I am a freelancer and I have paid freelancers. You could use them to scale your web development/design firm. Anyone can be a freelancer, and that is why you must be careful. I assume that you are using a site like freelancer.com. They act as a middle man and can protect you, to an extent, against scams. It is important to be extremely specific when asking for a product. I can not tell you how many times I have had to ask and re ask clients what they want. This leads to a bad working relationship and it drags out the process. My tip(s) would be to look for someone with a portfolio in your area of interest, write out ever detail of what you expect in the product your are hiring out including stuff you may think is self explanatory. Remember, you are the boss. You do not have to pay for a product that is not to your specifications. Never drag out a free lance deal. If they are not producing quality work and you have went through 20+ emails making corrections and reworks, then just save both of you time and select another of the 10k+ "experts" on freelancer. My personal experience with hiring free lancers has been overall satisfying. You could save a great deal of money.