Key Private Label Freelancers for Outsourcing Your Amazon Business

Many Amazon business owners ask us how they can put together an amazing group of private label freelancers for their Amazon accounts. Clients have also been curious to know how an online hiring platform handles their own hiring. It is certainly a very good question, and right on target.

So, today we are going to outline how FreeUp handles each step of the process to hire, set up and structure private label freelancers for an Amazon business. Whether you are a business owner who prefers to hire in-house staff, remote freelancers, or a combination of both, this system will help you to hire freelancers that will rock it every day for your Amazon account.

If you haven’t already seen it, check out this episode on Finding, Interviewing, and Vetting Online Freelancers from our How to Hire Remote Freelancers video series. It is a quick watch that will give you a few relevant hacks that you can keep in mind as you read on. The rest of the series will also prove to be a very helpful step-by-step guide as you hire private label freelancers to work on your Amazon account.

Let’s get started right at the top, hiring managers for each area of your Amazon business, then move on to filling the roles under them.

Get Managers in Place

One of the first things that you will want to do for your Amazon account is to find the top set of key people who will help you run your business. These key people are the managers who will be in direct and constant communication with you.

Aim to build out management with these key Amazon account positions:

1. Amazon Director – for general Amazon supervision. This manager will be responsible for overseeing all work specific to the Amazon platform, such as the creation of optimized listing images and text, Amazon PPC, and customer relations.
2. Marketing Director – for business and product marketing. This manager will be responsible for supervising the design and execution of creative business branding and product campaigns.
3. Inventory Manager – for keeping track of inventory and orders. This manager will be responsible for making sure that inventory is maintained at the appropriate levels and orders get processed and shipped on time and without hitches.
4. Accountant – for managing finances. This manager will be responsible for making sure that the books and taxes are kept straight, and for helping you to figure out margins and areas where you should cut back or expand into.
5. Executive Assistant – for day-to-day administrative tasks and keeping you organized. This manager will be responsible for keeping your calendar clean so that you can focus on getting things done, and for helping you check tasks off your list that don’t really require your personal touch.

Each of these managers will take on the responsibility of building the systems and processes that you need to make your Amazon business thrive. They will also handle much of the work involved in creating onboarding guides for the different tasks under their care. The onboarding itself for the roles that you will soon be filling can also be handled by adept managers. They will also eventually be handling most of the communications and task supervision for all the private label freelancers you will hire.

You want to make sure that you are comfortable with each of these managers’ skills and their commitment before you hire them. You also want to be able to develop a good, long-term working relationship with them. Focus on how they communicate with you and perform their daily tasks. This will help you to spot any red flags that can signal trouble down the road. It’s vital that you have the right managers in place before you start hiring for any other roles.

Once you have these key people in place, you will be able to quite easily structure task-specific freelancers under them for each area of responsibility within your Amazon account.

Hire Private Label Freelancers for Each Department

As each manager is set snugly in place, they will get a feel for what’s lacking and be able to pinpoint areas for improvement. Where this entails hiring people with specific skills and experience, they can begin preparing for hiring and onboarding.

It is a good practice to take on only two or three new freelancers at a time so that managers can properly vet, set up and supervise each one. You don’t want them to drop the ball on their tasks because they’re too busy interviewing candidates. You also don’t want to rush the hiring process.

Preparing Task Descriptions

The managers should already have a good idea of what they need, so you can allow them to take point. Have them create the task descriptions that identify the skills and levels of experience that each freelancer must have to qualify for each role. You need detailed descriptions to attract the right candidates so you don’t waste time with people that aren’t the right fit.

When you’re ready with your first few descriptions for the critical roles, submit them to the freelance marketplace of your choice.

On FreeeUp – Log into your account (or sign up if you’re not on FreeUp yet) and locate the “Submit Request” button on the main navigation menu. Click that and fill up the requested details.

Vetting Candidates

Take your time and work with managers to find the right freelancers who will value your company and have the professional drive and work ethic to help it grow. Trying to get all these positions filled in a panic will not work well for you in the long run.

Look for freelancers who you know are a good match for not just the work itself, but the way it’s done within your company. Each business works differently and has a unique culture. There’s always a certain combination of characteristics that will fit best within that system.

On FreeeUp – all freelancers have already been pre-vetted for skills, attitude and communication. This means that you can spend just 15 minutes talking to them to get to know them, share some specifics about your business, and ask them about any particulars that you need to know before making the hire.

