Then don't
I don’t want to grow my freelance design studio into an agency
161–170 of 262 posts
Re: I don’t want to grow my freelance design studio into an agency
#162[deleted]
Re: I don’t want to grow my freelance design studio into an agency
#163The most important thing you do during/out of college us understanding how you work best.
Once you know that you can start adjusting the world to yourself.
Re: I don’t want to grow my freelance design studio into an agency
#164Earlier quoted context omitted.
The biggest advantage to owning your business is that you can optimize it solely for what's best for you. If growth is all you care about, go nuts, but if you've got it humming along making decent money with just the right amount of work, there's zero pressure to change it. I think a lot of people forget that and think that they need to push to be more "successful" - kudos to you for doing in the right way for you.
> if you've got it humming along making decent money with just the right amount of work, there's zero pressure to change it what works now in the economy now with your skillset now etc. is not guaranteed to continue. I just think it's risky to feel zero pressure to change.
I mean, this is true for a lot of technologists, but there are a great many professions that allow for the kind of approach mentioned by the GP.
My grandfather runs a quite successful one-man architecture consultancy built on decades of experience and networking in the industry. He gets to pick and choose his engagements, and if he lives long enough I’m sure he can sustain his business for many decades to come.
Re: I don’t want to grow my freelance design studio into an agency
#165As 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.
> VC funded startups are not the only way to break free from the dreadful corporate games. Do people really think this ? VC funded startups are as corporate as it gets, probably worse, just a different kind of corporate. The second you take funding you have a new boss[1]and have all sorts of constraints which become more and more rigid with more rounds . There are only few well understood models of scaling and govern…
Yes people do think like this - I was one of them
Re: I don’t want to grow my freelance design studio into an agency
#166As 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.
You make $500k/year from freelance contracts as a solo developer? What kind of companies and tech stack do you work with?
I pay my sales person 80k base and <20% commission. Rest i pocket. I have literally no expesenses besides email and domain subscription.
Re: I don’t want to grow my freelance design studio into an agency
#167Re: I don’t want to grow my freelance design studio into an agency
#168> When I’m only focused on work and don’t dedicate enough time to personal projects, I become unwell. Creative self-expression is not “just a hobby” for me, it’s a necessity. As someone with the creative urge, I always found the word hobby itself was quite patronizing, as though your identity were just what you get paid for. But with some thought, I would say our identity becomes what we are appreciated for. Whether…
"I would say our identity becomes what we are appreciated for."
I think there's a lot of truth in this, and it's not something I've ever seen stated before.
I guess it's a bit of a feedback loop. We want to feel good about our self, so our self becomes increasingly about the things people appreciate and respond positively to. There are a lot of aspects to my life, but the ones that are core to me aren't necessarily the ones I do most or get paid best for, but are things for which others are most complimentary.
Re: I don’t want to grow my freelance design studio into an agency
#169I'm thinking about going solo / freelance in my profession soon. Are there good places to read general tips on this? But short and to the point, like this thread.
Re: I don’t want to grow my freelance design studio into an agency
#170Can totally relate.
Good, clear explanation.