How do you work with freelancers without putting your business at risk?

In the age of the gig economy, you can find freelance developers almost anywhere.

Bark, Freelancer.com, Fiverr, and Upwork are overflowing with thousands of skilled developers ready and willing to help you build your next big thing.

But this introduces a specific type of risk that you don't typically face when working with established agencies or businesses.

At Wolf IQ, we've worked with hundreds of businesses and have seen the best and the worst of these freelance relationships.

• Sometimes, it’s a perfect match. The freelancer is reliable, they genuinely care about the business, and they contribute to massive success.
• Other times, it doesn't go well. Rarely out of malice; more often it's just a matter of ignorance or a simple misalignment of priorities.

The end result can be a major drag on the business. Lost time, wasted , and a drain on your focus and energy.

When that relationship sours or the freelancer simply moves on to their next gig, the business owner can be left feeling helpless or, even worse, held hostage to the very technology they need to grow.

How do you avoid these pitfalls? If you're going down the freelance path, here are three critical things you need to have in place.

1. Own Everything (Be the Super Admin)

This is the most critical rule of all.

You never, ever want to let a freelancer set up your essential business tools—like hosting, domains, or Google Ads accounts—under their own name or account. You need to be the one to create the account. Why? Because you need to be the one to put in your credit card, and more importantly, you need to have ultimate control.

Once you've created the account, you can simply invite them as a user. This grants them the access they need to do their job without giving them ownership. If they ever leave, or if the relationship doesn't work out, you can revoke their access with a single click and move on. This simple step ensures that your business assets remain your business assets, period.

2. Keep It Simple

When you start building custom websites or highly specialized technology with a freelancer, you introduce a lot of complexity.

Every custom feature involves assumptions, decisions, and context that might exist only in the developer's head. This can become a huge problem down the road.

We often meet companies that made a technology decision with a freelancer years ago, and now, no one internally knows how the system was built, how it works, or how to update it. They end up stuck with a "black box" system that they eventually have to scrap and rebuild from scratch. It's a costly and frustrating experience.

Leave the creativity to your business, your products, and your services. For your foundational technology, stick to the standards.

When it comes to websites, this means using well-supported platforms like WordPress, Shopify, or even Wix. These platforms aren't going anywhere, they have huge support communities, and you'll never be stuck trying to find someone who knows how to work on them.

3. Ensure They Have Reputation to Protect

A freelancer's track record is incredibly important.

While the platforms I mentioned earlier have review and testimonial systems, these can sometimes be gamed. I doubt the platforms are overly concerned with making them 100% legit, as positive reviews generally reduce friction and encourage more transactions in their marketplace.

Therefore, you need to do your own due diligence. When hiring a freelancer, look for evidence that they have long-term clients and a history of being there for them—both when things are going well and when they aren't. A website isn't a one-time project; it's an ongoing commitment that you'll be updating and improving for years.

You need to know that if your site breaks or something goes wrong, your freelancer cares enough about their professional reputation to show up and help you fix it. A strong reputation is your best insurance policy against being abandoned when you need help the most.

All these points boil down to one simple principle: you can and should outsource the work, but you must keep the ownership of the context and the tools within your business.