Working Together: How Collaboration Can Lead to Bigger Wins, Lower Costs, and Greater Satisfaction

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When prospective clients ask me what my favorite Upwork project was I always come back to the same one. It was a combination rebranding/website relaunch effort for a national eco-friendly shampoo brand. The company was humming along with a strong online business, but the platform they had been using for years was outdated and deteriorating. In addition, they had a new president who was looking to bring the traditional products the company manufactured to a younger and wider audience with a fresh look and feel. In short, it was a multifaceted project with lots of interesting aspects where success would revolutionize the client’s business.

Connecting With Other Freelancers

I had originally met the president of the company when through Upwork when she hired me to help the founder with a personal website. We got along so well, that when she took over leadership of the shampoo company, she reached back out and asked me to come in as a part-time marketing manager to oversee the rebrand/website redesign (including UI/UX, graphic design, and development), content development, and social strategy. As the role grew, I also sat in with the executive team to offer general marketing strategy support. 

The team both came together and changed over time as the project unfolded - and Upwork provided the pool of top talent we needed to do each piece well. First, I worked with Justin M., an amazing graphic designer who I have worked with for over a decade (and who now freelances through Upwork), to visualize the new website UI/UX and to update the visuals on the old website until we could migrate it over. The president then hired a second graphic designer Michael P. through Upwork to simultaneously develop the new brand aesthetic and to create mockups for the new site. Meanwhile, we were working on the social channels, and the President brought in two additional Upwork hires - a phenomenal email marketer (Jenn T.) and a Youtube optimization expert (Ada P.) to support those efforts. We also looped in a series of other contractors, including a couple of copywriters, an SEO optimization firm, and two web development companies. 

Benefits of Collaboration

One of the most amazing things about Upwork is the quality of the talent you can find here. I have my own expertise (namely strategic messaging, copywriting, and project management), but I am not a web developer, graphic designer, or social media marketer. I can do these things to some degree, but I will never be able to do them as well as a true expert in those fields. Upwork (and partnering with consultants in general) allows clients to access some of the top talent in the world on an ad hoc basis. For example, at one point in this project, we were using a team that would have cost well over $1 million a year if we were all on payroll full-time, but each of us was only working for a handful of hours each week, as needed. It’s a tremendous savings to the client and works out well for the contractors too, as we get to control our schedules and work on projects that otherwise would not be able to afford us - which often allows for a lot of creativity and freedom. On a personal level, working with talented specialists lets me do my job better. When I have a vision for how a marketing piece should come together, my ideas and the copy are only half of it. Justin is like my second set of hands, literally bringing my vision to life in a way that would fall flat if I attempted to do the design myself or worked with someone less talented. 

Collaboration Challenges

The most difficult part of working with a large team of freelancers is keeping everyone on the same page. You really need one person at the helm managing the process or pieces fall through the cracks. Tools like Asana, Slack, and Bugherd can really help, but with freelancers, not everyone may be prioritizing the project in the same way or using the tools properly to track their progress. Turnover can be another big issue. If you have a company using a lot of freelancers, they may not stick around long and everything from documents to communications with potential partners can end up getting lost in the shuffle - literally. I think the best configuration is having a core team that is part of the company supplemented by freelancers for specific projects, as needed. 

Would I collaborate again?

I already have! I work with a lot of clients with a wide variety of needs and I always hang on to the names of people who have done a great job with me and for me in the past. It is probably a conservative estimate to say that I loop in another Upwork freelancer or someone from my professional network on 85% of the projects I take on. Once you find the best - you hang on to them with both hands!