It got me thinking about why a business might hire a small business or a sole trader like myself.
Here’s some reasons why I think it can pay dividends to hire a smaller agency or freelance designer:
COST
This is a biggie for most businesses, am I right? Freelancers offer a cost effective way of having top quality graphic design, without overheads and hidden charges.
One woman or man businesses are often are home based – meaning we don’t have massive overheads of an office, building maintenance and all of the other fancy stuff agencies have. We can keep our costs reasonable.
TIME
Quite often, you’re in a hurry; who isn’t? However, hiring a big agency which has lots of priorities both internally and externally of the business can mean your project can get pushed down a long list. Working with a freelancer means you really do get the personal touch. You’ll deal directly with the designer at all times and build a relationship with them. This is important because for us designers to really get to know your business, we need to get to know you too!
THE PERSONAL TOUCH
As described above, if you hire a freelancer or small agency to help you, it means you get to speak directly to the designer working on your project. We understand that this business is your baby, your livelihood, your future. Not to say that big agencies can’t have this personal touch; but it’s more difficult when there’s a project manager between you and the designers.
Many of my clients see me as an extension of their business, which is a real honour!
FLEXIBILITY
Leading on, flexibility is a massively important factor. Similar to the time issues; if you feel you need to change a brief or add something in, we are normally really flexible. It can be hard in a large agency to have flexibility as their schedule is planned well in advance and any last minute requests can’t always be catered for.
WE’RE THE SAME
By this, I mean that being in the same business boat (so to speak) means we both share similar work ethics and values. We both own businesses and go through the same struggles everyday. This is important, a level of understanding means freelancers can truly empathise with your business and make efforts to help based on this empathetic approach.
IN CONCLUSION…
There’s so many other awesome reasons to hire a small agency or freelancer; if you have any experiences you’d like to share then get in touch!
