The importance of being small
As a freelancer I want to stay as small as I can from a business perspective. This might seem a funny thing to say but my goal in life isn’t to become a multi-millionaire. I learned a long time ago that there is a lot more to life than simply making money.
So, how to expect to run a business of any kind if I’m not focused on making money? Of course I need to make some money. I have rent and utility bills to pay as well as a wife and three cats to feed but I’m not looking to build an empire. I believe people want to work with me more so because they know that I’m not trying to profit from them.
I could never imagine employing someone else to work for me. I’ve never been a boss in all my life and I certainly don’t intend to become one now. I want to be at the front end of what I do. I want to talk with my clients about what they want and then get my hands dirty producing the work they are paying me for.
If I was to grow my business into a full blown agency then I wouldn’t be able to do what I love; planning, designing and developing websites. If I was ever fortunate enough to land a project that is too large for me to handle alone then I would either outsource what I couldn’t manage or pass the project on to an agency that I know was capable of doing a great job.
Staying small doesn’t mean you can never develop or take on larger projects. In fact I know of many freelancers who work with agencies looking for a specialist in a particular field or that simply work with other freelancers on some projects. Just remember that despite the many risks and uncertainties in freelancing one of its greatest benefits is freedom.