Why Freelancers Might Be the Secret to Scaling Smarter (and Faster)

I recently tuned into the HBR On Strategy podcast, specifically the episode "The Strategic Advantage of Tapping Freelancers" (well worth a listen). What really hit home was how clearly it articulated the foundation of my own business model. It’s a concept so relevant to how I work with clients at LN Consulting that it felt worth exploring further.

The Scaling Conundrum: A Familiar Scenario

Picture this: your business is ready to grow. You’ve identified a clear opportunity to realign your sales and marketing strategy to reach the next level. But there’s a challenge. Maybe your internal team doesn’t have the senior-level expertise to lead that shift. Maybe your current resources are stretched thin. Or maybe you don’t have a dedicated marketing function at all.

So, what do you do?

Option One: The Traditional Path (and the Wait)

You could go the traditional route and hire a senior full-time employee. There’s nothing wrong with that (I regularly help clients to source key internal hires), but it’s a slow burn. The recruitment process can take 3 to 6 months. Then comes onboarding, getting up to speed, and a few more months before they’re truly delivering. You’re looking at 9 to 12 months before any meaningful output, and that’s if they turn out to be the right fit long term. If you want to action something quickly, you need an alternative.

Option Two: Tap into the Open Talent Economy

Now, consider a more agile alternative: bringing in a freelancer or consultant.

John Winsor and Jin Paik explore this brilliantly in their book Open Talent: Leveraging the Global Workforce to Solve Your Biggest Challenges. They highlight how businesses now have immediate access to highly skilled, on-demand experts who are ready to get stuck in from day one.

Their research also points to a striking insight: full-time employees typically spend just 35% of their time on the actual work they were hired to do, with the rest taken up by meetings, admin, and company processes. But when you hire a freelancer, if you buy 20 hours, you get 20 hours of focused work. That’s a huge efficiency gain.

The Benefits Are Clear:

Speed. Expertise. Flexibility. Impact.

• Speed: Start your project in days or weeks, not months.

• Expertise: Access senior-level specialists without the long-term cost.

• Flexibility: Engage for the exact scope you need, with no excess overhead.

• Impact: Defined deliverables and measurable outcomes from the outset.
  

How LN Consulting Fits In

This is exactly how I work with clients through LN Consulting. As a fractional consultant, I support businesses that need senior strategy and delivery, without the full-time hire. Whether you’re repositioning your brand, developing a growth plan, or refocusing your sales and marketing strategy, I deliver focused, outcome-driven support that gets things moving fast.

Freelancers Work Best When You’re Involved

One word of advice: hiring a freelancer doesn’t mean handing everything over. For the partnership to be effective, your input matters. We bring the strategic lens and commercial know-how, but you bring the internal knowledge and brand context. That collaboration is what makes the outcomes not just good, but exactly right for your business.

Let’s Get That Project Moving

If there’s a project that’s been sitting on your list for too long, something you know would make a difference if you could just get it over the line, maybe now’s the time to act. I may be the partner to help drive it forward. And if I’m not the right fit, I’ll happily connect you with someone in my network who is.

What project in your business is just waiting for the right expertise to get it off the ground?