Hiring the Best

From your shortlist, pick the most outstanding candidate and make the hire. Make it clear to that freelancer that you will be observing them on certain tasks for a short period — we suggest two weeks to a month, depending on how fast the manager can make an evaluation.

On FreeeUp – Just click the hire button on the introduction email that you received after submitting your freelancer request.

Proper onboarding for each new hire should be a priority. This is so that you can ensure that each one functions well within their respective roles and integrates seamlessly with everyone they are working with. One bad apple can spoil the bunch, so you want to make sure that you have the right fits in every area. This is how you build a well-oiled machine that runs smoothly, and avoid those annoying monkey wrenches that can quickly bring operations to a grinding halt.

Each role that a manager identifies should be filled with highly skilled individuals who have ample experience in their respective niches. Here are our top picks for the first hires under each department:

Amazon Account Director

1. Amazon Customer Service – able to handle queries, complaints, and follow-ups to manage customer satisfaction and get more good reviews.
2. Amazon PPC Advertiser – fluent with the ins and outs of Amazon’s brand of advertising and keen with keywords and clicks.
3. Amazon Product Launcher – creatively savvy with unique campaigns that highlight your products and also reflect and build your brand image.
4. Amazon SEO Copywriter – knowledgeable in general SEO best practices and an expert in handling Amazon keyword research and placement.
5. Amazon Photographer – experienced and with an excellent eye for product angles specifically.

Marketing Director

1. Graphic Designer – gifted in composing artful graphics that pop and get the message across at a glance.
2. Content Writer – talented with words and discerning when it comes to advertising content that will comply with Amazon’s policies.
3. Social Media Manager – a born people-person with well-rounded experience on the major social platforms, particularly Facebook.
4. Digital Advertising Manager – quick on the draw and able to keep abreast of the latest in web marketing.

Inventory Manager

1. Freight Forwarder – highly organized with a stable network, decent insurance and a reputation for being sharp with packing standards as well as scheduling and follow-ups.
2. Warehouse Manager – with strong people and technical finesse, excellent communication and tactical skills, a good background in finance and legalities, organized, analytical, attentive and decisive.

Accountant

1. Bookkeeper – with solid integrity, discipline, and a knack for numbers as well as data entry, sound judgment, excellent communication, and paying keen attention to detail while able to see the big picture.

Evaluating New Hires

Soon, these key roles will be filled, the new hires will be well-integrated, and you will be able to gauge their performance. If any of these freelancers fails to met your expectations, find out why, and if it can be fixed. Then give them feedback and discuss the failing with them so they know what adjustments to make to improve. Then repeat the evaluation process and see if the issue is resolved.

If you note a basic failing in their skills, attitude, or anything else that you can’t remedy or make adjustments for, it’s best to let them go. Don’t settle until each hire performs their tasks to your satisfaction.

In these cases, it’s vital to find out exactly what went wrong so history won’t repeat itself. It could be that you missed something in your description or failed to note a red flag. If so, update your description (click “Requests”, scroll down until you see it, click “View candidates” then “Edit ) and make a note of the red flag so you can target it during the next interview. Then go back to your shortlist find out if the next candidate in line is still available. This will be your nest best option. Then repeat the onboarding process.

Note that in some cases, you might have to go back to the drawing board. If for instance you failed to indicate a key skill on your task description, you may have to reopen your request and get new matches.

On FreeeUp — simply navigate to your request ticket (click “Requests”, scroll down until you see it then click “View candidates”) then click the button near the top of the page that says “Get introduced to another candidate.” Don’t hesitate to contact a FreeUp assistant if you need any assistance during this process. They are available nearly 24/7 and will help you get through it as quickly and painlessly as possible.

Final Thoughts

In due time, all the roles that you need for your Amazon private label business will be filled with experienced freelancers who fit perfectly into your organization. With a dash of patience and a dab of elbow grease, you as the CEO will have a fully supported group handling all aspects of your Amazon account while you focus on growth and leadership.

This article and infographic is inspired by Tomer Rabinovich and his Amazon Private Label company. Tomer is a full time eCommerce entrepreneur with a focus on the Amazon Private Label business model. While not working on his business, Tomer spends most of his time traveling the world speaking at various Amazon seller events. Tomer’s knowledge on the ideal makeup of a Private Label Amazon business allowed us to create this amazing piece of content breaking down each role you may hire if looking to build a Private Label business on the Amazon Marketplace. FreeUp thanks Tomer for his expertise.