Posts Tagged ‘freelancing’

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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The Importance of Stalking Your Peers

by Brian Casel  ·  4.15.2010  ·  Business

Maybe stalking isn’t the right word.

I’m talking about keeping tabs, but digging deep, on other freelancers, entrepreneurs, designers, developers… your peers in your industry.  And not only the “rockstars”, but your true peers.  The ones who seem to be on the same level as you in terms of career goals, reputation, etc.

This is an integral part of what I do

Every few weeks, I try and take the time to seek out a freelance web designer I haven’t heard about before.  Sometimes I come across their name by accident via twitter or elsewhere.  Sometimes I find them while browsing for design inspiration (the majority of sites featured in gallery sites are designer’s blogs).  Sometimes I actively seek them out.  The FreelanceSwitch freelancer directory is an awesome resource for this.  Sortfolio aint bad either.

Once I find someone interesting, with a similar background as me, I start reading their recent blog posts.  Then I follow them on Twitter and scroll down through their tweets a bit.  Then I come back to their blog and dig through the archives, scanning and reading articles like if I keep doing it I’m going to win something (when in reality, I’m just burning away what little time I have left in my work day!).  I’m trying to learn their story, what they’ve done to get to this point, and where they’re going.

Sound creepy yet?

I think one of the key factors that drives me forward as a business owner and entrepreneur is my obsessive hunger for information.  I listen to podcasts while I work and watch video interviews on a daily basis.  I read Inc magazine cover to cover.  I bought a kindle so that I can read everywhere I go – that is when I’m done reading my RSS feeds on my iPhone.

Just as it’s important to stay on top of trends and happenings in the industry as a whole, it’s also important to see what others in the trenches are up to.  This is where I get my real inspiration and cultivate ideas for how I can move my business forward.  Seeing what others are doing and have done up to this point is one of the best ways to stay on your toes, keep the inspiration alive, and keep going.

Learn to love archives pages

Archives pages are one of the most important, yet undervalued pages in a blog.  They tend to be one of the last things we think about when designing a WordPress theme or reading a blog.  But there is so much to learn just by browsing through an archive page of a blog that’s been around for some time.

You can compare and contrast how their stories differ from the past to the present.  You can see how their writing style has developed.  You get an idea of the major events that happened in their career up to this point.  You can find the lessons they learned and shared based on those events.  And most importantly you can relate their past and present to your own path and draw inspiration for how you’re going to move forward.

Love your work.  Love your business.  Obsess over it.  But don’t forget to remain equally passionate about watching and learning from others.

2009 Freelance Business Recap and Lessons Learned

by Brian Casel  ·  12.21.2009  ·  Bits

It’s that time of the year – the end – when we look back and look ahead.  2009 has been quite a year of transition for me personally and professionally, so I’d like to take a moment to recap.

Earlier this year, I posted about doing a big-picture assessment of my of my freelance web design business.  The post received quite a bit of traffic from Google (mostly from mis-spellings of the apparently popular search term “big assess”, but that’s another story).  More importantly, it served as a declaration of self-motivation, mostly stemming from my desire to learn more about running a small business and taking action on the things I learned.

Here are the highlights:

Books and research materials


The Four Hour Workweek, by Tim Ferris – Probably my favorite read of this past year.  I wrote about my takeaway points in this blog post.  Not everything applied to my situation, but it definitely opened my eyes to new ways of managing time, doing business, and exploring the freelance lifestyle.

Two Books from Seth Godin:  Purple Cow and Tribes – Both highly recommended.  I’ve been following Seth Godin’s blog for quite a while, but it wasn’t until this year that I picked up his books.  Godin provides amazing insight into marketing and big-picture philosophy as we navigate today’s changing world of media.  His writing style is quick and gets strait to the point, and those points tend to be value-packed pieces of information.  Purple Cow will teach you the importance of being remarkable.  Tribes is not only about building a following, but building a movement.

The Sitepoint Web Design Business Kit – A little pricey, but definitely money well-spent.  Sure, most of it were things I probably could have taught myself or learned through various other outlets.  But having all of this information packed together in one place made it an excellent resource.  More importantly, it provided lots of food for thought.  I dedicated a few hours each week for about two months to reading chapters, then writing and reflecting on ideas that could work for my business.  I didn’t follow all of the instructions to a tee, but this kit helped me carve out a game plan that worked for my specific situation.

Favorite RSS feeds from 2009 -  As of today, I have 96 subscriptions in my Google Reader.  Believe it or not, that’s after trimming it down some.  Here are a few of my favorites from this past year:

  • The Netsetter – fantastic blog from Collis Ta’eed, founder of Envato.
  • Adii Rockstar – Insightful and interesting posts from Adii, founder of WooThemes.
  • Gary Vaynerchuck – How can you not love his powerhouse video blog (the business one, not the wine one)?
  • WordPress Tavern – Not only a great hangout/forum for WordPress, but it has become the go-to resource for WordPress news.  Great podcast.
  • Unmatched Style – This has become my first go-to resource (among others) for web design inspiration.
  • Signal vs. Noise – Great business blog and new podcast from the guys behind 37 Signals.

