Joint ventures have many potential advantages over solo enterprises. They offer much of the freedom of independent contracting, without the sense of working in a vacuum that often comes along with it. Collaborating with another freelancer can bring a sense of energy and community many independents crave.

Finding the Right Mix

Pooling your intellectual and creative resources with one or more other contractors can also allow you to offer a broader range of services. For instance, a web designer may choose to team up with a content writer in order to offer clients a more complete web development package. Alternately, collaboration can expand your offerings to include another practice area within your field. Earlier this year, I teamed up with a colleague who writes educational web content for distance-learning sites, thereby broadening the range of content my company can offer. The golden rule of collaboration is that it should always make your company more marketable.

Ideally, teaming up with another independent will also make it possible for you to spend more time on the work you do best and enjoy most. Finding a colleague with complementary skills and interests is key. If you love bringing the work in but come screeching to a halt when it comes to getting it out the door, you may want to set up shop with a colleague who is especially product-oriented but shies away from business development. Like the proverbial Jack Sprat and his wife, the best collaborators get the work done by focusing on what each person does best.

Organizational Structure

If you have already decided to work collaboratively and have a partner or partners in mind, it is time to get down to organizational -- and yes, legal -- details. The first step is to clarify exactly what each of you would like to get out of the arrangement. What kinds of projects would you like to work on, and what will each person's contribution be? As you work through the process of defining roles, try to keep an open mind. There will be many possible divisions of labor, and it may take time to find the best solution. Once you have a model, put it down in writing. This will serve as your flight plan, and should grow with your business; revisit it regularly as you iron out the details of your organizational structure.

The Mystery and magic of Subcontracting

For most independents, the simplest and most practical way to collaborate with another freelancer is to hire him or her as a subcontractor. In this scenario, you become a client of this hypothetical freelancer -- let's call him John. As long as John makes his services available to other clients, it is absolutely legal to treat him as a subcontractor rather than as an employee. This arrangement has several advantages. First, it gives you the flexibility to collaborate on a contract-by-contract basis, bringing in extra help when workflow and the demands of the project make it appropriate. As you know, one of the distinctive characteristics of the freelance workstyle is the inevitable ebb and flow of client work. Working with subcontractors allows you to deliver on a number of projects at once when you need to, but also to keep the work on your own plate when pickings are slimmer. Legally speaking, subcontractors also mean easier bookkeeping than employees, because you have no payroll tax liability or income tax withholding requirements.

Hiring John as a subcontractor may not seem to offer the sense of equality and partnership you have in mind. From an organizational and legal standpoint, however, sole proprietorships are much simpler than partnerships. If down the road, you and John develop a successful working relationship and would like to have equal responsibility for the work, you may wish to form a partnership. At that point, you should consult the services of a partnership attorney.

You & Associates

When you decide to collaborate with one or more subcontractors, you may decide that you would like to have a business name that shows you are part of a group. If you don't yet have a Fictitious Business Name (FBN), this may be the time to get one. FBN's allow you to do business under another name without having to form a legal entity separate from yourself, such as a corporation. When I began working with my colleague in distance-learning, I registered the name Blue Egret Content Group as an FBN. Registering an FBN is inexpensive, but has some tax implications. For more information, consult your county clerk's office.

Working with other independents can be a source of renewed energy and purpose. Like all joint endeavors, it can bring its share of frustrations as well. But since hiring subcontractors is easy to do, collaboration in small or large doses is a wonderful way to bring variety and community to your work.

Author: Kristin Kane is a freelance writer and musician living in San Francisco. You can contact her by clicking here.