Advice on moving cities

[zhalbert]

I've been successfully freelancing for a short while (under a year) with the original intention of moving. I started where I am because this is where I finished school a year ago. Unfortunately, it's a small area with very few potential clients.

So the idea is to move to Seattle where there's a larger client base. Yes, I realize the competition is more fierce, but I need to be someplace where there's more growth potential even if I'm scraping by for the first year or two. Right now, my biggest potential clients are mom & pop shops.

Does anybody have any advice on how to move a design business to a much larger city when you don't have thousands saved up? I am making a living now, but the average hourly here is much lower than Seattle, so the savings I have won't carry as much weight in a place with higher costs of living. In addition, I have no real contacts there.

I thought that once I was close to ready, I might fly there for a week at a time and try to drum up some clients which I could work with from back home until the move. Ideally, I could get enough to seamlessly transition, but how? Knock on doors?

Any advice would be really appreciated as I'm a little daunted by the task before me! Thanks.

[Toon]

Why not think about taking a full time job there until you get on your feet, you can still be building a private client base as you go then when you're financially secure you can go back to freelance full-time, by then you will know the area, the city, the business etc. alot more benefiting your freelance business immensely.

[zhalbert]

That's a good idea, but a problem I ran into where I'm currently at are non-compete clauses in contracts. I actually tried getting a full time job where I am but places required that I not do any kind of competing business in the area for 1 year after quitting or on the side (that's freelance or taking another job). I know those things are largely unenforceable, but I wouldn't want to mess with it. Have you found these to be used in larger cities?

[Rusnell]

Moving cities in my opinion is a good idea if you are doing it for the right reason. It seems you are, i go to school in Windsor which is a city of about 200 000 people as well as being beside Detroit so it is my primary base for clients, but having said that, there is a design studio in my city where i grew up that makes millions feeding off the banks and industry in our small city of 70 000 people. Online is a great place to look for work as well, people are willing to pay, if you are willing to work and get things done. My biggest problem as somebody who outsources frequently is people not getting jobs done on time.

[Cwilk]

Zhalbert.....you would be correct about non-compete clauses in contracts. The Federal government actually says that another company cannot keep someone from making a living doing what they are employable to do.

As for moving to an entirely new city, you may want to apply as a work-for-hire with an ad agency or take a job in a print company. Freelancing for an ad agency keeps them from having them make you sign a contract. Print companies will actually give you the best leads for clients because you'll see who is printing what kind of projects. This way you can still freelance and work full-time until you have a comfortable client base.