As I approach my sixth month as a full-time, freelance web developer, I want to reflect a little on the lessons I’ve learned along the way. Regardless of how much I studied beforehand to prepare, it was inevitable that some things I just had to learn on my ... Continue Reading
Freelancing Tips
This past year I left my day job to freelance full time. I worked 11 months out of the year with the company I left and did freelancing on the side from about June through the end of the year. Now filing taxes had had always been an easy task ... Continue Reading
Part 8: Some Final Words Well, we’ve reached the eighth and final part of my blog series on becoming a full time freelancer in one year, and I want to end it with some final words of encouragement to CodeNewbies in general and more specifically those who have ... Continue Reading
Part 7: The Exit Strategy In the previous posts I discussed my beginnings, training, finding clients, tools, niching, etc., and up to this point I was still working my regular full time job. But it quickly became too much to handle. And this is actually a good thing…temporarily. ... Continue Reading
Part 6: Tools In part 5 I discussed my decision to focus on development instead of design. This helped to bring clarity to my business and helped me to define my target audience. As soon as one begins to pick up freelance work and consider doing it full time, questions ... Continue Reading
One of the first concerns for new freelancers is the topic of money management. How do I go about billing my client? How much do I set aside for taxes? How can I most effectively and efficiently manage the money that I earn? Are there applications or workflows that are ... Continue Reading
People are very opinionated regarding sites like Upwork. While many have looked at it with disdain in the past (when it was Elance and Odesk), it has gotten a lot better…..especially with more recognized and “Big Name” companies using it to find people for contract work. ... Continue Reading
There are two avenues for CodeNewbies: One is that you learn to code and you put together a portfolio of sites and apps that you have built during your training. This demonstrates to employers that you have the competency to code and to build websites and applications. The other avenue ... Continue Reading
I was talking to a fairly successful businessman the other day who, upon me stating I was trying to pursue freelance web development, said that there was no market or demand for it in my area and that it was not a wise pursuit. Being that we both live in ... Continue Reading
This was my initial conundrum. Who buys the WordPress theme? The first two clients that I picked up both had a generic, free theme, and I suggested from the outset that they get a premium theme and let me customize it to their taste. Yet, the lack of understanding of ... Continue Reading