Is a recession good for freelancers?

At this time of year my business always starts to slow down a little. I can look back over the past six years that I have run Airgid Media and see that the end of Q4 has always been historically slower. Clients have spent the remainder their budgets for the year, and vacations are starting to kick in. But during this “breather” as I like to call it I started to wonder what next year will be like.   Certainly next year will be slower than 2008 seeing we are headed into a economic melt down the likes of we have not seen since the 80’s.  
Many of my large clients have hiring freezes in their interactive departments. Yet there still is a large volume of interactive work out there, and it needs to get done. Who will do it? Even if development reduces by 50% many of these interactive departments did not have the capacity to handle more than two large-scale projects at a time.   I think crisis can mean opportunity for small studios (like mine) and individual freelancers who are already established. Don’t get me wrong; it’s going to be rough road ahead for many, and at the end not many will be left standing. For small studios like mine, whom have very little over head this is an opportunity to expand our client list. During lean times companies still need to get the work done, but they will be looking for more cost-effective ways to do it. Over the past few years I have watched more and more large-scale clients knock on our door. The reason is simple, many of the interactive departments have evolved enough that they understand the medium to manage it themselves. The need for layers of account supervision via project managers, and account representatives is not needed for many projects. “Just get the project to the people who are going to build it, then manage it your self.” ? ¦will probably be the motto for 2009.   Let’s wait and see what 2009 will bring, but it will be an eventful year as we navigate the largest world wide recession since our grandparents time.