Working With Other Freelancers to Expand Your Business
Posted April 1, 2010 in Business, Marketing 40 Comments »
There comes a time in every freelancer’s career where you might decide that you need to expand your clientele or services, while still staying a one-person business. While I believing that niching yourself into a certain type of client, industry or service can greatly improve your clientele and revenue; it’s also important to make use of those “confused clients”.
Who are these confused clients? If you’re a freelance designer or developer, you probably come across these every day. These are the clients who don’t understand much about the web or the services you offer, so they send you requests for services you don’t offer.
For example, I’m a web developer who specifically states on my website that I offer CSS, XHTML and WordPress development. I don’t offer any design services and there’s nowhere on my entire site, except for a couple of blog articles, that mentions design. However, I get at least two requests a day from potential clients that ask me for design services.
What Do We Do with These Clients?
I used to get somewhat upset by those confused potential clients, because it seemed like they didn’t even take the time to look or read anything on my portfolio. I believe, however, that it’s just a misunderstanding as most people don’t understand the difference between design and development.
I used to politely reply to these requests that I was sorry, but I didn’t offer those services, only development. The clients would then thank me and disappear–and I would never hear from them again.
I quickly realized that I was losing tons of potential business by doing this. After all, if they need a web designer, then they’re going to need a developer soon after.
While I’ve never wanted to design or offer those services, I decided that I could benefit by teaming up with some other talented freelancers and send those clients their way. By doing this, I would still get to develop their site, therefore helping my client and another freelancer, while benefitting myself.
I did some research and teamed up with three different designers in different budget ranges and with different skills. Now, each request I get for design work goes to one of them, or all of them if I’m unsure of their needs and budget, and the client then comes back to me to develop what the freelancer designed. It’s a win-win scenario for all of us.
Finding Who to Partner With
Finding another good freelancer to partner with can be both tricky and scary. It’s tough to depend on someone else with your reputation.
If you’re looking for someone to pass your work on to:
- Thoroughly check out their portfolio and make sure they have the work to back up what they say.
- Have several chats with them on both business and non-business topics. While you don’t have to be best friends, getting along well makes things much smoother.
- Check out their references and past clients. Were they happy with the work and service they got?
- Pass a small job on to them first to see how well they do.
- Have the client pay the freelancer separately from you. This means the contracts stay separate in case there’s a disagreement or fallout.
If you’re looking for work from other freelancers:
- Freelancers aren’t like agencies, who tend to have plenty of overflow work and welcome cold emails from others asking for work. Only offer your services to other freelancers who are actively asking for someone to partner with. Otherwise, the email just annoys the freelancers and gets trashed, wasting your time.
- Send them your best work and plenty of testimonials. Treat them like you’re applying for a huge job or bidding on a big project. Be professional.
- Realize that their work and referrals may be few and far between, but try to make yourself available when they do need you, to ensure they don’t find someone else.
How to Work with Others
Even as a freelancer, we can benefit by working with others. However, there are several things to keep in mind.
- What is the freelancer’s skill set? Does it fit what the client needs?
- Can you trust them to treat the client well? It’s your reputation on the line if you referred the client to them.
- What are their payment terms? Don’t forget to modify your contract to accommodate them, if you’re managing the project by yourself.
- Don’t forget to ask them about their availability before you give the client a set schedule.
- Explain clearly to the client that you’ll be using another freelancer for part of the project.
If the request is something completely outside of what you do and there’s nothing in the project for your services, pass them on to your freelance partners anyway. That way, they’ll think about you first when deciding who to send their own confused clients to!
Work Well and Share!
Working together can be a great way to expand your services and clientele. It’s also a way to ensure some repeat work, as well as gain some professional relationships.
Your Tips
Do you work well with other freelancers? What are your tips for keeping a good relationship?
