If you’ve read my blog before, you know I’m a huge proponent for getting outside help whenever you need it. 

Running a business is just way too much work for one person to handle all on their own.

Learning to delegate is the best way to avoid total burnout and is what will help your business grow! 

Assuming you’ve already decided you need help, your next question is probably: where can you actually find the people who can help you. 

You want to work with people who know how to do the job and get it done well.

Today, I’m going to tell you my go-to places for outsourcing help. 

I currently have three businesses that are making really good money, and I truly couldn’t do it without the help of the people I hire. 

Even if your business is a small operation and you feel like you can handle it on your own, you still need a plan for the days that you simply can’t be at work. 

Or, you might end up needing help with something beyond your expertise level that is just taking away important time and sucking up your energy. 

If you’re like me, I constantly have a list of things I want to do for my business, but I keep procrastinating. 

My favorite solution is to outsource it because clearly, I have some resistance to that task. 

At the end of the day, hiring help is a smart move for any business if you can afford it.

But you want to make sure you’re doing it right and making the most of your money. 

1. Upwork

The first place I recommend to find help is Upwork. 

Upwork is the world’s largest marketplace for freelancers – so it’s a great place to find help across a variety of fields. 

Whether you need to find: 

• a virtual assistant 
• graphic designer 
• email marketer 
• social media expert 
• customer service help
• bookkeeper
• or legal assistance 

Upwork (almost) has it all. 

It’s unbeatable in terms of the variety of people you can hire. 

The freelancers have portfolios on their profiles, so you can look through their work and make sure they match what you’re looking for. 

My favorite bit is they’re reviewed by businesses that have used their services before!

So everyone is held accountable and you can tell right away if a person is worth working with or not. 

Not only that, but with Upwork, you just put up a job listing and freelancers come to you instead of you looking for them. 

That means finding a great candidate doesn’t take up a lot of your time. 

You usually won’t have to scroll through endless names and faces – you’ll just need to sort through the ones that reach out to you. 

Between being able to access portfolios and reviews, you can rest easy knowing the person you hire through Upwork is someone you can trust.

As of the creation of this post, Upwork does charge a 3% processing fee on whatever you pay your freelancers. 

They also offer a free membership where you can interview up to three candidates per job posting. 

Or, you can pay $49.99 a month to interview up to 15 people per job posting, along with some other benefits like featuring your job posts on the site’s main page. 

Upwork has a great built in system for you already, so I think the cost is well worth it. 

2. Fiverr

Fiverr is another good place to outsource help – especially for tasks like copywriting, SEO, Etsy audits, and graphic design. 

Fiverr is similar to Upwork in that it’s a marketplace that connects businesses to freelancers around the globe. 

While Upwork is great for ongoing assignments, Fiverr is better for one-off projects. 

If you need a quick logo design or some one-time social media copy, Fiverr is the perfect place to look. 

Fiverr freelancers also have a portfolio of work on their profiles, along with reviews from previous clients. 

It has a great feedback system that holds all freelancers accountable and keeps them from ghosting or not putting in the work. 

Note that Fiverr freelancers can also review you after a job is finished, so make sure that you treat everyone kindly and professionally. 

Regardless of the review system, shouldn’t everyone just treat everyone kindly! 

On Fiverr, you’ll have to sift through the professionals yourself – instead of letting them come to you like on Upwork. 

You will get a chance to message back and forth with the freelancer before hiring them, so you can get an idea of whether they’d be a good fit for your project. 

If you end up really connecting with your freelancer, you can always take the relationship off of Fiverr as long as everyone is comfortable. 

You can create a Fiverr Business Account for free for your first year, as of this post, or you can simply use Fiverr without a business account to hire freelancers. 

You’ll pay a processing fee of $1 per order under $20, or 5% of the total for orders over $20. 

3. Online Jobs

If you’re looking for full time or part time employees, you can head to OnlineJobs.ph. 

It’s a job site for people from The Philippines. 

This site only allows for part time or full time salaried positions – so this isn’t a place to go if you’re looking for one time or hourly projects. 

