Working with other freelancers question

[justatoe1]

I have been freelancing for a few months and all ticking along nicely. However many competitors offer a wider range of skills than me, and to become more marketable it would help if I offer those skills too.
I don't really have the inclination to learn these new skills (would rather stay as an expert in my fast moving field) but would if I really had to. Is it reasonable to advertise these skills within my portfolio and when I receive work, field it out to trusted freelancers and take a cut myself?
I've only worked in corporate world so not sure if this is considered acceptable and whether freelancers would be happy to have this kind of arrangement?

It depends.
I have had freelance contracts which specified that I personally had to do the work. I'm not sure if clients would really want you to sub the work out.

I have found that 'people buy people'. So I tend to promote what I can do, but if an opp comes up that requires different complementary skills I then will use other freelancers as long as the client agrees.

I have freelanced for 5 years and am now fairly well known in my niche for my expertise. When I started out I was more generic. I think being focused on what you are good at is a better business tactic, however I know it can feel like it is difficult to find the 'right' sort of work.

Can you stick out from your competitors in a different way? As opposed to offering less services, eg you are the expert in xxx.?

That's a very good point Margot...I should really focus on developing my niche. Thank you!

In my field it's quite common to put together temporary partnerships for specific jobs. The 'lead' partner charges a bit for admin as well as their expert bit then they sub-contract the other partner for various bits but normally in my area we don't really 'take a cut' on that work. For example i often use graphic designers and I charge the client what I pay the designer per day.

I sometimes bring in other freelancers if there's something I can't do - e,g, a graphic designer, I make sure I get my client's agreement though and just charge them out at cost.

Many thanks for taking the time to comment...very helpful indeed