You Choose: Options For Bringing On Top Creative Talent.

The amount of disruption creative agencies are under going is impossible to ignore. Companies like Outsource, Elance and Thumbtack have given freelancers a way to bring in new projects in an ultra-competitive industry. The top talent at agencies are leaving for their own ventures or for the flexibility of full-time contracting. Both of these trends are not suprising with the seemingly global shift towards independent contractors, entreprenuership and away from "working for the man".

If you look at the most innovative companies today you'll find one thing in common. At the core of what they do they are unbundling services in ways that were never available before. They are also cutting out the middleman allowing them to provide services via technology at prices never available to customers before.

Think about it. As a founder of a new startup or an owner of a small company you really only have three options when it comes to bringing top creative talent to your business.

1. Hire a Creative Agency

Creative agencies charge anywhere between $150 and $300/hour for their services. It doesn't matter what the project is or who will actually be executing the job, either way you're going to be shifting around your budget to figure out how to make this work.

2. Hire a Recruiter To Find Talent

Yes, recruiters have access to a large range of creative talent but you're going to pay the gatekeepers if you want long-term access to them. Recruiting firms today are offering creative talent benefits packages on top of their hourly rates in order to keep their talent feeling secure from the world of unemployment – but who do you think is paying for that level of security? Yup – you are. Plus, if you decide to hire that creative full-time your going to pay a finders fee back to the recruiter.

3. Hire a Full-Time Creative

If you have the budget to hire a full-time creative – you're lucky! In-house designers and developers cost companies roughly 40% more than hiring a contractor when you calculate in all the hidden costs. Medicare, Social Security, Benefits, PTO and Holiday pay.