How And Why To Start Your Own Company As A Successful Freelance Web Developer
August 31st, 2020
There are over 30 million small businesses in the United States, accounting for 99% of all businesses across the country. Truly, small businesses are the backbone of America’s economy, yet for thousands of developers, the leap from freelance work to starting your own company can be a daunting one. Starting a company presents a number of challenges, from managing your workforce to remaining competitive in online markets.
Developing a positive work environment
As a business owner, you will be presented with a set of new challenges, the difficulty of which scale with the number of people you employ. Understanding the needs and wants of your employees is the key to maintaining a happy and productive workplace. For an increasing number of people, especially parents, flexible work hours is matching or even trumping salary in its importance. Traditionally eschewed by companies, remote working has become a necessity in recent months, and millions are seeing benefits of this new approach. Web development is a great fit for remote working, and as a new business, you may find that a focus on remote working from the start can save a lot of money.
In the last few years the awareness of mental health issues has been raised significantly. Consequently, employees increasingly expect their companies to promote health and well-being. This requires an active effort from employers through activities and the cultivation of a positive work environment. The benefits of this extend to the company as much as to the employee. Healthier, more content employees are considerably more productive. Unfortunately, businesses today are not doing enough, and only 50% of employees feel their company does enough to promote well-being. Experts with over 100 years of experience, Cerity highlight the importance of worker’s comp insurance for protecting both you and your employees. If you’re in the process of hiring, employees will feel much more confident in choosing to work for your company if they know they will be protected should the unfortunate occur.
Finding the best talent for your business
As a new employer, the process of hiring web developers can be overwhelming. Without years of experience, finding and identifying the ideal candidates is extremely difficult for most people. Half of the applicants for any position will be under qualified. Developing a system to efficiently filter out these applicants will ease the process immeasurably. This can be done in a number of ways, but one of the most popular is a test of expertise. For programming positions, this is quite straightforward. By presenting the applicant with a programming problem you feel accurately reflects the requirements of the job, you will see how they stack up to the challenge. Don’t forget the importance of workplace culture and personality fit however. It doesn’t matter how qualified an applicant is: if you don’t feel that you can work effectively with them because of their personality then they aren’t a good hire.
If you decide to hire freelancers or work with them, it’s essential to establish clear terms and conditions. Consider using a freelance agreement template to formalize your working relationship and protect both parties involved. This not only clarifies expectations but also serves as a legal framework, promoting a smooth collaboration and minimizing potential disputes in the future.
For freelancers whose potential client-base exceeds the limits of one person, starting a company is the natural step forward. It allows for expansion and greater profits, and though it does come with risks, these can be mitigated with proper planning and precautions like worker’s comp. Furthermore, as remote working revolutionizes the workplace you may be able to expand your company without needing to rent office space, greatly reducing the risk you face.
I am the owner at Tribulant Software and I have a great passion for WordPress, development, blogging and the Internet in general. Building useful plugins to improve WordPress’ functionality is my goal.
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