#34: As Over Half The US Workforce Becomes Freelancers, How Do You Lead Your New Wave Of Talent?
Let's Learn From Stefan Palios, Top Freelancer You Need In Your Cloud ASAP
Hi, I’m Matthew Mottola, entrepreneur leading the ethical adoption of the freelance economy. Through this newsletter I hope you learn the path and meet the heroes making the Human Cloud our best possible future.
Quick Updates
1: We have bandwidth to highlight you leaders, reply if you spend more than $20k a year on freelancers or have tangible case studies of how freelancers have transformed your business.
2: We’ve added a low risk leadership project to start with at the bottom of this email.
3: Need a deck to convince your leadership why you need to be hiring freelancers? Find one HERE.
Back To The Show
Leaders,
You have 1-2 years to build your bench with A-Player freelancers.
What’s an A-Player freelancer look like?
Top 1% within their niche
Run like a business
Looks after your business equal if not more than you
The clearest difference…
A-Player freelancers don’t stop working with you, they become your go to for the rest of your life. Whether you’re a VP today, a startup founder tomorrow, or just publishing a book on the side, A player freelancers are leadership kryptonite, and increasingly the secret weapon for long term impactful leadership.
BUT heads up! A-Player freelancers don’t work on gigs. They stick with 5-15 ideal clients. So once they’re taken…they’re most likely gone! Which means if you aren’t an ideal client…time to hand over the leadership keys to somebody else.
I predict you have 1-2 years to build your bench with A players before it gets really hard to find good freelance talent.
It’s already hard to discover good freelance talent. Not for lack of freelancers…there are over 60 million in the US and some estimates predict over 1 billion globally. But finding a good freelancer is extremely tough.
Which is why today’s topic is crucial - when you find an A-Player freelancer, how do you keep them?
Let’s Learn From Stefan Palios, Freelance Writer
Rather than listen to me, let’s learn from A player freelancer Stefan Palios - a freelance writer based in Canada who works with clients across North America and Europe.
For the full story, enjoy my most recent Forbes article!
TL;DR:
You can trust freelancers because incentives are aligned. Specifically Stefan is incented to consistently be on time and on budget with his ideal clients since his livelihood is directly tied to his outcomes and his client’s experience.
While freelancers aren’t employees, they might have a longer tenure than actual employees.
Working with a freelancer is a partnership, not a transaction.
To set up a project for success, know what you want (and why).
Simple…pay ASAP and be consistent.
Project You Can Hire A Freelancer For ASAP
Below is a common project for leaders to get started hiring a freelancer.
Subject: Thought Leadership Article
Cost: $500
Description: You probably have notes, prior talks, or insights that would make a great internal or external article. A good freelance writer will take those notes from your brain, or a Word Doc, to a 1,200-1,500 word article
Want To Join Fellow Leaders?
You don’t have to do this alone.
Join a close-knit group of fellow leaders ethically scaling their impact through freelancers.
Vetting and confidentiality is crucial, so each community member is accepted on a per case basis.
Thanks for subscribing to The Human Cloud Newsletter! If you’re an ambitious leader looking to make an impact through the Human Cloud, we’re here for you every step of the way.
We recommend:
Starting with the book
Joining our community
Sending us Golden Retriever memes
Talk Soon,
The Matthews