Featured On: The Live Free Podcast with Micala Quinn

The other month, I had the opportunity to meet Micala Quinn of The Live Free Podcast. We immediately saw common ground between our businesses, which led to me being featured on her podcast.

Micala Quinn – of The Live Free Podcast

If you don’t know Micala, she is someone you need to look into if you own or want to start an online business. Her business has two parts that work together in a way that has produced a positive impact on the online business community.

Micala helps women, mostly moms, learn how to start their own online businesses. Most become a virtual assistance, but each learns how to leverage their time, talent, and knowledge to grow a company that is right for them and their families.

However, Micala does not just teach them how to start a business and then leave them on their own. She has created an excellent program that helps these new business owners find clients.

Connecting Business Owners to Freelancers

As a business owner, it can be overwhelming to find a great freelancer unless you already know the perfect person. It takes much time to track down the right person, and then you have to see if they are available and within your budget and time parameters.

Micala has created a system that takes out all that extra work. Anyone can fill out her Find Your Next Hire form and answer a few questions on what they need. Then those the freelancers who have gone through her program and are available, offer services within the budget range, and are experienced within the type of work you need will contact you.

No more searching websites for HOURS to find a VA or other freelancers!

The Live Free Podcast

The Live Free Podcast is designed to help and inspire women to become freelancers and keep their businesses thriving. So, where did I come in when I work with business owners on their journey to hire and manage employees?

With me working with business owners on the topic of employees, independent contractor relationships is a common conversation topic. People are always asking if they should hire an independent contractor or an employee, want to know the difference, and how to stay on the right side of the fine line between the two. (And, you want to keep on the right side of the line, or you could receive hefty fines and penalties from the IRS!)

While misclassifying employees as independent contracts can cost businesses big time if they are caught, it also hurts the freelancer. The freelancer has spent time and effort growing their business only to lose control and be treated as an employee; an employee who is receiving no benefits and is responsible for all their own taxes.

So, I join Micala to share with her audience how to know if they are in a freelancer vs. employee role, how to avoid being taken advantage of, and what they can do to set themselves up for success from the start.

If you hire independent contractors for your business, the podcast episode will be a valuable listen for you, too.

Why I Love This Topic

The independent contractor versus employee relationship is a topic that I get very fired up about because I have a personal connection.

For my very first full-time job after college, I was hired as an independent contractor. Being that it was my very first full-time job, I took them at their word when they said that it was a normal classification for an employee.

I didn’t know any better until family opened my eyes. I was finally told that it was not a “normal classification for an employee,” and I was being taken advantage of by the company.

Six months later, as I started to see every way I was being mistreated, I stood up for myself. I told them that I needed to be switched to an employee and stated my case. Of course, they let me go instead because they didn’t want to be responsible for the employee-related taxes.

I wasn’t the first or the last person they misclassified within their company.

Companies like that need to be stopped.

Companies who don’t know any better need to be educated.

Freelancers need to know how they should be treated in the relationship so they are not taken advantage of by companies who are knowingly or unknowingly breaking the rules.

If you are hiring independent contractors or are an independent contractor, make sure you visit the IRS website to fully educate yourself on the difference between an employee and an independent contractor. When in doubt, always consult an attorney.

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