5 Beliefs That Prevent Freelancers from Working Effectively with Subcontractors

To keep growing, you need more support, but before you can work effectively with subcontractors, you need to change your mind.

Before I share 5 limiting beliefs, I’ll tell a quick story about a subcontractor who let me down.

A subcontractor can have talent and still miss the target.

In April 2016 a writing client reached out for editing help. I was too busy to handle the project personally, so I decided use the project to test a new subcontractor who was a friend of a friend.

Pedro’s writing samples showed promise. He was clear, polite, and responsive over email. And let’s not forget that his rates were lower than mine.

Hooray for margin! All systems go.

To hedge my bets, I gave Pedro a single chapter of the ebook to edit. His choices confirmed that he had writing talent:

• He spruced up the diction, grammar, and sentence structure.
• He replaced bland passive voice verbs with vivid action verbs.
• He transformed my client’s weak writing into its well-muscled, debonaire alter ego.

Pedro made significant improvements to the quality of the writing, especially the voice and style, and that meant he had botched the job.

Client: “This doesn’t sound like me anymore.”

You see, good editors are not general contractors who renovate the whole building; they’re window cleaners. Their job is to make it easier for readers to see what’s inside, that is, what the writer means.

Good editors help the writers in their care to sound more like themselves, a better version. They don’t impose their own voice and style and hijack the book or blog post.

At the very least good editors try to keep their writers from embarrassing themselves.

Pedro didn’t have enough experience to know that this was his target. Instead, he dressed up the client’s voice, style, and diction to the point where it was much better—and unrecognizable.

Like many inexperienced editors, Pedro had a stronger grasp of the mechanics and techniques of prose style than the original writer. By fixing every blemish and weakness they find, some editors may beautify and strengthen a writer’s simple, imperfect work to the point where the other writer disappears altogether.

After my client reviewed Pedro’s edits, he said, “This doesn’t sound like me anymore.”

Really, I was the one to blame.

I explained the situation to Pedro and asked him to try again. He eventually figured out what to clean up and what to leave alone.

All’s well that ends well, and the problem wasn’t my client’s weak writing or Pedro’s lack of editing experience but my assumption that Pedro knew what he was about.

In my eagerness to give him a test, I hadn’t provided clear instructions about the target and a well-defined process to follow.

And how could Pedro know what I hadn’t told him?

His default was always going to be editing someone else’s work the way he would edit his own.

Have you had disappointing experiences with subcontractors?

Many freelancers and consultants have negative experiences with subcontractors for the same reason I did.

They don’t have well-defined systems and processes themselves, and each time they do a project, they approach it a little differently.

“Process” is closer to a wobbly squishiness, not sturdy structure, so when it comes time to bring a sub into the jello, that person default to their own way of doing things.

What alternative did you give them?

(You can avoid the face plants in jello, and we’ll get to the solution in a moment.)

Disappointment reinforces these 5 limiting beliefs.

A disappointing collaboration or two causes most of us to double down on limiting beliefs.

These 5 are the most common ones I hear from the freelancers and consultants I coach:

1. “No one can do it as well as I can.”
2. “The work is too complex to delegate.”
3. “I’m too busy right now to think about hiring.”
4. “When you want it done right, you have to do it yourself.”
5. “I tried bringing in subcontractors and got burned. It just doesn’t work for me.”

Maybe you can deliver excellent outcomes without relying on instructions, templates, and checklists. Maybe you’re years in and work mostly from muscle memory now.

Maybe you truly are world-class.

That’s something to be proud of, and I can’t help but see Dr. Phil’s bald head hovering in the air and asking, “How’s that working for you?”

A consulting client complained about how busy he was for months. He insisted that no one could do the work but him.

I politely explained that my consulting work was just as complex as his and yet I had a fruitful collaboration with my virtual assistant.

To his credit, he told me I had a point.

In Buy Back Your Time Dan Martell points out the danger of this “Supervisor demon” way of thinking: “If you’re thinking I’m the only one who can do it right, maybe that’s true. And that’s a problem.”

My goal with my client wasn’t to rub his face in his problem but to illuminate a truth:

People less intelligent than my client (and you!) have figured out how to work effectively with subcontractors, whether they’re handling mostly admin or deeply involved in the “real” project work.

If they can, so can you.

Better collaboration comes from better process.

Subcontractors aren’t mind readers. They won’t do things “the right way” unless you define what the right way is.

Plenty of very talented, intelligent, and conscientious people would love to help you, and if you give them a clear map, they can navigate just fine.

They can be comparatively junior, too.

Just imagine what will become possible when you crystallize your A+ process outside of your own noggin and give it to someone less experienced who would score a B in your book…

A B player following an A+ process produces A- outcomes.

A+ isn’t scalable, but A- is.

Remember Pedro? He did complete the project. He passed the test I gave him even though I made it more difficult for him.

The client was satisfied eventually, Pedro got a paycheck and new experience, and I turned a small profit, despite my own missteps.

If you want to grow faster, stop believing you're more special than everyone else.

Every freelancer and consultant I talk to wants to succeed and grow.

For some, growth means making enough as a freelancer to quit a full-time job. For some, growth means better clients with bigger budgets and more interesting projects.

For some, growth means being able to take a vacation and fully disconnect and have one or two people, or a full team, who can keep clients happy in their absence.

If you’re in that last group, you can’t have the true, didn’t-even-bring-my-laptop vacation and maintain white-knuckled control over every aspect of your business.

What got you here (personally executing on every detail with excellence) won’t get you there (building a real business, not a job, that generates revenue even when you aren’t working).

In Let My People Go Surfing, Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard observes that our ability to grow is tied to our willingness to let go of control.

We cannot have it both ways:

• Maintain obsessive control over every detail of our businesses, and
• Have more money and more free time.

You can crack $200,000 as a solo service provider, but to go further, you’ll need more support. To have a real business, not a job, you’ll need other people.

And you’ll find that when you stop worrying about being special and start empowering others through clear instructions, process, and a genuine concern for their growth, all sorts of possibilities open up.

When you’re ready, here are ways I can help you:

1. Free Money. A pricing and money mindset guide for freelance creatives. If you’re unsure about your freelance pricing, this is the book for you.
2. Morning Marketing Habit. This course will help you build an “always be marketing” practice, become less dependent on referrals, and proactively build the business you want with the clients you want. My own morning marketing habit has enabled me to consistently make  6 figures as a freelancer.
3. Custom Business Roadmap. Gain clarity, confidence, and momentum in your freelance or consulting business.
4. Business Redesign. Raise your effective hourly rate, delegate with confidence, and free up 40 hours a month.
5. Clarity Session. It’s hard to read the label when you’re inside the bottle. I've done well over 100 of these 1:1 sessions with founders, solopreneurs, and freelancers who wanted guidance, a second opinion, or help creating a plan.