How to Start an Agency when You are a Freelancer
If you have finally managed to fill all your capacity as a freelancer, and are ready to launch your agency to serve your clients better, and grow your business, the transition will be challenging. The first thing you have to change is your mindset. Until you start thinking like a real business owner, not just a freelancer, you will not make it in the competitive marketplace. Here are some tips to get you started.
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Drop Some Hats
When you are a freelancer, you focus on productivity and profitability, hence you tend to do everything in your business. You might need an IT Support Team to manage your CRM and website. From managing your finances to doing your marketing, creating content, and sitting down with prospects to try to get them to come on board. Once you start to create a company, you will have to decide which tasks to hand over to other people who might be specialized in the area.
Look and Act Bigger
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Once you launch your company, you will have to ensure that you are targeting the right people, and you are able to appear as professional as possible. Some larger clients might not have taken you seriously or trusted you, but now they will. Reinventing your offers and your corporate identity might be hard work, but it is absolutely necessary to scaling up your business.
Increase the Automation
Once you are increasing the volume of work you are taking on, due to the increased capacity of your business, you will need to start scaling up your marketing, too. Chances are that if you are trying to train your staff, you will have little or no time to stay on top of your content and social media pages. Thankfully, there are some affordable social media marketing packages for small and medium sized businesses that will allow you to schedule and track your posts.
Build Your Brand
If there is one marketing mistake most growing businesses make, it is that they fail to communicate their brand value. Your marketing and branding should go hand in hand, and it is important that you focus on the value you provide and align your business goals with what your market is looking for. Your brand is one of the most important assets in your business.
Manage Your Reputation
If there is one thing that matters the most and makes a difference in your conversion rates, once you have an effective marketing funnel set up, it is your reputation. As a larger business, you will have to monitor your ratings online and offline, and survey your customers to find out how you can improve your services. Your reputation management investment will pay off, as it will allow you to turn customers into brand advocates.
Dealing with change in your business is never easy, You will have to find a way to make the most out of your time, and get rid of some of the hats you can no longer wear. You should focus on rebranding your company, and changing your attitude.
