Note: I have nothing against part-time freelancers. I am a full-time freelancer and this article was written out of an experience I had.

I recently got a call from an old friend saying that he had referred a prospective client to me for a fairly large job which included coming up with a new look for an ad campaign. He told me that the client would most likely be contacting some other designers who worked at local ad agencies to check prices and compare portfolios before outsourcing the work. Being a full time freelancer, I came up with some reasons why I am in a better position to handle this type of project than a designer with a full-time job at an agency who does some freelance work here and there on the side. You may be able to use some of these ideas in a similar situation.

First, and probably most importantly, I can spend a proper amount of time on this project. It's far less likely that a moonlighting freelancer would be able to devote enough time to a substantial freelancing job after a full day's work, especially if they are married and/or have any kids. What's more, they are already going to be drained of their creative juices before they even have a chance to think about extra work. It might be one thing if it were a small business logo, but I just don't see it working as well in this type of a situation.

Secondly, many moonlighting freelancers display work in their portfolio from their day job. This is all well and good, except that they are not fully responsible for those pieces. In essence, they might only be one tenth of the total team that collaborated and produced the work they are displaying in their personal portfolio. If I were a client looking to hire a freelance designer that displays work that is not 100% their own, I wouldn't feel safe handing over a large project to them simply because I wouldn't know fully what to expect.

One thing that might look attractive to a client comparing a full-time freelancer with a designer that works in an ad agency is the apparent experience the latter looks to have working with bigger brands. This too is often a mistake. Most full-time freelancers, including myself, have spent plenty of time confined within the walls of an ad agency. In fact, I have more experience in the "advertising world" than many of my agency counterparts since I've not only worked at an ad agency (among other design jobs) but also have worked closely with people at two local advertising federations.

These three factors should really help to put things in perspective for a client comparing a full-time freelancer with a part-time freelancer.