Turn Your Solo Freelance Business into an Agency with Caity Cronkhite
Season 8, Episode 8
Hey folks!
I’m super excited for y’all to listen to this month’s episode because over the course of the last year, many of you have been curious about turning your freelance writing businesses into an agency.
As I looked around the internet for resources on developing my own fact-checking agency, Factual, I found very few that gave me a roadmap of all the things I absolutely needed as I built the foundation of my new business. I was looking for insurance policies (which I mostly found from emailing my colleagues) or recommendations for software to manage contractors (which are mostly designed for huge tech companies and not a smaller outfit like Factual).
Since many listeners and community members seemed agency-curious, I thought it was high time to find someone to help peel back the curtain.
My guest, Caity Cronkhite, is someone who transformed her solo freelance technical writing business into a multi-million dollar technical writing agency.
Caity is the founder and CEO of Good Words LLC, a technical writing and documentation consulting firm that’s on a mission to rid the world of bad docs. Good Words started in the technology industry and delivers ongoing strategic, management, and implementation support for some of the most technically sophisticated companies across industries, from Fortune 50 companies to 5-person startups.
Caity was born and raised on a remote farm in rural Indiana. She eventually left her prairie roots to attend Carnegie Mellon University, where she received a degree in technical writing and communication. After college, Caity went west — first to the San Francisco Bay Area, then to Seattle — to start her career as a technical writer and, eventually, an entrepreneur. Caity loves using her background and life experience to support people from nontraditional backgrounds on their own paths to careers in leadership, entrepreneurship, and technology.
Full disclosure — Caity and I are good friends. You might be able to pick up on that throughout the episode. I know I’ve been doing this quite a bit during this season, but I think this kind of candor helps give listeners a transparent look into the how-tos of business behind the scenes!
Listen to the episode wherever you podcast!
We talk about:
Noticing when it might be time to scale to an agency
The benefits of building your agency incrementally
The importance of knowing your labor laws as an agency owner
The mindset shifts in pricing when going from solopreneur to agency owner
If you loved this episode, or if you’re curious about the brass tacks of setting up an agency, you’ll want to tune in for our November webinar on how to start your own agency. Caity will be an expert, as well as Aimee Schwartz, founder of Speaking of Science. Grab your tickets today!
I hope to see you there!
Wudan
Did you know TWC just launched a brand new course? Check out our latest addition to the TWC Academy on Teachable: THE FRESH PAINT COURSE. The course is an asynchronous adaptation of the popular Fresh Paint Clinic, which teaches freelancers to build a business website that will attract the clients you want. Check it out at https://the-writers-co-op-academy.teachable.com/p/the-fresh-paint-course
Tickets for our October event on how to best work with a freelance team are still on sale! Join us on October 15 from 12-1pm PDT with esteemed colleagues and guests, Anita Kenney and Emma Carew Grovum. Purchase your tickets here!