Hiring my first freelancer was a huge step in my YouTube business. For years, it had only been me working on my channel. I was writing scripts, editing videos and uploading consistently on top of my full time job as a doctor in Britain’s National Health Service.
Even though I was overwhelmed with work, and making enough to afford to expand my team, I was hesitant.
- What if a freelancer couldn’t replicate my editing style?
- What if a writer made a mess of my script ideas?
- What if I waste lots of time and money having to train someone?
I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to afford to hire someone to help me grow the channel.
I was worried that the hiring process would be complex and exhausting.
I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to find people who really ‘got it’.
My Framework for Finding the Best Freelancers
But, choosing to hire freelancers was one of the best decisions I could have made for my channel. In fact, outsourcing more and more of my YouTube workload – whether that be to freelancers, contractors, or even full-time employees – has made a huge difference. It’s improved the quality of the videos and the overall growth of my business.
The costs in time and money are much lower than I thought they’d be. And these costs are totally worth the rewards if you go about it in the right way.
In this piece, I’ll be focusing on outsourcing to freelancers, as this is the type of outsourcing most beginners will be interested in. But, these tips apply to all sorts of hiring situations. So, wherever you are in your business journey, there’s something for you here.
To explain how best to outsource work, I used what I call The Five Steps to Freelancer Success. This is my framework for finding the best possible person to help you grow your channel.
Is Outsourcing For You?
I now have a team of twenty people, handling everything from researching scripts to customer service on our courses. In fact, my very first employee, Angus, joined me as a writer and is now the General Manager of the entire company (we’d be so lost without him 😅).
Outsourcing isn’t for everyone. If you’re just starting out with your channel, or you’re not posting videos consistently, then you need to focus on building your systems for video creation and output first, before you think about outsourcing.
But, if you’ve been consistently posting videos for a while, and you’re beginning to see some traction, it might be something to consider.
Once you’ve got your production process up and running, and you’re looking to grow your channel or free up your time, you’re probably ready to outsource.
In this article I’m going to discuss some of the many benefits of hiring freelancers to help with your YouTube channel. We’ll also discuss and debunk some of the worries that might be holding you back. I’ll also share The Five Steps to Freelancer Success, to help you find the perfect freelancers to level up your YouTube growth.
Why I Outsourced Work on my Channel (and You Should Too)
The way I see it, there are three main benefits to hiring a freelancer to work on your YouTube channel, and these are:
Freeing Up Your Time
As your business and channel grows, your time becomes more and more valuable. I’ll give you an example.
Before I started seriously looking into expanding my team, I was making around $1k per video on sponsorships. It took me about two hours to make a video, so my time was worth around $500 an hour.
But, if it took me 10 hours to edit a video, then those were ten hours where I wasn’t really making any money. I could have filmed five videos in that time, and made $5k.
So, it didn’t make financial sense for me to be spending all of my time editing.
🍎 Often, my PTYA students will tell me that they can’t afford to hire an editor or a writer. So, I try to remind them that their time has a value, too. If you value your time at $30 an hour, but you find a freelancer editor who works for $20 an hour, you’re actually saving money by outsourcing your editing, freeing up your time to work on your channel and securing those brand deals 😜.
Think of it like a start-up – investing your money into a freelancer allows you to bring in more value to your business through your own unique skills.
But, even if you’re not thinking strategically or financially, do you really want to be spending 10 hours a week editing your videos? Surely that time could be spent with your friends or family, or working on other passion projects. So in this situation, hiring an editor might be worth it on a personal level.
Using Your Leverage
Freeing up your time like this can be a smart business decision, because it allows you to use your unique skills to grow your channel. That’s where leverage comes in.
If you know that you’re great at negotiating sponsorship deals, but you hate researching video ideas, then you’re going to have a much bigger impact on your business by working out the best rates for your channel than you are slogging through papers and articles.
So, hire a freelancer to research your videos for you, so you can focus on using your skills in an area that your can have a huge impact in.
Increasing Your Capacity
Finally, expanding your team will expand your video making capacity.
When I was a doctor, there was only so much time I could give to YouTube. Even when I batched my filming and editing, I could only realistically produce one, maybe two videos a week. This really limited my ability to grow. I stayed my best to be consistent – but if I was unwell, exhausted, or had to work overtime, the video making machine broke down.
So, hiring writers and editors to work on scripts and videos meant that I could make more videos, more regularly. It definitely contributed to the growth of my channel, and overall made my business more sustainable in the long term.
What work can be outsourced on YouTube?
