12 Awesome Businesses That Were Started By Freelancers

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12 Awesome Businesses That Were Started By Freelancers

Posted January 7, 2009 in Business, Inspiration 33 Comments »

With the upcoming launch of The Unlimited Freelancer, we’ve been doing a lot of talking about building businesses with enormous potential. Specifically, I’ve been saying that with the right information you can take your freelance business just about anywhere you want.

Just how much potential do you have, starting as a solo freelancer?

Quite a lot, actually — and that’s what I want to show you with this list. These 12 businesses were all started in the mind of a single freelancer, and have since grown to be incredibly successful.

Take a look at these impressive businesses, and you’ll be amazed at the potential that freelancers have.

Envato Network

Started by Cyan and Collis Ta’eed
From humble beginnings as freelance designers, Collis and Cyan started a company that is now the envy of freelancers everywhere. Starting with FlashDen, they built an online network one website at a time until they were doing incredibly well. At last count they had 11 websites, and that number is going up quickly.

activeCollab

Started by Ilija Studen
ActiveCollab started as an open source project spearheaded by Ilija Studen, a freelance web developer. After seeing the enormous success of the open source version, Ilija decided to commercialize the project and has since made an enormous amount of money. To my knowledge, he still runs the company primarily on his own.

Goburu and Wordprezzie

Started by Nick Cernis and Haley Thomas
Nick and Haley combined their web and graphic design powers to create two new businesses that are greater than the sum of their parts. Their first company, Goburu, is a design firm that does custom web and print design. The second business is a site called Wordprezzie, where they sell premium Wordpress themes. Both appear to be doing quite well for their founders.

Copyblogger

Started by Brian Clark
Brian is a legend of the online world, with his influence reaching all corners of the blogosphere. He has used that influence to develop and launch multiple businesses, each of which is seemingly more successful than the last. His most prominent businesses include Teaching Sells, DIYThemes, Lateral Action, and Partnering Profits.

SEO Book

Started by Aaron Wall
Aaron started out as a freelance SEO consultant, but quickly transitioned into much more than that. He is currently one of the most notable and successful SEOs on the net, and does quite well for himself selling an online learning environment focused on SEO. He also founded the company ReviewMe, and is partner in an SEM company called Clientside SEM.

DIY Themes / Thesis

Started by Chris Pearson and Brian Clark
Chris started out as a freelance web developer specializing in Wordpress. He is now one of the most respected developers on the net, and he has the success to prove it. In 2008 Chris partnered with Brian to create the Thesis theme for Wordpress. In just a short period of time, Thesis has become one of the most popular premium Wordpress themes — and it’s getting more popular every day.

Men With Pens

Started by James Chartrand
James started out as a freelance writer, and has continued in much the same profession as he’s expanded. His company now employs three people, and they provide not only writing but also website design services. James is also co-author of the new FreelanceFolder ebook.

ProBlogger

Started by Darren Rowse
Darren is most well known for earning a living by blogging before half of the world even knew it existed. Still in the same field, he’s now running a site with a much larger audience, and much bigger advertising revenues :-) He is also co-author of a book called ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income, which chronicles a lot of the information he has on his blog.

Vandelay Design

Started by Steven Snell
Steven is one of those guys who knows just about everybody, and that’s why he has become so successful. He started as a freelance web designer with his company Vandelay Design, and is now the owner of at least 3 popular websites. He blogs at VandelayDesign.com, DesignM.ag, and Traffikd.com

SEOmoz

Started by Rand Fishkin
Before getting into search marketing, Rand started out as usability and web consultant. Shortly after he started getting into search engines in more depth he started SEOmoz, which he has since grown into a company with 15+ employees and very respectable earnings. It’s hard to imagine that SEOmoz began as a single freelancer.

Duoh

Started by Veerle Pieters
Veerle started out as a freelance print designer and founded Duoh back in 1992. Shortly thereafter, she partnered with Geert Leyseele, and they have since grown Duoh into a very well respected design firm. They have done work for ExpressionEngine, Woo Themes, and many other popular websites.

Woo Themes

Started by Adriaan Pienaar, Magnus Jepson, and Mark Forrester
Started by three freelance web designers — Adii, Magnus, and Mark — WooThemes has become one of the most prominent and successful Wordpress theme websites. Since launching WooThemes, all three of the founders have gone on to continue freelance work, and some of them have even started newer business ventures.

What freelance businesses do you look up to?

There are many other examples of solo freelancers who have made the transition into successful business owners. Do you have any businesses or freelancers that you look up to? Do you know of any stunning transitions that should be added to this list?

Let us know in the comments.

If this list inspires you, remember to check out the new Unlimited Freelancer book, or download the free report.

About the author: Mason Hipp is an entrepreneur, marketing guru, and writer. He blogs about life and business at FreelanceFolder.com and is co-author of the Book The Unlimited Freelancer. Follow him on twitter @MasonHipp

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33 Comments

Damir
January 7th, 2009 at 9:36 pm

This may be a bit off topic but I think that you should have also posted direct links to the websites mentioned. Sorry I’m a usability guy, I couldn’t resist :)
Mason Hipp
January 7th, 2009 at 9:37 pm

Hey Damir — That’s a great point, I’m not sure how I missed that. I’ll add the links in now…
Steven Snell
January 7th, 2009 at 11:22 pm

Thanks for including me on this list Mason. It’s definitely an honor.
Pinny Cohen
January 7th, 2009 at 11:54 pm

Great list – I’ve been to all of those sites before, so it shows they really have become very successful.
Der Onkel Plak
January 8th, 2009 at 2:49 am

This is very motivational and fresh. Good Article.
Make Money Online with a 17 year old kid
January 8th, 2009 at 4:10 am

WOWwwwww damir,
Seems you have done great research for this post. Or the other possibility can be that you already knew them which proves that you are too a very experienced person i the online world.
The post was just awesome. I liked it more because I am a freelance web designer and developer and a blogger about making money online.
I never knew that FlashDen started off in that way. I am a member there.
And about Problogger’s Darren, you said a little less. He is the most successful blogger in my eyes.

