Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Key Takeaways
- Working for yourself versus having others work for you bring differing degrees of flexibility and autonomy.
- Freelancing grants you complete control over your workflow, but business ownership teaches you how to relinquish some control and replace it with more growth opportunities.
- Which path is right for you depends on what professional route you’re best suited for and most appeals to you.
When I started my public relations career, freelancing felt like freedom. I could pick my clients, set my schedule and choose my projects. But as the years went on, I realized that freedom has limits … and those limits were my own — specifically, my time, my energy and my capacity. If I kept taxing them all to the max, there was the real danger of crashing and burning. That’s when I realized that launching my own PR agency with a support team to assist my efforts might be a viable solution for my future.
If you’re considering the same thing — transitioning your gig or contractor career into a full-fledged small business — you should know that being a freelancer and running your own company aren’t just two different sides of the same coin; they’re two entirely different animals.
The freelancer lifestyle: where flexibility meets fragility
Freelancing offers many advantages — if it didn’t, so many people wouldn’t be doing it. You have your autonomy, the thrill of landing a new client on your own, the satisfaction of singlehandedly delivering results you can be proud of. Freelancing keeps you nimble, adaptable, and always learning. Best of all, you get to work directly with your clients one-on-one, often witnessing the impact you make immediately.
But freelancing can also be very unstable. The workflow is sometimes hit or miss, drought or onslaught, and that inconsistency can be difficult on your mental state, not to mention your wallet. The pressure to always have to find new work never really eases, and one unpaid invoice or client loss on your roster can be greatly detrimental. Further, though a freelancer indeed gets to wear many hats for variety on the job — marketer, publicist, networker, accountant, scheduler, social media manager — that precarious juggling act can really cap your growth potential over time.
The freelancer’s biggest roadblock isn’t capability, then, it’s scalability. Bottom line: you can’t double your output without doubling your hours.
The leap to business ownership: scaling beyond yourself
Enter the solution of launching your own agency or firm, which equates to you becoming the platform instead of the product. In the process, you will devise systems, establish a culture and create a brand that extends beyond your personal capacity. As you switch from doing all the work yourself to enabling others to do it, it can be scary. But it can also be incredibly empowering.
Either way, it’s a massive mind shift, and of course that’s going to be uncomfortable at first. You’re not used to letting go of control; you’re not necessarily skilled at managing anyone else but yourself. So everything feels like a risk. To mitigate that risk, though, you can hire talented people, define productive and efficient processes, and create a distinctive position for your business in your market. All of this paves the way for tremendous growth opportunities that turn fear into excitement.
As the leader of a crack team, you can take on bigger clients, you can develop thought leadership, and, most significantly, you can maintain your business even when you’re not directly touching every deal or deliverable.
When I started R Public Relations, I had to rewire how I thought about success. It was no longer about how many pitches I could submit in a day; it was about how many meaningful relationships my team could build with the media and with clients. The metric changed from individual wins to collective momentum.
Leadership over labor
All of this isn’t to say that heading your own agency isn’t challenging. The hardest part for me hasn’t been keeping the stream of clients flowing; it’s been learning how to build a team and building up all those people on the team. Freelancers don’t have to be concerned with team leadership, all the emotional intelligence, mentorship and communication that go into it. Instead of being responsible for only campaigns, you’re now accountable for your team’s growth, workplace culture and well-being.
Effective leadership also entails making forward-looking decisions that aren’t about today’s cash flow. Rather, they need to be focused on your company’s sustainability and reputation five years from now. Not only that, but leadership can be isolating in a way that’s different from the isolation of freelancing. Then, it was about the independence that solitary work afforded; now, there’s a dependence on you to provide boundaries, clarity, and consistency.
Despite all these challenges, I’m here to tell you that when your company starts to thrive without your perpetual involvement in every single aspect of the business, it’s immensely rewarding. It’s no longer about the financial compensation for me — success to me now is about having built something that’s supportable and sustainable over the long term.
Knowing which path is best for you
There’s no right or wrong path you can take, there’s only alignment with your goals.
So defining those goals is paramount. If you’re someone who craves creative independence, minimal supervision and ongoing flexibility, freelancing might remain your sweet spot. But if you’re someone who dreams of constructing something that extends far beyond the four walls of your home office — the chance to craft your own business model, value system and lasting footprint in your industry — then the agency route might be right up your alley.
Know this, however: freedom feels different on the other side of leadership. I don’t view freelancing as having fewer responsibilities than business leadership now. I view business leadership as owning the responsibilities that matter most to me.
Freelancers build careers. Founders build legacies. Both can be wonderfully fulfilling. Sometimes, the way to find out which option is best for you is to just take the first step and see how far your vision can reach.
Key Takeaways
- Working for yourself versus having others work for you bring differing degrees of flexibility and autonomy.
- Freelancing grants you complete control over your workflow, but business ownership teaches you how to relinquish some control and replace it with more growth opportunities.
- Which path is right for you depends on what professional route you’re best suited for and most appeals to you.
When I started my public relations career, freelancing felt like freedom. I could pick my clients, set my schedule and choose my projects. But as the years went on, I realized that freedom has limits … and those limits were my own — specifically, my time, my energy and my capacity. If I kept taxing them all to the max, there was the real danger of crashing and burning. That’s when I realized that launching my own PR agency with a support team to assist my efforts might be a viable solution for my future.
If you’re considering the same thing — transitioning your gig or contractor career into a full-fledged small business — you should know that being a freelancer and running your own company aren’t just two different sides of the same coin; they’re two entirely different animals.
