Published: November 2025
Author: Chris Beaver
Category: Business, Freelancing
After 12 years as a solo freelancer, I’ve evolved chrisbeaver.com into cbCodeStudio—positioning as a team-based development studio. Here’s what I’ve learned about making that transition while staying true to what worked in the first place.
Why Make the Change?
The solo freelancer model worked well for years. I had clients, steady income, and the freedom to work on interesting problems. So why change?
Capacity Constraints
There’s only so much one person can build. Larger projects or multiple simultaneous clients require more hands.
Specialized Expertise
No developer knows everything. Working with specialists means better outcomes for complex projects.
Business Perception
Some clients prefer working with a team over an individual. It feels more stable, more professional, more scalable.
Product Ambitions
Building products while doing client work requires bandwidth. A team approach provides flexibility.
What Actually Changed
The transition from sole proprietor to studio wasn’t about completely reinventing the business. It was about evolution.
Business Structure
Formed cbCodeStudio LLC with S Corp election for tax benefits. This provides clearer separation between personal and business finances and some tax advantages over sole proprietorship.
Team Approach
Now working with a small network of remote developers who bring specialized skills. Not employees—more like trusted collaborators on projects that need their expertise.
Positioning
Website and marketing now emphasize “we” instead of “I.” This signals capability and depth while maintaining personal communication.
Project Scope
Can now take on larger projects that require multiple skill sets or faster timelines than one person can provide.
What Didn’t Change
Some things are non-negotiable, regardless of scale:
Direct Communication
Clients still work with me directly. They’re not handed off to account managers or junior developers. The personal relationship remains.
Quality Standards
If anything, quality bar has increased. With multiple people involved, code review and testing practices are even more important.
Selective Client Work
Still not trying to be everything to everyone. We take on projects that match our expertise and that we’re genuinely interested in.
Pennsylvania Roots
Location didn’t change. We’re still a Pennsylvania-based team serving clients across the US.
The Remote Team Model
The key to making this work is having a network of skilled developers you trust.
Not Traditional Employees
This isn’t about hiring W-2 employees with benefits and PTO. It’s a flexible network of contractors who collaborate on specific projects.
Specialized Skills
Each person brings specific expertise: frontend polish, mobile development, DevOps, particular frameworks or technologies.
Proven Track Record
These aren’t random Upwork contractors. They’re developers I’ve worked with before, whose code quality I trust and whose communication style meshes well.
Clear Roles
For each project, roles are defined upfront. Who owns what? Who reviews what? How do we coordinate?
Managing Distributed Collaboration
Working with remote developers requires clear systems:
Communication Tools
Slack for day-to-day conversation. Video calls for planning and check-ins. Email for formal project updates and client communication.
Code Standards
Shared coding standards, linting rules, and testing requirements. Code that passes CI/CD is deployable, period.
Documentation
Everything documented: architecture decisions, API contracts, deployment procedures, testing approaches.
Git Workflow
Feature branches, pull requests, code review. No one pushes directly to main. Ever.
Project Management
Simple task tracking. We’re not doing Scrum ceremonies—just enough structure to keep everyone aligned on priorities and progress.
Client Perspective
From the client’s view, how is working with cbCodeStudio different from working with solo-me?
More Capability
Can handle larger projects, faster timelines, and more diverse technical requirements.
Consistent Point of Contact
Still working with me as the primary contact. I’m involved in every project, though I might not write every line of code.
Better Outcomes
Specialized expertise on complex parts of projects means higher quality results. Mobile apps get built by mobile developers. Frontend gets polish from frontend specialists.
Same Reliability
Accountability didn’t change. If something goes wrong, I’m still the one responsible and the one who fixes it.
Financial Reality
The studio model changes the economics:
Higher Revenue Potential
Can take on more or larger projects simultaneously. Not capped by personal coding capacity.
Different Margin Structure
When bringing in other developers, margins are different than pure solo work. Have to price appropriately to cover collaboration costs while remaining profitable.
More Complexity
Tax structure is more complex. Need better accounting systems. LLC filing requirements. Quarterly estimated taxes.
Investment in Systems
More need for proper tools, hosting infrastructure, development environments, project management systems.
Scaling Challenges
Growing from one to a small team creates new challenges:
Quality Control
Have to ensure everyone’s work meets standards. Code review becomes critical.
Communication Overhead
More people means more coordination. Have to balance communication with actual development time.
Finding Good People
Quality developers who are available, reliable, and collaborative are hard to find.
Managing Expectations
Both client expectations (they’re paying for a team) and collaborator expectations (scope, timeline, compensation).
The Product Angle
Part of the studio evolution involves building our own products alongside client work.
Different Mindset
Client work is service-based. Product work requires thinking about user acquisition, support, ongoing maintenance, feature prioritization.
Learning Laboratory
Building products makes us better client developers. We experience the full lifecycle, not just implementation.
Credibility
Clients appreciate working with developers who build their own products. It shows entrepreneurial thinking and complete technical capability.
Diversification
Not all revenue comes from billable hours. Products create recurring revenue that’s less directly tied to time.
Lessons Learned
A few things I wish I’d known earlier:
Start Small
Don’t try to build a 10-person agency. Start with one trusted collaborator on one project. Build from there.
Document Everything
Working solo, you can keep processes in your head. Working with others, documentation is essential.
Price Appropriately
Studio pricing isn’t freelancer pricing times number of people. It’s different because of overhead, coordination, and value provided.
Maintain Direct Relationships
Don’t let team growth create distance between you and clients. That personal relationship is your competitive advantage.
Systems Beat Heroics
Can’t just grind harder when there are problems. Need proper systems for development, testing, deployment, communication.
Is This Right for You?
The transition from freelancer to studio isn’t for everyone. Consider it if:
- You’re turning down projects because of capacity
- You want to take on more complex projects
- You have trusted collaborators you can work with
- You’re interested in building products alongside client work
- You want to grow but don’t want traditional agency structure
Don’t do it if:
– You’re happy with solo freelancing
– You don’t have reliable collaborators
– You prefer maximum simplicity in business structure
– You’re avoiding direct client work
The Identity Question
One unexpected challenge: adjusting how I think about the business.
For 12 years, I was the business. My personal reputation was the business reputation. Now there’s this entity—cbCodeStudio—that’s separate.
It took time to get comfortable with “we” instead of “I” in client conversations. But it’s authentic—there really is a “we” working on projects.
What’s Next
The evolution from freelancer to studio is ongoing. Current focus:
- Building out our network of specialized collaborators
- Launching our first MicroSaaS product
- Taking on larger, more complex client projects
- Improving systems and documentation
- Maintaining the quality and personal touch that got us here
It’s a balancing act: grow capability without losing what made the freelancing approach work in the first place.
Wrapping Up
Transitioning from solo freelancer to development studio isn’t about abandoning what worked. It’s about evolution: maintaining strengths while adding capability and flexibility.
The core hasn’t changed: solve real problems with quality code and honest communication. The wrapper has changed: now we can solve bigger problems and more of them.
If you’re considering this transition yourself, my advice: start small, document everything, maintain direct client relationships, and only work with people whose quality you trust.
Whether you’re a solo developer considering growth or a business looking for a development partner, we’d love to hear from you. Let’s talk.