Image by eschipul
About the author: Amber is a freelancer with over 10 years of experience and specializes in clean, semantic and valid 1.0 Strict XHTML, CSS and Wordpress development. She also writes a web development blog on her portfolio at www.amberweinberg.com and just launched a web app for developers at www.codesnipp.it.
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40 Comments
Jason
April 1st, 2010 at 8:39 amThis article sounded familiar, so I wasn’t surprised when I scrolled down and saw you had written it. Score another A+ for Amber!
I have a couple people I work with occasionally. But I’m having a problem finding a designer in my area. Most are either working with an agency or they’re more of a graphic designer and don’t really know how to design for a browser.
Do you have a suggestion on how or where to find a good match to my skills as a front-end/Wordpress coder? (I’m basically you’re competition :D)
Salma Jafri - Content Development
April 1st, 2010 at 8:53 amGood points Amber!
I routinely partner with my husband’s video production firm to produce training videos (I write the training material and script, he makes them into videos). Previously I just concentrated on writing content, but soon realized I could delve into a niche for which I already had training and work experience (i used to be an instructional designer for an e-learning company). It was (still is) the perfect step-up, not to mention a great niche to work in!
Some time back, some freelancer friends of mine got together to make a new website just for the purposes of freelance collaboration. Its still in its nascent stages, but if you want to check it out, its called the Professional Freelancers’ Network (PFN) http://professionalfreelancersnetwork.com/ Some good people on there who’re looking for freelance collaborations.
Jason Gross
April 1st, 2010 at 9:10 amThis is something that I need to jump into instead of trying to learn how to do it all by myself! I have previously wondered how the payment would work between the two different parties but I like the idea of setting up separate payments through the client.
However, in your experience do you often see hesitation in the client when they contact you looking for design and development but you inform them they would be best off splitting the work between you and a recommended designer that they didn’t really seek out? How does one go about explaining the process in a way that doesn’t make the client feel like you are outsourcing the project?
Travis
April 1st, 2010 at 9:37 amNice pic with Mark Nathan and Kelsey Ruger :)
Rik
April 1st, 2010 at 9:47 amAnother good article. I’m always thinking about how to go about finding another freelancer to work with. It’s amazing how many are out there, but it’s hard to find one that works well with what my [few] projects require.
@Jason (first post): If you need a designer, feel free to contact me. ;) I’m always look for work as I’m in school right now and am always looking for small projects to work on and I have experience in the web design industry as well as outside of it (print, etc.).
My biggest search is for a reliable developer with fairly cheap rates because the work I do is usually lower end (because of the size) and so I can’t really charge the client a whole lot because of my situation.
Again, great article and it has allowed me to get more insight into what I think I should do. Thanks Amber!
Jordan Walker
April 1st, 2010 at 9:54 amI would recommend partnering up with a freelancer that complements your skill set as mentioned in this article. Not only does it decrease your time table, but offers you a person to bounce ideas off.
Lena Tailor
April 1st, 2010 at 10:00 amI like this article, and agree with a lot of the points made.
Cheers,
Dorian Twyman
April 1st, 2010 at 10:00 amGreat blog ! How long have you been writing?
Amber Weinberg
April 1st, 2010 at 10:30 am@Jason Not normally, although I’m sure I’ve lost a client or two because of it. But if you think about it, you’re probably losing all of those clients anyways (since you don’t offer that service) so even if you only close one or two, that’s one or two more than you’d normally get….does that make sense?
Preston D Lee
April 1st, 2010 at 10:32 amInteresting read. Thanks for sharing. Perhaps your readers would also be interested in an article we recently published on Graphic Design Blender:
“Building your freelance design business by outsourcing”
Here’s the link -> http://graphicdesignblender.com/building-your-freelance-design-business-by-outsourcing
I think it will help continue the conversation. Thanks!
Travis
April 1st, 2010 at 10:47 amI loved this article a ton, because it speaks to why we implemented some of the features we did. On Werkadoo we allow freelancers to form virtual teams with people of other competencies, and bid on bigger projects that get posted by companies.