If you need consistent help though, it might be a better fit for you compared to Upwork or Fiverr. 

Most of my husband’s team for his personalized art business is from this site. 

It’s a job board, so it doesn’t have all the bells and whistles of Fiverr and Upwork. 

There’s not a feedback system for reviews, so make sure you really take the time to vet each freelancer before offering employment. 

You should only use this site if you’re looking to hire someone for 20-40 hours a week. 

It’s more difficult to find a freelancer willing to put in that much time on Fiverr and Upwork, so it’s my go-to if I need someone for serious hours. 

The benefit of working with people from the Philippines is many of them are fluent in English!

And we have a really favorable currency exchange rate, which makes it extremely affordable to hire on at a full time or part time basis. 

You could hire someone for $200-400 US dollars per month full time and they would consider that a healthy living income. 

Of course, that rate depends on what role you’re hiring for, what level of experience you need, and so on. 

It’s important to note that with OnlineJobs.ph, you will have to handle payments on your own and hold the freelancer accountable for their work. 

You won’t be able to rely on the site to do this for you, how Fiverr and Upwork can. 

In that way, it’s a lot like hiring an employee outside of the internet world. 

You just have to be a bit more careful. 

You can post a job and see applicants without paying a fee on the site, but you will have to pay for a membership to actually contact the applicants. 

For $69 a month, you can create up to three job postings and contact up to 75 freelancers a month. 

For $99 a month, you can create up to ten job postings and contact up to 500 freelancers a month. 

You’re not locked into any contract so you can always cancel once you’ve made your hire.

4. Referrals

There are some positions that are just harder to find on freelancing websites. 

For example, when I was searching for someone to help me with YouTube ads, there just weren’t very many people on Upwork to choose from, and none on Fiverr. 

So, I ended up finding a marketing agency through a referral. 

Referrals are great for those hard-to-find positions where you really need to hire someone you can trust and rely on. 

I also found my business and project manager through referrals. 

One great thing about referrals is that you can feel good about hiring someone that a friend or colleague recommended personally. 

Having said that, referrals can be a double edged sword. 

I’ve had people refer freelancers to me who were just their personal friends, but with who they never had an actual working relationship with, which I think can be very different. 

You’ll still want to be careful and be thorough with your research and interview process even if the freelancer came recommended by someone you know. 

5. Behance 

If you’re looking for specific design help and no one on Upwork or Fiverr feels like a great fit, you can head to Behance. 

Behance is where I go if all else fails and I need to find a great artist to help me with my logos, website design, or anything else design related. 

On Behance, you’ll be able to browse artist portfolios, and if anyone is looking for work, they’ll display that on their profile, along with their contact information. 

Behance is free to use and it’s a good way to find and connect with talented artists around the world looking for work. 

Local Help

If you need some in-person, local help, I recommend using Craigslist. 

I hire all my production help through Craigslist. 

Of course, there are risks to using the site and I know it’s gotten a bad rap over the years – but you just need to make sure that the person you’re talking with is who they say they are.

Be sure and go through a thorough vetting process with anyone you talk to on the site. 

Have them email you their resume and portfolio and exchange a few emails back and forth before meeting them in person. 

When you do meet in person, make sure it’s in a public place the first time. 

As long as you use the site safely, Craigslist can be an excellent way to meet talented and passionate people looking for work. 

Posting job ads on Craigslist cost anywhere from $10-75 depending on your location. 

There are other popular job sites like college boards and Indeed, and I’ve used those in the past but haven’t had much success.

I’m not sure why, but I think when it comes to college boards, a lot of students are just busy and they might not be as reliable nor will they be long-term hires. 

Indeed tends to attract professionals looking for full time salaried work, so it’s not the best site to find freelancers. 

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I hope some of these options will help you in your search to find talented help, and to relieve you of some of the day to day tasks of running your handmade business.  

Have you outsourced help before? 

What site is your favorite? 

Let me know in the comments below. 

And don’t forget to check out my YouTube Channel for more tips on running an online business!