Should You Hire Someone That Has Their Own Business?

Would YOU hire someone that has a consulting or freelancing business on the side?

In the past, many employers would say “No way!”  After all, if that person is focused on THEIR business, they won’t be focused on mine — right?

WRONG!

There are HUGE benefits to hiring marketers, copywriters, designers and other professional freelancers on full time while they continue to run their own freelancing business on the side.  Here are just a few:

1. They have their own established brand. This is perhaps the biggest mind-shift employers will have to make.  And it’s key.  Hiring on an expert in a field will bring additional value to your brand. One manufacturer actually hired a reigning beauty pageant winner as an international sales rep for her region because it brought visibility  for their brand.
2. They come as pre-selected and pre-approved Experts.They have clients that have chosen them for something — in fact, it’s probably the same reason you’ve chosen them.  Having them engaged on other client projects (during their own time, of course) will bring new ideas to YOU.
3. They are current on the hot trends and technology. Having an active freelancer as an actual employee actually guarantees that this person hasn’t stopped and will not stop learning and applying the latest in methods and technology that are in their field — as opposed to employees who only work for you and don’t really have a need to explore new things because they are currently not required.
4. They are great time managers. If you have a person on your staff that has clients to take care of when they are NOT working for you – you’d better believe they will get the MOST out of their work day with you.  They are more likely to be focused just on your projects during the time that they are with you — so that they can focus on their other clients when they are on their own time.

All of these reasons presume that the person you’re hiring is running THEIR business on THEIR time using THEIR equipment.  I’m not saying that these people should use your time, money and resources to build their own business instead of contribute to yours.

I am saying that in the world of work, your company stands to benefit in multiple ways from hiring individuals who have an established business and client base.

So why would these people need a job anyway?

Well, they may not actually need a job for the reasons you might think (the money).  They may want a job because as a freelancer or independent business owner or service provider, it’s easy to get wrapped up in simply delivering service and as a result, you get stuck in a rut.  It actually helps to do work for others and experience another business day-in and day-out.  This helps the employer and it helps the freelancer improve their offering.

Overall – if you’re considering hiring someone who has been on their own for awhile — remember that this is a person who has decided to take their future into their own hands and NOT wait for someone to GIVE them a job — they’ve taken on the entrepreneurial spirit to CREATE and build something.  Why not have them help you do the same?

Related articles :

• As companies hire again, more jobs go freelance (msnbc.msn.com)
• Laid-off Workers Can’t Find Jobs; Start Businesses (abcnews.go.com)
• When a freelancer changes the game (sethgodin.typepad.com)