Need project help or temporary workers for your business? Today you’ll probably go online to find help, especially for knowledge workers.
And for freelancers who themselves operate as solo small businesses, marketplaces have opened up new opportunities and become powerful marketing platforms.
Here are 35 places for small businesses to find freelance assistance and help, and for freelancers to get work:
Editor’s note: watch a video featuring the 10 best freelancer sites.
General Freelancing Sites
Upwork
Elance and Odesk have merged to create Upwork. Now the 800-pound gorilla in the freelance space, it has millions of freelancers. You can find talent for just about any “knowledge industry” speciality your small business may need. With the rating system you see what previous employers think of a freelancer. For freelancers, Upwork offers an escrow payment protection system and millions of employers looking to hire help.
Guru
Businesses can find freelancers for thousands of services on Guru.com. Employers get access to 1.5 million freelancers and a time-tracking system that was introduced in 2015.
Freelancer
Freelancer.com is a large freelance site where you can hire freelancers for projects and also post design contests. Freelancer seems to especially cater to online businesses and online entrepreneurs, with sister sites like Warrior Forum and Freemarket, where you can buy and sell websites.
CrowdSite
At CrowdSite.com you create a 140-character ‘shout’ (like a tweet) to describe your project, see who responds, and then negotiate the details with the freelancer. You can also launch a design contest on the site.
Fiverr
Services start at $5 at Fiverr. You may have to pay extra to get what you require, though. Stay away from spammy services such as buying social media followers. Instead, go for small projects such as getting a simple image created. New freelancers use Fiverr to establish themselves, offering services for a limited time at rock bottom rates until they develop a portfolio.
PeoplePerHour
PeoplePerHour is another site focusing on small jobs in design, tech, content and marketing. Small business owners can employ freelancers for a small trial project before committing to a longer-term contract. Freelancers post fixed-price services they offer (called “Hourlies) to entice businesses to try them out.
Mechanical Turk
If your business needs many tiny tasks completed, such as gathering information from hundreds of websites for a spreadsheet, Amazon’s Mechanical Turk is for you. Small businesses can post very small tasks that take only a few seconds or minutes to do. Freelancers like that the jobs are often very simple, such as online data collection.
Freelanced
Freelanced.com is essentially a messaging board that freelancers pay to access. Small business users can post a job or search freelancer profiles. Payments are made direct to the freelancer without any compulsory escrow service.
Rat Race Rebellion
If your company has positions that could be filled by someone working from home, then Rat Race Rebellionis worth checking out. For employers, the process is as simple as just sending an email with a job description. Freelancers do need to be cautious because contracts and payments are entirely off-site.
FlexJobs
If you have a skilled or professional vacancy where hours, location, or conditions are flexible, such as a telecommuting job, then FlexJobs might be the answer.
Posting a job is free. People looking for flexible work pay a small monthly fee. FlexJobs also searches the Internet for professional-level flexible jobs and sifts through them, making the freelancer’s job a little easier.
Wonolo
Need help for just a day? Or for an hour? Staff very short-term jobs through Wonolo.com. Freelancers, called Wonoloers, get notification via an Android or iPhone app of immediate jobs and can accept via their phone.
TaskRabbit
TaskRabbit.com is a place to find workers to perform errands and other tasks. Although the TaskRabbit for Business service shut down, and the focus is on consumers finding help, there’s nothing that prevents a small business from using TaskRabbit say, to find some cleaning help. Freelancers looking to earn extra money can become “Taskers.” The service is currently in “19 cities and counting.”
Writing Jobs
Online Writing Jobs
Online Writing Jobs is a content service where companies can get content from pre-screened writers with industry-specific expertise. Articles go through a two-stage editing process before they are sent to the employer. Freelancers get paid up to $50 per article.
DailyPosts
You can have articles written for your company by qualified subject-specialist writers at Daily Posts. This is a British company that employs writers from the U.S. and around the world. All articles are checked by two editors before they are sent to the business.
Canadian Freelance Writing Jobs
Canadian Freelance Writing Jobs is a job board. The site is free to both employers and writers; it is ad-supported. Only job ads that pay a fair rate are accepted.
