Last week, I hired my first freelancer as a small business owner, and the experience was less than ideal. As someone who themselves is trusted everyday with my clients businesses well being, I decided to take a step and hire someone to look after mine.
As someone who works in social media, I know how important it is to prove what you know by showcasing your skills with your own social media platforms.
My virtual doors have been open since 2021 and luckily enough for me (or unluckily enough depending on the situation) my schedule has been full of client work, not leaving much time for my own business social media.
I went ahead and hired another VA to schedule some social media posts for me. I didn’t reach out to the VA community I am apart of, against my better judgement, and ended up hiring a “five star” referral from a family friend.
We had our Discovery Call in person at a local coffee shop where I showed them all of the content I had laid out, all my templates, my brand kit, brand colors, fonts, templates I liked, and explained I just didn’t have the time to truly edit and schedule it all. They showed me their graphic design portfolio and all of their personal social media channels – and honestly, I was impressed!
I am not an artistic person – I am very left brained. Math and Technology are my forte, art is not.
It seemed to be a wonderful fit. They were going to create 3 posts a week for 12 weeks and we would review together before they were scheduled to clear everything. I paid them, gave them access to my spreadsheets and Canva account, and headed home.
Imagine my surprise when the next morning I got a text with “All finished!”. I was expecting a week before I heard anything.
When we hopped on a Zoom to review, I was shocked…and really sad. Not only were none of my brand fonts or colors used, they didn’t use any of the copy I supplied to them. It appeared they AI’d some topics and copy + pasted it into a document without checking for grammar, punctuation or re-writing it to sound more human.
The graphics were templates taken from Canva with no color or aspect changes, the only edits they made were changing the title to the relevant topic.
Even though this experience went sideways, I learned some valuable lessons about handling things when they unexpectedly go sideways.
- Don’t Panic:
I know the initial response to events like this are panic and stress. If you can, take a deep breath and realize you can’t change the past. You can only look to the future to make the right changes. - Do Your Due Diligence:
Take the time to thoroughly vet anyone you are going to entrust with your business and the jobs you will delegate to them. Check portfolios, call references, and read reviews. - Have a Backup Plan:
Sometimes, despite having the best intentions, things may just not work out. Always have a contingency plan in the back of your mind or laid out in the event you need to use it. Whether that’s another person in line or being prepared to push out your deadlines if need be. - Learn from the Experience:
Every challenging situation offers you a learning opportunity. Like the saying goes, when the going gets tough…the tough get going. Reflect on what went wrong and how you can prevent similar problems in the future.
If you take nothing else from this, remember even seasoned pro’s occasionally face hurdles with hiring freelancers or employees. The key is to approach each experience as a change to refine your processes and become a better version of yourself and your business. This setback is going to pave the way for tomorrow’s success!