Thursday, March 28

Here is the Easiest Way to Hire Freelancers

We had first heard about InstaTaskers from an entrepreneur friend who was going gaga about it. This friend had recently started up and was constantly plagued by the absence of quality service providers. She could not have hired full time for every skill. Full-time hiring has its own overheads that are impractical to be borne by startups. Also, she did not have sufficient work for employing full-time for every skill needed. When she told me about her easy-breezy experience of hiring freelancers through InstaTaskers, I assumed that it would be one of the many rip-offs of the US startups. But the deluge of appreciation was just not ending. I heard about them from another colleague and then another friend.

So, when I needed to urgently hire a freelance finance writer for a friend, I decided to try out InstaTaskers. I was very clear, I needed a person who knows about finance. My requirement was not of those writers whose concept of writing is to Google, read the first few search results and paraphrase. I needed original thinking.

So I finally went to InstaTaskers.com. The landing page was refreshingly clean and simple. The hero illustration has a female Client in blue and a male Tasker in pink. It was just an indication that things were about to get interesting.

 

Posting a task on InstaTaskers is Super Easy

I started to “Post A Task”. A simple form popped up which had just the essential questions. It took me only 2 minutes to fill it up. I verified the email ID and phone number using OTPs and I was done. Posting a Task is FREE!

 

Connect With Only Relevant Service Providers

I was dreading the next step of having to go through a list of 100s of writers to find the one that I like best. It always reminds me of finding a needle in the haystack. To my utter delight, InstaTaskers is not a listing service. InstaTaskers connects Clients to only a couple of best-matched freelancers for their requirement.

They took my request and in some time I received an email that a “Tasker” (that is the term that they use for freelancers/agencies) needs some more information about my Task. The question was mainly about the quantity of writing needed. I answered the question on their dashboard, all the while wondering if other writers would also have the same question. Out of curiosity, I started a chat on their landing page and asked them my query. They told me that these questions and answers are visible to all the writers who would have received my Task so that I don’t have to answer redundant questions. Smart! Someone has thought through the product.

 

Hassle Free Direct Communication

Within an hour, I received proposals from two finance writers, complete with their profile, email ID and phone number. InstaTaskers lets Clients talk directly to freelancers and the communication is not limited to a chat tool. That is unheard of!

One of the writers had worked in the banking sector for a decade and the other had been a business analyst before he started freelance writing. I picked up the phone and discussed my requirement with both one by one. We continued the discussion on email. By the end of the day, I had made up my mind to move ahead with one of them.

I was looking for website content for a 6-page website and around 10 blogs per month. While I was quite confident of the capabilities of the writer that I had selected, I decided to go for a patch test before going full throttle. The writer divided the Task into three Phases – Phase 1 for a commissioned sample blog, Phase 2 for website content and Phase 3 for the remaining 5 blogs. Dividing a Task into Phases is so cool, I was already feeling in control!

 

No Flight Risk

I made the payment for the first phase to start the Task. The first draft was on my table the next day. It was a beautifully crafted piece that decisively convinced me to place all my money in the mutual funds through my friends’ business. I asked the writer to round-off a few edges. The writer promptly reverted to my request and sent the finished blog. I gladly advanced the payment for the last two Phases. Each piece took a couple of iterations. With InstaTaskers PaySafe, I am assured that there is no flight risk so I can be assertive about my requirement without the looming danger of the Tasker getting offended, upset or absconding. The writer was absolutely professional in using each iteration to bridge the gap between his output and my expectations. I received the content within the agreed timelines. I approved the completion of the Phases.

Compared to my nightmarish experiences with freelancers earlier, InstaTaskers was a cakewalk.