Posts Tagged ‘clients’

The Freelancer/Agency Hybrid Model

by Brian Casel  ·  9.8.2010  ·  Business

“I am a freelance web designer.”

“We are a small web design shop.”

For many self-employed professionals, particularly in the field of web design, these two phrases can often be interchangeable depending on who you’re speaking to and what you’re speaking about.  I often become hesitant about which angle I should use when talking to clients.  Why the confusion about what it is I (we?) do?

Lets start with a few basic facts:

  • I am a self-employed individual. This means I don’t have a steady paycheck, I pay my own estimated taxes, I pay for my own benefits (health, vacation, bonuses, sick days).  I work in my home-office, almost always alone (unless I take temporarily relocate my office to Starbucks).
  • I don’t employ full-time staff. I don’t keep a regular payroll.  I don’t have employees who work solely for my business.
  • I do hire sub-contractors. I find that when taking on larger, more complex projects, it’s best to bring in talented specialists to deliver certain pieces of the projects.  For example, I might hire a designer to do the site mockups and a developer to handle the CMS integration, while I do project management and fill in the gaps in the workload.  Some projects I handle all of the work myself.  Others, I assemble a mini-team.

It’s fair to say that my business can be defined as a Freelance/Agency hybrid model.

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What Goes Into Your Proposals?

by Brian Casel  ·  5.31.2010  ·  Business, Opinion

On Friday, I posted a thread to the FreelanceSwitch forum.  Here is the text of my initial question to the freelance community:

I’m working on an application of sorts to make the process creating/presenting proposals easier and more effective.

I’d appreciate it if anyone can share some info on how they create and present proposals. Here are a few questions:

1) What format do you use? (PDF sent as an attachment, web-based, print and present in person, etc.)

2) What do your proposals consist of?

3) In terms of winning projects, any ideas on what works, what doesn’t?

I’d really appreciate any and all feedback – either as a reply on FreelanceSwitch or in the comments of this blog post.  It would also be great to see sample proposals from anyone willing to share.

Don’t worry, I’ll fill you in soon regarding this “application of sorts” :)

My Expectations for This New Venture

by Brian Casel  ·  1.28.2010  ·  Quotes

If you are getting into the game to make a quick buck, I would suggest thinking again.  – Jason Schuller of Press75.com in a Group Interview of WordPress Theme Sellers

So I’m four days away from the launch of my new business, ThemeJam.  99% of the preparation work is complete, and I’m finally ready to release this thing into the wild.  During this quiet time before the big event (the launch), I’d like to reflect on my expectations for my new venture:

If nothing else, more client work

Obviously, one of my main motivations for starting a product-based business was to have an alternative to client work.  Something that generates recurring income, and offers more creative freedom than is usually the case when working on projects for clients, who have a very specific set of needs.

But I think that by selling high quality WordPress themes (and email templates), I will actually attract a new type of client:  Those that purchase my themes, who want customization work done by the theme author himself (me).  Of course, I will welcome these opportunities and if custom work accounts for the bulk of the income from ThemeJam, I’m perfectly fine with that.  I absolutely love designing and developing on WordPress, and client work via ThemeJam only means more of that.

A massive learning experience

More-so than anything else, I’m excited about the lessons I will likely learn the hard way (by failing, then correcting).  Outside of the actual design and development aspects of producing themes, there are many things about this type of business that I’m taking on for the first time.

One example is marketing my own products online.  I haven’t ever spent on advertising for my freelance web design work.  ThemeJam will be the first time I run paid ad campaigns so I’m anxious to see what the return on investment will be, how I will need to tweak my approach, what works, what doesn’t, etc.

Another example is offering customer support for products.  I think this should come fairly easy since I’m already very used to offering great support for my freelance clients (via email, phone, IM).  But support on ThemeJam will likely involve many more and frequent requests.  It will also be the first time I conduct support via an online forum.

A chance to build a reputation in the WordPress community

I’ve already developed a solid network of word-of-mouth referrals for my freelance web design business.  I’m hoping to bring this to the next level in the coming years by establishing myself and my businesses as a trusted name within the WordPress community.  As I said, I love working with WordPress more than any other skill within the realm of web design, and I’m hoping to dig deeper into this part of my career.

