If you’re an umbrella worker or other type of contractor, some of your best clients may just be SMEs.
Just like nothing goes together quite so well as scones with your afternoon tea, contractors and freelance workers have rapidly discovered that working with small or medium-sized businesses turn out to be quite an ideal arrangement. Yes, you’ve probably done work for massive firms with hundreds of employees, and you’ve also likely completed projects for small business owners as well, but there’s plenty of reasons to gravitate towards SMEs than any other clients, according to recent research.
A prominent freelancing website found that, over the second quarter of this year, the number of SMEs looking to find help from the outside in the form of freelancers, umbrella company contractors, and other types of interim workers has rocketed upwards. Freelance accountants are being sought out 23 per cent more than they were previously, while report writer demand is up by one-fifth and PowerPoint designers are seeing a 35 per cent increase in demand, to cite just a few figures from the recent report.
So what’s going on that SMEs have stars in their eyes when it comes to contract workers? Well on the face of it, there’s always the financial aspect, as freelancers are much less expensive to use on a per-project basis than hiring on additional permanent employees – and let’s face it, SMEs need to control their costs very carefully in the current economic environment – but I think it’s more because contractors and freelancers are small businesses in and of themselves.
An SME that produces goods for sale or provides specialised services isn’t that different than an independent contractor or a freelancer, now is it? Small business owners are self-employed just as freelancers are, and there’s likely a certain kinship and feeling of camaraderie that goes along with a freelancer working for another small-scale operation.
Truly there’s nothing wrong with taking on projects from large firms; in fact there might be more consistent work from a large company that has plenty of tasks that need completion. Despite this, you might feel like you’re making more of a difference if you’re working closely with another small business owner.
I know I would much rather be involved with either just one other person or a small, intimate team of people than just be one single cog of many in a vast, cyclopean machine. Maybe your mileage may vary, but I’ll wager that you feel much the same way when it comes to choosing clients!
