White label work means doing the work for an agency, which sells it to its own client under its own name. For a freelancer it is a steady source of projects, because one agency with ten clients can send you work every month, and you do not have to find or manage the end client. The trade is a lower price per hour than you would charge a direct client, and no public credit. This page covers which agencies to approach, how to price the wholesale rate, and the first message.

Which agencies need you

Look for agencies that sell something adjacent to your skill but do not do it in house. A social media agency often needs a video editor. A web design shop often needs a developer for the build, a copywriter for the pages, or someone to handle hosting and fixes. A PR agency may need a designer for reports. Check an agency's service page: if they sell a service but their team page shows nobody who does it, they are subcontracting it already, or should be. Small agencies of 3 to 15 people are the best fit, since the owner decides alone and answers email.

Why the price is lower and why it can still pay

Agencies add a margin, often 30 to 50 percent, to what they pay a subcontractor. You are selling to a business that must make a profit on your work. Here is the arithmetic for a fictional designer, Lena Park, who bills direct clients $90 an hour. She offers agencies $65 an hour or a fixed price per deliverable. At $65, an agency that resells at $100 keeps $35, a 35 percent margin, and has a reason to keep using her. In return, Lena does no sales, no invoicing of ten different clients, and no scoping calls. If an agency gives her 25 billable hours a month, that is $1,625 at a cost of about two hours of admin. Direct clients at $90 would need her to also spend hours finding them.

Fixed prices per deliverable often beat hourly. "Landing page design: $850, two rounds of changes" lets the agency quote their client with confidence and rewards you for speed.

The first message

Subject: Overflow design capacity for your clients

Hi Jordan, I design landing pages and email templates for marketing agencies, and I work white label: your name goes on everything and I never contact your clients. Turnaround is two business days for a first draft. If you have a page in the queue this month, I will do one at a wholesale rate as a paid test, and you can see how it goes.

Samples (no client names): link.

Lena Park, lena@parkdesign.example
905 Division St, Nashville, TN 37203. Reply "stop" and I won't write again.

It tells them what you do, promises discretion, names a turnaround and offers a small paid first job. Send 15 to 20 of these to agency owners found on LinkedIn or the agency's own site, and follow up once after five days. If the thread goes warm, see cold email for partnership for a follow-up.

The paid test project

Offer a small job at your normal wholesale rate, not free. A free test attracts agencies that want free work. The test is also your audition: reply on time, ask only questions you could not answer yourself, and deliver a little early. Send a short note with the file saying what is included and what is not.

What to put in writing

  • That you work under the agency's name and will not contact or advertise to their client.
  • A payment term, such as net 15 or half upfront for new agencies. See payment terms for the options.
  • What counts as a revision and what counts as new scope.
  • Who owns the finished work once paid.
  • Whether you may show it in your portfolio after a stated time. Many agencies say no, so do not assume.

Check a contract template with a lawyer in your state if the amounts are large; this page is general information.

Keep it from becoming your only income

An agency can drop you when its own client leaves. Aim for no more than 40 percent of your income from any one agency, and keep one direct client channel running. Our guide to building referral partners covers a close cousin of this model.

Finding 20 agency owners and emailing them by hand is the slow part. Rocketship finds agency owners that match what you describe, emails them from your own Gmail and follows up on its own, so your time goes to the test projects. Try it for 7 days, card required.