Blogging

2009 was the year I made a full-on commitment to blogging- in multiple places.  Through posting to my various blogs and guest blogging on others, I learned quite a bit about this great medium.  Here are the highlights / lessons learned from my year of blogging and Tweeting:

  • Don’t blog with hopes of monetizing your content (as I tried to do with servethesong.net).  Blogging should be a way to support your other business – whatever that business is.  Don’t make the blog itself the business because the chances of success are too slim.
  • I’m happy to say that roughly 25% of my web design business came as a direct result of my blogs and tweets- either through blog comments, emails from readers, or @replies.
  • Simplicity is key.  Get right to the point.  Seth Godin’s blogging style is the perfect example of this, and something I’m striving to acheive in my own web writing (obviously not in this already too-long blog post).
  • SEO – While I don’t call myself an SEO expert or specialist, blogging has forced me to learn a lot about SEO, and developing websites and WordPress with SEO in mind.

Client Work

The biggest lesson learned in terms of client work is this:  Keep it flowing, but not at the expense of a stress-free workload.

Earlier this year, I posted about dealing with work-overload and managing stress.  I had reached a point where business-wise I was doing well, but personally I wasn’t.  I was making a decent income with little or no down-times, but I was working crazy hours, dealing with crazy clients, and it resulted in high levels of stress, which affected my relationships and overall enjoyment of my chosen career path.

So now, I’m happy to say that I’ve found a good balance.  After two years of being in business, I’m no longer worried about finding work for next month and the month after.  I can (cautiously) assume the work will be there because I’ve built a reputation for myself as a reliable and recommendable web designer.  I’ve learned to be selective when taking on client work, choosing only the projects that meet these requirements:

  • The client must be respectful and professional.
  • The project budget must make it worth my time.
  • The project should bring in other benefits besides a paycheck:  Opportunity to learn a new skill, a challenging design problem, an opportunity to expand my portfolio, etc.

Other Developments

There are two other major highlights from 2009 I’d like to mention:

I moved apartments and workspace – Thanks to a successful year of client work, I managed to upgrade my living and working space.  See a pic of my workspace here and checkout some pics from my new rooftop here.

Began planning and building ThemeJam – My WordPress Themes company.  It’s set to launch in early 2010, but I’ve been hard at work planning and prepping over the last few months.  Much more to come on this topic in 2010.

Over to you!

I’m always interested to hear from you via the comments or on Twitter.  What did you learn during the past year about yourself, your business, or the web in general?  Share your thoughts in the comments below, or on Twitter.

Here’s to a successful year ahead!

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.

Working Schedule of a (hustling) Freelancer

by Brian Casel  ·  12.2.2009  ·  Bits, Business

Freelancing and entrepreneurship is all about working your ass off to make your passion your career.

It’s also about time management, and that could be one of the toughest things for a work-at-home freelancer.  It’s often hard to tell when to stop working, when to start, when to wake up, when to take a break, etc.

In case you haven’t noticed that second logo down there in the sidebar, that’s my second business, ThemeJam.  It’s a WordPress Themes shop (yes, another one).  ThemeJam is still a work in progress, and currently has a temporary site up.  I’m hoping to launch it in early 2010… read the full details about ThemeJam here.

Since moving into my new apartment and work space back in November, I have changed my working schedule somewhat.  Before the move, my working schedule was quite similar to most people.  Wake up early, take lunch around noon, and work until the early evening before calling it quits for the night.

But now that I’m involved in this work-intensive side project (ThemeJam), I have to divide my time more carefully.  Here’s my new (approximate) working schedule:

  • 10:00am – 11:00am: Wake up, breakfast, nytimes.com / Google Reader / Twitter
  • 11:00am – 1:00pm: Emails, client work
  • 1:00pm – 1:30pm: Lunch / more blog/Twitter reading
  • 1:30pm – 4:00pm: Client work
  • 4:00pm – 5:00pm: Gym (or continue client work)
  • 5:00pm – 7:00pm: Email, finish up client work
  • 7:00pm – 12:00am: Dinner, chillax, Daily show / Colbert
  • 12:00am – 3:00am: Work on personal projects (mostly ThemeJam)
  • sleep and repeat

Yup, I’m now a late-night worker and I’m kind of enjoying it.  It’s so peaceful and quiet late at night (I live on a noisy street in New York City) and I’m getting lots of personal work done during these late-night sessions.

After I get through the ThemeJam launch, I may go back to a more normal working schedule, but for now I’m enjoying taking advantage of the freelance lifestyle : )

Separation of work and… work

I’m finding that it’s very important to separate client work from personal project work.  I’m very excited about working on WordPress themes and building out the ThemeJam store, but I can’t let it interfere with my current business of serving web design clients.  That’s why I’m focusing on client work during the day-time work hours and then dedicating late-nights (and parts of weekends) to sinking my teeth into this new venture.

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