People who don’t have a channel don’t really understand how much work goes into it. You need to
- Come up with a video idea
- Research and write a script
- Film the video
- Edit the footage
- Come up with a great title
- Make a thumbnail
- Upload everything
- Respond to comments…
The list of jobs to make one video happen is endless.
So, pretty much anything you can do yourself for your YouTube channel you can outsource to someone else.
If you hate the boring admin of uploading a video and writing the description, hire an assistant to do it for you.
If you don’t have the time to reply to comments or post to your Instagram page, an freelancer can handle that for you.
There are three roles that I recommend outsourcing when you’re starting out:
⚒️Editing
Editing can be really fun, but more often than not it’s long and tricky work. So, finding someone who specialises in making great quality videos is an easy way to level up your content.
✒️Writing
I don’t know about you, but I really struggle with writer’s block. I have loads of ideas, but can’t get them down on the page. So, hiring a writer can help you turn your ideas into a brilliant script. A writer can also research your videos, or transform your rough notes into an incredible blog post to grow your following.
📸Thumbnail designer
Thumbnails are super important. They can make the difference between a viewer clicking on your video or just ignoring it. So, if you can never get your thumbnails just right, you can find a fantastic designer to make them look professional and engaging.
The Five Steps to Freelancer Success
So, I think I’ve made a pretty good case that you should consider hiring a freelancer to help grow your YouTube channel. But, how do you actually go about doing this? There are five key steps you need to follow to make the most of working with a freelancer. They’ll keep the experience easy, simple, and positive for both of you.
- Avoid the ‘Job-Role Delusion’
- Reduce Friction with a Job Description
- Find Your Freelancer
- Design your Trial Task
- Friendly Feedback
Step 1: Avoid the ‘Job-Role Delusion’
The ‘Job-Role Delusion’ is my name for a very common mistake I see people making when they first start looking for freelancers or employees. Even experienced managers can make this error too.
Basically, people often jump head first into hiring someone, without thinking about what they actually need someone else to do.
Maybe you’ll try and hire a ‘Writer’ or an ‘Editor’ or a ‘Social Media Manager’ – because you think these are the kind of roles that should be on a YouTuber’s team.
But, will these hiring people to do these roles really make your life easier?
📣 For example, let’s say that you’re forced to cut down the time you spend on your YouTube channel from ten hours a week to five hours a week.
- What would you have to outsource?
- What things would you definitely continue to do?
Think in Skills, Not Roles
Maybe you make off-the-cuff, unscripted videos. There’s no point hiring a scriptwriter. You also love editing, so you don’t want to outsource it. But, you spend hours a week trying to nail your thumbnail designs, yet they always come out looking a bit wonky. In this new scenario, where you’re time is limited, you could outsource your thumbnail designs to a freelancer.
Or maybe your videos take tonnes of research, and you’d need someone to read papers and articles for you. In this case, you’d be looking for someone who can read, analyse, and compile lots of information quickly.
Thinking in terms of skills rather than roles means that you’re only hiring where you really need it. It also helps you find people with the right talents. You don’t just want a generic graphic designer, you’re looking for someone who can make high quality thumbnails on a tight turnaround.
So, before you even consider opening applications, avoid the job-role delusion. Think critically about where support would be the most valuable.
Step 2: Reduce Friction with a Job Description
The next step is to write out a job description. This is a key step people often forget – they’ll post ads like ‘Editor wanted for YouTube videos’, or ‘Instagram expert: Wanted’. But then they won’t actually give any info on what this position will involve.
Writing out a job description is a brilliant way for you to gain clarity over what you’re looking for in a freelancer, but it also helps you find the right person.
A job description should be in as much detail as possible. It should break down the exact responsibilities the freelance position will involve, the number of hour required, and a complete lists of tasks and expectations.
For example, take a look at one of my job application pages, which covers everything from,
- what you’ll do day to day,
- the key areas you’ll be working on,
- some real life examples of what your work might look like.
This way, you’re less likely to have to sift through applications who aren’t really offering what you’re looking for. You’re way more likely to find the right person straight away. This avoids unnecessary friction and conflict, as everyone should be on exactly the same page about what the work will be from day one.
Step 3: Find Your Freelancer
The next step is to actually hire someone. There are loads of people out there looking for freelance work, so you’re never going to be short on staff. The real trick is finding someone who has the skills you need, and is easy to work with.
I recommend checking out Fiverr, which is a popular platform for all sorts of freelancers, from marketing experts to animators. On Fiverr, you can see a freelancer’s rates, and reviews from other clients. This means you can pick someone within your budget, who still provides a great service.