We see a trend of quality, talented freelancers getting crushed by big outsourcing firms that pay a ton of folks overseas a cheap wage to crank out stuff, and we wanted the little guys to be able to compete.
http://werkadoo.com
paul
April 1st, 2010 at 11:34 amI think it’s a great idea!
This strategy is well explained in the book The unlimited freelancer. You can also outsource work on sites like odesk or elance. for example if your client wants a bilingual site (english/spanish), you can outsource the translation, and even make a profit on top of it.
If you’re looking to pair up with a wordpress developer, feel free to contact me via my website.
Tony Naccarato
April 1st, 2010 at 12:14 pmGreat article. As a freelancer designer, I’m in the process of connecting with others so I can extend my services so some of these questions to ask came at the perfect time. Thanks for the advice.
John W Photo
April 1st, 2010 at 12:39 pmEspecially when another creative can offer services that you cannot (or choose not to depending on how full the calendar is.) Like designers working with photographers, web programmers, wordpress experts, etc.
Great topic!
slhomme
April 1st, 2010 at 12:48 pmSome very good points here.
My personal experience is that teaming up with other freelancers can be good even if it’s for something you can actually do yourself. When I started freelancing, I used to do it all branding + design + development etc. I liked the idea that I could build an entire project from start to finish. But, what I didn’t realize back then is how the bottom line could be improved by just focusing on what I do the best/fastest and let my partners work on what they do the best/fastest. In the end we could work on more projects and faster! I guess my point is that teaming up with others can not only extend your offer/services but also improve your productivity and business volume. Note that it does imply a bit of extra organization at first to establish an effective communicate with your partners. But in the end, from my personal experience at least, it’s definitely a win-win situation.
Anyway, Amber, I discovered you via Bizbreak (I’m another competitor > PressMojo), I like your articles and insights about freelancing. Just want to wish you the best for your business, and good luck with the contest ;)
Cheers.
Jesaka Long
April 1st, 2010 at 12:55 pmYour checklist for working with other freelancers came at the perfect time. Recently, a freelancer contacted me about the possibility of partnering with her for a client project. I really want this partnership to work out, so I’m going to make sure I use your tips to set up my potential partner for success. We’ll see how it worked next week. Thanks for another fantastic, helpful post, Amber!
Julie Clark
April 1st, 2010 at 12:58 pmGreat article Amber!
Your message is great and I agree, the people you pick to work with could be the most important source of your business referrals. I am in the business of connecting complementary businesses together so they can share office space and share business referrals. Your outline on Finding Who To Partner With has great advice that can be applied to anyone interested in sharing resources, whether that be sharing business referrals between freelancers or sharing office space with a complementary business. Thank you!
Julie Clark
http://www.sharedbusinessspace.com/
Jeff Woodruff
April 1st, 2010 at 1:13 pmAs a freelancer you’ve absolutely gotta collab at some point or another; whether it be with another designer, developer or graphic artist, clients occasionally are going to need more that what you provide. At first I’d take on projects such as business card design and editing existing marketing pieces. However, in hindsight I should have just referred them to a graphic designer friend. Even though I provided some development services for the client, the only referrals I’ve gotten from that client have been for people who need graphic design work. Go figure.
As you mentioned you have to be careful who to collaborate with too. I was recently contacted by another freelancer who wanted to work on a web dev project with me and she even had her own agency (according to her website). After doing a bit of research I found a project she had recently done and she actually wrote a blog article on the business’s site claiming how she built the wordpress theme with no development experience what so ever. Needless to say, I wasn’t too impressed.
Jon Bergan
April 1st, 2010 at 2:02 pmPersonally I think its a really good idea to come up with a Subcontractor Pack for you to send out to anyone you subcontract work to. Just like an Induction Kit for new employees, subcontractors need to know how you do business, what your terms are and how to treat your clients.
This is a good way of starting things on the right foot and having a solid relationship between the two of you. There are no misunderstandings and everyone knows what to expect.
