Fixed price projects or projects per hour: What is the best work modality with a freelancer?

Freelancers are here to stay. The success behind this work modality resides in the commodities it provides for both employees and companies.

A professional freelancer is a fresh-idea window for an entrepreneurship. It also represents the possibility of avoiding tricky steps, the communication is more agile and it modernizes things.

In the 2018 annual Workana report, we showed the level of preparation of freelancers. 55% of remote workers have college education, while 17% have postgraduate studies.

Freelancers survive in this highly competitive world thanks to their constant preparation and daily work on tendencies. Thus, their participation in a project is guarantee of innovation.

And, the contact of these professionals with a varied projects and processes spectrum allows them to have a wider vision of different entrepreneurships.

Therefore, they transform not only in the executors of your idea, but they also become your counselors along the way to bring them to reality.

But then, the question surfaces:

How can I hire them in Workana?

We will evaluate both modalities that we offer in the platform: fixed price projects and projects per hour.

Fixed price projects: the value of a group of specific tasks

The first feature that we should mention in this case is the deadline. Here, the work deadline is very clear and it is a fundamental part to end the work relationship. Therefore, if you have a specific deadline for your finished project, start considering this option.

In this situation, you have a clear deadline for which you need a list of tasks to be done.

Also, the fact that you have a clear list of activities to carry out suggests that a clear budget can be traced for a specific group. The freelancer, with list in hand, will estimate proper dates and costs.

Let’s analyze a hypothetical scenario. You need to find a freelance writer to make 10 articles of specific topics, which you have previously determined. You have designed the template, you know the amount of words you need and you have a clear deadline.

With this information you create a project in Workana. Now let’s move on to the hiring mode.

Can it be a fixed price project?

It complies with two key criteria we mentioned. It has a deadline and, it also has a list of clear tasks.

A fixed price project is your best option in this case!

Now let’s check out a scenario where you are looking for a writer to generate content for your ecommerce’s blog. You know the segment, but you don’t have defined titles, and you are not sure of the amount of articles you’ll need.

Your blog needs content and you wish to fill it with articles. It then is about a need that can extend through time. Therefore, you don’t have the ease to establish a limit to these deliveries.

In this case, the project can adapt better to another type of modality. We will come back to this example further on to answer it. Before that, let’s see…

Advantages of a fixed price project

This modality is compatible with small, medium and big projects. As its main advantages it offers you the possibility of concreting specific tasks in a determined time and with a closed budget. Since the beginning you know how much you’ll pay for a particular job and when you’ll receive it back completed.

It also allows you to have a clear calendar organization. A fundamental aspect of your negotiating is how firm your deadline is. Haste is another advantage it has.

In third instance, we can add that this hiring type is compatible when you are looking for a freelancer due to a punctual need of your business. It’s a tool to get a task done when it can be out of your hands at the moment.

If at another given time things get out of control once again and you need an extra hand, you can always contact that freelancer and create a project for that moment.

Project per hour: diagnose, evaluate and design

Now, we are talking about a project where the finishing date is not quite clear. However, this doesn’t mean that the project doesn’t have a deadline, it couldn’t be less real!

We’re not talking about an infinite project. It’s just about a group of tasks, where the chronology isn’t as clear because you might need to incorporate a professional freelancer.

This type of hiring occurs when there’s emptiness in your company and the freelancer becomes an added value, whose function is to be a solution for the need.

Let’s see it with an example to help you visualize better.

As we can see here, a social media tasks aren’t very limited, like a list of products or designing an app. It’s about a long term position which needs an initial diagnosis.

From there, start making an action plan. Paying per hour adapts better, because the goals you set in this project will determine how much time the freelancer will be dedicating to its execution.

This means that it could be necessary for the community manager to work twice a week or maybe the seven days of the week, but only during the hours of most traffic in social media.

Anyways, this freelancer is now a part of your workforce and they are filling a very clear need, even if the list of tasks isn’t quite defined.

Can you visualize the difference?

Do you remember the example that we left open some lines behind? Let’s check it out now from this perspective.

Here, we are showing you another example. This time it’s about a freelance writer. Once again, there is a clear need in your entrepreneurship, but you don’t have a specific list of defined tasks.

The goal is to fill the blog with content, but the objectives, which would be the articles, are not designed yet. A professional diagnosis is required.

Therefore, it can take a bit longer than a fixed deadline to determine what will be written, do it and keep the blog moving. It is also about a long-term project, because the intention is for the writer to continue nurturing the segment.

It adjusts perfectly well to the features of an hourly project, doesn’t it?

Advantages of a project per hour

In this modality you can be a little freer with your demand. One of its advantages is that it doesn’t require you to define immediately what you need; it rather makes you get to know what the final product is.

And, it allows a long-term relationship with a professional, which translates into comfortably not having to create new projects all the time, getting familiar with a person and being able to develop different tasks which tackle the same goal.

It gives the freedom to evaluate a need and provide different solutions for it. This way, the entire demand of your entrepreneurship gets covered.

It allows you to get support from a professional to define an action plan. This hiring mode is ideal when you don’t feel quite sure about its reach or about what has to be done. You can ask for a diagnosis and part from there.

Work relationships with freelancers can be confusing. Sometimes, you don’t have quite clear ideas in regards to what you expect from the project, but, you do recognize a clear need.

In other cases, the list of tasks is clearly defined and outsourced, and the deadlines are urgent and key; you know what you need and when you need it for.

No matter what your case is, in Workana we have an ideal hiring modality for you. And, we have hundreds of qualified professionals, who will be able to bring your ideas to life.

Subscribe to the Workana newsletter and keep updated