Endorsed
A current member vouches for you. Most of the bench arrived this way.
Membership
Independently united.
Sageworx is a curated bench of strategists, creatives, and producers who win and deliver work together, while each of us keeps our own business, clients, and name. Membership is free. The bar is high.
Benefits
What membership gives you.
Client work is the most visible part of membership. It isn’t the only benefit, and it isn’t the only way to contribute.
Referrals
More ways to earn than the rate card
Your rate card is where earning starts, not where it ends. Introductions, closes, and pitch wins pay too, and that’s upside other agencies don’t offer the people who do the work.
How referrals work
Opportunity
Client work, above the line
Access to specific clients and real briefs. Opportunities are shared with the network, you raise your hand for the briefing, and we build the team from the people who did. You work with the client and the decision makers directly, not three layers down.
The bench
Top-tier talent, ideas + chops
A select group, by nature and by design. Every member is endorsed by someone already inside and approved by both founders, so the person across the brief raises your game.
Independence
Your business stays yours
Freelancers, consultants, and studio owners who chose independence and still wanted a bench. No full-time teams, no forced exclusivity. You keep your LLC, your clients, and your pipeline.
Growth
Potential beyond credential
The mountains we’ve already climbed don’t define us. For clients and for each other, the next horizon does. We vet for one part credential, three parts potential.
Community
The unity in community
Meetings that mean something. Idea sharing, trusted insights, resources, partners, and diverse perspectives, in our members-only Slack and sessions, and in Sage Mode, the weekly publication only members write.
Flexibility
Flexing our flexibility
Show up as much as you want. There’s no required cadence, and membership holds even if you go quiet for a while. Our pets, our kids, our lives are Sageworx partners too.
Operations
Simplified and centralized
Tools and systems that improve the work, and the working. One proposal under one banner. Contracts, invoicing, payments, and business coverage on Sageworx work, handled, so your hours go to the craft.
The network
Rising tide lifts all boats
Every win lifts the bench, even a small one-to-one job between two members. Bring any member into your own client work, and the more work moves through the network, the stronger everyone’s game gets.
Referrals
Bring us in. Share in what it becomes.
A creative director with a CMO they’ve worked with for years. A producer the brand team calls first. Whoever has the relationship, if you make the introduction and it becomes a client, you share in the upside. We walk through the details when you join.
You know someone
Make the introduction
Introduce the decision maker to a Sageworx founder. If it becomes a paying client, you earn a commission, whether or not you work the project. No first project required. Introductions count from day one.
You stay in it
Introduce it and help close it
Help shape the pitch or proposal and support the close, and your share goes up. Your relationship and your read on the client are part of how we win.
You’re on the pitch
Help us win it
Help shape a pitch, and when we win, you can earn a development bonus and a place in the scope.
They come back
It keeps counting
Renewals and new work from that same client contact count toward your commission for up to two years after the first close.
From the SGWX Member Playbook
Drawn together by clients. Connected by work. United by spirit.
Why sage
Roots run deep and wide.
Sagebrush isn’t related to the herb it shares a name with. Legend says it earned the name from an older kind of wisdom: whole fields of independent plants, joined underground by a deep, wide network of roots.
Each plant keeps its own footing. The network feeds every one of them, moves nutrients to where they’re needed, and helps the whole field hold off insects and drought.
Sagebrush communities last for hundreds of years across thousands of acres, in conditions that would finish a single plant. We named the company after that idea, and we run it that way.
In their words
Members tell it better.
From member Spotlights on sageworx.com.
Sageworx is even more of a community than a collective. We come together to be curious.
Ann Marie AlmarieiCreative Direction & AI Orchestration
There’s definitely not a tug and pull, at least with Sageworx, because a lot of people here are experts. We all have different backgrounds and different jobs that we’ve had in the past, but we all know how to work through it.
Kelli UpshurArt Direction & Animation
I've never worked on something with Sageworx where I felt that people were going through the motions. We are all truly excited about creating something new through what we do.
Andrew WatersArt Direction & UX Design
Besides beautiful, it’s also really moving. I don’t think that would have been possible without people with broad levels of skill sets.
Kathryn JonesDigital Storytelling & Media Innovation
The fit
Who thrives here.
Who we look for
- Excellent at the craft, and good with people
- Reliable, direct, and low-drama
- Comfortable working across disciplines
- Motivated to help the client win
What we ask in return
- List Sageworx on LinkedIn, as a membership
- Keep us current on what you do and what you charge
- Bring us in when you see a fit
- Engage with the member community, online, async, and in person when we gather in your city
- Care about the reputation, yours and ours
We run lean. We don’t run loose.
How you join
Three steps. No waiting room.
Membership starts the day you join, not the day you’re staffed.
Approved
Both founders review and say yes. We look at the work, how you work with people, and where you’re headed next.
In from day one
We set your rate card, bring you into Slack and members-only sessions, and get Sageworx on your LinkedIn. You’re a member before your first project.
This is, honestly, the reason I co-founded Sageworx. Not to build an agency. To build a room worth walking back into.
No one to vouch for you yet? Apply anyway. We’re always open to people who are exceptional at their craft.
Questions
The short answers.
Does membership cost anything?
No. Membership is free. The bar is high.
How do I join?
A current member endorses you, then both founders review and say yes. No one to vouch for you yet? Apply anyway.
How do referral commissions work?
Introduce a decision maker to a Sageworx founder. If they become a paying client, you earn a commission, whether or not you work the project. Help shape the pitch and support the close, and your share goes up. Renewals and new work from that contact count for up to two years.
Do I have to work only with Sageworx?
No. You keep your LLC, your clients, and your pipeline. No forced exclusivity.
Do I need a project to be a member?
No. You’re in from day one: Slack, members-only sessions, and Sageworx on your LinkedIn, before your first project.
How much do I have to show up?
As much as you want. There’s no required cadence, and membership holds even if you go quiet for a while.