img src='http://rss.buysellads.com/img.php?z=1259904k=f7b7931ec28da9e4ff2580bfd4eddb18a=32216c=1277212487' border='0' alt='' //a/pbr /pimg src="http://freelanceswitch.s3.amazonaws.com/previewimages/2012/Strategic-Business-Partnering-Opportunities-for-Freelancers.png" width="200" height="200" alt="Strategic Business Partnering" class="imageborder alignright"/p
pAs a freelancer, one of the biggest constraints is that you have to do everything yourself. Partnering with someone else can help you get another set of hands on a project, if not directly improve your bottom line./p
pThere are many different types of partnerships that a freelancer can build, depending on her own strengths and weaknesses. Before you start hunting for a partner, it?s worth considering what areas for improvement you see in your freelancing career ? if there?s something that you know your clients would love if you offered or if there?s a particular opportunity that you need help taking on. Those considerations should be what you use to focus your search for a partner./p
pUnless there?s a specific reason to move faster, don?t push too fast to land a partner: do some due diligence and make sure you know exactly who you?re working with. You can build something that will be beneficial to both yourself and your partner for a long time if you move a little slower and do everything right.span id="more-32216"/span/p
h3Strategic Partnering with Other Freelancers/h3
pOne of the best opportunities for a freelancer to form a partnership is with another freelancer. If you choose someone with a complementary set of skills (rather than an identical specialty), you can land bigger projects together than you could manage on your own. For instance, when a web designer and a web developer team up, they can obviously do a lot more. But the same holds true for a web designer and a writer ? every website needs good written content. /p
blockquote class="pullquote"pUsually one person needs to take the lead in such situations, preferably the person who is better at going out and rounding up work./p/blockquote
pWhen you can find another freelancer who you are comfortable working with on a regular basis, you may both go out and do your marketing entirely separately still. There may be projects that you don?t bring each other in on, but there will also be clients that ask one of you to handle a project beyond the scope of your skills and who will let you bring in your partner./p
pOf course, you can also partner with someone who takes on the same types of projects you do, so that the two of you can take on a greater quantity of work. You?re more likely to wind up in a subcontracting relationship than a true partnership, but that may very well be a better fit for your long-term goals. /p
pUsually one person needs to take the lead in such situations, preferably the person who is better at going out and rounding up work. If one of you is better at networking and bringing in clients, the other can concentrate on getting work done. You?ll probably both still have plenty of client work to keep you busy, but there are different roles that each of you will be able to take on./p
pIf you aren?t careful with either of these approaches, you may wake up one day to find that you?ve accidentally founded an agency of your very own. /p
h3Strategic Partnering with Agencies/h3
pIf you want to stay a solitary freelancer, you may not want to set things up so that you regularly need to work with the same person. But that doesn?t rule out some beneficial types of partnerships. You might consider working regularly with an agency that doesn?t have someone on staff with your skill set. /p
pYou do want to carefully manage any relationships you form with agencies ? in most cases, you?ll have more flexibility if the agency in question thinks of you as a trusted service provider, rather than a freelancer to be called up and asked to bid on a project. You don?t want the agency to be a client, not if you want a long-term partnership. /p
pHaving a more established partnership allows you to set standing rates, rather than running up a quote for every project that gets tossed your way. It also means that you can ask for more control over scheduling. It isn?t always possible to get an agency to agree to more advantageous terms, but if you are top-notch at what you do and you like working with a particular agency, these sorts of terms can be negotiated. /p
pOf course, you can offer a few benefits to your new partners, as well, like giving them a right to essentially take on projects in your name without checking on your availability. It?s just a matter of coming up with an equitable arrangement./p
h3Strategic Partnering with Tool Makers/h3
pIf you find yourself recommending the same products and resources over and over again to your clients, it?s worth approaching the individual or business that created those products about a partnership. There are a lot of forms that such a partnership can take, beyond even the obviously financial. You may be able to line up a special level of support for your clients or another benefit that can give you the edge in working in a specific niche or line up some cross-promotion. While money is always nice, don?t discount other types of partnerships./p
blockquote class="pullquote pqRight"pYou can make use of affiliate programs already in place to offer a particular purchase through your own website or in the course of your services./p/blockquote
pDepending on what products or tools you find worth promoting, you may not even need a formal partnership. You can make use of affiliate programs already in place to offer a particular purchase through your own website or in the course of your services. Affiliate programs are typically set up in such a way as to give you a specific payout for every sale you help someone make. Less frequently, you can get recurring commissions or even a payment for just getting someone to click through to a specific site. While you shouldn?t count on getting that good of a deal, if there?s a product that you honestly recommend to your clients that already has an existing affiliate program in place, you should take advantage of it./p
pThere are certain legal obligations that you have to notify your clients that you will receive a commission for each sale of an affiliate product that you may make. The specifics depend on what country you live in, but in the U.S, you are expected to disclose affiliate relationships. You may want to at least add a visible page on your website about any such relationships./p
pSome tools out there other a white label option: when someone signs up for an account for something like an email newsletter application or hosting, they do so through a site branded with your logo, even though you didn?t build the tool and don?t maintain it. But through an arrangement with the seller, you get to label it as if it were your own. While this approach can be very lucrative, you do need to make sure that you?re choosing tools that are very reliable and reputable. If your clients assume that you?re responsible for the application in question, you?ll find yourself providing support. If something goes wrong, your reputation may very well take a hit. That means that you need to be particularly comfortable with anyone you partner with on a white label basis./p
h3Other Potential Strategic Partnerships/h3
pThere?s no limit to the types of partnerships that you can build as a freelancer. You have flexibility in your business, so you are able to find several partners to work with if that?s your preference, or go for one major partnership. You?re only limited by what you want to work on./p
pTake a look at the goals you?ve set for yourself and your freelancing. Spend some time thinking about where and when a partnership can move you closer to those goals. You may be able to do everything on your own (and keep all the profits as a result), but it could take you a lot longer than if you look at who is interested in working with you./p
h3Setting Up a Formal Partnership/h3
pNo matter how much you trust anyone you?re considering partnering with, make a point of writing out exactly what you have in mind for the partnership. You may not need to bring in a lawyer to write up a contract (though I am not a lawyer myself and I would strongly recommend getting advice from a legal professional when changing your business and bringing in a long-term partner). But if you don?t write out the details, it?s far more likely that there can be a misunderstanding that makes it a lot harder for you and your partner to do the amazing things you have in mind./p
pEven if your partner is a sibling, spouse or best friend, a partnership is a business relationship. You need to treat it as such. Make sure you know what you?re getting into. Make sure you have a way to end the partnership easily. Protect your own freelance business in case something doesn?t work out as you plan./p
pYou should trust anyone you partner with, but that doesn?t mean skip the paperwork. You?ll both feel reassured by having everything set down specifically, so you know your responsibilities and obligations. And if your prospective partner isn?t so comfortable with the idea of laying out your partnership, perhaps you need to reconsider who you?re working with./p
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