I also recommend a website called YT Jobs, which specialises in finding – you guessed it – freelancers who specialise in YouTube. It’s a great place to find people with real experience and expertise.
Use Your Network
Finally, there’s nothing wrong with reaching out to friends or your wider network to see if they can recommend you someone great. A quick social media post or a message to your friend in the business world might land you with the perfect candidate.
If you have a slightly bigger platform, you might start getting ‘cold emails’, where people reach out to you asking for a job. In my experience, these cold emailers can make great freelancers and even employees (that’s how Angus joined my team).
Make sure to be clear on things like hours and pay upfront. Overcommunication is key, so don’t be afraid to be honest about your expectations. In fact, freelancers often prefer as much clarity as possible. It makes it a lot easier to provide you with a great service.
Step 4: Design your Trial Task
So, now you have a pool of hopeful applicants. The next step is to figure who you actually want to take on. To do this, I recommend using something called a trial task.
You’ve probably come across this when applying for jobs yourself – as part of the application process, you might be asked to do a trial run of the kind of work you’d be doing in the job.
So, you might ask your applicants to draft a script for a video, or edit your latest round of footage to match your existing style.
Give them all the resources they may need, but remember to give them some creative freedom to really show off what they can do.
Once you’ve received the trail tasks, you can see who really stands out. Then, you can choose the applicant who you think is going to do the best job.
Step 5: Friendly Feedback
By this point, you’ll hopefully have your ideal candidate on board. So, the final step is to build a great working relationship with them. To do this, you’ll need to provide feedback on their work.
This can feel intimidating, but it’s actually a great opportunity to collaborate and figure out what you truly want from your channel and your work.
I’ll give you an example. Let’s say that you’ve hired a new freelancer editor for your videos. The first thing I recommend you do is create an SOP.
Make an SOP for Everything
SOP stands for Standard Operating Procedure in business jargon. It’s a document explaining exactly how to do a certain task.
For example, my company has SOPs for everything, from uploading videos to creating Instagram posts. This way, if someone should leave the company, or just be off sick for a few days, things don’t grind to a halt. Someone else can read the SOP and know exactly what to do to fill in for them.
It’s really really useful to put together for a freelancer, or anyone who’s joining your team.
Let’s say that you’ve hired a new freelance editor for your videos.
A lot of people worry that a freelance video editor won’t be able to replicate their style. But unless you are a truly unique, once in a generation editing genius, then a good freelancer will be able to copy your craft.
By describing exactly what you want your videos to look like, your editor will know what to work towards.
Putting together an SOP will make the collaboration process much smoother, and it might even help you clarify exactly what you’re looking for in your videos.
The Virtuous Cycle of Feedback
So, you’ve shared your SOP with freelancer ahead of their first edit. Plus, you’ve given them a few examples to follow, like your favourite video that you’ve edited, or an upload from a YouTuber whose style you really admire. They send the finished video back to you. Overall, it’s really great.
- They’ve followed your instructions well, and they’ve even nailed the opening hook, which you always struggle with.
- Their input has definitely made your video better.
- But, there are a couple of mistakes – maybe the text on the screen isn’t big enough, or the pace of the video is a bit too quick for you.
In this case, you can share some feedback. Let the editor know what you liked, and what you’d like to continue with moving forward. Then, you can mention the things you’d like improved or changed.
🤝 As long as you’re polite and reasonable, any good freelancer will be more than happy to take your suggestions on board and make the changes you want. This collaborative process can really improve your channel, as you figure out exactly what makes a great video.
While it may take a little bit of your time upfront to figure things out, the long-term rewards can be great.
Cutting Ties is Okay
But, remember, there’s nothing wrong with cutting ties with someone if their work isn’t up to scratch. If you’ve given someone clear feedback, and time to improve their work, and their output is still patchy, then it’s best to cut ties.
Collaborating is one thing, but you don’t want to spending your time teaching someone how to do a job you could do yourself. You’d be losing time and money – the opposite of what we want from working with a freelancer.
So, there you have it, my five steps to freelancer success. This system has worked for me, from the very first freelancer who joined my team, to running a company with over 20 employees. No matter where you are on your YouTube journey, I really recommend outsourcing some of your work. I honestly wish I’d done it sooner.
For more tips on how to grow your YouTube channel, check out my completely free 7 Day YouTuber Crash Course. It covers everything from idea generation, to debunking common YouTube myths, to a list of gear you need to get going. Enjoy.