The Internet today is flooded with digital agencies large and small making it difficult for business owners to know who is the best for their given business needs.
After years of looking for agencies ourselves and speaking with other entrepreneurs who were struggling to find the right agency, we decided it was time to create a better solution.
In this article, you'll learn...
- Why the Agency Program was started
- Who it is best for
- How the application process works
- How to get new clients once accepted
- How billing and payment works
Why the Agency Program was started
It's hard to find reliable, customer-focused, and experienced agencies online with all of the options that are available.
We know because we spent years interviewing different agencies while we built our first eCommerce business.
Similar to the frustrations that we found with trying to hire from other large online platforms for freelancers, we ran into a lot of turnover with agencies. We also ended up in situations where we weren't 100% satisfied with the agencies work and how they treated us as clients.
We wanted to create a better way...
A way where business owners and entrepreneurs didn't have to worry as much about the vetting and qualifying of the actual agencies.
And so the FreeUp Agency Program was born.
Who it is best for
The FreeUp Agency program is best for agencies that embody the following:
- Customer centric
- A founder or founders that are still involved in daily operations
- Boutique: 5-10 person agencies
- Extensive proven experience within their niche
- Reasonable market rates
- Well organized
- Eager to grow with the program as it evolves
How the application process works
All agencies in the program go through an application process proving their reliability, customer-centric focus, and expertise and only the top applicants are accepted.
The application is 3 stages:
- The process starts with a short form providing key information about your agency. If interested, you can fill out the form here: https://freeup.net/agency-sign-up/
- A 1 on 1 chat with a FreeUp team member follows diving deeper into the intricacies of your agency.
- A final short-form test is the last step in the process before being accepted into the Agency program.
If your agency is accepted into the program, you will then be brought through an onboarding process to get your account set up.
How to get new clients once accepted
From there, you will be able to view all jobs being posted by clients and can request to be introduced to clients where it makes sense for your agency's services.
Given the exclusivity of the program, you will also be introduced to FreeUp's founders so they can make personal recommendations to clients as it makes sense.
As you get introduced to clients, you can take them through your normal sales process. If the client chooses, they can hire you directly through the platform at hourly or fixed rates based off what you discuss.
Many agencies using the FreeUp platform used fixed pricing as their preferred method of billing. You can learn more about how to set fixed pricing rates with clients here: https://kb.freeup.net/help/how-do-i-submit-a-fixed-price-proposal-to-a-client
How billing and payment works
All billing to clients that you meet through FreeUp will be performed through the FreeUp Marketplace.
Billing periods are Wednesday through Tuesday of each week. Clients are billed each Thursday and you will be paid the following Thursday for all hours billed.
Once accepted into the program, you will set up a preferred payment method of where you'll be paid by FreeUp.
You set your own hourly or fixed rates with all clients. FreeUp then adds a 20% fee on top of the rates that you set and the client pays the final rate.
Other tips for getting into the program
Here's a few final things to keep in mind:
- Be honest in all of your answers
- Ask as many questions as you have in the process
- Be on time to your scheduled chat with FreeUp
- Reach out to Freelancers@freeup.net at any time with any questions that you have
- Share pricing information that you have
The FreeUp Agency program is growing quickly and we're always looking for new ways to improve and make it better for both agencies and clients.
If you have any feedback on the Agency Program, please send it directly to Support@freeup.net.
We hope that this is useful!