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I don’t want to grow my freelance design studio into an agency

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Re: I don’t want to grow my freelance design studio into an agency

#91

Post by Aurornis »

Respectable move. My primary complaint with solo-turned-agency people is how grifty they get.

As a solo, the job is to add value and make the customer happy so you build your reputation. There are definitely solo contractor grifters out there but they usually struggle with the reputation issue.

Agencies develop a grifty dynamic where they realize that their job is to sell themselves and as many headcount and hours as they can squeeze into a contract. Now instead of hiring that solo dev, they’re forcing you to pay 20 hours/week to the project manager and to have two devs minimum on it, one or more of whom are complete juniors who will spend incredible amounts of hours solving simple problems, but that’s okay because that’s what they want.

Agencies rely on their status and size to impress clients, which short circuits the reputation issue and opens the door to these shenanigans. They also target bigger companies where wasting time and moving slowly might be the norm, or at least something they can gloss over by sending the sales people out to schmooze the execs over dinner again.

I knew some excellent devs and infosec people who turned into agency operators who just tried to milk companies for contracts and run a revolving door of junior hires who they can squeeze hours from until they quit. It’s sad to see.

To be fair, I know a few good agencies as well. They tend to be in such high demand from reputation that they’re always booked without even trying. It takes a long, long time to get there though.

Re: I don’t want to grow my freelance design studio into an agency

#92

Post by elwell »

mooreds wrote: post #72
pxue wrote: post #12

As a solo dev contractor who got my business to $500k/year during the pandemic - I echo a lot of the sentiment in this post. An extension to the post I want to touch on is that VC funded startups are not the only way to break free from the dreadful corporate games. Working for yourself at your own pace is. As an industry we're surprisingly very behind in normalizing this.

I feel this! I have run my own one man contracting shop for about half of my career, in two different stints. I loved: * the flexibility * getting paid for every hour I worked (I billed by the hour) * the freedom to choose clients * having more than one made me feel more stable * how close it kept me to the business problem space * the ability to take time off * the distance: I could roll my eyes and say "at least I'…

> getting paid for every hour I worked (I billed by the hour)

As someone who is (overly?) honest/careful; this could be a con. Also, if you're able to, bill by the day.

Re: I don’t want to grow my freelance design studio into an agency

#93

Post by arrowsmith »

chiefalchemist wrote: post #88
arrowsmith wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You make $500k/year from freelance contracts as a solo developer? What kind of companies and tech stack do you work with?

It's not clear if that's revenue or profit. Due to that intentional ambiguity I had to presume the latter.

Maybe, but how big can the expenses have been?

I've worked as a freelance solo dev (sadly for far less than $500k/year) and the difference between my revenue and profit was close to zero. Expenses included accountancy costs and the occasional new laptop or whatever bit of hardware I could justifiably call a business expense, but it was a tiny fraction of my revenue.

Re: I don’t want to grow my freelance design studio into an agency

#94

Post by thecupisblue »

wslh wrote: post #36
thecupisblue wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why wouldn't they? While sometimes it takes more time than a normal job would, it also offers a larger amount of freedom than a 9-5. And if you have a great reputation and a constant stream of clients, it is even better since you can pick projects and decide when to do them and in what manner. On another note, Nela is quite an outlier! I've been following her work for close to 20 years now I think, starting from her…

My criticism is about not taking this as general advice. > And if you have a great reputation and a constant stream of clients If you have a great reputation and a constant stream of clients that is sustainable for decades you are an outlier.

It's not a prerequisite tho - I've arranged with multiple clients to work either 3 days a week or just a set amount of hours whenever I choose. And most of others I know who get into freelancing do the same - if you have offer for another project, and they can't wait until you're free, you can always recommend them to a friend/colleague.

