Present yourself as a company or as an individual?

[mrburnzie]

I'm currently in a position where I have worked with a dozen of clients, but I'm looking to up my game.

Should I invest my time in marketing a company or myself?

[Halcyon]

It depends on your local regulations etc... I can only speak about what happens in Australia.

When you create your business, you can structure it in different ways, the most common ones are Sole Trader, Partnership or a Company. With a Sole Trader or Partnership, you are personally liable for the finances (and debts) that the business may incur, whereas with a Company, your personal finances and assets are protected. To register and operate as a company here is generally more expensive.

What people normally do here is register as a sole trader then as their business grows and changes, they re-structure the business into a company if they need to.

It's a bit hard to point you in the right direction as you're not in Australia but all I can say is, look at what your responsibilities are and the costs and risks involved in various different business structures and go from there.

[mcz]

It depends on your local regulations etc... I can only speak about what happens in Australia.

When you create your business, you can structure it in different ways, the most common ones are Sole Trader, Partnership or a Company. With a Sole Trader or Partnership, you are personally liable for the finances (and debts) that the business may incur, whereas with a Company, your personal finances and assets are protected. To register and operate as a company here is generally more expensive.

What people normally do here is register as a sole trader then as their business grows and changes, they re-structure the business into a company if they need to.

It's a bit hard to point you in the right direction as you're not in Australia but all I can say is, look at what your responsibilities are and the costs and risks involved in various different business structures and go from there.

With regards to marketing (what I think is what the question targets) you could just call your company "Firstname Lastname Consulting Company" or something similar and actually try to sell your own name as a brand to the customer instead of a random company name. Or ist that actually illegal somewhere? The Ltd. or whatever you might append to the company name should make it clear that he is not personally reliable for any catastrophic failures and whatnot.

[PCBdesigner]

If I'm correct I think the question is more targeted at the marketing approach rather than company structure, ltd, sole trader etc.

I've often wondered the same thing as I'd like to get much more freelancing work in PCB and hardware design.

Do you approach companies / advertise as a talented individual/contractor with a certain set of skill or as a company offering a certain range or services.