Category: Employment
In the fourth of five interviews with web designers and developers who are self employed I chat with David Longworth. Much like Jon Hicks, I’ve never actually met David… I just kinda dropped him an email and he’s been kind enough to give some of his time for my 10 questions. David is a web designer & design consultant based in the Uk and has a business called Orange Tape Studios.
Why
Nathan: So what was it that made you decide to ‘go it alone’?
David: I had recently finished a project I had done for a friend’s friend and I thought to myself why not make some money out of this because before that I had just messed about in Microsoft Publisher ’97 creating sites (Nathan: You’re a brave man.) that I had to host on one of those free, advertising pasted hosting sites (Bravenet if I recall).
Ch ch ch ch changes
Nathan: How did you prepare for the change in employment, did you ‘do it proper like’ and write a formal business plan before you started?
David: No, nothing like that. Although I keep an idea of where I am up to using Ta-da list amongst other things.
First day
Nathan: On your first day did you do a shed load of work or just play PlayStation?
David: I don’t actually recall a first day; I suppose everyday is a first day for everything because I am constantly learning new stuff from more talented folk. Great answer eh?
Rates
Nathan: If you charge by the hour, how did you decide on your hourly rate? Did you pluck a figure from the air or work out a rate based on the salary you required?
David: I did my research for this part. I read a couple of articles on how fellow designers set their own rates and what they were, particularly John Oxton’s article which had some very useful comments on it. This led me to £20 an hour/£200 a day – it sounds reasonable to me because I think I have style :)
Selling yourself
Nathan: What about marketing then… do you advertise your services in local rags, wear a short skirt and tout yourself on street corners or just rely on word of mouth?
David: Me and Andy have talked at length about this, everything from telephone sales to flyers through the letter box however the best way by far is having a chat to people you meet and ask friends/family if the know anyone who needs a website.
Structure
Nathan: How does your average work day pan out? For example do you have specific times during which you respond to prospects and clients, read blogs and eat biscuits, or do you just go with the flow?
David: After I get up first thing I do is switch on the PC (that’s right not a Mac) and check my emails to see if there has been any overnight activity, which there usually has been so depending on the urgency of the email I will either respond straight away or leave it until I have more info available to answer it. Then I usually fire-up my copy of FeedDemon and check for any new posts from my favourite blogs and have a read of those. I will usually work as long as I feel up to it, with plenty of breaks and refreshments along the way.
Work and play
Nathan: Does working freelance ‘actually’ give you more free time for yourself and/or your family? Or in reality and do you actually spend every waking hour sat at the computer trying to make sure that you can pay the bills each month?
David: I would say it offers more flexibility because I can pretty much work whenever I want, as long as I do work eventually; whether that is 2am or 4pm. I can also change things around if any social events pop up that I want to go to.
When disaster strikes
Nathan: What’s the one single biggest disaster that you’ve had to face, and how did you deal with it?
David: Thank God there has only been one…so far. To cut a long story short a client decided that he didn’t like what he saw, even though he had said ok to it all the way through. So in the end I redid the whole site in a couple of hours and everyone was happy – just goes to show that my best work is when I am under pressure.
The future (is bright hopefully)
Nathan: Being self employed you must have some ambition… where do you want your business to be in ten years time?
David: Mainly expansion, I would like to get some office space and hire some more talented folk to work with. Maybe even move into other areas of new media and see how I do, but it depends on how many clients I have/how much money I earn.
Tip please
Nathan: And finally, what single tip would you give to someone who is considering going freelance to help make the leap into the unknown that little less daunting?
David: The most important piece of advice I can offer is that you should really have a blog/website of your own. There are two distinct advantages to this, one being you can show off you design skills while having a laugh writing and discussing with other people about whatever you like, the second is that through the links that you (might) get, you also get potential clients you your inbox. Take this answer you are reading, it would not have been here if Nathan hadn’t found my email address on my site.
Sites like the CSS Reboot are also a great way to get linkage. I was getting a small amount of traffic that I was pretty happy with, but you know the more the merrier – then almost overnight things exploded and I had a full inbox and lots of site activity thanks to Benjamin Adam and his great idea.
In the third of five interviews with web designers and developers who are self employed I chat with Darren Miller. I got to know Darren whilst working at TMB on an event based video game for HP. Darren is a new media designer and developer.
Why
Nathan: So what was it that made you decide to ‘go it alone’?
Darren: Not a sit-and-think-about-it decision by any means. On returning from a year away I found it incredibly hard to either find a permanent job or commit myself to the daily commute. So I took a few freelance jobs – mainly working from home. Suddenly a year had passed and I was getting by just fine.
