Subcontracting: From Freelancer to Agency
You are booked solid. It's time to clone yourself. How to hire subcontractors profitably.
· 1 min read
The biggest bottleneck in a freelance business is YOU. There are only 24 hours in a day. To scale past a certain income ceiling, you must move from "doing" to "managing."
The Arbitrage Model
If you bill your client $150/hr, you can hire a subcontractor for $75/hr. You keep the $75 spread (margin) for project management, quality assurance, and finding the deal. This is the essence of the agency model.
Quality Control
The risk is that the sub delivers poor work, and you damage your reputation. You must have strict SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) and review every deliverable before it goes to the client. You are the "White Label" front.
Start with a small, test project. Never hand over a critical client deliverable to a new subcontractor without a backup plan.