What’s the Next Step in a Freelancing Career?
If you’re working for an employer, your career patch can be pretty clear: work hard and move up the corporate ladder, hopefully winding up somewhere near the top. But when you’re freelancing, your career path can be a lot less clear. We all want to land more clients and earn more per hour, but where do we want to wind up?
A Creative Agency of Your Own?
One logical career path is to keep taking on more clients and hiring a few creative professionals yourself. The end result is a creative agency that allows you to take on more and bigger projects. Once you get to this point, it’s relatively easy to continue to grow — but there are also a few drawbacks, like the fact that you’re responsible for paying those folks you now employ.
A Product of Your Own?
Another option that many freelancers seem interested in is creating some sort of a product out your freelancing skills, shifting your income from being based on your services to being based on a product. Such businesses can look very different: your product could be a web application, a book or dozens of other things. The switch can make it easier to increase your income, but also can take a whole new set of business skills beyond what freelancing requires.
Taking a Great Job?
Not everyone wants to freelance forever. Perhaps you have a dream job in mind, one that you want to work towards with your freelancing experiences. That can mean taking on particular types of projects, so that you can make sure opportunity comes knocking. Considering an employer can offer certain benefits, although a reduced level of freedom, it’s no wonder that many freelancers move back and forth from freelancing to employment as we find opportunities.
Sticking With Freelancing?
For many people, the flexibility of freelancing is key. You may want to increase your rates over the years or specialize in one particular niche, but sticking with freelancing and avoiding adding frills is definitely an option. Other career paths can require very different types of responsibility, as well as fundamental shifts in how you do business, and the switch isn’t comfortable for many people?
What Does Your Career Path Look Like?
When I originally started freelancing full-time, I assumed that sooner or later, I would find a full-time job and cut back on my freelancing. That hasn’t happened to me, although I know plenty of freelancers who have taken jobs (and just as many who have left them) over that time. Career paths change and have to remain flexible, especially if you’re freelancing. That said, though, it’s worth having an idea of where you want to wind up in the long run. Not only is it often necessary to work towards reaching those goals, but simply having those goals give you a reason to keep moving forward and finding new opportunities.
Have you asked yourself what your ideal career path looks like? Where do you want freelancing to take you?
This something i keep thinking about. I have always been a freelancer (8 years in web dev) and am thank God very busy, but sometimes get tempted to ‘get a job’. The point you made is very important: keep it flexible and see how it goes!
I’ve just graduated from a multimedia degree and am now slowly setting myself up as a freelance web designer. I have high hopes, but we’ll have to see how it goes. It’s really the flexibility and the being my own boss thing that attracted me to it.
I’m commenting really just to get a followup of all the comments, because I’m curious of what others might do.
In my mind, I have always thought of sticking to freelancing. Other choices never occurred to me.
After two years FT freelancing I feel very blessed to have hooked up with the companies that keep me busy day and night. But no matter how busy I am, I always think of landing a job that would bring me around new designers, new work, and new experiences. I love making my own schedule, being my own boss, but it is also easy to get lost in my own little bubble being at home.
I can’t imagine taking a job somewhere right now, but the idea of working with others designers keeps that thought in the back of my head. I think that is why I like to drink my coffee reading design blogs, and writing in like this… it makes me feel like I am not on another planet designing from home.
Mike, I’m with you man. I always crave collaboration effort, but I can’t imagine sacrificing all the freedom I have for that!
Hello Mike and Rick and others. I have had my “Freelance” Business since 2000. I agree. I’ve had ups and downs and sometimes I think about getting a Job with a firm. My major pitfall like many freelance designers is that I live in a vacuum. I am in my office by myself and other than getting out and seeing the world around me, the only resources I have are other designer blogs and online content.
Have either of you thought about creating an online group that we could get together with other freelancers and talk about projects and get projects critiqued? Kinda of like a virtual design firm. I have thought about this often and would be very interested in getting together with other designers to do this. This way we freelance designers could have the best of both worlds, the flexibility and the availability of other designers to talk about projects.
