Freelance Lifestyle

[JoshWhite]

@AlenAbdula what is it that puts you off about that statement? Just curious about your perspective.

I might clash a little bit just because of my semantics. Someone who just dabbles in web design on the side for extra money isn’t really freelancing in my opinion. To me that’s more of a hobbyist.

[Alen]

> @AlenAbdula what is it that puts you off about that statement? Just curious about your perspective.

I don’t agree with the “The only reason to go freelance” and “making a lot of money” part.

There are a lot of motivating factors to go freelance, making a lot of money should not be one of them.

[jurotek]

Freelancing or being self employed as independent contractor are entirely two different things. If you freelance you still most likely have to answer to some independent agency (employer) who gets jobs and acts as a middle man between you (who will do the work) and customer.

If you are self employed independent contractor you’ll most likely deal with customer directly and the potential for reward is greater than that of freelancer.

[JoshWhite]

I definitely understand your point there and overall I do agree with you.

In this context however I think it was appropriate. Everything @elmsoftware mentioned was mostly financial based – revolving around the questions I agonized over. Could I feed my family? Could I make a living? Will I just make more working at another desk job?

So I think in this particular instance it will primarily be motivated by the financial side.

[jurotek]

There’s nothing wrong being motivated by the financial side of things at all. But what it eventually comes down to is this: Do what you love and money will follow. There’s nothing more satisfying in life then being able to make living from your hobby. As my grandpa once said many moons ago to me: Make living out of something what you love and you’ll never have to work for rest of your life, regardless whether it is for yourself or someone else.

[Alen]

@JoshWhite, I have two kids at home. My road to becoming self-employed is purely motivated by the fact I want to spend time with them while they’re young. If I have to take a pay cut, for me it’s worth it. I guess it all depends if you’re living above/below your means.

[jurotek]

:) Had to Google this to prove you wrong! Oh well.

Definition of freelance: These workers are sometimes represented by a company or an agency that resells their labor and that of others to its clients with or without project management and labor contributed by its regular employees.

Definition of contractor: Natural person, business or corporation which provides goods or services to another entity under terms specified in a contract ;)

[jurotek]

Let me give you example of freelance. You are unemployed and can’t find full time job so you go to temp agency. They already made contract with some employer to help them with their needs so they offer that job to you. There is no contract involved on your part. You can walk away anytime without any liability. On the other hand if you are self employed independent contractor and you make contract with customer and don’t deliver, what do you think will happen?

[jurotek]

LOL, enough of that :) My feathers starting to fluff more than I would like :)

BTW @traq, I don’t disagree with anything you wrote!

[Alen]

Here’s a radical idea.

http://vimeo.com/69452647

[elmsoftware]

The reason I wrote was because I am at a crossroads.

For the last nine years, I have had my own software business. It trended upward each year for the first 6 and the last 3 has trended downward. The trend downward is a natural part of any organism and I am trying to reinvent/self-cannabilize my business. It is a potentially long process and I was thinking lately about other means of making money as I continue coding for the future of my business.

But with each new day, I have been entertaining different job paths…do I go back to corporate? Go back to consulting (what I did 9 years ago)? Both of those mean that I am away from my family (wife and two kids (6 and 4)) and back in the corporate world…no violins should be playing for this choice…it is a great way to make a living, but I prefer the ‘freedom’ of having my own business.

Or…do I try to do websites? Does creating websites as a freelancer (one in which you have to get your own customers and bill them accordingly or I guess working with a firm that sub-contracts to you)…would that work for me? I developed static websites for my business and then one ASP.Net one and now I just did my first WordPress site, but it took a lot of time. It tried my best to do everything ‘right’. But after doing it (which I did pro-bono for our church’s preschool, win-win, they have a nice new site and I learned about WordPress and php in the process), I was wondering, how much would a company charge for this? How much would a freelancer charge for this? It had about 8 unique information pages and then the blog and calendar with some custom stuff thrown in…but I do not know how much a person would charge for it.

I hope this question is in good taste…
**How much could I have charge for this?**: [www.stmatthews-school.org](http://stmatthews-school.org) There is a lot of underlying things that are ‘behind-the-scenes’ understandably like newsletters and Groups management. Excuse me if this is in bad taste or broaches etiquette for this forum.

One website for a church that I saw, the church contact said it cost them $4,000 in Minnesota and then $100 / hour for maintenance. The site was real nice. I was thinking if it took me a 4-5 months to make the website and I got $4,000, that is good but I do not think I could support my family. It would take a lot of time (for me) for the income. So I am trying to wrap my head around, what people charge and to see if I can create websites fast enough. Maybe others out there have developed their freelance business where they can create 8 websites/year at a cost of $7,000 per website. Others maybe more, others maybe less. The information I am looking for is too personal I believe. I do not want anyone to share their prices (unless those prices are public knowledge).

So information about…
**How long it takes you on average to deliver a website?**
…is of interest. With the understanding that websites requirements vary greatly.

**How many websites do you need to do per year on average to live ‘comfortably’?**
The loose word ‘comfortably’ can be interpreted to be a nice average U.S. middle class income….just to have a firm number, let’s day $40,000 to $50,000. With the hope that one could make $100,000 if you get in a groove and have the appropriate skills.

I appreciate everyone’s thoughts on this greatly.
I will make a decision for me that is best, but your feedback is very helpful in me making that decision.

[elmsoftware]

@deeve007
Thanks for writing and information. Will take a look at the above url and I will do my research about my local market and like you said, see what I need to charge for my circumstances.

All the best!

[kiera]

Well I am working full time, and never cross in my mind to become a freelancer in the near future.

[Author]

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