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Build a personal brand or (creative) agency?

Or both? What is better? Pro/cons?
I think it can be hard to be only you, one person, market and operate your business alone...

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    Going solo isn't easy for sure! The statement is true for both cases, building a personal brand or an agency both will involve huge input from you (in the beginning).

    From the information you gave its hard to say what is better. It comes down to the niche you want to be active in. Think marketing.

    You must build a presence, that shows that you do good work. This is true for the personal brand but also for the agency. You want to monetise your brand. Also important for both. I see no difference between the both if you start alone and on a smart scale. Sure if you want to lend money to build a team for the agency it's another ball park. But from what I understand it seems you want to build small and then build it up with time.

    So for me it's basically the same. It doesn't matter. The only point that I would like to throw in is that a personal brand does not go away. It is tied with you and represents what you are and stand for. If you do it right and build stuff that is valuable for people they will jump on future endeavours because they trust you. This is a huge plus.

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      Agreed! :-)
      I'm already freelancing a bit on the side. But sometimes I think about partnering up with someone as working with other freelancers either helping me internally or under a new name - or find a partner where we can supplement each other, but again we would then create a new company name or do some cross-marketing with our personal brand/name.

      There is a lot of options out there.
      But right now my goal is to be 100% freelancing/remote work. And I need to step it up a bit :-) why I think some kind of partner/cooperation would be cool.

      Many freelancers out there are probably in the same boat.

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        Sounds pretty cool!
        Like you said it would probably be the best idea to invest in your personal brand either way. It will only help you to guide people to the next project you will come up with. It doesn't really matter if this involves some partner because they know you and therefore trust you with your decisions!

        I feel you on the 100% freelancing/remote work. Would love to do that too!

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          Yea for sure. You are right! I think I just have too many ideas sometimes. It's difficult to focus on one thing, and all the many exciting options for monetization. I'm more of an introvert person, so I don't really want to be too much in the spotlight :-D

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            I totally feel where you are coming from. I consider myself an introvert too. The dream is remote work and a strong relationship with a trusted business partner and collaborator. Complimenting each others strengths. Like a Steve Jobs / Steve Wozniak type collaboration. Who appear to have an extrovert and introvert dynamic. Being by yourself means you may have to be out front to sell, follow up leads, phone calls etc. I am a service business owner and built it by myself, however am wanting to build a SAAS product and collaborate with somebody. I think it would be so much better to have two heads working on problems, motivating each other, strategising etc. I wish you all the best.

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              Yea exactly. And I'm def. not the sales-type a person. Cold calling was the worst thing I ever tried:-D
              Also, I think it's possible to sell online only. It worked for me until now. But still, need that 1-2 extra customers that could make me go full time.
              But yea, a remote (agency) team where you work together would also be cool. I'm kinda already in one but they are still in the startup phase.
              Thanks, Daniel, right back!

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    If you're solving a real problem and able to scale it big. It doesn't matter either being a solo entrepreneur or running an agency.

    Ask yourself what is the best working model?
    Do you need more flexibility?
    Would you prefer to work alone or as a team?

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      Hi Felix,

      Thanks for your comment!

      I kinda prefer both, but I prefer to work alone when I have to be in deep focus. But I think you make better decisions in groups in general.

      I like to be both in the creative, strategic, executing and technical processes :-D

      but I wouldn't mind be in and contribute to a great team.

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