a lot of maintenance to keep them happy. What happens when the employer/employee relationship breaks down?

Lawsuits can be devastating for a company. By hiring independent contractors, you can insulate yourself from this risk.

Contractors aren’t your direct employees, so you don’t have the same legal responsibilities for them as you would a regular employee.

Here’s a selection of rights held by regular employees that you won’t have to worry about when hiring independent contractors:

• Right to form a union
• Right to sick or parental leave
• Protection from employment discrimination (except racial discrimination)
• Right to minimum wage and increased overtime payment

So hiring independent contractors can ensure your core business doesn’t become eclipsed by legal issues and expensive payouts in the event of a dispute.

Anything that allows you to focus on what you do well gives you an advantage over competitors distracted by other issues.

There are some legalities you’ll need to keep in mind. Your written contract will need to be smart to set the terms of employment. You’ll also need to consider things like the question of what happens to intellectual property created by independent contractors.

Recruit quickly

Recruitment can be a hellish process for all involved.

Timescales are long. Even after posting a job ad, you’ll often have set a closing deadline and be unable to advance before then. Following which you need to go through the lengthy and time-consuming process of interviewing candidates.

It can often take a least a month before the candidate is able to come and work for you.

And this all supposes you’ve found the right candidate and that the hiring won’t turn out to be a mistake. It’s also pretty common for new employees to change their minds and jump ship within weeks.

In some cases, you can go through all this for just a single employee.

By contrast, hiring independent contractors lets you get boots on the ground quickly. You can mass-hire, skip interviews (even if you conduct a less intensive skills check), and deploy within weeks rather than months.

Being able to deploy workers so quickly could be the difference between winning or losing a contract, or delivering a project to budget.

It can also allow you to manage harmful backlogs.

Expand your scope by hiring independent contractors

Depending on the nature of your industry, you may find that hiring more employees isn’t the best way to scale up your business. The extra overheads of regular employees may keep your company at a certain size.

Hiring independent contractors can be an effective way to break through that ceiling. You can effectively inflate the size of your workforce and the size of your company.

Knowing you can bring in independent contractors to cover more ambitious work gives you a realistic way to beat your competitors without taking dangerous risks.

Independent contractors may help you punch above your weight in your chosen industry. You may even find they help you snowball to the point where you can afford to invest in more regular employees.

So next time you see an uptick in your work or need to meet the requirements of a project, consider hiring independent contractors and feel the benefits.

For more business tips, follow my blog or head on over to my Contact Page if you need to get in touch!

Did you know that nearly 70% of all entrepreneurs start by running their businesses from their home? 

What about the fact that entrepreneurship is responsible for creating over 3 million jobs in the United States alone? 

The reality is that, no matter what industry you choose to work in, where you start your company from, or even how many employees you have, you need to have an incredible drive in order to succeed as an entrepreneur. 

Of course, drive alone isn’t enough. You also need to continually and rigorously work to refine and better your personal entrepreneurial development. 

How can you make sure you’re doing that? 

You can start by reading this article. 

In it, we’re telling you the top 7 things you can do to grow entrepreneurial development and become a better entrepreneur. 

1. Surround Yourself With Good People

The company you keep is one of the most important factors when it comes to entrepreneurial development. 

We know you’re already probably attending tons of events, talks, and other networking events in your industry. 

But keep in mind that, in order to keep developing your own skills, it’s not enough to just milk these connections to grow your business. You have to be willing to really learn skills from others on your team or in your larger industry. 

You also need to know how to delegate tasks according to what each member of your team is good at. This can be difficult, as it will often mean acknowledging your own shortcomings. 

However, the reality is that every person on your team is an asset in their own unique way (which is why it’s so crucial to hire a diverse team.) 

You want to find people who share your vision of success and who you work well with, but they need to be leaders just as much as you are. Ask yourself what you can learn from everyone on your team, and what you can teach them in return.

2. Know How To Measure Your Progress

We all want success – but unfortunately, it never comes overnight. 

Instead of focusing on one giant (often unattainable at your current phase of business, anyway) goal, you need to break it down into several smaller goals that you can actually reach. 

This won’t just hone your entrepreneurial development and keep you motivated to moving forward. 

It will also allow you to clearly evaluate whether or not the current steps you’re taking, and methods you’re using, are actually effective. 

3. Outsource What You Can

Especially at the start of your business, you need to seriously evaluate how much time you’re losing every day to tasks that, in the end, could really be done by someone else. 

As an entrepreneur, every minute of your day is incredibly valuable – and every wasted one represents a real loss.

To foster your own entrepreneurial development, ask yourself and your team to think of the tasks that can only be done by them, that could probably be done by someone else (especially down the line) and that could easily be outsourced.

For example, only you can meet and pitch your company, vision, and projections to a potential million-dollar investor. However, someone else can probably run the updates on your computer.

4. Know How To Lead

Even if you’re just starting out, we know you ultimately want to still be in charge when your company grows to a multi-million dollar empire. 

But to do that, you’re going to need to teach yourself how to be a good leader. This doesn’t just mean managing your specific team. 

It means becoming an innovative thought leader in your field of choice. 

Ask yourself: what are you continuously doing every day to make sure you know the latest news and trends in your industry? How are you incorporating that into your own management style and product/services? 

Always learn from mistakes – your own, and other people’s. Make sure those you work with feel valued, and take the time to listen to and ask for their ideas. 

5. Take Risks

Especially in today’s hyper-competitive world, if you don’ take risks as an entrepreneur, you’re never going to see the kind of growth you want – personally and professionally. 

If you’re not comfortable playing around with money, keep in mind that there are lots of other ways to take risks. 

Hire someone who thinks differently than you do. Attend an industry event with people you look up to, and make it a point to talk to them. Take on a bigger client.

Do something that your competition is afraid to. 

It’s the only way you’re going to be able to differentiate yourself.

6. Avoid Distractions

Yes, it’s true – in order to get the most out of every day, you’re going to have to schedule your time like crazy. 

This also means that you need to be incredibly protective of it. 

Especially in today’s world, it’s easy for a “quick five-minute break” to turn into a long lunch, cocktails, happy hour, and a hangover the next day. If you don’t see your time as one of the most valuable aspects of your business, you won’t make it far. 

This doesn’t mean you can’t take breaks. In fact, they’re incredibly important when it comes to keeping you productive! It just means that these breaks need to be scheduled.

Give yourself at least 5 minutes every hour to unwind. Otherwise, you’ll find yourself losing hours of time later. 

7. Always Remember Why You Started

Accepting some losses and going through some challenging times are an important part of entrepreneurial development. But often, especially if these are big losses, it can make you feel like you want to quit. 

When this happens, think back to why you started your company in the first place. What problem did you want to solve? Who would you help? What do you love about it? 

This will encourage you to push yourself through the tough times. 

Build Up Your Entrepreneurial Development With These Tips!

Thanks to these tips, you’re ready to make this the year your company hits its all-time highs! 

Looking for more ways to motivate yourself and manage your time? 

Want to know what else you can do to push yourself to grow? 

Check out the blog and website to ensure that you never let another opportunity pass you by.