Hiring Subcontractors as a Freelancer
<p>Once in a while, you realize that the workload of a freelancing job is simply unrealistic, even for a one-man army like you. You might not have the specific skills for a certain part of the project, or the timeline is too aggressive and you need someone to help you deliver the requested work in a timely fashion.</p>
<p>Depending on the situation, your client might prefer a turnkey solution over the management of a team of freelancers. That implies you will have to hire your own workforce and assume the risk.</p>
<p>Since cloning is still experimental, here is an article about offloading a part of a project to subcontractors.</p>
<h2><strong>Who is responsible?</strong></h2>
<p>The responsibility is all yours to your client’s eyes. Make sure you trust your allies to deliver their part of the work in time. You’re also responsible for the quality of the work produced. Buffer a part of your time to review everything done by your subcontractors. In some case, you might even need to adapt a part of it to meet your client’s expectations.</p>
<p>Your reputation is on the line, choose the right person(s). Clients care about the results and will happily blame you for picking the wrong person.</p>
<p><strong>Just remember: It’s all your fault.</strong></p>
<h2><strong>Specifications</strong></h2>
<p>Your subcontractor has to start with some very clear specifications about the work to be done and the timeline. Hiring someone to execute a blurry vision is one of the best way to burn money after literally burning money. Give them as much details as possible, and get answers from the client quickly if some questions arise. You won’t be making any profits from a project if your subcontractor keeps thrashing everything they do</p>
<h2><strong>Contracts</strong></h2>
<p>Writing down a contract is the best way to protect yourself and the client. Always plan for the worst and hope for the best. Add a clause to keep the copyrights of the work done (you will transfer them to your client in most scenarios), you might need to edit or extend part of what has been done by your subcontractor, you don’t want to get into a legal war. Also add non-compete clause (NCC) and non-solicitation clause. You don’t want your subcontractors to use precious intel gathered while working on your client’s project for a competitor’s project, and you don’t want them to steal your contract by soliciting your client either.</p>
<h2 class="r"> <strong>Confidentiality</strong></h2>
<p>Your subcontractor will probably get access to sensitive information about the client and his upcoming project. It could be about a business strategy or a masterplan to take over the world. You are responsible for any leakage caused by the person you hire, which means it has to be stated very clearly that there are potential legal consequences to being careless.</p>
<p>It might be a good idea to avoid working on very secret projects with someone you don’t know well.</p>
<p>Do you have any interesting stories with subcontractors? Share them in the comments!</p>
<p>Happy Billing!</p>
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