A New Resolution
The Way It Is
Everyone uses the web nowadays, it seems that everyone also has some "brilliant" idea about what the next big thing will be or a good way to make a quick buck. Fortunately for us, the freelance web developer, most people don't know how to make this next big thing a reality, and that's supposed to be our bread and butter.
It seems that for most of us the first few lessons we learn in this trade are the realities of the business end of things. I myself was that way. I'd do projects on the cheap in return for some percentage of the profits. None of these ideas took off. Often times the project would fizzle out and I'd get paid little or nothing, and usually less than the effort put in should have paid me. As a result, ask almost any jaded programmer for advice and they will likely tell you much the same things. Always get some money up front, don;t work for free or for percentages. These arrangements usually go badly for us.
For the new year I'm going to go against this wisdom a bit. I'm resolving to in 2009, not take any side projects for money. This isn't some noble cause I'm taking up: to make the world a better place through pro-bono web design. I'm not going to save the whales. This is a new outlook about what it is going to take to make me more satisfied with my job, expand my knowledge base, and get filthy rich.
The Way It Will Be
The motivation for not taking any paid projects this next year may seem a bit fuzzy and in regards to getting rich it appear downright counterintuitive.
When I take side projects I do make a fair amount of money. It is a greater hourly rate by far than what I make behind my desk at my day job. However, the projects I take are the ones where the client has the means to pay. They pay 25% up front, they don't fight the quoted price much, they don't even mention doing work for free or a cut. The usual hallmarks of a side job, I'll be willing to accept.
The reason is this. I want to be excited again. This next year, I would rather make nothing more than my base sallary, but be able to say I built something that I thought was a great idea. Maybe I'll have the idea, or maybe it will be one of those prospective clients I would have once ignored. The key is even though this goes against what a few years experience has taught me and many others, maybe 10 years experience can now help me pick up on that the truely good ones.
It's a long shot on the getting rich part. I'm too realistic to think this is just going to happen. But there are toher reasons and I think that those will come with the effort. I want to help push boundaries in web design. Paying clients usually just want strict emulation of other sites that they like. I want to experiment. Try new things and learn in the process. This will add to my skill set and lead to greater satisfaction with the job I am doing.
I don't have it all figured out yet, but I have decided that I'm going to do it. Here's looking forward to a new year.
Everyone uses the web nowadays, it seems that everyone also has some "brilliant" idea about what the next big thing will be or a good way to make a quick buck. Fortunately for us, the freelance web developer, most people don't know how to make this next big thing a reality, and that's supposed to be our bread and butter.
It seems that for most of us the first few lessons we learn in this trade are the realities of the business end of things. I myself was that way. I'd do projects on the cheap in return for some percentage of the profits. None of these ideas took off. Often times the project would fizzle out and I'd get paid little or nothing, and usually less than the effort put in should have paid me. As a result, ask almost any jaded programmer for advice and they will likely tell you much the same things. Always get some money up front, don;t work for free or for percentages. These arrangements usually go badly for us.
For the new year I'm going to go against this wisdom a bit. I'm resolving to in 2009, not take any side projects for money. This isn't some noble cause I'm taking up: to make the world a better place through pro-bono web design. I'm not going to save the whales. This is a new outlook about what it is going to take to make me more satisfied with my job, expand my knowledge base, and get filthy rich.
The Way It Will Be
The motivation for not taking any paid projects this next year may seem a bit fuzzy and in regards to getting rich it appear downright counterintuitive.
When I take side projects I do make a fair amount of money. It is a greater hourly rate by far than what I make behind my desk at my day job. However, the projects I take are the ones where the client has the means to pay. They pay 25% up front, they don't fight the quoted price much, they don't even mention doing work for free or a cut. The usual hallmarks of a side job, I'll be willing to accept.
The reason is this. I want to be excited again. This next year, I would rather make nothing more than my base sallary, but be able to say I built something that I thought was a great idea. Maybe I'll have the idea, or maybe it will be one of those prospective clients I would have once ignored. The key is even though this goes against what a few years experience has taught me and many others, maybe 10 years experience can now help me pick up on that the truely good ones.
It's a long shot on the getting rich part. I'm too realistic to think this is just going to happen. But there are toher reasons and I think that those will come with the effort. I want to help push boundaries in web design. Paying clients usually just want strict emulation of other sites that they like. I want to experiment. Try new things and learn in the process. This will add to my skill set and lead to greater satisfaction with the job I am doing.
I don't have it all figured out yet, but I have decided that I'm going to do it. Here's looking forward to a new year.
posted by Rob Lynch | 9:30 AM
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