Why I Decided to Cut Out the Middlemen

For the past four years, my email inbox has overflowed with offers for freelance work from platforms everyone knows by now. They often end up in the trash. I know the frustration felt by outsider freelancers trying to get noticed or to even get a simple response to a proposal on these semi-closed platforms. The way things work now, everything we do now goes through somebody’s app or website that knows everything about you while you know little about who you are dealing with. It has become difficult to establish relationships with real people.

Design entrepreneurs often find themselves at the mercy of faceless entities whose primary concerns are their clients and stockholders. Working on projects with platform restrictions, outrageous client demands, and low pay can leave you discouraged and feeling like an underpaid working stiff, a replaceable cog in the wheel. In such one-sided relationships, there is no quid pro quo.

Don’t misunderstand where I’m coming from. Gig and freelance project work offer legitimate means to an end. It can mean the difference between you meeting your monthly obligations or falling on your face. But there’s no long-term security in it. The longer you continue to allow yourself to be exploited, the more you become conditioned to think it is normal.

But as an entrepreneur, why should you continue to rely on the table scraps left behind by fat corporate entities after they’ve eaten their fill? Why should you get used to settling for less when there is more to be had? The solution lies in reducing dependence on the middleman or cutting him out altogether.

Working on projects with platform restrictions, outrageous client demands, and low pay can leave you discouraged and feeling like an underpaid working stiff, a replaceable cog in the wheel. In such one-sided relationships, there is no quid pro quo.

Instead of using your website to promote other platforms, why not use other platforms to promote your website? You control the look and feel of your site, and you don’t need permission from someone to engage directly with prospective clients. When I gave thought to the amount of time wasted looking for work on other platforms, I decided it made more sense for me to invest some of that time to increase my website’s visibility

I use my social media posts to direct traffic back to my website. Clients who visit my website will not deal with the unnecessary distractions of social media. Use social media and networking platforms to highlight your work but plug in your website address as the primary source for more information.

I also like to get paid for the work I do when I do it instead of waiting for some company to dole out my earnings. So, I added the Stripe plugin which allows me to sell services directly on my website. The Stripe payment gateway processes the transactions for a modest fee, eliminating the need for me to create an e-commerce shop. If needed, I can also generate client invoices through the gateway for my other design projects.

I need more self-reliance versus answering to and depending on someone else. Cutting out the middleman also means reducing the red tape that comes with dealing with a third-party standing in between me and my potential customers.

Being in control of my business direction and having the freedom to make my own decisions is important. Working with direct clients and being paid what I deserve to be paid when I earn it reduces some of my stress. It also helps me remain optimistic about the future possibilities.