From Freelancing to Owning A Studio / An Agency | Recap
On the 20th of August, Ari Krzyzek and Rabeea Wajeeha hosted a great session on their experiences transitioning from being freelancers to owning their agencies. It was an insightful session for those of us who attended and offered a great opportunity to receive practical advice on how to turn your freelancing gig into a potential business in the future.
In this article, I’ll be summarizing some of the key advice shared by Ari and Rabeea, so feel free to take note if you’re considering owning your agency or studio one day.
Introducing our hosts:
🌟 Ari Krzyzek is the Co-founder and the Chief Creative Officer at Chykalophia (pronounced see-ka-lo-fia).
🌟 Rabeea Wajeeha is the Chief Design Officer at The Blue Creative.
Personal Stories
Both Rabeea and Ari had very different stories of how they became designers and eventually agency owners. In contrast to popular belief, not every design agency owner started out working in the creative industry. It was inspiring to learn from their different paths in life, and for many of us, aspects of their stories were relatable to our own lives.
Rabeea’s Journey
Rabeea initially studied Business in college, and after graduating, started a foundational career in the corporate sector. Her business career helped her grow as a professional, but she often felt that her work was repetitive and that she lacked growth in other ways. Due to personal circumstances, she later moved to Pakistan, which ended up being a unique and exciting experience for her, someone who had only experienced life in Toronto. In Pakistan, she learned about working in Asia and got the opportunity to participate in data-driven projects with the UN and USAID.
“This was kind of the first time I started to really realize the power of data and analyzing it, and how it can be used for decision-making.”
After working in Pakistan in the humanitarian sector for a few years, she returned to Toronto. She felt changed after returning to Toronto, realizing that most people in North America are born into a life of privilege in comparison to other places in the world. She was motivated to start a new project that would allow her to give back to low-income communities. Her new project involved raising money for causes she was passionate about by selling T-shirts. To create her custom designs, she began teaching herself how to use various Adobe programs for design.
After learning how to use some of the Adobe tools, she eventually started taking on projects for family and friends to further develop her skills. Eventually, boot camps became more popular in the creative industry, and she enrolled herself in a 3-month Bootcamp course in UI Design. Following that, she enrolled herself in a 6-month Bootcamp in development. Her refined skills allowed her to then start doing work for small businesses.
Ari’s Journey
Ari’s journey had a very different beginning. Despite a lack of enthusiasm from her parents, she turned down a scholarship for tourism school and instead opted to pursue a career in design because of her interest in graphic design and advertising. She graduated from an art school in Bali, Indonesia, and got her first job as a Graphic Designer. However, she quickly learned that the real world was unlike art school. Working as an in-house designer was a new learning experience for her, and she ended up leaving that job due to the toxic work environment.
Around that time, her husband (at the time, fiance) introduced her to freelancing. She freelanced for a few years before starting a company with her husband. She admits that the first two years as a business owner were a disaster, and at the time, she simply wasn’t prepared to own a business. It took time to learn and grow before understanding what ultimately worked or didn’t work.
“At the time, I did not know how to really prepare for being a business owner or how to prepare for being an entrepreneur. There were just so many different things I didn’t know, and yet we ended up jumping into owning a business together without a proper plan.”
There were times when she had to compensate for the business not doing well, by working a different job as an in-house designer. However, she and her husband ended up figuring things out, with guidance from their mentors.
Q&A
We got the opportunity to ask Ari and Rabeea further questions related to owning an agency. I decided to share some of the key questions and answers that were featured during this segment.
“How do you identify a niche for yourself when there’s so much competition in this space?”
Rabeea’s response:
For a long time, she did work with any and every client. To a certain degree, that kind of practice can work, because if you have the relevant experience, you can create a digital experience for almost anyone. However, you’re going to start to realize that there are bad clients, and you have to be stern with what you are willing to accept from a client. Rabeea eventually realized that she likes working with education-related companies because that is what she is passionate about.
Ari’s response:
Ari also initially wanted to help everyone but cautioned us that we shouldn’t try to do that. She emphasized that there are bad clients, and you never want to sacrifice your mental health for a job. One of the concerns people have is that there won’t be enough work if you try to target a specific industry, but if you choose a niche and specialize in it, the relevant people will want to work with you more for that specific skill set. Ari primarily works with femtech and DTC (direct-to-consumer) brands, however, if a different client comes along and it seems like they could have a good working relationship, there is potential to take them on.
“How did you find clients and how did you convince them?”
Rabeea’s response:
Initial clients are the hardest to get and you will probably suffer a lot from imposter syndrome in the beginning, even if you have lots of experience. For Rabeea, the initial work she got was from family and friends. People in your immediate circle are more likely to ask for your services. She emphasized, however, that you also need to let the world know that you are transitioning into this new role and what services you are offering. Reimagining digital experiences for potential clients is also a good way of showcasing your skills. The key tactic is to start with your local community and expand from there.
Ari’s response:
Ari built her clientele by attending many networking events. As a creative, it can be hard to put yourself out there, especially at the start. She said to challenge yourself to go to at least one networking event in a month, that way you can slowly start building your connections. She also mentioned that working as a freelancer before becoming a business owner meant she already had a starting base of clients. She was able to leverage her old clients, and even if they didn’t use her services, they would refer her. She also stressed the importance of showcasing your work online: social media, digital networking events, etc.
“As you’re finding your first clients, how do you price your projects so that it makes sense on both sides?”
Rabeea’s response:
Learning how to price projects is a learning curve. In the beginning, she didn’t have a minimum for what she would accept to do a project. However, she advised us to figure out what our minimum is and to stick to that. Look at how much time and how many resources the project will take, and what the minimum profit is that you want to be making. It is also important to consider that you will be working with a team, and they will need to be compensated too, so factoring that into your costs. Eventually, you will start to see a pattern of how much you can charge for a project and still make a decent profit.
Ari’s response:
As you transition into being an agency or studio owner, start thinking of how much you need per month and what your expenses are. Think of how much profit you want to be making at the end of the day. Once you’ve calculated that number, you will have a better idea of how to price projects.
Interested in learning more from Ari or Rabeea? Book a session with them below!
🌟 Book a session with Ari Krzyzek.
🌟 Book a session with Rabeea Wajeeha.
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