Just a thought.
Ken
@Ken “Have either of you thought about creating an online group that we could get together with other freelancers and talk about projects and get projects critiqued?”
That actually seems like a good way to get around the isolation aspect of freelancing. I know of a couple of illustration collectives similar to this (http://gorillaartfare.com/ is the first that comes to mind), and they seem to benifit not only from that, but also from the fact that a larger group tends to get more attention. Having pubicly viewable material like this could be worth looking into as an alternative marketing method
Great post Thursday! It’s definitely a challenge to try and think about where you want your freelancing career to go. In today’s economy, it’s very comforting to know that I have a full-time job with benefits. It allows me to take some bigger risks on freelancing gigs than I would if I were solely relying on freelancing work always being there. I have always dreamed of taking my freelancing career and transforming it into some type of design agency, though…getting there will be the hard part….pulling in great people to work with….well I have already been blessed by having talented people to sub work to. Thanks again for the great post and thanks for always keeping me thinking of new ways to expand the freelance career and plan ahead.
I think the best freelance career takes you ultimately into being a small business owner where your reputation and quality of work allows you to employ others.
Good post, I was wondered about this topic and I’m still not sure what I would want to do after freelancing. Ideally I guess most people would want to start their own company and hire on a couple people but maybe taking a good position somewhere might be a good thing as well.
My husband and I have discussed this. He has talked about my hiring some additional people so my company can take on more projects. His reasoning is that if I can do this, I will ultimately have more time to be with my son. Though I do want to spend time with my son, I don’t know that I want my company to be so big that I have to hire additional people. I enjoy doing my work as well, so I want to continue both.
April, I can see your husband’s reasoning. Perhaps you don’t need to hire additional “people” but a person. Someone who has some unique capabilities but also some that overlap your own. This way, you are still involved with the stuff you enjoy doing but if you need the time off, you know this additional person can take over where/when necessary.
Just a thought.
My dream for the longest time was to start working for a company knowing that there is a consistency in the income and benefits. After a few years of that I would consider whether or not I’m at the point in my life where I could break out and start my own company or partnership.
My only deterrent would be making sure that everything would work out well enough to provide for my future family. Not having benefits could be a deciding factor for not doing this (depending on what the future wife might have as a job) and I’d go from there. Of course, a lot of thinking and discussions would be needed before a final decision is made.
I’d love to start a business and grow it to a 5-10 employee outfit. I wouldn’t want to get any bigger than that. Even 8-10 would be pushing the size I could see myself running.
I agree about getting some help, and I am actually looking to hire someone to help with some administrative and website writing work, but I am still leery about hiring someone to work on projects that my company gets paid for. It feels different to me about hiring someone to help my company versus hiring someone to work on a client project.
I totally agree with you April. Hiring for administrative work allows you to focus your energy on your clients (also making them happier that you can produce work quicker, possibly). Not worrying about the admin stuff can be a great help!
All the best in your hiring process!
As a freelancer for the last 12 years I have been pondering this question more and more, always thinking of other revenue streams from books to products as you mention but have yet to ignite a spark to act on. Fortunately, I work in somewhat of a niché as I do a lot of retail branding but I always feel this can only take me so far. Many times I wonder what I could do in a completely different environment where I could use my design skills outside of the studio. I love outdoor sports and using my hands to build. Could there be something there? I don’t know. I’ve also wondered what it would be like to live on the other side of the coin. Given my experience providing design I think I could offer a unique perspective building a brand from within which is why the thought of developing a product and then marketing it sounds attractive.
The freedoms and variety freelancing afford me are invaluable especially with a young family. It has served me well but am definitely ready to mix it up.
After I get a college degree, I plan on working at agency for some time to get the experience, but I want to own a business eventually in life.
Owning a business is an exciting adventure that I want to experience. Technically, I am experiencing it as a freelancer, but I want to own an agency one day.
Great *thinking about future* article. My favorite part is *A Product of Your Own?* because I’m thinking about mine, maybe a book.