Ch ch ch ch changes
Nathan: How did you prepare for the change in employment, did you ‘do it proper like’ and write a formal business plan before you started?
Darren: No plan at all. I borrowed a computer from my Dad, a spare room from a friend, sent out a few letters and just got on with it.
First day
Nathan: On your first day did you do a shed load of work or just play PlayStation?
Darren: Due to my circumstances at the time (work shy hippy), my first day was spread out over about six months. I just gradually noticed I was watching less Columbo and doing more work.
Rates
Nathan: If you charge by the hour, how did you decide on your hourly rate? Did you pluck a figure from the air or work out a rate based on the salary you required?
Darren: My hourly rate is based on a few phone calls to agencies to get a feel for the going rate. I’m still not sure I charge enough…
Selling yourself
Nathan: What about marketing then… do you advertise your services in local rags, wear a short skirt and tout yourself on street corners or just rely on word of mouth?
Darren: There’s been a few times in the last two years I’ve thought “I must get some new business” and start to look into doing a mailing or getting on the phone. Every time I think that my phone starts ringing with work offers and doesn’t stop for days!
I guess the lesson there is do a good job for people and they’ll come back for more.
Structure
Nathan: How does your average work day pan out? For example do you have specific times during which you respond to prospects and clients, read blogs and eat biscuits, or do you just go with the flow?
Darren: Depends on work load but I’ll usually do my emails and admin before getting stuck into paid work. It’s also important to devote at least one day per month to getting the bills out and the money in.
h3. Work and play
Nathan: Does working freelance ‘actually’ give you more free time for yourself and/or your family? Or in reality and do you actually spend every waking hour sat at the computer trying to make sure that you can pay the bills each month?
Darren: I’d find it very hard to work any other way. The ability to take time off whenever you feel do to whatever you enjoy is worth so much. The price you pay for that is some unusual working hours sometimes!
When disaster strikes
Nathan: What’s the one single biggest disaster that you’ve had to face, and how did you deal with it?
Darren: Moving house was a fun week. NTL were late installing my broadband so I was checking emails and uploading stuff from a friends house. Then I lost my car keys so couldn’t do that either. Then the power got shut off.
I’d made sure I didn’t have much going on around the move so I got away with it through lots of smiles and excuses. Generally people are understanding if you have genuine problems but you do need to have a backup plan in the back of your mind for when things go really tits up.
The future (is bright hopefully)
Nathan: Being self employed you must have some ambition… where do you want your business to be in ten years time?
Darren: Retired would be nice – but sadly unlikely. I’d like to think I’d be doing something completely different in ten years. Programming is good at paying the bills but it’s hardly a fulfilling job. For now I’m happy enough but I always have an eye and and ear out for new opportunities.
Tip please
Nathan: And finally, what single tip would you give to someone who is considering going freelance to help make the leap into the unknown that little less daunting?
Darren: Can I do two?
- Have money in the bank.
The worst thing that could happen to me is for work to dry up to the extent that I have to get a real job. By having a few months cash to hand you buy yourself time to get new business and avoid having to take this drastic measure!
- Get a good accountant.
Unless you enjoy filling in corporation tax returns. Personally the very thought of it makes me want to kill myself.
In the second of 5 interviews with web designers and developers who are self employed I chat with Jon Hicks. I’ve never ‘actually’ met Jon, but he’s a fellow Brit and makes his money off the back of some one man venture called ‘“Hicksdesign”:http://www.hicksdesign.co.uk’… you’ve probably not heard of him, it’s not like he did the Firefox logo or anything you’ve probably heard of him, he did the Firefox logo don’t you know.
Why
Nathan: So what was it that made you decide to ‘go it alone’?
Jon: There were a few factors:
- My job was going to become progressively more project management (I was a designer for an educational publishers that hired other freelancers), and I wanted to keep doing the creative stuff for a bit longer.
- I’d always fancied starting my own business. I went on a government run day-course on how to start your own business to see if I thought I could do it, and it was very encouraging.
- The real catalyst was having our first child, and I wanted to look after her for at least one day a week. Part-time design jobs are hard to come by, but freelancing would give me the flexibility to do that.
Ch ch ch ch changes
Nathan: How did you prepare for the change in employment, did you ‘do it proper like’ and write a formal business plan before you started?
Jon: I wrote up a ‘mission statement’ – what I wanted to do, and what I needed to do to achieve that. This statement changed later – but it doesn’t matter, it got me started. I registered for VAT in advance (so that I could claim back all the VAT on equipment that I would buy in the first year), and worked out a price per hour.
