Freelancers vs. Employees: Why Neither Worked in My Business

As a kid, I always wanted to have my own business. I had dreams of doing things my way and making it big. But as I tried to start my own business, things weren’t looking good. I felt like I was going nowhere, and I didn’t like it one bit. It wasn’t at all what I had envisioned. I was discouraged and frustrated.

I encountered many problems. Looking back, I realized it all came down to the fact that I didn’t know how to hire the right people.

I knew I couldn’t do it alone. My goal was to hire workers to take on the day-to-day tasks of copywriting, web design, graphic design, programming, and other essential duties. Once I’ve done that, I could focus on what mattered most to my business: making sales and making money.

Why Freelancers Weren’t the Answer

Once I got my business up and running, I started working with freelancers.

One of the first people that I hired was a freelance writer to create content. The copy was fine. He did good work. But once he sent me what he wrote, I would have to edit it, post it, promote it on social media, and then link to it from other sites. That was more than I wanted to do. I wanted to replace myself in my business, not get more involved in the minutiae of it all.

My biggest struggle in doing this was that I had to micromanage these workers. The freelancer would handle one aspect of a project and then turn it over for me to complete. I couldn’t concentrate on making sales. With freelancers, I still had to be closely involved with each task. This wasn’t at all how I wanted to run my business.

I’ve tried them all.

• Upwork (previously Odesk and Elance),
• 99designs,
• Fiverr,
• Freelancer,
• Guru,
• RentACoder (now part of Freelancer).

They aren’t bad options if you need immediate help for a few days or weeks. The problem is, this is not an effective way to build a business.

Once a freelancer has completed your project, he’ll move on and look for the next offer. Their focus is getting the job done as fast as possible and getting a positive review, so they move on to the next job.

This wasn’t what I wanted. I needed workers who could take ownership over long-term tasks and projects. I needed people dedicated to my business for the long run.

Another problem with freelancers is that you have a 100 percent turnover. Every time you hire a new freelancer, you have to go through the same onboarding and training process again. This is not an efficient use of your time, and it’s certainly no way to manage a successful business.

I thought: “There has to be a better way.”

Why not Employees?

I next turned to local employees. It seems reasonable, right? I thought so too at one time but quickly realized this wasn’t ideal, either. The biggest drawback was the cost.

It’s not that local workers are bad; they’re not. As a small business, it’s hard to justify paying that much when I can pay a Filipino worker to do the same job for a fraction of the cost.

I also had difficulty justifying hiring local employees full-time if I didn’t have enough work to keep them busy. If they weren’t busy 100 percent of the time, it’s hard to be profitable.

There are also other costs to worry about, like paying the employees’ taxes and insurance. You also have to think about paying for office space and utilities where your employees work.

Getting the Best of Both Worlds

After my negative experience with freelance workers and local employees, I got a tip to hire a full-time worker in the Philippines. My business and my life have never been the same.

In the Philippines, I found:

• the high skill and low cost of working with a freelancer
• the long-term commitment and stability from Filipinos workers.

It’s like having a full-time employee with the convenience of a freelancer.

I’m Not Alone

I made a chart comparing Freelancers, Local employees, and Filipino Virtual workers.

	Freelancer	Local employee	Filipino virtual worker
Cost	Low to medium; usually paid per project, typically lower than local employees	High; can cost up to 10 times as much as a Filipino virtual worker	Low; can cost as little as $450 a month
Worker commitment to you	Low; move from project to project and work for multiple employers; concerned about making money and getting positive reviews	Medium; usually work only for you; work longer term than freelancers but don’t stick around jobs as long as they used to	High; Filipinos are loyal and will rarely quit; can be hired full time
Your commitment to worker	Medium; you still have to help them through the processes	High	High
Scope of work	Can work on bits and pieces and then goes to the next project.	Can be handed the entire system and built upon one piece after another.	Can be handed the entire system and built upon one piece after another.
Workload challenges	Will be assigned and take as much work as available from other people; 100 percent turnover.	Usually paid a fixed salary, so if the workload is small, they are not cost-effective.	Even when not busy, the cost is so low that you don’t feel unjustified in paying them; you need to understand two cultural differences.

The very first Filipino virtual worker I hired is still with me today. He has helped my business grow in ways that freelancers or local employees could never do. My business began to grow. I hired additional Filipino workers, following the same model I had used with the first worker I had hired.

The remarkable thing is that my experience is not unique. Thousands of business owners like me, and you have done the same thing.

Now, it’s your turn.

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About John Jonas
John helps business owners learn to outsourcing to the Philippines and replace themselves with virtual assistants.
He founded and owns OnlineJobs.ph.

He currently employs 14 amazing Filipino workers full-time and loves every one of them. He lives in Utah, has a wonderful wife, 4 amazing kids, and golfs 4-5 times/week.

Find John at JohnJonas.com and Facebook.

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