Regards.
I’ve struggled with this exact thing recently. Do I hire more minions (I currently have one part-time person)? Do I work on my dream product (I have 10-15 ideas)?
Hopefully I can sit down with my family (soon-ish) and work out the pros and cons of each.
My biggest fear in hiring more folks is that I won’t have enough work to go around and, ergo, will not be able to cover their salaries. In creating a product – what if I spend hours upon hours doing this and nobody buys?
Will try to becaome an agency, that is like for sure. It will probably start by my brother joining me, but then we’ll try to expand. Small, 4-5 person team is what we think about for now.
I’m in that exact position right now. I’ve got one junior person freelancing for me 3 days/week but like everyone else, I fear the lean times. I would love to get a business development person, but I’m not sure if that would need to be a full-time position or if people do that as freelance/contract work. Does anyone know or have any experience in this?
@Mara – I know of several folks who do the PM (Project Management) piece for clients. The trick is finding someone who knows (or is willing to learn) as much about your business as you do. Sometimes you can train a person; sometimes it just needs to be an innate ability.
@Laura — So…would you think it’s more important to have project management help or business development help as an initial step in growth?
Guess I misunderstood – are you talking about business development as far as “get me more clients” and/or “streamline my processes?” I assumed PM and business development were one in the same.
My recommendation is to look at your strengths and weaknesses, and determine if someone can do the weaker parts better. Also look at where you *want* to be spending your time (i.e., design and development) versus where you are forced to spend your time (administrative, networking, and business growth).
Personally, I’ve got nobody-can-do-what-I-do-as-well-as-I-do-it-itis. After several attempts at hiring a project manager (someone who will interface with the clients and gather requirements) I’m going to try wearing the PM hat and hire someone who can do the development work (at least the basic development). That way I can be sure to gather all of the requirements needed and then just pass off the specs to someone else (whom I’ve trained in my preferred practices).
I guess it all depends on how (and how much) you want to deal with your clients. I feel it’s my name on the line, so I want to be the one talking to folks. I think (and in six months I’ll tell you if I was wrong) I can “get” what my clients need and convey that to my minions better than my minions trying to “get” what my clients need.
Not sure if that helps. :s
Guess I misunderstood – are you talking about business development as far as “get me more clients” and/or “streamline my processes?” I assumed PM and business development were one in the same.
My recommendation is to look at your strengths and weaknesses, and determine if someone can do the weaker parts better. Also look at where you *want* to be spending your time (i.e., in design and development) versus where you are forced to spend your time (administrative).
Personally, I’ve got nobody-can-do-what-I-do-as-well-as-I-do-it-itis. After several attempts at hiring a project manager (someone who will interface with the clients and gather requirements) I’m going to try wearing the PM hat and hire someone who can do the development work (at least the basic development). That way I can be sure to gather all of the requirements needed and then just pass off the specs to someone else (whom I’ve trained in my preferred practices).
I guess it all depends on how (and how much) you want to deal with your clients. I feel it’s my name on the line, so I want to be the one talking to folks. I think (and in six months I’ll tell you if I was wrong) I can “get” what my clients need and convey that to my minions better than my minions trying to “get” what my clients need.
Not sure if that helps. :s
I was thinking more the “get me more clients” variety. It takes a while to develop relationships with potential new clients and I’m finding when I try to do both that and the design work one side always ends up suffering. I don’t want to lose contact with clients entirely; I’m not looking for a mediator. I think I just need someone to lay the ground work. Maybe that’s starting with cold-calling, networking or suggesting a strategic marketing plan. I’m not sure, I just know there aren’t enough hours in the day to do both that and the design!
Plus, sales is probably the thing I enjoy least so I figure if I’m going to get help somewhere, that would be it. I guess what I was wondering was is there such a thing as a freelance business development person? In my mind it would be something like a photographer’s or illustrator’s rep, but for branding and design instead…but I just don’t know how to go about finding that.
(Sorry for the previous double-post – this comments thing just doesn’t work in IE7…)
Hmm… I might have someone that could help with that. I’ll send you an email.
