With a graphic design business, you are in control of your hours and how much you work. You can work day or night, depending when you are most creative or when your family needs you. You can arrange your work and family life to meet your needs. The choice is yours!

If freelancing works out, you can either continue to work as a freelancer, or you can opt to open your own firm — still from the comfort of your own home. Obviously, opening your own firm is more expensive than simply freelancing by yourself. The main difference is you pay more money for certain upgrades to the workspace and how you promote your services, as well as any city or state licenses and fees.

Freelance vs. Owning a Company

Many people don't know the difference between freelancing and owning a company. The following details help clarify the difference in freelance vs. business ownership:

Freelancers
When it comes to taxes, businesses need their own tax identification number. Freelance workers file taxes using 1099 forms given to them by their project providers.

Business
Business owners must register or incorporate their own businesses. In some instances, this will require the resident to ensure that a specific number of cars be limited to go to and from the residence each day.

Freelancers
Freelancers have no registration processes or fees.

Business
Businesses will most often be required to take all business orders requested. Freelancers can be slightly more discriminate with their jobs and the projects that they accept.

Hours are set by you as a business owner, but most companies adhere to the Monday through Friday schedule. Typically the hours are from 8AM EST until 5PM EST. This is because these hours represent when prospective clients are more likely to become interested and call to inquire about services.

Freelancers
You can set your own hours and do not have to adhere to any business standards; however, your client base will most likely have standard 8AM EST until 5PM EST hours so this has to be taken into consideration.

Certain business strategies will depend on where you live because of the structure of these organizations. For example, in New York City, the business strategy will need to be much more competitive than in a more rural area, such as Missouri. This is because business environments and competition differ from one city to another.

The beauty of working from home and utilizing the Internet is that you can make any geographic location your target audience for prospective clients. Although it is best if you are nearby to meet with prospective clients, you can still travel or hold phone conferences for in-person meetings. Many clients are content with discussing their projects or assignments on the cell phone, via e-mail or Skype instead of meeting in person.

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