Textbroker
Small business owners can use Textbroker to have content written mainly by U.S. writers. With Textbroker you can specify the quality of the writing you want and only pay higher rates for important articles by better writers.
JournalismJobs
JournalismJobs.com is the place to find writers for news sites and content requiring a journalistic background.
PitchMe
Your small business can find a journalist to write articles using PitchMe.org. You sign up, describe the articles you need, and journalists pitch you their ideas. You accept one, pay the site and the journalist is paid when you accept the finished article.
Visual Arts Jobs
EnvatoStudio
FreelanceSwitch has merged with EnvatoStudio to form a freelance site that is primarily focused on graphics, website design and programming. Small businesses can find the freelancers they need to design websites, develop apps, and do similar tech and design projects.
Behance
Behance.net, now part of Adobe, is a community of 5 million creative professionals with online portfolios. Businesses can post jobs for $399 per month — making this service pricey for small businesses.
Aquent
Aquent is akin to an international temp agency in that it interviews and screens temps and freelancers. Businesses can post short and long-term vacancies. Freelancers like the higher rates of pay than are available on most freelancing sites.
ArtWanted
If your small business is looking for original art, then ArtWanted is one place to start. Browse through artists’ work posted for sale or as samples. You can commission artwork by your preferred artist. Freelance artists get exposure and can sell their work.
99Designs
Love ‘em or hate ‘em, design contest sites are one way for a company to get proposals from graphic designers, quickly and easily. At 99Designs.com, you may be sent 50 or more design proposals, and then you only pay once for the winning freelance designer you choose.
DesignHill
DesignHill is another site where you can hold a design contest. You get up to a hundred draft proposals. The winning designer you choose gets paid.
Computers and Web Development
Computer Assistant
Computer Assistant lets you register on the site and post your problem. Local freelance computer experts bid on the job. The site advertises same day remote and on-site service.
GetACoder
GetACoder is a place to hire low cost offshore help for software programming and other tech projects. Freelance coders are charged a commission by the site. (Update 2016: this site appears to no longer be in business.)
FreelancerMap
FreelancerMap is a site where IT experts, and the people who need them, meet up. There is a monthly or annual subscription required that lets you post jobs and see the applicants for those jobs. Skilled freelancers can sign up at Freelancer Map for a small monthly fee. There is a limited free account, too.
Miscellaneous Jobs
SkillBridge
If your small business needs a consultant to manage an important business project, then SkillBridge is the place to look. The freelancers for hire here are “elite.” Some are former C-level executives.
Tutor.com
Is it just knowledge you need, such as to learn accounting? Need to get your employees trained on Microsoft Excel? Go to Tutor.com. Freelancers with knowledge to share can apply to be a tutor, too.
Arise
Arise acts as a clearinghouse for customer service work and directs work to qualified freelance personnel (“agents”). Services offered include outbound calling, live chat support and technical support. Freelancers work from home, but will need to form a company and have an email address at that company rather than a free email, like with Gmail or Yahoo.
JustAnswer
Need a question answered about a legal issue or computer hardware? JustAnswer has experts to answer your questions within minutes. All experts’ qualifications and expertise are vetted. The service will cost you less than hiring a local professional. Qualified freelancers can work with Just Answer.com to answer questions in their fields of expertise.
Update Legal
If your legal practice requires extra staff, then Update Legal can provide the qualified staff you need on either a temporary or a permanent basis. Legal freelancers will be attracted by the wide range of benefits available, including medical insurance and a 401(k) program.
Uber, Lyft, Sidecar
While not freelance marketplaces in the traditional sense, these driving services are ways for freelancers with clean driving records and no criminal history to use their own vehicles to earn extra income. Small businesses could reduce travel expenses by using Uber and Lyft rather than regular taxis. Sidecar gives you a convenient way to outsource time-crucial deliveries.
Conclusion
Whether you are looking for freelance or temporary help in your business, or are looking to hang out your freelancing shingle, these freelancing sites will give you plenty of places to start.
Searching Image via Shutterstock
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