The Freelancer/Agency Hybrid Model

“I am a freelance web designer.”

“We are a small web design shop.”

For many self-employed professionals, particularly in the field of web design, these two phrases can often be interchangeable depending on who you’re speaking to and what you’re speaking about.  I often become hesitant about which angle I should use when talking to clients.  Why the confusion about what it is I (we?) do?

 

Lets start with a few basic facts:

• I am a self-employed individual. This means I don’t have a steady paycheck, I pay my own estimated taxes, I pay for my own benefits (health, vacation, bonuses, sick days).  I work in my home-office, almost always alone (unless I take temporarily relocate my office to Starbucks).
• I don’t employ full-time staff. I don’t keep a regular payroll.  I don’t have employees who work solely for my business.
• I do hire sub-contractors. I find that when taking on larger, more complex projects, it’s best to bring in talented specialists to deliver certain pieces of the projects.  For example, I might hire a designer to do the site mockups and a developer to handle the CMS integration, while I do project management and fill in the gaps in the workload.  Some projects I handle all of the work myself.  Others, I assemble a mini-team.

It’s fair to say that my business can be defined as a Freelance/Agency hybrid model.

I am a freelancer in that I’m able to work from home (or anywhere else), I’m free to set my own hours, and I’m the only full-time employee on my payroll.  But often times, I provide quality and service that goes beyond what a freelancer would be able to offer.  I do this by temporarily bringing on additional team members through sub-contracting.  This is not a new concept, particularly in the world of web workers.  But clients may see it differently.

Managing Client Perception Of Your Business

Perception is ultimately what this dilemma boils down to.  Do your clients perceive your business as a one-man operation or a team-based organization?  Each has pros and cons, depending on who you ask.  Each may be accurate for your business, depending on the time of day/month/year.  Lets break it down:

Benefits of hiring a “freelancer” (in the eyes of a client):

• The client can communicate directly with one person – the same person who is performing the work.
• Freelancers often charge lower prices than agencies, due to lower overhead costs.
• Projects often benefit from the personal touch of the freelancer-client relationship.

Negative aspects of hiring a “freelancer”:

• A freelancer is hired to be a “jack of all trades” may be spreading their skills too thin in some areas.
• They may not be able to offer a specific service.  For example, some freelancers only design, but don’t code.  This means the client has to hire other freelancers to complete the job.
• If something happens to the freelancer (they get sick or have an emergency), the client’s project may be delayed or canceled.

Benefits of hiring an “agency”:

• Agencies provide more resources and a team of professionals to ensure high quality work in all areas of the project.
• Agencies tend to offer more services, allowing them to bundle everything into an all-inclusive project for the client.
• They’re often more reliable and responsive, even when they get busy or emergencies come up.

Negative aspects of hiring an “agency”:

• Cost.  Larger team, more overhead = higher price for the client.
• Turnaround times can sometimes take longer due to internal back-and-forth between a project manager, workers, and client.
• Potential to lose the personal touch when workers are not in direct contact with the client.

As you can see, there are many ways to slice it.  Which angle you should take often depends on the type of client, their budget, their project requirements, and other factors.  I’ve had clients that rejected my services simply because I used the term “we” in an email (they wanted a solo freelancer).  I’ve also had clients who appreciate the value of hiring me to both work and assemble a mini-team to complete their project.

Using “I” vs. “we” when communicating with clients

Three years ago, when I had just become self-employed, I never though twice about this dilemma.  I always used “I”, as in: “Yes, I’ve done E-Commerce web design and I’d be happy to discuss building your online store”.  That’s because it was me doing all of the work.

In recent years, as my business has grown, I often hire trusted freelancers to collaborate with me on projects.  Now, I often feel compelled to use “we” when speaking to a client, as in: “Yes, we do logo design as well as site design and development”.  Again, it’s a true statement.  Do you see what I’m getting at?

I prefer to keep it honest and straightforward at all times.

That’s what my business has been built on from the very beginning – honest and reliable customer service.

Deceiving Clients.  Is it right?

Some freelancers prefer to go with a bit more ambiguity when it comes to defining their business structure.  For example, some will continue to promote themselves as a one-man-show, when they’re really sub-contracting others behind the scenes.  Another common route that many freelancers take is to promote themselves as an agency with lots of resources, when really it’s just one person doing all of the work.

I admit I’ve dabbled in these light deceptions in the past.  However, I’ve never felt comfortable when I do, hence my decision to avoid deception at all times.  Today, as my business is growing and in somewhat of a transition phase (is it ever not in transition?), I’m finding the challenge to be whether or not to fully embrace the “we” and better-inform clients about the freelancer/agency hybrid model.

The tricky part is communicating with clients who’ve been with me from the start – back when I really was a one-man show.  How do I inform them that I’m growing and explain the occasional “we” that pops up in my emails (as in, “we’ve completed those website updates you requested”).  It’s something I’m continuing to flesh out a strategy for.  I think the key is to continuously provide better and better services.  The minute the quality level diminishes due to over-growth – either in the production value or customer service – that’s when you risk losing your repeat customers.

Over to you…

How do you handle the freelancer/agency dilemma?  Share your tips in the comments section below!