- Posted by liammclennan on June 5, 2009
I mentioned somewhere that I am a freelancer and I got this email:
I am looking at getting into freelance web design and development myself. I was wondering if you would be kind enough to share some information with me about your experience?
I would love to know now you got started? How you find your work? Tips and Tricks we should all know? And any thing else you feel is important?
Here is my reply:
I am definately in web development, not web design. The only thing I know about web design is that I'm not good at it. I probably don't know anything about freelance web development either, however, since you asked, to become a freelance web developer:
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work as a web developer and convince people that you are good at getting the job done and solving their problems.
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make it known that you are freelance and available for work. This means that it is often necessary to have more than one client at a time.
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look for job ads that you know will never be filled. An example: "Part time RoR developer required for 2 week contract". Contact the company and explain to them that no one will apply for their job. It is not hard because they usually already know. Offer your freelance services instead. This has worked well for me, the only problem is that there can be a large gap between what they expect to pay and what is reasonable.
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Outsource when you are overwhelmed. It is more important to deliver within an appropriate timeframe than it is to maximise profit. Happy clients lead to more work.
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There are a group of customers from whom you can never make a profit. Learn to recognize and avoid them. This is a hard lesson to learn.
to become a freelance web developer do not:
I'd love to hear other people's freelancing experiences.
