Does your business need a consultant, a freelancer or both?
In a nutshell, freelancers and consultants are both self-employed professionals. They are not employed by the businesses they work for. However, they work differently and tend to be seen in different industries.
What is a freelancer?
Freelancers are self-employed workers who work from home or their own premises and usually work for several clients on various projects, often simultaneously. Freelancers are common in the creative and media industries, so you will likely find freelance writers, designers, photographers, and web developers.
What to typically expect from a freelancer?
Freelancers get their hands dirty in that they get on with the work, often working to briefs and deadlines but are usually happy to offer inputs as necessary or requested by the project owner. After all, many freelancers have worked with similar businesses, so they have become knowledgeable of what works and what doesn't and can offer valuable input.
How to hire a freelancer
It's pretty easy to hire a freelancer. There are many online platforms, such as Fiverr, Bark and Upwork, where you can post jobs for freelancers to bid for or with a quick Google search, you should be able to find many freelancers on their own websites so you can be selective on who you work with.
Why should you hire a freelancer?
Hiring a freelancer gives you a lot of flexibility. It saves your business money because you can commission your freelancer when you need them for a specific task without the overhead cost of a permanent staff member. For example, suppose you publish annual catalogues. In that case, you will be better off getting a freelance graphic designer to work on the catalogues from any point up to completing the design and print rather than employing a full-time graphic designer when you may not have enough work for the rest of the year.
Achieve your business goals with Lizzy Lloyd Creative Design!
What is a consultant?
A consultant is someone who provides expertise to companies in a specific field. They don't complete client work but give businesses tools to implement their proposals. They're problem solvers who can help organisations overcome obstacles.
Consultants are more prevalent in high speciality areas such as business financial consulting, business growth strategist or IT solutions consultant. The titles are more elaborate and lean more towards strategists and advice, not necessarily doing the work.
What to typically expect from a consultant
Consultants will enter your business to help you achieve the goal you hired them to achieve. For example, if you are trying to grow your workforce, you may need an HR consultant who can come into your business to scope out your current situation and help you find solutions that can help you scale correctly and sustainably. Essentially, consultants lean towards problem-solving and offering solutions.
How to hire a consultant?
Many consultants will have websites and social media pages and often come with recommendations through their work. You may also find consultants working part-time in high-profile roles within their industry. With their success and reputation, they can offer consultations to help other businesses reach that success as a part-time job.
Why should you hire a consultant?
If you know what you want to achieve but are unsure how to do it, then hiring a consultant would be the best option. Consultants are highly skilled in their field and should be able to quickly discover any potential strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to your business and help you work out solutions that are within your budget.
Why work with Lizzy Lloyd
Lizzy Lloyd operates as a freelance agency, which means that we offer services as freelancers with the added value of consultancy. Many of our clients come to us knowing what they want, and whilst some clients may have loads of ideas, some have a few, and some may have none. We offer full consultancy services to get an understanding of the scope of what can be delivered for the budget. Once the project has been defined, a project brief is written up, and then our agency can proceed to the next step as a freelancer to complete the work. The work is carried out exclusively by Lizzy Lloyd Creative Design, so clients have one point of contact at all times and, therefore, can ensure consistency.
Curious about what we could potentially do for your business? Take advantage of our free 30-minute consultation. Call Lizzy Lloyd on (+44) 79 4676 2494 or drop me a line at hello@lizzylloyd.com to schedule your session.
