29 January 2012
Tips on becoming a freelance web/graphic designer

Freelancing for yourself can be the first steps into starting your own design company or can just give people the flexibility and control over their working lives. In general, freelancers taking this route tend to be more entrepreneurial, they realise that this is not going to be easy. You'll work long hours (some of them unpaid), you'll be "pounding the pavements" almost as much as you will be working and your business skills especially in the marketing and finance departments will take up a fair bit of your time. Also, the steady paycheck will vanish! You'll have to deal with tax issues and figure out how much you can charge your clients. However, on the plus side, you get freedom to choose the work you'd like to do (to some extent) and the potential to earn more money is also there.

In a nutshell, freelancers are self-employed and sub-contract their skills out to other companies. However, in practice this is only a part of the story. You'll find out pretty quickly that the freedom that you get from being your own boss and the extra flexibility can be eaten away quickly as you find yourself invoicing, chasing unpaid invoices, meeting clients and marketing yourself in general.