I hope my freelancing will take me to much higher rates than i ever got at full time job, and most importantly to work anytime from anywhere, like sandy beach for example, without anyone breathing behind my neck
At this point I am content with being a freelancer, although at some point I will probably create a product of some sort.
I am still looking to take the first step. I have done freelancing on the side for about 10 years but haven’t taken the plunge to drop my day job. Probably in the next year or so I might take the risk.
I will say though that it has given me the flexibility to only take the jobs I want as the money doesn’t pay my bills.
What a wonderful article. I feel that this issue of what to do next is a a necessary issue which should have been discussed. A very big thank you from me
Often thought about this. After 20 years I’ll be sticking at freelancing for sure.
Basically I think that I’m now unemployable. If things got a little quiet, I’m sure my boss would not like to see me going to the beach or a movie in the middle of the day!
A great article with some equally great ideas. I plan someday in the future to organize my own online-based firm, while keeping to my freelancing roots with some old clients. However, I’ve been freelancing for years, and I’m still not ready to go un-solo.
I’m still enjoying it so far!
Great post. It’s really nice to read comments/suggestions/insights from everybody.
We have lots in common in terms of what holding us back in going for a product or expanding his/her business.
Interesting article, especially for those who are freelancing successfully.
While you probably did not mean it that way, of all the options you mention “sticking with freelancing” (or “freelancing forever” as you say elsewhere) feels the least like “progress”. And, to a certain extent, I do think many people actually see it that way, especially people with little own experience of freelancing. You get asked questions like “so, where do you think you will be in five years?”, with the assumption that you will say something like, “I’ll have set up a business of my own”. Many interpret the answer “still freelancing” as “failed”.
Personally I don’t see it that way at all and like small is beautiful. Nevertheless, I’d still like to have a (personal and outwardly communicable) idea of “progress” while remaining freelance. To a certain extent that means better clients, more interesting jobs, better earnings, more time for other things but only some of these are outwardly communicable as what people generally understand as “progress” or “growth”.
One option briefly touched upon here in the comments is hiring people to take over tasks outside one’s own area of specialism. Another option that doesn’t entail the same risk as hiring salaried staff is collaboration with other freelancers. On the one hand, this enables one to share the load of excess work and augment one another’s reciprocal skills, on the other it can also entail more work to get it going and establish working patterns. I’d love to read more about establishing successful freelance collaborations, how to go about it, what to look for, good practices, pitfalls …
Partnerships with other designers is something I have taken on in the last 6 months or so. I come from 10 years of magazine and agencies where I was the print/identity guy. I have been working on css for a couple years now, but my knowledge and efficiency lacks as far as making good use of my time. I have a designer who codes all my sites after I design them, and it has worked out great. She understands that there is room I need for mark-up and works so fast it allows me to just keep taking on new jobs and pass all the coding off to her.
I tried a couple other developers who all were extremely hard to get a hold of, or flaked out on me. Securing a good relationship with one is key, no matter if you are looking for a developer, copywriter, photographer, etc. I actually enjoy outsourcing certain parts of projects b/c like I said in my previous post, sometimes I feel isolated working from home. Collaborating gives me a sense that I am back in a team environment, and bouncing ideas around with others designers is great.
At this point if I continue to stay busy I see outsourcing certain parts of projects as a great growing tool. I can free up time to take on more work, offer clients more services than I may be able to provide, and essentially slowly expand. This I hope would bring on more money, and free up time to enjoy the other things in life like family and getting outside.
Great post. I’ve been freelancing on the side as a web developer for the past couple of years as i pursue a degree in computer engineering. I’ve been giving a lot of thought to where I’d like to be after 5 or so years of freelancing. Personally, I’d love to start a small company – at most 7 people – with other professionals in the field. That way I get to retain a measure of the freedom that comes with freelancing without having to bear all it’s inherent burdens alone while also giving myself a measure of the credibility that comes with having some sort of title on my business card besides “Independent Web Development Contractor”. lol. anyway, this was a nice read. keep ‘em coming
I hope to be a freelancer forever in some capacity. But I would like to create some passive forms of income so that freelancing can be more about projects I love as opposed to taking jobs for the money.