Also – try and save up 3 months pay before you do it. Even if you get work on day one, its going to be a while before you get paid, and you need that buffer to be safe.
First day
Nathan: On your first day did you do a shed load of work or just play PlayStation?
Jon: A shed load of work believe it or not! I had some jobs lined up ready (fortunately!) and its hasn’t stopped since.
Rates
Nathan: If you charge by the hour, how did you decide on your hourly rate? Did you pluck a figure from the air or work out a rate based on the salary you required?
Jon: Based on 2 things. First working out expenses/costs for the first year (obviously this is a guess when you’re starting off), how many hours I intended to work and how much profit I wanted (say 50%). From that you can work out how much you need to charge to cover your expenses and profit. Its also based on current market rates, and I gauged whereabouts I should place myself with my skills & experience.
Each year, don’t forget to increase your costs. Inflation rises, and you have to follow it to stay in business.
Selling yourself
Nathan: What about marketing then… do you advertise your services in local rags, wear a short skirt and tout yourself on street corners or just rely on word of mouth?
Jon: Me in a short skirt? Ugh, that wouldn’t help anybody!
I expected to have to do a lot of advertising, but everything (and I do mean everything!) has come from Word of Mouth. Even before I got a blog (which opened up more possibilities) I got all my work from happy customers passing my details on. It’s the best form of advertising.
Structure
Nathan: How does your average work day pan out? For example do you have specific times during which you respond to prospects and clients, read blogs and eat biscuits, or do you just go with the flow?
Jon: Answering email enquiries is a huge time sucker, as are RSS feeds. My structure is generally;
Get into work. Check emails, and respond to any urgent ones.
Quit my email app and RSS reader – work until lunchtime, with wee breaks to stretch every hour.
Read RSS feeds over lunch, then quit out again.
Mid-afternoon is my worst time. Energy is low, feeling sleepy, so I often take a walk at this point to clear my head and think through problems.
Evening – respond to emails and a bit more work.
The day is also punctuated with copious cups of tea, or diet coke. I don’t have any specific time that I talk to clients – its whenever I or they need to. I don’t change my working position as much as I should do. If you can get a desk that allows to change your working position – such as working standing for short period, thats the ideal. Try not to let your body be fixed in one position for too long.
Work and play
Nathan: Does working freelance ‘actually’ give you more free time for yourself and/or your family? Or in reality and do you actually spend every waking hour sat at the computer trying to make sure that you can pay the bills each month?
Jon: The reality for me is that I spend a lot of time working. I would have more time with the kids at the weekend if I wasn’t freelance, but at least it means your more flexible during the week.
When disaster strikes
Nathan: What’s the one single biggest disaster that you’ve had to face, and how did you deal with it?
Jon: Cashflow. You really do have to plan ahead and work out if you’re going to have enough money coming in in 3-6 months time. It wasn’t a big disaster, but it almost was. Unfortunately its very easy to ignore the accounts side – you don’t get paid to do it, its dull, and therefore it gets left to the last minute. I loathe every minute of it, but I do it.
The future (is bright hopefully)
Nathan: Being self employed you must have some ambition… where do you want your business to be in ten years time?
Jon: That would be telling! I do have some plans – I don’t want to be a lone freelancer forever, but neither do I want to go back to working for someone else! More on that in a while ;o)
Tip please
Nathan: And finally, what single tip would you give to someone who is considering going freelance to help make the leap into the unknown that little less daunting?
Jon: It may be hard work and stressful at times, but the sheer satisfaction is unmissable. After a while you look back and realise that you’re doing everything yourself, and your only ‘boss’ is your client. You can’t beat that feeling – trust me! If you never make that leap, you’ll never get to experience it.
In the first of 5 interviews with web designers and developers who are self employed I chat with Craig Grannell. I first met Craig whilst working at Designation way back in 1999. Craig’s business (Snub Communications) provides web design and copywriting services.
Why
Nathan: So what was it that made you decide to ‘go it alone’?
Craig: Two things, really. The first was being able to rely on myself rather than others. I got hit by the fallout of “dot bomb” and then ended up at another agency in financial strife, thereby reducing both potential workload and salary. During this time, I’d got a number of contacts in the industry and figured I’d be better off just having to look after myself and my clients rather than a company as well. And then I moved to Iceland ‹ seeing as I’m not fluent in Icelandic, I’d have only been able to get menial work there until such a time as I could speak the language. Having a solid freelance client list meant I could work for myself, despite living overseas.
Ch ch ch ch changes
Nathan: How did you prepare for the change in employment, did you ‘do it proper like’ and write a formal business plan before you started?
