If you’re a business owner, then you’re probably juggling a lot of balls, and spinning a lot of plates, and as a result, only the urgent stuff gets done.

And if that’s you, then there’s every chance that you’ve got a big old list of ‘things to do’ that you know would make a difference to your business, if only you could get around to doing them.

1. Sure, you could get someone else to do them for you, but then you’re bringing in a lot more cost to your business.
   
   But what if there was a way to get more stuff done, without spending a lot of money on it?
   
   The good news is that there is.
   
   Over the last few years, sites like UpWork, Fiverr and PeoplePerHour have cropped up, offering a whole range of low cost services to help business owners get more stuff done.
   
   And, used correctly, these sites can help you move your business forward much more quickly than you would otherwise.
   
   But, if you’ve ever tried to post a job on any of these sites before, you’ll know that it can be an absolute minefield to know what to do, which person to choose and all that stuff.
   
   And when you don’t use these sites correctly, you generally don’t get a very good result.
   
   So I’m going to help, by providing a quick guide to how to use these sites effectively:
   
   Let's say, for example, you're trying to design an A5 flyer, for example. Here’s the technique I’d use:
   
   1.Head over to one of the sites, type: “Design an A5 flyer”, click search
   2.You’ll get some search results, and you’ll get to see some examples of the work people have done in the past
   3.Choose three people who look good in the right price range, and give the job to all three
   4.Be sure to find examples of their previous work that you like, and reference them when you commission the job – that’ll give you the best chance of getting something of a similar design and quality
   5.Ask for specific things in your design brief, but base it on an existing design of theirs, asking them to change colours, details and different elements.
   6.Get all three jobs back
   
   And that – in a nutshell – is it.
   
   Why does it work? Let me explain:
   
   1. This strategy gives you a low cost way to identify a designer AND (crucially) understand whether you can work with them on an ongoing basis.
   
   By asking for specifics, by having some back and forth, and by submitting a brief, you’re able to test out their skills and also what it would be like to work with them.
   
   And once all three have come back, you pay them all, but select one of the designers (the best!) that you can then go back to and get ongoing design work.
   
   2. It gives you options and new ideas
   
   It might be that the designer you pick has done the best design, but it also might be that there are elements from the other two designs you’d like incorporating into the final design.
   
   By getting three creative takes on the same brief, you’ll then be able to amalgamate all the bits you like and get your chosen designer to come up with the finished flyer.
   
   Rather than employing an expensive design agency, this technique allows you to access great design for a fraction of the cost AND identify people that you can work with on an ongoing basis – I’ve used it with great success, and I hope you can too.