I completely agree. I’ve found myself working many many hours on projects that I ‘hope’ will start paying off as passive or re-occurring forms of income in the long-term.
Slowly being able to make the shift from doing work that I need to do, to work that I want to do.
Good question this post raises. I think we all play with the idea that we might become one of those freelancers that are sought after for huge gigs and we’ll be able to make a lifelong career that way.
I’m only 3 years freelancing now, but I hope to achieve some measure of greatness as I learn more about freelancing and try to continually sharpen my skills.
I don’t want a job, and I don’t want the responsibility of managing others beneath me. I had lunch with the owner of my favorite agency, (don’t know if I can name them here, so I won’t) and he told me that the best time of his life was when he started his business as a freelancer. Once he started getting so much work he had to hire people, then he just became more of a manager of people, than a creative professional.
That kinda bummed me out…
I have found that going into business for yourself is really the way to go. Whatever your passion is, use freelancing as a way to fund your startup project and go from there!
Hi,
This is a helpful post. I have learn a lot from here. And I have found some of my experiences in this post, that I’m thinking, should I stick with freelancing? How far can I go with freelancing? Sometimes it come it to my mind to apply for a regular work but when I think the comfort of freelancing I’m being stick to freelancing.
Amazingly interesting post. I think the first one is my fit, because, even though I love what I do, I want to eventually focus on direction and creativity, not ‘labor’.
I thought developing a product is the best advancement road
I’m in my 11th year of freelancing. Have seriously considered taking a job, and less seriously considering expanding into an agency. I still enjoy my work and love the flexibility. One way I keep things fresh is through ongoing education and networking.
For me freelancing is good way to get experience on your way to a good job
After ten years of working my butt off freelance, I have just recently decided to be more of a ‘studio’ and less of a ‘one girl’ thing. I have a space, and that’s great, but I don’t know how to push out to grow more, or if I even want to, as it means people with mouths to feed and so on.
I think I’d really like a few other freelancers who don’t want a boss either to work with me some how, just don’t know how to structure it. Our town is so competitive, I don’t know how you get people to work together without the stealing jobs/clients stuff.
I am very relieved to hear other people have the same issues with the working in a bubble thing!! The dog just doesn’t give great critical feedback…
Hello Kate,
It seams like you and I are in the same boat. Have you looked into the Creative Freelancers Conference (http://www.creativefreelancerconference.com). It is partially put on by HOW magazine. I have heard great things about it and am going to pony up and actually go this year. It is in Denver. Anyway
The big question is how do you take that first step.
1. We have had complete control to this point, right? We know the project will get done right the first time.
2. We think we may be just wasting our time trying to explain to another designer what the client is looking for and we could get it done faster and why pay someone else.
3. I am worried about local people stealing clients.
I have all of these worries and it has taken me much time trying to figure out how to free myself up so that I can sell and grow the business and start to make money off of people working for me. It makes sense, just how do you do it?
Over the past 1-2 years I have been trying to run my business like a virtual agency/design firm, by hiring people online primarily. I am in Colorado and I have hired people in North Carolina, Florida, Texas and even other countries. They typically charge me less and I can try and look for other work while they are doing the design or production work for me.
I guess my point is, why do you have to hire locally? I know it is nice to have a full office (and believe me, I’d love to have people to bounce ideas off of and work on a project together and then when work is over, kick back and have a cocktail at the local tavern), but maybe initially it is better to hire online (as long as they are responsible and as high a caliber as you).
My thought is to keep hiring online with competent people and if I get the urge to expand my physical office then maybe I’ll be ready to manage people working with me.
Just thought I would add to your post.
Thanks for listening.
