Starting your own agency
In this months issue (169) of .net magazine there is an interesting article about starting your own webagency. They talk about several issues you have to consider when going solo.
For instance:
- the need for a businessplan
- getting help because you can’t do everything by yourself
- the different kind of companies
- how to finance yourself
- establishing a customer base
- making the actual switch
- achieving long-term success
Also interesting is the “10 things you wish you’d known earlier” list:
- Wearing to many hats: When you’re on your own, you sometimes have to be a salesperson, then a designer, then a project manager … A challenging task no?
- Working from home: As Yoda would say “A tricky situation this is, yeeees.” Definately keep a firm line between work and play.
- It’s a small world afterall: Meaning treat people the way you’d like to be treated.
- Work overload: When you first start, it’s tempting to take on to much work. You figure you can’t affoard to loose a customer, so you keep on taking projects. In return, you cant deliver quality work => bad karma => unhappy customers => bad business.
- Get help: No not the Beatles. Realise you can’t take on the world alone.
- Don’t under-charge: Again, it’s easy to fall into this trap when you first go solo. You’re afraid you’ll loose business if you charge to much.
- Service service service: Comes with delivering a service to customers. Create customer evangelists!
- Planning is key: Make up plans and follow up on them. Set milestones for every six months or so.
There you have it.
If you haven’t done so, do check out .net magazine. Great stuff in there!
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