Start up
Out of context: Reply #26
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- Scotch_Roman0
I started a business this year. It wasn't how I planned to start; I was basically forced into it. I was blessed in that I had severance pay, and a client waiting in the wings to give me work.
It's really, really hard work, and terrifying at times. I've had several weeks since February without a single billable hour. But then I'm just wrapping up a two-week period where I was traveling, working around the clock, barely having time to see my wife and son. So it ebbs and flows.
For anyone considering the benefits of autonomy: if you can't stand the idea of never knowing what you'll be doing 4 months from now, self-employment as a designer is not for you. This seems to be the way of things for pretty much every small studio, except for the rare occasion when you get a large project that will carry you through 6 months + worth of groceries. That doesn't happen very often these days though.
I would say that based on my experience and the experience of others whom I know personally, now is a good time to start a small studio, provided that you have a niche or two and can be proactive about marketing (mistakes I've been learning from the hard way). Small studios can produce great work at drastically lower fees than agencies. If, as a one or two person operation, you can compete for the same jobs against slightly larger to mid-size firms, you'll always come out ahead on price. I'm not talking bargain basement, I'm talking about the simple fact that a designer working from home with no employees can easily charge half what the awarding-winning firm down the street charges.
All that being said, I think now would be a terrible time to start a new agency with multiple employees. The overhead alone would be crushing.