I budget 10% of my income for freelance help and it's worth every penny. Here's who I hire and how much they cost.

• Jen Glantz is an entrepreneur and the founder of Bridesmaid for Hire.
• She says hiring freelancers has been a game-changer in running her small business.

When I first started my business in 2014, I made a major mistake. I wanted to cut costs as much as possible and decided that I'd do 90% of my business tasks myself. Rather than hire a website designer or a virtual assistant, I taught myself how to do basic coding and spent more hours than necessary responding to every email that entered my inbox.

This was a mistake I made for the first three years of being a solopreneur that eventually led to moments of extreme burnout and stunted growth. It felt impossible to innovate when I was focusing all my attention on trying to be an expert in so many different fields (unrelated to my actual business services) just to keep my business alive and well.

I decided to set a yearly budget of around 10% of my income to pay for freelancers throughout the year when I need support. Here are the five types of freelancers I turn to frequently that have a big impact on my business and its growth.

Complimentary Tech Event

Transform talent with learning that works

Capability development is critical for businesses who want to push the envelope of innovation.Discover how business leaders are strategizing around building talent capabilities and empowering employee transformation.Know More

1. A website designer

To save money over the years, I learned how to design my own websites and have built seven websites using template-based sites like Wix and WordPress.

I used to spend more than 25% of my time during the month optimizing the website and making sure it made a good first impression on visitors.

Last year, I decided to hire a freelance web designer to build me a more professional looking website. I spent around $3,000 for this service, and while it was costly, I'm very proud of how the website turned out, and taking it off my to-dos added a lot of time back into my workday for other tasks.

2. A Google Ads specialist

Last year, I decided to do paid advertising to help grow a new project of mine. Rather than learning how to do Google Ads, I hired a specialist on Fiverr to set up and manage my ads. This cost me around $125 for the project, not including the budget for the ads.

If I'd taught myself how to do Google Ads, it would have taken me several months and a lot of hours learning the strategy behind this growth method. Since that initial project, I've hired a Google Ads freelancer three more times for other campaigns.

3. A proofreader

I write a lot of copy for my businesses, projects, newsletters, and books. Hiring a proofreader has been a huge time-saver. This person edits my copy, makes suggestions on the content, and helps me catch any errors I missed.

I found a proofreader in a writing-focused Facebook group I'm in and she charges around $3 per page.

4. A social-media manager

As a solopreneur running many different projects, I manage five different social-media accounts. Designing content, writing posts, and scheduling them throughout the week is extremely time consuming.

At least once a quarter, I'll hire a social-media freelancer to help create a content calendar, curate content, and schedule it to go up over the upcoming months. For this, I've hired freelancers on Upwork and usually pay a flat fee (around $600 a quarter) for their work.

5. A virtual assistant

After a few months of tracking how I spent my time during the workday, I realized that more than 25% of my time was spent on tasks that weren't a high priority. These included responding to emails, scheduling calls and social-media posts, and formatting blog posts.

I decided that I'd work with a virtual assistant during my most hectic months (October through December) and a few other times throughout the year.

I used social media (my own Instagram or Facebook group) to find a virtual assistant. In the past, I've paid around $15 to $20 an hour for this kind of help, and it freed up five to 10 hours of my week to focus on high-priority business items that were often pushed aside.

As a solopreneur, it might not be practical or affordable to hire long-term contractors or employees. Having a roster of freelancers to rely on as needed is a more cost-effective option to get specialized help and take extra work off your plate.