You might consider just hiring someone as a w-2 or otherwise someone who has never freelanced (or is not currently a freelancer.) Even if you could not hire th

You might consider just hiring someone as a w-2 or otherwise someone who has never freelanced (or is not currently a freelancer.) Even if you could not hire this person long term at least the person would be able to gain some experience and cash. The problem with freelancers is that they have lots of overhead. They may not have to pay a lot for equipment or a building but they have limited hours and many of those hours are spent doing non billable stuff. The overhead is in the lost time keeping the business going. A freelancer with a long term gig could lower rates a bit but many of those overhead items still remain. Even with a long term contract a freelancer still has to do marketing, keep sending out invoices, "maintain" the clients and many other things that a non freelancer doesn't have to worry about.