Letter #88: This tip will help you instantly manage freelancers better
“Feedback is a gift,” a client told me when she asked for my thoughts on her SaaS tool.
It’s been 2 years since we worked together. But her words have stuck with me.
The only problem: we often treat feedback sourcing as a backbencher.
When, in reality, feedback can help you:
Understand how helpful, in-depth, or micro-management-y your creative briefs are
Identify bottlenecks in your content operations (think: your workflow, communication, and documentation)
So what are you getting at here, M?
A simple, actionable tip:
Put together an anonymous survey and send it to your internal and external content team ✨
The questions you ask will depend on your role and who you’re asking for feedback (the in-house team or the freelancers/contractors you work with).
Some thought starters:
✅ Does the content brief provide enough information or does it overload info — holding you back?
✅ How easy to read and follow is our documentation (the style guide, brand voice guidelines, briefs, and so on)?
✅ How proactive is our team/your colleagues in answering your questions related to the brief, content strategy, or product-related questions?
✅ Is there something we can do to help you better understand our business, brand narrative, or SaaS tool?
✅ If you weren’t working with us, would you still read and recommend our content (blog, emails, or social content)? If so, why? If not, tell us why not?
✅ How easy to use is our toolkit? Is there a tool you think we need to try? Is there a tool that you think doesn’t contribute enough value to our content process?
✅ Do you have any suggestions for improving our processes or workflow?
Bonus tips:
✅ Shake up the survey questions every quarter or biannually. This way, you can source feedback on the workflow changes you introduce or new tools you use
✅ Remember to keep the survey short. Mix in both open-ended and rating scale questions so the form is easy to complete.
✅ Regularly share the feedback form with your in-house folks and retainer team of freelancers every quarter. Send it to new freelancers right after you complete your first (or one-off) project with them.
And before I bid farewell, here are more resources to work smoothly with freelancers:
That’s all, peeple.
Cheers,
Masooma
P.S. Andy Crestodina is looking for respondents for his annual blogger survey. Share your experiences here to help shape the results.


Hi Masooma!
It is a lovely newsletter because as a freelance writer I rely on feedbacks to improve my writing.Also, the first link is broken I think it leads to a 'Page not found' can you fix it?