Despite economic concerns over a potential economic downturn, small businesses are reporting a more optimistic view. According to Small Business Trends, small businesses expect their recent years’ growth to continue. That is, as long as they can beat their competition in cost-effectively recruiting, utilizing, and retaining the best talent.

Talent is Key

Without quality talent, businesses cannot effectively meet the needs of their target market. Without cost-effective talent, efficiency and healthy financial growth fall by the wayside. Unfortunately, the tight labor market combined with economic uncertainties and the rising costs of healthcare and other benefits packages makes it is increasingly difficult for small businesses to attract the talent they need at a price that enables them to turn a profit.

But there is a solution. To thrive, small businesses simply need to rethink their talent strategy.

Thinking Nimble

“The gig economy is a key solution to businesses thriving whether the economy is roaring or in recession, because hiring skilled freelance talent enables businesses to scale up or down with minimal capital commitment,” said Elizabeth Eiss, founder and CEO of the talent curation platform ResultsResourcing. “And that scalability enables a business to change its mind. If things aren’t going as well, then it [the business] can trim back hours without having to go through a downsizing process, firing people, or laying people off. If things go better than expected, then it’s easy to hire new people to fill project requirements.”

To capitalize on the gig economy, businesses must differentiate between essential and non-essential team members, explained Eiss. Then, they can dedicate committed financial resources to their core team while outsourcing everything else to freelance talent they can trust. Doing that ensures ultimate flexibility and guarantees the majority of resources go toward the people who deliver the business’s primary value.

“For example, most companies’ primary value is not social media,” said Eiss. “So find a social media partner – a freelance professional. Then, the services you ask of them and the budget you give them can go up or down depending on whether you’re not getting the sales you want and you need to try different tactics or you’re getting so many sales that you need to move into maintenance mode and ramp up customer service instead of marketing.”

That kind of scalability and flexibility will translate into competitive success.

“No matter what your business does, you can compete bigger by hiring quality freelancers because you can look, act, and be bigger when you have access to flexible talent,” explained Eiss. “The key is finding the talent that you trust to deliver the way you want to deliver. So, the question becomes do you have the expertise to build that team? In general, that’s not the best use of an entrepreneur’s time. That’s when ResultsResourcing can help.”

Finding Freelancers

“The gig economy represents a pool of talent in various areas of expertise. To be competitive, businesses need to know how to access that talent and find the right partners,” said Eiss. “But that doesn’t mean they have to spend their own time finding freelance professionals themselves. Instead, they can use platforms or services like ResultsResourcing to find and vet good, quality talent in whatever areas they need.”

“At ResultsResourcing, we take the guesswork out of finding the freelancers who can help small business owners grow their companies, and we do it fast. We deliver a vetted talent pool of freelance candidate to our customers within two weeks. And those candidates are a perfect match for our customers from a skill, experience, cost, and cultural-fit standpoint. Even better, we guarantee those matches. And it’s that kind of partnership that creates an ideal system for expanding or contracting a business regardless of the economic situation.”

We're here to help you with an agile talent strategy that can withstand economic uncertainties. Book your complimentary consultation to learn more.

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