Stop Thinking, Start Doing
by Andy Strote, photo by Charles Deluvio
It’s easy to get caught in a cycle of overthinking. You want to do something new but think you’re not quite ready. Why aren’t you ready? Here are the most common reasons:
You need more information
You need more money
You need to meet more people
Or the real reason, the one you don’t want to say out loud, you’re afraid
Afraid of failure, afraid you’ll be laughed at, afraid you’ll waste money on your new venture.
Getting Caught in a Cycle of Negativity
The real challenge is that the longer you “think about it”, the less likely you’ll move forward. You’ll keep adding new reasons why it might not work out.
You’ll give yourself deadlines and then ignore them.
The longer you do this, the less confident you become and the less likely you’ll do anything.
In a few years, you’ll live in a world of regret.
“I should have done this. I had a chance. I wish I’d been braver.”
How Do You Start Doing? Small Experiments
Making a big decision can be paralyzing. You think you can’t do anything if you don’t do everything simultaneously. Not so.
Let’s use the example of going freelance and leaving a full-time job.
The most obvious way to start is to get some freelance work on the side while you’re working full-time.
Yes, you’ll be working longer hours, but you’re building and learning how to manage your business.
You’ll get experience working with clients, writing estimates and invoices (the best kind of writing), and growing a freelance network.
Think of everything as an experiment. Remember that virtually everything you need to know is available online. That means there’s a good chance your experiments will be successful.
Once you’ve tasted success, it’s easier to move on to the next step.
How I Went From Full-Time to Freelance
For about 10 years, I was a full-time ad agency copywriter, working on national and international clients.
Then, one day, I got a call from a friend who had moved to another agency. He wanted to know whether I was interested in working there.
But there was a catch…
They didn’t have the budget to pay me full-time. How about they pay me for half days, and I’d have the use of the office to develop freelance work? If they needed me for more time, they’d pay per hour.
Until then, I’d done some freelance projects on the side but hadn’t considered making it a bigger part of my day.
It seemed like an interesting opportunity. I thought about it for a few days and took it.
What Were My Risks? Not Many…
My challenge was to build up my freelance business to get my income to match or exceed the income of a full-time job.
The risk? If I didn’t do that, I could go back to finding another full-time agency job. So, it was an experiment. Would I be able to build up my freelance business?
Freelancing was growing until, one day, I was introduced to a large corporate client who had lots of work. After a few projects together, I became their steady freelance writer.
Now, my days were full, maxed out.
That was enough to convince me to leave the half-days at the agency and go full-time freelance.
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The Next Step From Full-time Freelance to Agency
I worked freelance from home for six years. I got so busy I had to make some choices.
These are the options I considered:
I could start turning down work
I could find another writer to work with on a contract basis
I could try to build an agency to take on not just writing jobs but also the design and development
Option 1? Nah, that leads nowhere.
Option 2? I’m just giving away work and adding management. So, no.
Option 3? Hmmm. Interesting. I had never done this. I’d never run a business, never had employees. But it could lead to growth.
Why did I think I could do it? The bigger question is, why not?
Thinking About It, But Also Doing It
In my agency days and during some of my freelancing, I worked with design partners. I liked working that way. There was always someone to share ideas with, and working closely with a designer resulted in better projects.
The first challenge—if I was going to form an agency with a designer, would that designer be an employee or a partner?
For me, the decision was easy. A senior design employee is expensive. As the sole owner of the business it would be my job to manage that employee and keep them busy. An employee wouldn’t have the same commitment to the company (why would they?). They wouldn’t bring any business to the agency. Again, why would they?
Thinking about it, I knew I wanted a partner who had clients to bring into the agency and would share the responsibility for managing and growing the business.
Here’s How I Took Action
I pulled together a list of what I wanted in a partner. I looked at my network and realized there was no one suitable there.
What now? I ran an ad in an industry publication that laid out my wish list.
Here are the key points:
I wanted an experienced designer who had worked freelance or had his own agency
The designer should have clients to bring to the agency
They could contribute to the start-up costs of opening an office
I got 30 responses (!!!), met with five, and proceeded with one.
Once we thought we would work together, we had lots of meetings. How would we build this agency, how would it grow, what kind of clients did we want, etc.?
Before we formalized an agency, we worked on a few projects together.
Did we enjoy working together? Did we create work that clients were happy with? Could we make enough money if we created a bigger company?
Risks of Taking Action? Zero
Think about what I did. Were there any risks? Not really.
I hadn’t announced an agency. I was still very busy with my freelance clients.
At this point, the only cost was running the ad and time meeting with prospective partners. If I decided not to proceed, I could continue working solo.
What had I gained? I had met someone new. We had worked successfully on some projects. We had outlined the plans for setting up a new business.
We also met with my accountant to review these plans. He gave us some guidance about how we should set up the business. Key learnings: make the company a 50/50 partnership, pay yourselves equally, and make all decisions unanimous.
Once we decided to proceed, our subsequent decisions did cost money. We signed a lease on office space. We renovated the space, bought furniture, computer hardware and software, etc. We had committed to the business.
How Did the Agency Work Out?
It was a whirlwind. In five years:
We grew from two partners to about 30 staff
We took on significant projects for corporations and government
We nearly merged with a 300-person IT company (again, no risk, but we did do some profitable projects together)
We got acquisition offers from an NYC-based agency network and an IT company from Montreal
We sold to the IT company
As often happens with these types of acquisitions, within six months, I was free to consider the next phase of my working life.
So, after a summer of contemplation, I found another partner, and we started our second agency.
Lesson: You Have to Take Action to Grow
If you have a good idea, figure out how to try it. Your earliest experiments will likely be free or cheap. You can always change your mind.
Find partners if you need them. Get an outside perspective, perhaps from an accountant or another business owner. Trust your instincts; if all lights are green, go for it!
Testimonial: You Can Charge More
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