Great post – thanks guys!
JB
WBS
April 1st, 2010 at 2:25 pmAs you mention, your reputation is on the line. That can work for you if the person you refer work to is great, but it can lose you clients if they are a dud. I always test the waters on a very small project without a tight deadline when working with someone new. And I usually remain the client contact so that if they flake I can quickly find someone else and the client doesn’t have to get in the middle of a billing dispute (or worse). If they are excellent, I’ll keep sending them as much work as I can.
It’s also important to know who is good at what. Just because you work with a great developer doesn’t mean they can handle the scope of every project. I work hard to match projects to the freelancer’s skills and abilities.
Daniel
April 1st, 2010 at 2:57 pmAnother great article, Amber :) You’re one of my favorite writers.
I’m a graphic designer, but I can’t code that well, and I’ve found that partnering with coders/developers has really helped me expand my business. The developers can send me their clients that need design done, and I can send clients to them that need a solid developer.
If there are any developers that are looking for a dependable and easy to work with designer, hit me up!
Devonanne
April 1st, 2010 at 3:21 pmSo far I’ve had good experiences the few times I’ve worked with another freelancer. However I’m not sure about having the client pay the other person separately – I like to have myself as the single point of contact with the client. It’s easy enough to write up a simple agreement with the other freelancer and pay them yourself. Yes, you’ll be responsible to the client if the other person does something wrong. But at the same time you’re in control of the whole process and how your business is perceived by your clients. I offer web design and development, but I actually don’t do the development myself. However, I still want potential clients to know that my BUSINESS offers both services. I think you risk shaking their confidence (especially if they don’t know much about design/web/whatever) if you tell them “yes, I’ll do the design, but you have to pay this guy separately for the development”.
CoreBloggers
April 1st, 2010 at 7:20 pmI really liked the post, you mentioned some of the important points that i need to remember when working with others.
Amber Weinberg
April 1st, 2010 at 8:44 pm@slhomme Thanks! And good luck with your entry too (although not really, wouldn’t want to jinx myself :P :P )
@Devonanne It depends on how you want to position myself. I don’t position my business as offering design and I like to target agencies. I really don’t like working with “normal” clients, especially when it comes to design work, as that can be really tricky, so I try to send them completely over to the designer (I know the designer will bring the dev back to me), or I try to get them to deal with the designer separately, but I also have a few projects where I manage both. I guess it just depends on the client & situation.
Translation services
April 2nd, 2010 at 5:25 amObviously working as a team is always worth!
Anything Graphic
April 4th, 2010 at 2:08 pmGreat post Amber! I didn’t read this post before I contacted you about the E-commerce project I wanted to collaborate with you on. Now I have an even better understanding for the first job I have working with another freelancer!
Nice tips, great advice. I plan on using these steps with our upcoming project!
Jason
April 5th, 2010 at 3:06 pm(psst, they’re pointing at a potato)
http://twitter.com/happykatie/status/11427110157
PCNS
April 5th, 2010 at 7:12 pmThe Best Content Creation Services on the Internet:
http://www.pcns.info/
whether it’s informal blog posts or formal articles
dp0
April 6th, 2010 at 5:54 amGreat post, i’ve had some great experiences from taking a leap of faith and trusting a fellow freelancer with a part of some overwhelming job. I guess i’ve been lucky, ’cause I’ve had no problems with my fellow friends and our co-operation has always been a good thing for all parts.
But they’ve exclusively been local guys, and first contact has almost always been through a friend of a friend. So thanks for the great pointers on how to find help on the web!
Cmate
April 26th, 2010 at 5:15 am“However, I get at least two requests a day from potential clients that ask me for design services.”
Can pass me some of these clients? LOL! I don’t know programming, yet clients come to me and think that I am a programmer. I can design website, but I cannot do programming. So what I do is I find programmers who can help me. In return I help them too. Barter system! Love it!
Good article!
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