weird situation and not sure how to think about it. been freelancing for about three years, mostly inspection work and some media stuff for a regional marketing agency that i have a good relationship with. out of nowhere the agency basically asked if id want to come on staff. benefits, salary, the whole thing. they do a lot of video work for corporate clients and apparently drone content has become a big enough part of their pipeline that they want someone dedicated.

on one hand, stability sounds really good, ive had some slow months that were genuinely stressful. on the other hand i like being able to take other clients, set my own schedule, say no to stuff i dont want to do. the salary they mentioned is decent but probably less than what i made last year, though last year was a good year.

has anyone here made this switch in either direction? im not even sure what questions to ask them at this point. do i negotiate to keep some outside client rights or is that a weird ask

negotiating outside client rights is totally normal and not weird at all, lots of creative professionals do it. just make sure you get it in writing and be specific — like "non-competing clients only" or whatever makes sense. the vague version of that conversation always causes problems later.

i went the other direction, was in-house for a regional news station for two years and left to go freelance, and honestly both have real tradeoffs. the in-house thing was great for skill building, i flew so much more consistently and got comfortable with stuff i wouldnt have sought out on my own. but the creative control thing is real, you will do jobs you find boring because thats what the client needs. for me the slow freelance months are worth the tradeoff but im also single with low overhead so factor in your own situation

the benefits question is huge and people underestimate it. like if youre currently paying for your own health insurance as a freelancer, add that back into the salary comparison before you decide the staff offer pays less. i made that mistake when i was evaluating a similar thing a while back, did the math wrong initially and almost turned down something that was actually better financially once i accounted for everything. also ask them about equipment budget and whether youll be flying their gear or yours, because if its yours the wear and liability situation gets complicated