Craig: Nope. I just gradually went into freelance, reducing the amount of “non freelance” work, until such a point that I was only working for myself.
First day
Nathan: On your first day did you do a shed load of work or just play PlayStation?
Craig: I didn’t have a “first day” in the typical sense, as I’ve just said. However, anyone who spends their freelance work time messing around simply won’t make it ‹ you have to be committed and have plenty of will-power.
Rates
Nathan: If you charge by the hour, how did you decide on your hourly rate? Did you pluck a figure from the air or work out a rate based on the salary you required?
Craig: I decided on a suitable salary and used something along the lines of this Payroll Calculator to figure out an hourly rate for a typical working week, based on the annual salary, and then doubled it (because, generally speaking, you only actually work creatively for half your working day). This was then “reality checked” against other companies, and was deemed competitive.
Selling yourself
Nathan: What about marketing then… do you advertise your services in local rags, wear a short skirt and tout yourself on street corners or just rely on word of mouth?
Craig: Word of mouth, primarily, but I also get business via my journalism and book work.
Structure
Nathan: How does your average work day pan out? For example do you have specific times during which you respond to prospects and clients, read blogs and eat biscuits, or do you just go with the flow?
Craig: Each day is different, so I find that creating plans to try and stick to is just a waste of time. However, I generally try to do “menial”/non-creative work (reading emails and forums, and so on) while eating, leaving the rest of the time for more important stuff.
Work and play
Nathan: Does working freelance ‘actually’ give you more free time for yourself and/or your family? Or in reality and do you actually spend every waking hour sat at the computer trying to make sure that you can pay the bills each month?
Craig: It means there’s no commute, potentially providing more time during the day. The reality of freelancing, however, is that you never entirely know where your next job is coming from, so most have a tendency to get in too much work and therefore end up working longer hours than is perhaps necessary “to pay the bills” ‹ at least for periods of time.
When disaster strikes
Nathan: What’s the one single biggest disaster that you’ve had to face, and how did you deal with it?
Craig: My main works hard drive, which had been working fine for months, suddenly failed. Although I had back-ups of most things, I didn’t have everything, and so I had to spend three days trying to retrieve data. I now have a slightly more bullet-proof back-up system in place, which involves a mirrored h/d and regular back-ups to DVDR.
The future (is bright hopefully)
Nathan: Being self employed you must have some ambition… where do you want your business to be in ten years time?
Craig: Ideally, I’d like to be in the position where I only have to “work” a few days each week, thereby providing me with the time to spend concentrating on music and family.
Tip please
Nathan: And finally, what single tip would you give to someone who is considering going freelance to help make the leap into the unknown that little less daunting?
Craig: Some tips:
- Don’t fuck up. If you state a deadline to a client, stick to it. Always do your best work, and don’t think you can get away with cutting corners.
- Be realistic. If a client says they want something by a certain date that’s simply not achievable, either try to convince them to shift the deadline or don’t take the job.
- Be honest. If you screw up, say so ‹ don’t try to fool a client. If you’re going to miss a deadline, for whatever reason, tell the client with as much advance warning as possible.
- Get an accountant. Keep all your receipts, log all of your jobs (and when/if you’re paid) and get an accountant to do your tax returns.
- Back-up. You need a minimum of two levels of back-up ‹ get a one-touch external firewire drive to back-up your work to at least once every week (or daily, if possible) and also regularly back-up to DVDR.
As an individual that’s been fully employed since 1997 I regularly wonder what it would be like to set up on my own, whether I could make it work and how others have managed.
Going it alone is something I’m thinking about more and more often. So I thought that to educate myself, and others who have the same ambition, that I’d ask some individuals within the community to answer 10 questions on the subject.
I’ll be publishing the views of these individuals over the next week or so, but first let me introduce those who have been so kind as to take some time out to answer my questions.
Craig Grannell
I first met Craig whilst working at Designation. Way back then (1999?) Craig introduced me to CSS.
Darren Miller
I know Darren from my time at TMB where he got collared into writing an ASP application to collate and output high scores for a Video game we were developing for HP at the time. Lots of fun.
David Longworth
To be honest I wouldn’t say that I ‘know’ David. However I did link to his site and he replied to my email and said “I’m up for that”… so I guess that’s fair enough.
John Oxton
I suppose I’m what you’d call a ‘virtual friend’ of Johns. I’ve never met him or even talked to him on the blower. I did email him a few times though, and he was nice enough to write back.
Jon Hicks
Well… I’m sure you all know of Mr Hicks. He’s done all sorts of neat things and seems to be pretty respected around these parts.
So, that’s the feisty five. Keep your eyes peeled. The first answers will be published shortly.