Ken
Thanks for that Ken. I think you make a good point. I agree, I think I should look into more outsourcing. I have found some great people on twitter, but I hadn’t thought interstate. I can see the advantages, but I still miss PEOPLE actual people to bounce ideas off, but I suppose I can still have that even if they are interstate, it should be about the quality of the work, not the location.
GOOD POINT!
Thanks for your time and thoughts.
Kate
Hey Kate,
Maybe in addition to looking elsewhere like interstate, you should look into forming an interstate/online group that you can post ideas to and eventually even get to a point that you could talk over the phone or skype or something to that effect and talk business.
I am in the same boat as I think alot of people are that the area we live in is competitive so you have to watch what you say.
I for one need to get out of my vacuum and begin to start networking even online to other designers and get their point of view with some of my projects.
Unfortunately my website it down for the moment but should be up in the next week or so. But I am very interested in getting together with like minded designers that would like to interact even if it is online. I am always open for constructive criticism.
Anyway, if you or anyone would like to try out an online group, count me in.
Here’s alittle bit about my background:
My background is primarily in Resort Design. I work with private clubs alot. I also work on publications. I have done alot of print and have been doing more and more websites over the last 2-3 years. Once my site is up you can read more about me and my business.
I am not trying to sell my services with this post. I am just trying to bridge the gap between solo designer and small firm.
Thanks,
Ken
THAT sounds like a great idea. I look forward to seeing your site back up, unfortunately I have no resorts at the moment or I’d totally let you do some design for us! :p
I’m slowly getting a bit of a group of people with twitter, so it may happen, I certainly won’t be worried if it’s a bunch of people overseas. I agree, I think having some feedback, criticism forum would be great. Something to think about.
There is definitely an opportunity for that kind of forum, just need to find the right way.
Check out my site when you have some time too, I’m in Australia, but I’ve done work overseas too.
Thanks for your thoughts, great ideas.
Kate
This is a great post, I’ve been having these doubts myself, and the other day I read about a book describing a concept called noded working or something like that.
I still haven’t bought the book, but I’m tempted.
http://boagworld.com/Reviews/noded-and-support-details
My wife and I have had a small agency for almost 4 years, at some point we were about 6 people working hard and landing nice big projects, but at some point we started to decline due to management issues until the two of us ended working at home.
Last year, my brother (who has a commercial background), joined us, and has been since managing our finances and clients (part time job for him). This has been a great relief for us. And we fell in love with working from home. Our issue has never been clients, the problem is that, we have too many for our capacity.
We’ve been planning to have another go with the AGENCY concept, but day to day we’ve been considering the remote office idea, and this noded idea too.
Labour, here in Chile, is cheap, but the skill set you get, isn’t very good. And the few we like, start their own agencies within months.
So it’s nice to hear from people that love freelance style of life, but also want to tackle big projects.
Loved your work Kate, and I’d like to see some of yours Ken (will send you a mail).
note: Our website it’s just a temp (built it in 12 hours) but shows a little of our web design work.
Agustin, thanks for the post. It’s great to see another perspective from another country.
Your experience of growth and decline is interesting. The working from home is ok? You aren’t just working all the time and never not working?
I do think using the skills of a business manager/expert is a great idea, I don’t think graphic designers are great at invoice writing and tax law. There are strategic benefits that come from working with someone more experienced in the marketing side of the business world too.
Your work is amazing, such a range of clients, and there are a lot of big companies there too. They are ok with working with a smaller agency? I’ve always felt I could never get that kind of work because I don’t have a receptionist and staff and such.
Adelaide, the city I live in is one of the smaller in Australia and we can therefor offer cheaper rates for everything, from rent to design. Therefore there are a number of large companies who have their head offices’ here and it allows for much lower overheads. It’s just a matter of convincing them that I can still do their work, even though I don’t have hundreds of staff sitting around!
I think the working internationally thing could grow a lot in the next ten years. I have done work recently for people in New York who found me on twitter. The internet means you can work any time of day and communication is just as rich as if you were sitting having a chat at a cafe.
I would love to do more work for companies overseas, I already do a fair bit interstate and it the results are fantastic.
