“I am sorry, but I was busy on another project! But don’t worry I will get it fixed.” This wasn’t the first time I heard this from a freelancer, but surely I wanted to make it
As an a entrepreneur we all tend to believe that things will be better next time, and we should give one more chance. And just like me, I am sure you have also came across this situation at least few times, before you say “Enough! I am not going to hire a freelancer anymore.”
But every time when there is a new project coming in on urgent basis, we tend to quickly move to upwork or freelancer and post a requirement for a freelancer to take up the dirty work that we must do, but do not want to.
Because SEO IS a lot of dirty work
No matter how much we praise our talent to create innovative strategies that can beat the competition, and how much we brag in front of the client about our unique approach towards the entire SEO activity, and our knowledge about Google’s ever-changing algorithms, inside we all know that success of SEO depends on the hard work of link building and content curation.
That, what is going to take hours of our time in sending requests to the busiest editors of those authority websites we want to get the client product/services listed on. It is going to take hours of time in fixing the on-page errors, warnings and notices, that are thrown in our face by the SEO audit tool like SEMRush.
And, let’s admit it!
No matter how much we know that our strategy is the best one to get the results, we really do not want to dive into doing the chores and getting our hands dirty.
And that is, what makes us force ourselves, again and again, to find a freelancer, in a hope that this time it would be a better experience.
Hiring Freelancers Vs ODC
So what makes our experience with freelancers so bitter, and how ODC can help us to assure a guaranteed success without getting hour hands dirty into the execution?
1. Working Alone
One of the biggest challenge with freelancers, is that they work individually. Nothing wrong in it, if you are looking for a graphic designer or developer to code your website.
But SEO / Digital Marketing is all about a game plan. And you need talented people to discuss and change your plan to make a win. As a single player their learning process is limited, and they get very limited exposure to variety of experiments and outcomes.
In a ODC setup, the executive is in a regular discussion with other team members to collect their inputs to bring the best results for your work. This means although there is only one person you have hired, you get more brains on the work, for a dynamic view on the implementation and greater result.
2. Teamwork
A freelancer will be working from the corner of his home or a cafe, in most of the time. Its really great when you are creating an art to be inspected by someone and like it.
But SEO or Digital
At an ODC, your person has great exposure to a variety of people, who have their own patterns of buying and reacting to the marketing messages. You can experiment with them as a team, and have a role-play, cross-question and gather a different perspective on your message to make your marketing messages rock!
3. Infrastructure
Individuals have their own limitations on how much infrastructure they can build for a better work environment. As freelancers are mostly the people on the move, often the only infrastructure they are equipped with is a laptop and internet USB. A small accident with their laptop, and you are the one getting affected on the project delivery.
An ODC setup is highly equipped with a high-end infrastructure with super fast internet (100 MBPS Leased Lines) with backup connections, fast computer systems, latest software and backup mechanisms to ensure zero downtime.
4. Data Security
Most freelancers heavily depend upon using Free Wi-Fi at the Cafes while doing their work, nothing wrong when you are a freelance blog writer who is writing for your own blog. But not for a client’s work!
Public wi-fi networks are highly insecure and unreliable, not to mention prone to hacking. Any professional hacker can steal the data over such connections. More to that, as the freelancers to save their money, most freelancers relay on free or cheap anti-virus software, that may risk your entire work.
At an ODC, there is always an obligation to have all systems updated with latest and best quality security software. There are data protection policies in place (such as No-USB access, Access Restrictions, Restricted Entry to work areas) and regular security audits are mandatory.
This ensures that your data is highly secure and safe in the ODC, compare to the risk of mishandling by a freelancer.
5. Availability
Freelances love doing freelancing for one major reason : Freedom.
Freelancing gives them the freedom to choose when they want to work, and with whom.
The problem? When you are the one giving them the work, you have absolutely no clue, when they are going to work and when are they not. This creates a major trouble in communication, as you are always wondering about getting reply on your last email, and lot of time is wasted in deciding the time, when you want to have a call.
If you have not set a fixed time for meeting, in most of the case when you want to talk urgently, they are busy with something else, without regret. Because they keep their Freedom on top of everything – including your work.
At an ODC, the person you hire is a committed and dedicated person working exclusively for you. This means there is always a guarantee that the person will be available to communicate during his/her work hours and will respond to you. At an ODC, the obligations for the person are the same as your in-house employee, and thus you can be assured about their response, and responsibilities. At an ODC, your work is the highest priority for the person you hire.
6. Loyalty
One dark part of the freelancing world is – they are always looking for new clients!
It is not their fault, but the nature of work is such, that they are always afraid of losing you – for any reason. And that risk of seating empty, the fear of losing the opportunity to make money is huge. On top of that, the only way they think they can make more money, is by working for many clients, and working for clients who can pay more than what you are offering.
This means, you are always risking availability and loyalty when you are outsourcing to a freelancer. Even if you commit a retainer, they will look for someone else who can pay more, and will leave you in middle of the desert if required.
In an ODC, the person hired is your employee. They are paid highly, compared to the industry benchmark, and are offered several perks for performance, along with a great job security.
It is very easy to judge, who will be more productive – a fearful person with no loyalty or a peaceful person with high-level loyalty to your success?
7. No Control – High Risk
Freelancer is an independent contractor working for you.
He/she has own goals and objectives to achieve in the life. Additionally, you really never know what is going in the background in their personal lives. You may think that you don’t need to care as long as they are doing your job, but that is not true.
Every individual has challenges in life, and that ultimately affects the performance. When a personal issue pops-up, the freelancer will put it on top priority, sacrificing any benefits of working on your project. This will ultimately put your promise to a client in risk – and you have no control over it.
In an ODC setup, you have a complete control over the person working for you, and there is a professional team to handle any challenges they have in their performance. The ODC management takes care of their performance monitoring and improvement. If something is beyond repairable, you can always get a replacement person to continue with your work – with a proper handover and knowledge transfer. A farewell is really well, when it comes to parting from the person working for you, which guarantees the continuity and success of your project.
Conclusion
No matter how lucrative outsourcing your work to a freelancer may seem, it has a lot of potential risks, that can burn your fingers some day and destroy your entire business.
An ODC can support you with a reliable secure infrastructure, professional management, motivated staff, complete control and thus guarantee the success of your project.
