Someone once told me, "you need great partners in every business," but it's hard to let other people start working on things for your client when you started out as a freelancer and love doing all the things you do (and are a bit of a control freak).
But it's something I am starting to feel is necessary as time goes on. I have a kid now, and that's a real wake up call. It is something that showed me I need to be able to source more of my work to a good team of reliable creatives. It's not just to free up your time. That's great, but what happens if you get injured or otherwise can't get out there to shoot or can't spend the same time on the computer? Everything stops? No.
When is it time to start expanding the team? It's a hard thing to figure out. When are you comfortable enough to take a step back financially in order to take a way bigger leap forward, being able to take more work than ever before when you have a great team behind you? That's something you have to answer on your own based on a ton of different variables. That's what makes it such a tough nut to crack.
Everyone says it now: "it's impossible to find good people." I don't think that's really the case. I know a ton of good people. What is really stopping me from taking the leap? Financial security getting less secure while I start paying more people for the work I can't handle, that's what. That's why I'm here in the process of journaling through my blog and figuring it out.
Chances are if you're in the creative scene in your city, a few people come to mind that can help you. They definitely do for me.
I'm making a commitment here and now to start sourcing more work for good people and letting myself and my clients and reap the long-term benefits of a team of me with incredible bandwidth.
Guess this is another one of those blogs I'll have to check back in later to solve for you with the way it worked out for me. But know that you're not alone if you are feeling the same way - overwhelmed...