The internet is making it about the work, your attitude to your clients and your abilities, not your location. I think that’s where the node idea could come in, you have designers all over the place who are working for you, but not stealing your clients, that is best done with designers who are not in your town, as you’ve discovered.
In the end it’s all about communication, a great designer is a great communicator, visually or otherwise.
You sound like you have a great business, too much work is a problem I would like to have!!
Thanks for your post.
I’m reading about that book now, looks interesting…
k
Well, as you mentioned Tax Law, I remembered that we also have a freelance accountant that deals with those things. (I think accountants invented freelancing)
Working from home hasn’t meant much more spare time, but now I have decent sleeping hours, most weekends, and we get to enjoy our kids a little more (They kind of force us to have more regular hours).
But we are in love with the freedom it comes with.
The rise-decline of the “agency” was partly due to our inexperience at being a boss, also because we didn’t like it, so we sucked at it. Later my brother pointed out to us why.
I finally bought the book and I’m reading it. Some of it’s concepts are very novel, we’ll have to see how it sums up and if it was worth de US$ 15.00
About the big clients, they all got to us by other happy clients, who liked our work. What we’ve learned about big clients, is that big companies have way more needs than one agency can fulfil, with some big projects we work alongside with the “official” agency, on others we cooperate from a distance. There’s always a department or section(can’t find the word) of the company that has a specific need, and the marketing department or agency cannot cover that. But one thing we’ve learned, the clients looks for a brand, for an agency, but finally fall for the person(s) they deal with (there are many clients we’ve come to meet years later).
As we see it, the thing with remote work is that still isn’t a seamless process, you need to know well Skype, remote desktops, IMs, project management systems, etcetera. If you are not a tech savvy/junkie you are out of the loop. So we’ve been testing different technologies for remote working, but it’s hard to get your head around so many UIs and logic… it’s a process. I understand that Basecamp should do the trick. But with all the addons I think it’s a bit expensive to just experiment.
To have a commercial guy filtering a lot of the “noise” and fears that we as creatives come up with, is great, he also is excellent with clients.
On the communication part I completely agree, that is what we do, but the content part has proven the hardest to deal with many clients. And in Chile we haven’t found anything that even resembles a copywriter, maybe because I don’t know the word in spanish (if anyone can point it out to me that’ll be great).
I’d like to see what others have to say about this subject of freelancing career , we sometimes regret not working/learning in big agencies before we set to build our own.
I have been on both sides of it… but for the majority of my career, I’ve been a freelancer. There are definitely pluses and minuses to each. The only possible path I am thinking about but haven’t taken yet is running my own firm with other people. However, I have been doing well just networking with other freelancers, and sharing opportunities with ones I work well with. There’s always going to be the “what if?” but in my opinion, if it’s not broke, don’t fix it
hmm lemme see, after saving enough money from freelancing, i would invest it in stocks, mutual funds etc, ( after carefully studying all investment opportunities of course ) , my goal is to have passive income that could take me to cruise control =)
I am a freelance writer for the past two years. I find it somewhat difficult to get high paying jobs mainly because English is not my first language (I am from India, by the way). I have just started a blog because I want to expand my contacts and get noticed online. My future lies in creating a team of writers and take bigger projects, something like a virtual office.
You know, I’ve recently started the shift to a creative agency – but it does require a WHOLE nother set of skills – business skills namely. Do you have tips/ resources/ a website similar to this one that would focus on a growing business?
Great article – thank you!
I went the route of starting my own creative agency and while its one of the most challenging thing I’ve ever done it also makes me fill the most fulfilled. You’re definitely right about having to worry about paying the people you employ and I have found that that is the one thing that makes running your own agency really difficult because not only do you have to worry about your own livelihood but now you have your employee’s livelihoods to worry about as well.
I want to take the things I learned from my freelance stint to create a passive income for myself and my family. that’s my only goal.
Ive been a freelancer (web designer) for months now thanks to this online class, named 30×500, helped me in launching my own products, from building to marketing.