One of the most common challenges agencies of all sizes are facing right now is the finding the right people to add to the team. Client budgets and programs are growing, new business is getting a little easier and so everything should be rosey. But when you don’t have the right team to get the work done – it’s frustrating and frightening.

10-15 years ago the prevailing attitude was that agencies needed everyone under one roof. After all the work is so collaborative. But when the recession hit and people had to reduce fixed expenses to survive, many agencies who swore they would never use freelancers or hire someone virtual crossed over and did just that.

That’s why I was so interested in talking to Nathan Hirsch, the co-founder and CEO of FreeeUp.com, the hands-on hiring marketplace connecting hundreds of online business owners with reliable, pre-vetted remote workers. Nathan can also be found on leading podcasts, such as Entrepreneur on Fire and Eventual Millionaire, speaking about online hiring tactics.

If you listen with an open mind and a willingness to consider something different – I think you might get some interesting ideas about your own talent pool.

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

Remote workers give business owners an opportunity to level up their talent at a cheaper cost than traditional employees
The advantages freelancers bring to agencies
The idea of creating your own marketplace with your freelance pool so they compete with each other and always deliver their best work
How the freelance business is changing and freelancers have their own team working for them
Why Nathan believes you should pay freelancers on an hourly model
How Nathan’s company Freeeup helps its freelancers work with agencies so everyone wins
Minimizing risk when working with freelancers and what Freeeup does to make its freelancers less risky than other freelancers
Structuring interviews to weed out the wrong freelancers before you start working together
Tools to work more effectively with freelancers and virtual employees
The pros and cons of having your employees work remotely
Creating a feeling of collaboration and teamwork when your team doesn’t see each other regularly
Why allowing an in-office employee to go virtual rarely ever works
The importance of diversifying when you’re hiring

Ways to contact Nathan Hirsch:

We’re proud to announce that Hubspot is now the presenting sponsor of the Build A Better Agency podcast! Many thanks to them for their support!

Episode 122: How agencies can best use freelancers and virtual employees with Nathan Hirsch

Build a Better Agency Podcast