Freelance vs $120k?
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- omg0
say goodbye to your own studio after a year. lose all your clients. take job, then get laid off to have no studio... don't let greed take control of you.
- ukit20
Sit down and do a cost benefit analysis. Subtract projected freelance earnings for the year from full time salary and benefits. Then figure out the cost of sacrificing your freedom, dignity, and control over your own time.
- doing this sitting down is a must ;)ohhhhhsnap
- I always sit down when I sacrifice my dignity.arthur
- albums0
insurance is awesome. I'd take the job and negotiate work from home days and make massive mortgage payments until i couldn't do the day job thing anymore then go back to freelancing.
- breadlegz0
I have kids, mortgage etc etc and still prefer / manage the self employed life.
Just get even better at promoting yourself, get better clients, up your rates and get to the 200k a year mark (if that's what you want).
- mikotondria30
Jeez man, and others - I've been doing this years - how does anyone get near to 100k ? 50 ?
- randommail0
thanks guys.
A lot of strong arguments for staying self-employed and trying to advance it further.
I'm leaning towards sticking with my own studio for a bit longer and seeing if my thoughts about it change.
- Maaku0
Post a link to the job? We never know...
- robotron3k0
Ask for more money/or better title from your potential boss to ease any concerns. Bring on a partner (like Stagmiester did) to help you with your studio (take smaller cut), work ft for a while, do some killer work at your new job. Leave after a year or so, charge higher rates and have nice work to show. problem solved.
- A020
Like Robo mentioned... bringing in a partner is an interesting option as well. You could do a collective basically, where you pair up with another designer or developer... feed each other work exclusively for your projects and you sell yourself as a "combined" agency. This way you can each work on your own things when you want, but also have access into each others network to keep things steady. Something to ponder anyways.
Going back to the OP, I think a lot of it depends where you're at in life to be honest. There's something nice about getting X amount auto-deposited every 2 weeks. There's also something nice about controlling what you work on more and doing it on your time. I'm not sure what the best solution is for you...
- formed0
Stability. Period. That is a valuable piece of the equation. Freelance you have none. Economy tanks again and you could have nothing (not that you couldn't be let go).
Personally, that has always been the largest difference. Dollar amounts (120k seems pretty healthy and you get stability, health care, paid sick/vacation time, free coffee, etc., though in NY I have no idea) are important to fully equate. You must be doing exceptionally to top that as a freelancer (I can't imagine how you can make more than that being a one man shop, but if you can, good for you!).
Personally, "freelance" turned into starting my own business, long ago. I'll never go back, no question, but there is also a lot of up/down, especially with these last few years (which I don't see going away anytime soon).
Good luck. Seems like you have some pretty good choices either way (and that most on here would kill for).
- Continuity0
'Stability. Period. That is a valuable piece of the equation. Freelance you have none. Economy tanks again and you could have nothing (not that you couldn't be let go).'
The argument can be made, though, that those who survive and thrive recessions and economic shit are the ones who have skills that can be used as a freelancer, when they find themselves and their jobs made redundant.
- but I've seen stability in freelance if you know how to sell and deliver, fulltime = random layoffs sometimes...vaxorcist
- Continuity0
I'm at the point in my own life where the idea of keeping on Working for the Man™ depresses me enormously.
The office politics, having to deal with other personalities you might not be able to deal with, the late nights/weekends, the sacrificing personal life, the hierarchies, the feeling of stagnation, the often boring projects: all for the profit and benefit of someone else.
And that someone else is not you.
Honestly, by the sounds of it, you're rocking the freelance life in ways few of us could imagine achieving. That's a success, one you can be proud of and one can be built on.
I don't buy this argument that going off to take a regular job means you can grow your skills, and so on. I reckon if you want to start doing something new as part of your service offer, you have more than enough of a foundation to teach yourself. Yes, it's a bit more difficult than in a formal agency or in-house environment with available resources and talents of others to learn from, but it's by no means impossible on your own.
- d_rek0
@formed
I don't buy that argument at all. Did you see the massive layoffs most agencies were doing when the economy was tanking in 07-08?
Stability in the corporate workforce is only an illusion. You can lose that stability in the blink of an eye. Just because it's a steady paycheck doesn't mean it's invulnerable to economic conditions.
- d_rek0
And FYI creative and marketing services are usually the FIRST things to be chopped when times get tough. The bottom line for most businesses in the US is that design and marketing is an added expense and is not an integral part of their business culture.
That being said, it's not all doom and gloom. Smart agencies adapt when times get tough. They help re-educate and re-train their employees for different disciplines and needs. But to think that because you have a salary and a steady paycheck that you can't lose all of that too in the blink of an eye is just naive.
- On the other hand, businesses still do need creative and marketing services, even if budgets are cut. That's where freelancers come in.Continuity
- ... freelancers come in.Continuity
- < But did he say it was 'agency'? Could be direct for the brand..if so move into other areas after shared success.babaganush
- A020
What's hard is that in the end, this is definitely one of those things where it's really on you to trust your gut. Each side of it has equal advantages and disadvantages depending on you. The fact that the $$$ is kind of close makes this a lot more about stability and what gets you off as a designer more than anything.
For me with a kid and a mortgage, I'm loving the paid medical, steady check, etc. Granted - it helps that I like what I'm doing. I'm sacrificing working for only those I really have a passion for and what times work best for me. Honestly, I work better from like 5am to 3pm.
I'd like to go back to doing my own thing on my own terms, but I'd want to be able to really have a selection. If you're doing things on your own but most of your work is anything you can get simply because you need to pay the bills - then working FT is a bit more tempting. If you get steady work from really cool clients that you love to do your thing for - stick with it.
Whichever way yo go man.. good luck.
- randommail0
re: the economy factor,
I feel like being a nimble 1 or 2 person studio has allowed/forced me to stay flexible and thus take on a wide range of projects. So even during the worst of our economic recession, I was able to stay afloat by diversifying my revenue sources. Graphic design, brand consulting, web development management, photography, etc.
But that's precisely where the stress comes in.
I guess that's why a good salary in-house appears attractive. Just do one thing, get paid regularly. But it's a catch-22.
- ben_0
I just went through something similar, sold my shares of a studio I founded to a belligerent, delusional business partner - and found myself staring down two client-side offers or the possibility of continuing on freelance - I chose the latter because I have a good roster of great clients who have been loyal over the years, and fortunately decided to stick with me. This all happened in the past 4 months, and one of the positions I was offered has already been cut short for the person who took the job. I'm glad I did what I did. For now, anyway. Good luck with it!
- Wolfboy0
Maybe for an agency position, but I'd never go full time in house.
- monospaced0
Full time, in house, art director position opening at my firm.