Re: I don’t want to grow my freelance design studio into an agency

#95

Post by spyke112 »

rcarr wrote: post #77
freitzkriesler2 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One guy I worked with spent a lot of effort evaluating Ukrainian and south American talent who had fluent or at least business level English. It took him awhile but the devs he fed work to were solid engineers, almost FAANG tier but he paid them s*t or good for their locations. I've kept their names handy because poaching them would be dirt easy. Knowing this as well as what you said, I avoid agencies now and simply…

> However, what annoys me the most about Upwork are agencies larping as solo guys. Anytime I evaluate a guy who has a solo freelancer account and then mentions he has guys he works with that bill through him, I cut them lose. In the UK, you need to collect evidence that you are a contractor and not an employee of a company. One of the ways you can do this is by hiring people to do some or all of the contracted work o…

It’s the same in Denmark. It’s really annoying because companies will not commit to top tier salary, but are happy to pay for a freelancer. I guess it’s hard for middle managers to hire engineers that should paid a lot more than them. The result is that all the FTEs are mediocre, and freelancers are where the talent are.

Re: I don’t want to grow my freelance design studio into an agency

#96

Post by jokethrowaway »

I think it's a perfectly valid choice but I don't think it's quite as binary as the author puts it.

I've been in agencies, in bloated product companies and they were all terrible experiences.

I did some freelancing and enjoyed it, but I could make significantly more money with less effort contracting. I liked my solo contracting days albeit they quickly resembled little employments.

But when I run my own company or when I worked in some startups with enlightened leadership, it was great.

I think you can absolutely create an agency (or a product company) where a work pattern like yours is acceptable and where people can work flexibly and be happy about it. I used to work in one of the few remote first company before COVID and everyone loved working there because of it. Async as much as possible is crucial.

If you're worried about people not putting their 100% because they're employed and not making more money the more value gets created, you can setup a structure with low base pay + amazing bonus on success and you can get the same incentive (and risk) you have in your solo work - but with friends and scaling up your business into something that can make more money.

It's easier to have large margin as an agency than as a solo grifter.

Re: I don’t want to grow my freelance design studio into an agency

#97

Post by tuukkah »

jart wrote: post #90
Aurornis wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Working for yourself at your own pace is. > As an industry we're surprisingly very behind in normalizing this. This is great for people whose own pace is reasonable and matched to their compensation. If you’re paying someone 50th percentile compensation and demanding a 90th percentile work pace and output from them, you’re just going to have endless turnover as you burn people out. Conversely, if you’re paying 90th…

> If you’re paying someone 50th percentile compensation and demanding a 90th percentile work pace and output from them, you’re just going to have endless turnover as you burn people out. Only if they're a 50th percentile person.

Burnout does not work like that.

Re: I don’t want to grow my freelance design studio into an agency

#98

Post by towawy »

k8sToGo wrote: post #45

I would love to try out being an independent contractor. But I feel overwhelmed. Where do I even start to find work?

Reach out to other contractors who you’ve worked with directly (e.g. worked on the same project at a former employer) and valued/praised your work.

Re: I don’t want to grow my freelance design studio into an agency

#99

Post by tuukkah »

elwell wrote: post #92
mooreds wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel this! I have run my own one man contracting shop for about half of my career, in two different stints. I loved: * the flexibility * getting paid for every hour I worked (I billed by the hour) * the freedom to choose clients * having more than one made me feel more stable * how close it kept me to the business problem space * the ability to take time off * the distance: I could roll my eyes and say "at least I'…

> getting paid for every hour I worked (I billed by the hour) As someone who is (overly?) honest/careful; this could be a con. Also, if you're able to, bill by the day.

Billing by the day is not the best for everyone: billing by the hour can give you the flexibility to work incomplete days or switch between clients during the day.

Re: I don’t want to grow my freelance design studio into an agency

#100

Post by xupybd »

louwrentius wrote: post #71

> I just have a low tolerance for capitalist pressure and workaholism, because I was born with a brain that can’t thrive in that environment. She’s far from alone and for no other reason than my seething hatred of capitalism, I believe it’s true for most people.

I suspect I have a different understanding of capitalism. To me it simply means free markets. Something the author is taking advantage of to build the life she wants. But she seems to dislike the hustle culture that has formed within our current economic system.
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