Liam didn’t want a business.
He just wanted to stop being broke.
At 24, he wasn’t an entrepreneur. He wasn’t ambitious in a loud, motivational-quote way. He was simply tired of checking his bank account before buying groceries.
He had one usable skill: graphic design.
Nothing extraordinary. No awards. No huge portfolio. Just years of making posters for friends, social media posts for small pages, and random freelance jobs that paid barely enough.
But Liam had one quiet advantage:
He paid attention.
The Freelancing Trap
Liam started like most freelancers do.
He signed up on platforms. Sent proposals. Competing with hundreds of designers charging $5 per logo.
He worked long hours. Low pay. Endless revisions. Clients who disappeared.
Some months he made decent money.
Some months he made almost nothing.
That’s when he realized something important:
Freelancing gives income.
It doesn’t give security.
He wasn’t building anything. He was just renting out his time.
The Shift That Changed Everything
One night, after a frustrating client call, Liam asked himself:
“Why do some designers charge $50… and others charge $5,000?”
It wasn’t talent.
It was positioning.
The expensive designers weren’t “freelancers.”
They were brands.
That idea hit him hard.
He didn’t need more skill.
He needed authority.
Becoming Known Instead of Available
Instead of spending hours sending proposals, Liam did something different.
He started posting daily on LinkedIn.
Not “Hire me” posts.
Educational content:
-
Why most logos fail
-
Color psychology in branding
-
Before & after design breakdowns
-
Mistakes small businesses make visually
At first, nobody reacted.
10 likes. Maybe 1 comment.
But Liam stayed consistent.
Three months later, something changed.
A startup founder messaged:
“I’ve been reading your posts. Can you help with our brand?”
No negotiation. No bidding war.
That project paid more than five small freelance jobs combined.
Liam realized:
When people trust your knowledge, price becomes secondary.
From Freelancer to Specialist
Liam stopped offering “design.”
He offered Brand Identity for Startups.
Specific = powerful.
Now when someone asked what he did, he didn’t say “graphic designer.”
He said:
“I help startups look like companies people trust.”
That sentence closed deals.
The Overload Problem
Within a year, Liam had more work than he could handle.
Good problem, right?
Not really.
He worked 14-hour days. Burned out. Deadlines piled up.
That’s when he faced the decision that separates freelancers from founders:
Keep working alone…
Or build something bigger?
Hiring His First Designer (The Scary Step)
Hiring meant risk.
What if clients hated the work?
What if quality dropped?
But Liam was smart.
He didn’t hire to “replace” himself.
He hired to handle production, while he focused on:
✔ Client communication
✔ Strategy
✔ Sales
✔ Brand direction
He created systems:
-
Design process checklists
-
Brand questionnaires
-
File organization standards
Suddenly, work became predictable.
The Agency Is Born
What started as “Liam the freelancer” became Liam & Co.
Then just LCO Studio.
Not a person.
A company.
Clients felt safer hiring a team than an individual.
Projects got bigger.
Prices doubled.
Then doubled again.
The Power of Process
Most freelancers sell effort.
Agencies sell systems.
Liam’s team didn’t just design.
They followed a structured journey:
-
Brand discovery session
-
Market positioning
-
Visual direction
-
Identity system
-
Brand guidelines
Clients weren’t buying logos.
They were buying clarity.
Scaling Beyond Time
Liam added:
-
A web designer
-
A copywriter
-
A project manager
Now they offered full brand packages.
Revenue no longer depended on Liam’s personal hours.
That’s when income jumped from “freelance money” to business money.
The Mindset Difference
Freelancer mindset:
“I need more clients.”
Founder mindset:
“I need better systems.”
Liam stopped chasing volume.
He increased value.
Fewer clients.
Bigger projects.
Less stress.
More profit.
The 7-Figure Moment
Three years after posting his first LinkedIn tip, Liam checked his annual revenue report.
Over $1,000,000.
He sat in silence.
Not because of the number.
But because he remembered the nights sending desperate proposals for $20 jobs.
The skill never changed dramatically.
The positioning did.
What Most Freelancers Get Wrong
They think:
“I’ll build an agency when I’m ready.”
Truth?
You become ready by building.
Liam didn’t wait for confidence.
He built systems before he felt qualified.
His Biggest Lesson
Skill gets you started.
Brand gets you clients.
Systems get you freedom.
Without systems, freelancing is a job.
With systems, it becomes a business.
What Liam Says Now
“Stop trying to be the best designer in the room.
Be the one who understands business.”
Because companies don’t just need talent.
They need solutions.
0 Comments