Birds of a Feather
Freelance Together

I’ve been freelancing as a graphic designer, video editor and creative director for the past 14+ years working with other independents and small teams creating solid client work. Lately, I’ve been helping companies extend their business operations to better accommodate design and technology teams making and distributing content. Sometimes I'm even labeled that ugly word “Consultant” by my design colleagues. I've embraced it, as I find that advocating for better design operations is the best way for setting the stage for producing consistently killer content.

Many organizations have increasingly been moving away from the typical client-agency model and are instead hiring talent internally to execute on their marketing and communications efforts. One major hurdle faced in their new set-up is generating strategic, quality, on-brand content fast enough.

They may have the internal talent but are arranging them ineffectively or pairing them with poor toolsets. They don’t have the history ad agencies and editortial departments have of arranging people and processes to create killer content.

dp Creative Studio has developed a Collective Referral Program made up of Freelancers and Preferred Partners to provide clients with a channel to spin up teams quickly to produce killer content. Clients know we're managing independent talent and we ask for slightly discounted hourly service rates from our freelancers to stay competitive in client bids.

Unlike a recruitment agency (which we are not), our studio takes on select projects that have a high chance of success on the business side. Before engaging with clients, we asses their internal operations to find out how friendly their playing fields are for creative content teams. Often, there is a missing element in their tools, processes or talent-set. We identify these weak points in their operations and make recommendations using a hands-on management approach.

Each account is unique and operates within the clients' own eco-system. We arrange and prepare teams to swim in client waters to provide the best chance for succesful creative and editorial output.

We set the field, you play on it with our creative support.

Currently seeking freelancers across the following disciplines to help service our diverse range of client accounts:

User Experience Designers
User Interface Designers (Web/App)
Front-End Developers
Drupal Developers
Full-Stack Developers
WordPress Decvelopers
Videographers / Cinematographers
Project Managers
Food Photographers
Copywriters
Visual Designers
Illustators
Mixed-Media Artists
Branding Specialists

A Simple Arrangement based on Project Management

When we hire and work with freelancers, they are placed on active dp Creative Studio accounts. All client billing goes through the studio, which tracks budgets and updates the client stakeholders. We don't mark-up your costs and only charge our clients for the time Dave and other managers spend coordinating and supporting your efforts to deliver projets. You sign an NDA an agree not to compete with our active clients.

We'll Refer You Clients Directly

We'll often refer prospective clients or smaller projects to freelancers when there's no need for us to be involved and the freelancer is setup to handle the request. We don't ask for a referral fee and are glad to help our players grow their businesses and gain new clients. We want freelancers to feel truly "free" working with us and gain value from our relationship over time.

With dp Creative Studio as the Agency of Record, our Freelance Players get:

Project management taken care of on projects through dp Creative Studio
Client services handled (including pushing back on insane requests)
Paid on Net 15 Terms - Even if the Client pays us later
Friendly client creative playing fields (we prep their internal operations)
Full exposure to the clients
Link to your website portfolio from our team page
First crack at interesting new projects
Referalls for new prospects we can't take on or not in our wheelhouse

What we need from you

Initial video, phone or in-person chat to find out if we're aligned on:
- Design principles
- Process and methodology
- Client management philosophies

A willingness to chat every 4 months to:
- Check-in overall - How's business? Anything we could tackle together?
- Review your schedule and project availablity for the next 3-4 months
- Verify your status on our preferred freelance list - are we both happy?
A willingness to be flexible with cost on a per account basis and be comfortable with customizing costs based on variables like timing and opportunity. We'll sometimes ask for a discount on your services to stay competitive in our bids.
Signed NDA before work begins for:
- Client data protection
- Non-compete for current studio clients