How specialisation and collaboration can transform your creative practice

Another good thing about specialising is that – though it may narrow your offerings – it provides a chance to widen your network. Another hot topic in the freelancing world is collaboration – when to do it, how to do it and who to do it with. Working with other freelancers can be both a daunting and exciting prospect, and Mailchimp & Co’s report identified this issue as one of the most recurring debates amongst self-employed workers around the world. In the creative industry, collaboration is a common feature of working life, but not everyone understands the full range of benefits that can be reaped from making it part of their practice.

In fact a mere 21 per cent of respondents reported working with other freelancers to deliver client work on a frequent basis, while 33 per cent said that they do everything themselves, and 46 per cent said they collaborate only occasionally. This means that nearly 80 per cent of freelancers are missing out on opportunities to grow their network, work with their friends and peers, and get a helping hand on briefs which may feel out of their grasp. But what can reaching out bring them?

This is especially relevant when a client has a very specific brief in mind – if they know that you can bring more in-depth knowledge and experience to the job than your peers, you’re likely to win the work. In fact, the report shows that responding freelancers who reported having a specialisation “were more likely to achieve higher conversion rates of 61 per cent and above than freelancers who kept their offerings the same or expanded their services.” This might be because specialists are able to offer better quality of work, but it might also simply be because they can market themselves more efficiently, driving home their aptitude in their respective areas rather than trying to cover too many different bases.

Finally, higher incomes were more common among specialists than generalists, with 64 per cent of the former reporting that they earned over $25K last year, compared to just 43 per cent of the latter. So this means, while more freelancers (27 per cent) said that they recently broadened their offerings, those who did the opposite ended up taking more money home at the end of the day. This includes Mailchimp pro partner and co-founder of Westfield Creative, Emily Ryan, who says: “Niching down has been the greatest business decision we’ve made since starting email marketing over eight years ago.”

Well, surprisingly, extra profit. 45 per cent of respondents who say they “often work with other freelancers reported billing over $50K in revenue last year, compared to just 21 per cent of those who say they did all the client work themselves”. So, not only are they lightening the load by shifting some of it onto other shoulders, but they’re actually making more money by doing so. It seems counterintuitive, but the truth is that bringing other minds into the mix means that briefs which may be unachievable by yourself – whether due to skill or time restraints – are suddenly a cinch.

Beyond opening up new work opportunities, frequent collaboration can also create a better relationship to work in general. In the report, the Mailchimp team says: “We discovered that responding freelancers who reported outsourcing tasks like answering phones and marketing were most likely to say they enjoy a healthy work-life balance.” It goes without saying that bringing in helping hands gives you more time to focus on things outside of work. Plus, it creates a healthy cycle where this newfound downtime helps you to relax and recharge, boosting your mood and, ultimately, your earnings (“45 per cent of those who say they outsourced some work reported earning more than they did in their salaried roles, compared to the 29 per cent who say they kept all of their work in-house.”)