Regards
Laksh
http://makemoneyonline-withme.blogspot.com/
Petra
January 8th, 2009 at 4:20 am

My first employer, HDtt (www.hdtt.nl is in Dutch), grew from two freelance businesses to an office with around twenty employees and a number of large customers. This has definitely inspired me to take the plunge as well.
Colin Wright
January 8th, 2009 at 5:02 am

It’s always inspirational to see examples of people achieving what you hope to achieve.

Any chance of a future post with fully fleshed-out case studies for some of these companies? I’d be very interested to read more about their experiences on the way to sustainable profitability.

Keep up the good work!
Magnus Jepson
January 8th, 2009 at 6:22 am

Hey Mason,

WooThemes was founded by me and Mark Forrester as well, not just Adii ;)
David
January 8th, 2009 at 7:32 am

Hey, not to burst your bubble but it’s Veerle Pieters, not “Verlee” Pieters :) Great article though, very inspirational! Started following some of the persons listed here on Twitter as well.
Mason Hipp
January 8th, 2009 at 7:37 am

@Magnus — You know, I could have sworn I read an article that said Adii started it… Thanks for clarifying though, I’ll update the description :-)

@David — I have a minor problem, it seems. I can’t ever spell her name right. She’s one of the people I admire most on this list, yet it confounds me every time. I’ll fix it in the article :-)
James Chartrand - Men with Pens
January 8th, 2009 at 7:54 am

Okay. Drinking coffee, waking up, opening this page, and seeing my site named right here is just the coolest thing there is. .Thanks, Mason – I appreciate that!

What’s funny is that I know almost everyone on this list, because I’ve been watching how they do things for a long time. Their business is interesting! (And now to discover the one or two businesses I wasn’t familiar with, ha!)
Tajim
January 8th, 2009 at 8:54 am

Ok, some crazy self promotion but i also as a freelancer for last 3 years started Profermics.com and now it makes me four figure income per month, :-)
joyoge designers' bookmark
January 8th, 2009 at 9:59 am

very motivational thanks
Brian Clark
January 8th, 2009 at 10:08 am

Hey Mason, thanks for the kind words. I guess I should mention that I’m also a partner with Chris in DIYThemes. :-)
Mason Hipp
January 8th, 2009 at 10:12 am

Hey Brian,

I had a strange feeling that you were involved with DIYThemes…but I couldn’t seem to track down any proof.

I did mention that your influence stretches to all corners of the blogosphere, it seems I was more right than I knew :-)

– Mason
Frog
January 8th, 2009 at 10:16 am

Digg this, great post guys :)
Sergei
January 8th, 2009 at 2:11 pm

I freelanced for years before moving into business. Then I opened:

http://www.5pmweb.com – online project management app
and
http://www.theoworlds.com – interactive agency. Sells viral marketing products.

The transition didn’t happen fast, but took almost two years. It was mainly service-to-product transition. And alone-to-team one.
Liz
January 8th, 2009 at 3:53 pm

Cool post!

I’m currently a part-time freelancer/freelance business owner and have been follwing some of these sites for a while in hopes of being as succesful as they are some day.
Frank H
January 8th, 2009 at 3:59 pm

Reminds me of the start your business for $100 woman on abcnews site. Inspirational stuff.

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/JobClub/Story?id=6574472
David
January 8th, 2009 at 9:10 pm

Good article, Mason. I’ve been a fan of the Envato network of sites and it’s great to see their efforts and talent pay off.
Jacen
January 9th, 2009 at 12:47 pm

This gives me a lot of hope to do the same. I have learned so much about freelancing from most of these sites over the past year and I am looking forward what I can learn this year. Great article!
Nette
January 12th, 2009 at 4:25 am

Great ideas since many are looking for good quality materials that can help them in doing SEO.
Prasanna Jathan
January 12th, 2009 at 7:17 am

Thanks Mason… Great List
Its inspiration for upcoming designers and developers. In future I would love to be in this list.
seosoeasy
January 16th, 2009 at 2:49 pm

Excellent job! It shows “Handsome is as handsome does”-Thanks for your effort.
Laura-Jane
January 16th, 2009 at 3:05 pm

Great post. I think the more we dig on this subject, the more we realize that there are hundreds…thousands…of freelancers doing amazing things.

I love success stories. Keep ‘em coming!
Yellow SEO
January 16th, 2009 at 5:24 pm

Very interesting Mason, It makes alot of sense anyone that can survive on going freelance work for numerous companies it time permits should be able to create one for them self. Sometimes the one thing keeping a good freelancer from becoming a Entrepreneur is the business related tasks of fund raising, legal, accounting and etc.
Calvin
January 16th, 2009 at 10:08 pm

Great posts for aspiring freelancers.
A very worth while read

http://calvin-t.blogspot.com/
web design
February 4th, 2009 at 9:51 am

Thanks for sharing these 12 businesses.

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