I am an active member of a local group of freelancers in my city called CollabMiami. A big part of the mission for this group is to get creatives to collaborate with freelancers on projects.
Apparently, I live in a finance blogger bubble because it wasn’t until recently when I learned how competitive creative professionals can be. Having always been involved in very inclusive communities, I was shocked to learn it’s not usually like that.
As a result, I’ve decided to share some of the ways to collaborate with freelancers on projects. This is based on my experience of freelancing for seven years.
Outsource parts of client projects to other freelancers.
Let’s say you land a big fish client who needs some full-service branding and marketing. Let’s also say you specialize in visual branding. Do you honestly think you can write blogs and social media copy too?
The answer is probably not. Even if you could, it’s not your zone of genius so you shouldn’t overload yourself. This is where you would be able to collaborate with freelancers who can help with different parts of the project.
Hire freelancers to maintain your brand.
Similar to how you would collaborate with freelancers on client projects, you can also hire freelancers to take care of your brand.
For example, I work with a freelance audio editor, a freelance editor, and a freelance graphic artist. They don’t handle any client work, but rather they work on my personal brand. At this point, my graphics, blogs and podcasts are pretty much all outsourced.
In collaborating with other freelancers, they get these things off my plate. This allows me to keep growing my brand while I focus on what makes money – client work, product creation and sales.
Partner up on launches.
Back when I was launching my Amazon bestselling book, I thought it would be a good idea to collaborate with freelancers to spread the word. I sent emails to about 100 financial bloggers and writers to see if they wanted to help me market the book.
Fortunately, they did. Throughout the course of a couple of months, I was able to collaborate with freelancers on joint webinars and interviews. I’m certain this is a big part of the reason why my book was such a success.
Collaborate on events.
As I write this, I am preparing to head out to my biggest conference of the year. This will be my fifth year attending and it is a testament to what happens when freelancers collaborate.
For example, I am speaking on a panel with other consultants. Most of us started as freelancers. My colleagues and I will also be mentoring other bloggers while we are there.
Refer other freelancers for projects.
As a freelancer, your network is key for landing gigs. That’s why one way to collaborate with freelancers is to refer them to projects you can’t take on yourself. It’s a win-win for everyone.
Final Thoughts
Don’t let rumors about competitive creatives keep you from collaborating with freelancers. In the seven years that I’ve been a freelancer, I’ve witnessed how far we can all get if we collaborate with one another.