Freelancers have wide skill sets, but most don’t really offer mind reading. In order to make sure that your project is completed to your satisfaction, it’s important to carefully communicate with your freelancer. Even a relatively small miscommunication can affect the end result of your project, whether you need a website designed or copy written. And if a problem creeps in at a fundamental level, the way a freelancer executes your project can be very different from what you have in mind. The final project may be great, but if it doesn’t reflect what you originally wanted, you won’t be too pleased. Such situations can be avoided by making sure that you and the freelancers you work with are on the same page throughout each project.

Communicate in Writing

Even if you hash out the details of what you want the finished project to look like, send a follow-up email to confirm what you said on the phone. Keep written records of as many of the project details and discussions as possible. Having this sort of information in writing makes it easier for both you and the freelancer to refer back to your original decisions. This is especially crucial during longer projects, or when details change from your initial agreement. You’ll be able to refer back to the documentation and have a reference point for any changes the freelancer suggests, and the freelancer will have a better concept of just what you want.

Having a paper trail can come in handy after the fact, as well. It can help you decide how well a finished project stacks up to your initial expectations and it can give you a starting point for future projects. Maybe you’ll need another website eventually, or the freelancer suggested a way to tie your current brochure design to a new business card. Those notes can give you a head start on getting future projects done.

Review Drafts Thoroughly

Depending on the size of your project, you may receive multiple drafts, mock-ups and versions of the project from the freelancer working on it. While it may be tempting to just give a once-over to a draft, perhaps because it isn’t a final project or because you’ve already seen several versions, it’s crucial to go over each iteration of the project in detail. The draft stage is the point when it’s easiest to make changes or corrections — waiting until the final draft or even the final version is likely to wind up costing you extra money and delaying the finished project. The contract covering the project will likely lay out at what point the project is considered complete and you are obligated to pay — even if it doesn’t quite match your expectations.

If you aren’t sure exactly what you should be looking for in a version, most freelancers are willing to discuss the progress of the project with you: they can tell you about changes from one version to the next, as well as the constraints that may have led to a particular approach.

Check in Regularly

With especially long projects, it’s easy to hand work over to a freelancer and forget about it. But that sort of approach tends not to work well — for you or the freelancer. In order to stay on the same wave-length, it’s important to check in with any freelancers you work with fairly regularly. You don’t have to touch base every day, like you might with an employee, but send off an email every so often. Depending on your timeline, contact every few weeks may be enough, or even just following up after each milestone could do it. There’s no precise number of of times you should connect with a freelancer during the course of a project; instead, you’ll need to see what works for you.