How to Turn Your Freelance Business into a Studio/Agency

Okay so, we’ve talked about how you know when you’re ready to move from being a freelancer to a studio/agency, but now you might be wondering - “Cool, but HOW do I actually do that?”

So, you’re ready to make the leap from a solo designer to a studio or agency model? Cue the confetti because that’s MAJOR! 🎉 We’re going to walk you through some steps to help you get there AND make it smooth and seamless - basically, the WillowSpace promise in a nutshell. Keep reading for our best tips.

How can you make the jump from freelance/solopreneur to agency or studio?

👫 Hire help and get comfortable delegating!

Find a core team of people to support your agency or studio whether it's full-time, part-time or on contract. This way you can spend more time doing what YOU’RE best at and let others help you with the day to day things that need doing.

Building a team is not for the faint of heart. Do lots of research, ask people in your community for recommendations and ease into it. A good first step might even be hiring an assistant designer or virtual assistant on part-time contract to get your feet wet!

🤝 Expand on your services

With more support and bigger clients, you should be able to offer more well-rounded services now. Think about how you can add even more value to your client’s businesses and begin adding those services into your offer suite.

For example, if you were working strictly on freelance design projects before, it might be a good idea to start conversations with copywriters and developers to see about bringing them on to client projects and offering new services to your repertoire.

🤔 Assess your own branding

Now that you’re moving into a new phase, is your business in need of a rebranding to suit a team/studio vibe? What can you update to make things more clear as to what this new vision looks like? It’s best to go back to the basics first. Work through some brand strategy exercises and get super clear on your goals for this transition before updating #allthethings.

💻 Dig into your online experience

Do you need to update the structure and flow of your website to suggest there are other people and services involved in your processes now? This can all be done when you’re assessing your brand as a whole. What needs to be changed to reflect the studio/agency life?

When building a website targeted to freelance clients, the copy and approach will be much different than targeting the type of clients who are looking for a design agency or studio. Start exploring other studio websites and figure out what needs to change.

💰Look at your prices and business model

Do they reflect the new costs of having others involved in the project, bigger project scopes, bigger clients, or new offerings? Be honest with yourself about what this new phase of business is going to cost and make sure your prices reflect that truth.

📑 Dive deep into your processes

Tighten up your client experience so it's simple and easy to onboard teams, work with them, and offboard your clients seamlessly. You’ll want to make sure everything flows as easily as possible. And btw, WillowSpace can help with this - it’s basically what we’re made for.

When you’re ready to move into studio life, WillowSpace can help.

We’re basically pros at streamlining processes and making sure your client experience is top-notch. Sign up today for a free trial to see how easy we can make your transition from freelance designer to design agency.