As you keep a close eye on the bottom line, one of the things you may be considering is outsourcing labor for some of your needs. In this article, I’m going to try to tackle some of the pros and cons of outsourcing vs. hiring in-house.
Of course there are certain functions, such as marketing or customer service, that are best handled in-house. There are other things however, such as art development or color separations, that are actually very well-suited to outsourcing. One of the reasons for this is that your art or color sep needs may not be consistent – the apparel industry is one where art department workload can fluctuate wildly with seasons and trade shows.
A good artist or separator can be very expensive as a full-time employee, and while the job-by-job charges of a freelancer may seem high, when you consider that you’re not paying out when the department is slow, and take into account taxes and other employee-related expenses, you can often save thousands of dollars over the course of a year by utilizing such services on an as-needed basis. Also consider that in many cases you may be able to directly bill your customer for these services, offsetting any real costs to you.
One more thing to consider is that, to a freelancer, customers who can provide consistent work or higher volume can be very desirable. If you are able to offer a good, consistent work flow to your contractor, ask for a volume price break. Many times, you can obtain a discounted price that makes outsourcing even more appealing.
