Even a polymath entrepreneur will quickly discover areas of business where external support is essential. From website design and content production to accounting and invoicing, via client acquisition and retention, any business requires a broad spread of activities and expertise. When I founded G75 Media, I was hugely knowledgeable about communications and marketing, but I still needed to find an accountant and a website hosting company. And when the roles were reversed, accountants and web design firms approached me – not to become a salaried employee, but to serve as a freelance writer on a short-term contract.

Today, there are many compelling advantages which might encourage an employer to employ freelancers wherever possible:

1. It provides access to proven experts in that field, from website design to social media content production. You don’t need to learn new skills, and your brand’s output should always be high calibre, especially if you find freelancers with experience in your industry or niche.
2. It allows you to harness multiple talents – a voiceover artist for radio adverts, reading scripts written by a freelance copywriter, recorded by a producer on an hourly rate using a jingle written for your company by a jobbing musician.
3. It streamlines the recruitment process. There’s no need for three-stage interviews or psychometric tests if someone won’t be granted access to internal IT systems or company credit cards. Freelancers see what you allow them to, and nothing else – and they could potentially start work tomorrow.
4. It saves a huge amount of money. Employer’s NI contributions, pension scheme enrolment, paid annual leave, sick pay, day-one rights… Employing staff has never been so costly. Freelancers are responsible for their own tax, holidays, pensions, workspaces, equipment and transport.
5. It ensures you only have to pay for help when it’s needed. If you learn how to do a particular role through observation or practice, you won’t need to employ freelancers any longer. On the other hand, if you get busy, freelancers can be called on at short notice to absorb additional workloads.
6. It reduces the administrative burden. You simply pay per hour/word/outcome for a predetermined body of work, without any of the challenges an employer may have to deal with – spurious employment tribunals, mental health-related absences, quiet quitting or a demand for ‘safe spaces’.

How to employ freelancers who’ll complement (and compliment) your business

Whichever discipline or creative sector you’re looking for assistance with, it’s always advisable to shortlist people with plenty of experience in your specific industry. If you run a boutique estate agency, only a freelance writer with a property background will understand the local architectural vernacular, appreciate the benefits of a south-facing garden room or be able to articulate the period charm of Crittall windows.

Next, look for a freelancer offering flexibility both now and in the future. A short-term project may become significantly longer term once it gets started or evolve into unexpected areas. You might wish to retain someone for ad-hoc work in future, once they’ve learned how to replicate your brand’s tone of voice. Anything from staff resignations to geographic expansion may trigger a need for temporary support and assistance, and some of these events aren’t foreseeable.

Rates are often negotiable but remember to set a realistic budget if you want to attract high-calibre freelancers. We listed earlier all the things freelancers don’t receive compared to salaried staff, so expecting them to work for the minimum wage (or less, on project work) is unrealistic. If you do, you’ll probably end up with a freelancer floating between multiple assignments simultaneously, with little reason to commit to your business – and every reason to use shortcuts…

Ensure freelancers aren’t outsourcing their work to AI. This is difficult nowadays, but a talented freelance contributor will take pride in their work, rather than palming off CoPilot churn as their own. They’ll be able to explain why they did certain things and why they avoided certain others. Plus, AI output is often easily distinguished – generic text incorporating the em-dash, AI-generated photos of people with fused fingers, obvious mistakes and a total lack of passion or enthusiasm.

Two decades of freelancing excellence

If the above has persuaded you that it makes sense for your business to employ freelancers in future, G75 Media is ideally placed to help with content production, marketing, journalism and copywriting. We have an enviable track record in the property, motoring, technology and travel sectors, as well as specific expertise in optometry, tourism and engineering. We’re available for short or long-term contract work, across all media, and we can even offer next-day services for companies with tight timescales. Get in touch for more information on our award-winning copywriting and content production services.

Being a freelancer in an industry of your choosing is a tremendous privilege, but it brings a huge amount of responsibility and pressure. Being a parent is another tremendous privilege (particularly if you’ve ever stared down the barrel of infertility), but it also brings a huge amount of responsibility and pressure.

We can quantify the effects of combining these two disparate elements in an equation. If we know freelancing = stress and parenting = stress, then we can extrapolate to say freelancing x parenting = stress². And it gets worse, because freelancing x parenting x summer holidays = stress³. That’s not conjecture, by the way – it’s pure maths.

Of course, many readers won’t need an equation to appreciate the challenges, because they’re already living it. Parenting a child when the schools are off for (in some regions) six and a half weeks is like scaling the north face of the Eiger in carpet slippers, particularly if you’re also freelancing to pay the bills. Those bills become vertiginous if you add in the meteoric costs of summer childcare, which is why many freelancers will be scrabbling around trying to do two full-time jobs simultaneously between the schools breaking up and returning in August or September (depending where in the UK you live).

How to cope with freelancing and parenting over the summer holidays

Based on many years of trial and error – often both at the same time – these are my recommendations about how to juggle freelancing and parenting without failing at both, or going completely mad…

Warn your clients in advance

Although we all want to appear professional at all times, we shouldn’t airbrush children out of our working lives. Providing you’ve got a decent relationship with clients, warn them you’ll be wearing two hats during the holidays. They’re probably parents too, and they’ll understand why you might be working odd hours/yawning during calls/needing longer deadlines/unable to attend meetings.

Schedule family activities at specific points in the week

Social media and digital devices have convinced us children need every minute of every day filling. Yet small amounts of boredom can be useful and beneficial. Tell children you need to work at certain times of the week, but you can do something fun with them at other times. Scheduling these events in advance gives each week some structure, which kids often lack (and miss) outside term time.

Leave the TV on in the background

Children are easily distracted, and the twelve-hour programming cycles of CBeebies and CBBC provide ideal background material for infant and junior school children respectively. They can dip in and out of programmes as they wish, but the sheer breadth of programming on both channels means they’ll be entertained and educated by turns, without adverts or American accents.

Plan to work irregular hours

If kids are able to spend chunks of the day by themselves, split the working day into segments. Tell them you need to work in the morning, but you can go out somewhere after lunch and then work at night once they’re in bed. There’s nothing wrong with working a few weekends or responding to emails in the evenings during July; summer holidays don’t last forever, even if it feels like they do.

Investigate school holiday clubs

Childminders can be very expensive, yet the holidays drag on if kids aren’t able to go to the park on their own or see friends and extended family. Many schools run summer holiday clubs for at least part of the season, and you may be able to register on a waiting list even if it’s not your normal school. Clubs are costly, but organised activities and peer engagement are very beneficial.

Set up activities without announcing it

Most children love imaginative play, but they can be instinctively resistant to organised fun. Before you go to bed at night, set up an activity – a teddy bears picnic, a pretend shop, a racetrack for Matchbox cars – but don’t draw attention to it. Let the kids discover it by themselves, and they’ll be more likely to engage with it, hopefully giving you an opportunity to do some work in relative peace.