Take The Job?
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- e-wo
I've been offered a position at a local design office with a decent stockade of recent clients. It's a 2-man team:
Guy One — branding and sales (owner)
Guy Two — web projects (I'd be replacing this guy)The business model is a little old school. Full-service, the appearance of "international" offices, some unnecessary overhead for what is essentially a 2-man operation.
What I stand to gain:
— access to a bunch of already-on-board clients who need maintenance and new projects
— infrastructure and help landing bigger clients
— $$$What I stand to lose:
— autonomy of choosing when, where, and what I work on (there will be work quotas)
— the weight of a partner's expectations (sometimes outdated)
— a shit-ton more communication to pay attention to (stress)I'm currently freelancing happily, if not always profitably. I love design, but I'd rather be making music, which is why I like limiting the time I spend tied to my desk.
What would you do?
- e-wo0
After re-reading Jason Fried's "Rework" book last night, my gut wants to invest the energy not into fitting into a possibly-outdated operation, but building my own niche market.
- pr20
You answered your questions: you want time for your music.
- e-wo0
Post-script: the owner offered to make this job available to me on a part-time basis, which is closer to the amount of time I currently spend designing.
But with 40+ clients, perhaps 15% of which needing active maintenance or new projects, I'm concerned that part-time isn't realistic, and that I'll be seeing work emails every hour of every day.
- yupzenmasterfoo
- 40 clients and you're the only main designer??freedom
- microkorg0
If you are considering it, say you'll do it if you are an equal partner in the business. That way if it grows then you benefit. Otherwise you're just working for the man rather enjoying the freelance lifestyle.
The benefit of getting with this other guy is that he can focus on brand work and getting new jobs in the door whilst you are kept busy too doing the design work. I guess thats the pain part of freelancing and thats getting new work - having to look for it.
- marychain0
Freelance and follow your passion if you can afford it. You only get so many days on this rock. Try to b e happy as often as possible.
- zarkonite0
Try it if it sounds like it could work, ditch it if it sucks.
- freedom0
What kind of two man operation has 40 clients at the time?
Do you like the guy?
- e-wo0
He's got about 40 active clients that return to him from time to time. I imagine only 4 max at a time.
I like him well enough, but he's a bit of a workaholic, wants to make Big Money through a GSA license, and doesn't ostensibly offer a lot for me to learn from other than lessons in sales and client management. It's entirely possible that he'd benefit from me more than I from him.
The tough thing is that I don't have an opportunity to really get into the office and shadow the operation before committing. He's looking for my commitment — and fast — in order to let his current partner leave. I suspect the current partner got burnt out.
- organicgrid0
I wish that I was young and dumb enough to still freelance.
Hey, man, I got five kids to feed!
- nylon0
A) He has 40 active clients
B) There are only two people servicing A???
C) Why would anybody give you half their business in a year? I would give half my business away after 20 years!!!
D) I love lists - sorry
E) Seriosly though - A, B and C sounds weird to me...
- monNom0
Nope. Do you own thing if there's no opportunity to try it out to see how it fits.
Being an 'equal partner' means you're also equally on the hook for all the liabilities that might have been run up previously due to high overhead. How much did it cost to buy the other guy out? and is that debt still on the books?
How good is he at sales? branding? You don't want to be attached to a shitty salesman. He's going to be a parasitic drag on your organization because sales != billable hours. And if he's not booking work at more than double what you can charge freelance, you're going to lose money.From his perspective, why would he want to partner with someone he hardly even knows? Partnership entails a very difficult to break legal structure. Anyone who would jump into bed with a new partner sight unseen is impulsive and not managing business risk. That probably goes for the rest of the business affairs.
And lastly, you said you wanted to leave the city within a year. Better to work for him as an outside contractor and let him find a partner who is in it for the long term.
- freedom0
40 clients and only 2 people working? This guy sounds like a hack who does cheap websites and menus for all the pizza restaurants in town.
- nylon0
What city BTW?
- breadlegz0
Did you find out why guy 2 is leaving?
- lvl_130
"The tough thing is that I don't have an opportunity to really get into the office and shadow the operation before committing. He's looking for my commitment — and fast — in order to let his current partner leave. I suspect the current partner got burnt out."
RUN! no seriously, get the fuck away from that. way too many things jump out as this being a bad idea.
- e-wo0
I turned him down.
He counter-offered a 6 month trial, at the end of which we would renegotiate if it was working out. That's nice, but I'd need to be able to bounce after 6 weeks if it wasn't working out.
The current web guy is leaving because of a medical condition that has severely limited his attention span. This guy has been unresponsive to the current set of clients for so long that the owner is desperate to fill the role, hence his tenacity in pursuing me.
40 past clients who will come back for more work at some point. 4 of them are ready for new work right now.
There is a part of me now that could imagine trying it out, being willing to give notice at any point and not worry about a 6 month timeline.
- lvl_130
so just offer him a freelance rate for 4-6 weeks and see how it pans out maybe? that way you will really get a feel for what it could be/not be about. if he's desperate to fill the work gap, i don't see why he would turn something like this down.
- mekk0
I can't stand working in such little teams, 20 people minimum for me. I'm just a blasphemous person.
- e-wo0
After 10 years in, there's still real reasons I come to QBN besides all the trolling and meatspins. Thanks for the perspective, folks.
He called again today, asking me to reconsider. Turned it down. Doing my own thing and fucking stoked on it.
- lvl_130
good on ya'