A stepping stone to whatever is next…

I am an entrepreneur.  I’ve got the bug.  I’ve got an over-active mind, constantly dreaming up ideas for the future.  A new project, a new business, a new angle.  ThemeJam isn’t even launched yet, and already I’ve got a few specific ideas for future ventures (some expansions within ThemeJam, some separate).

ThemeJam will be my stepping stone to these other ventures.  I will learn a ton, refine my approach, and apply these lessons to future startups.  I will leverage the popularity (if any) of ThemeJam to launch the next thing.

I’ve never been more excited about my career than right now.

It’s on in 2010

by Brian Casel  ·  1.4.2010  ·  Bits

Last week I posted about my non-work goals for 2010.  Now it’s time to cover 3 work-related goals for this year.

Launch my first product-based business

I’ve been hard at work preparing for the launch of ThemeJam, my first product-based business.  It’s something I’m extremely excited about and anxious to get off the ground in early 2010.  Aside from the enormous amount of (rewarding) work involved in designing and building WordPress themes, running a new startup selling digital products will be a huge learning experience for me.

I’ll be building and marketing a new brand from the ground up, which will likely involve quite a bit of experimentation and learning on the job.  And while I’ve developed E-Commerce sites for clients, this will be the first time I’m personally involved in tracking conversions, building a customer-base, and providing customer support (for products).  I’m very much looking forward to tackling these challenges.

Seek higher quality clients

On the CasJam Media front (my client business), I’d like to continue to grow my network of client referrals.  However, the overarching goal for 2010 is seek a higher quality client than in the past.  Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been lucky to work with some fantastic clients over the course of my young freelance career.  But unfortunately I’ve had some who I regret taking on (which was the focus of my recent post, turning down client work).  In 2010, I’m not only seeking clients with bigger budgets, but those who truly understand the process and appreciate the benefits of good design.

How to do this?  It starts with continuously delivering great work.  Nothing is a better sales tool for a web designer than an outstanding portfolio.  Beyond that, there are few things I can do to step up my game:

  • Attend more conferences, meetups, and increase my offline professional networking.
  • Write more guest articles on larger blogs, establishing myself as an expert (I have a few scheduled to publish soon).
  • Market my services to businesses that are already doing well, but could use someone like me to bring their online presence to the next level.

Improve my personal branding

This will largely happen through this blog as I plan to continue posting about my behind-the-scenes thoughts on freelancing, business, and the web.  I signed on to project52, and I plan to live up to that challenge (at least one post per week for a year).

I hope to establish trust with a larger readership through providing real and valuable advice, pointers, inspiration, and/or ideas to the community.  Those of you who reached out to me via Twitter or elsewhere, know that I truly enjoy talking shop or exchanging ideas and I hope this shines through in my online persona.

Over to you…

Can you narrow your 2010 work-related goals to 2 or three big ones?  Do share in the comments (or pass along a link to your blog).

Turning Down Client Work

by Brian Casel  ·  12.17.2009  ·  Business, Quotes

The biggest problem with freelancing is, ironically, that you have clients. — You Totally Missed the Mark | Second And Park

Here’s a great post by Tiffany Jones on learning to effectively manage client relationships.  Clients, as we know can be, well, crazy.  It’s about learning to manage this personalities and projects calmly and positively.  It’s our responsibility to make it work.  That’s the gist, of the post, and I agree.

But sometimes it just won’t work

We’ve all had nightmare clients who don’t pay, stretch project scopes, make insane requests…

The key is to detect these problem clients before you sign the contract.  Maybe they’re poor communicators, or display nasty attitudes during initial meetings or phone calls.  These are clear signs that you’re heading towards another addition to your “clients from hell” bin.

The ability to sniff out these warning signs will only come with experience.  At first, you’ll want to jump on any work that comes your way, due to the all consuming fear of not having work tomorrow.  But as time goes on, if you prove to be reliable, your business will find it’s own, organic success.

That’s when you need to take a step back and become more selective with the work you take on.  Do great work and work with great clients.  That’s finding enjoyment in a freelance career – past the first 3 month honeymoon period.

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