Startups are popping up left and right around the world and in the MENA region, which is fantastic to hear. While you’re doing your best to get new employees and develop your business you will be needing to outsource…while on a budget.
Fret no more, we have compiled the most efficient websites to help you kickstart your start-up.
Fiverr
One of the most well-known freelancing websites on the internet, business owners can find freelancers in almost any field, including graphic design and programming, social media marketing, voice-over, and UX design.
This is one of the biggest elements that made Fiverr famous, the large pool of freelancers from all over the world, including the MENA region covering a plethora of fields, and the ease to find one that will work best with your budget.
With a wide selection of freelancers to choose from, employers can find the one that works best for them based on the presented price and experience portfolio to get the best quality on a project-based agreement.
Payment is usually done ahead of time; however, the money doesn’t go through to the freelancer until the project ends and both parties have settled the transactions between them.
What Makes It Unique: A very large pool size, well known all over the world, and a ridiculously large number of fields to choose from.
Biggest Challenge: There might be scammers among the freelancers, make sure the person you select is trustworthy by checking their portfolio and reviews.
Upwork
If Fiverr is the best for the common man, Upwork is for the one who has a bigger budget and wants a higher caliber of freelancers. Like Fiverr, Upwork also has freelancers specializing in certain fields, including writing, translation, legal work, engineering, architecture, sales, marketing, finance, IT, development, accounting, and customer support, but that’s pretty much it.
Employers looking for freelancers can find them showing their average hourly rate, total earnings on the website, and job success rate making the process much easier. These differences are the most fundamental changes from Fiverr, though. Because in Fiverr, you pay for the project overall at an agreed price; however, on Upwork, things work differently.
On Upwork, employers can choose if the work they have is a one-time thing or an ongoing project, they can also pick how long they want to hire the freelancer for, ranging from less than a month up to six, and finally, they can select a freelancer based on the level of experience they need.
When it comes to payment, employers can also choose if they want to stick to an hourly rate or offer a fixed price, and after they’ve picked all these parameters, the freelancers willing to accept the employer’s offer can propose their services.
What Makes It Unique: Hosts a higher caliber of freelancers, which can be attractive to employers.
Challenges Employers Might Face: Needs a bigger budget.
Guru
Guru is another popular choice when it comes to looking for freelancers over the internet, as the website offers simple solutions and processes, including a filtration system where potential employers can find freelancers from certain countries if they want to.
These countries, of course, include Middle Eastern ones such as Egypt, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Kuwait, and more. Guru’s freelancers also work in the same fields as Upwork, so the website doesn’t offer more when it comes to fields, but it has a fresh selection of people to choose from.
Employers who have projects can look at the fields they need freelancers in, evaluate the quotes, review their portfolios and form a better idea of who to hire. After that, employers can contact the freelancer and finalize the details, such as the scope of work and the overall costs.
The website also helps by offering a way to hire more than one freelancer at once, where the employers can assign roles, manage the team, and keep track of their progress.
What Makes It Unique: Interesting team hiring system that makes a crew of experts easy to find.
Challenges Employers Might Face: Things can be muddled down and the pool of freelancers isn’t as large as the rest.
Freelancer
Freelancer is another website where employers can filter their selection for freelancers within the MENA region; however, like the previous two entries on the list, they’re limited when it comes to fields they work in.
Graphic design, web and mobile app development, SEO specialization, translation, law, and logistics are some of the standout skills/fields freelancers can be hired for on the website.
Freelancer shows candidates’ cost per hour, rate of jobs completed, reviews, number of times they’ve been rehired, punctuality with their work, a short bio, and a portfolio to get a better idea about their capabilities and work ethic. The website also shows verifications about the freelancer to calm employers’ minds and ensure that they wouldn’t get scammed, such as their email, identity, Facebook account, and mobile number.
Like Guru, Freelancer offers employers the ability to pay for their projects at a fixed price or an hourly rate, all secured by a milestone payments system.
All employers need to do is set the parameters of the project and receive bids from freelancers who are interested in performing the project. There’s also a live chat service available, where after the employer chooses the freelancer they’re working with, they can chat in real-time to get the job done correctly.
What Makes It Unique: Has a good interface, and finding freelancers for a project is simple and easy.
Challenges Employers Might Face: The number of fields that freelancers specialize in is a bit limited.
People Per Hour
Finally, there’s People Per Hour, another leader in the field of connecting freelancers to employers as it has an impressive pool of people similar to that of the previous entries on this list.
People Per Hour has a total of nine main fields, including technology, design, writing, business, audio, social media, visuals editing, digital marketing, and marketing, each of which has subcategories, diversifying their freelancers’ pool.
The website has a couple of different ways employers can find the best freelancers for their work. Employers can either post a project providing details about what they want to be done on it, and the website will match the best freelancers for it; freelancers at this point will offer their proposals, and employers can make their selection.
The other method is simple too; employers can browse the website for freelancers who fit their parameters, filtering by location, hourly rate, or skill; and approach them to request a quote or proposal to have it done by them specifically.
What Makes It Unique: Employers can find a match for their projects easily thanks to the website’s AI system.
Challenges Employers Might Face: Even though the nine fields the website focuses on will have what most employers need, it’s still limiting if they’re looking for something specific.
No matter which website you end up choosing, you’ll definitely find some great talents, which will work perfectly with any project you have. We recommend going through all five websites to find the best fit for you since there’s a large pool of capable freelancers to choose from.
Don’t Forget: We Said This… The Freelance Life: 5 Middle Eastern Websites For Your Side Hustles