In this issue of Ask FreelanceSwitch, Travis King and Thursday Bram look at how to start your freelance career and what to do with an empty portfolio.

Ask FreelanceSwitch is a new regular column here that allows us to help beginners get a grip on freelancing. If you have a question about freelancing that you want answered, send an email to askfreelanceswitch@gmail.com.

It’s go time!

Question #1

I’m recently unemployed, since October of 2009. Maybe as a measure to make myself feel confident and better, I just immediately told people that I’m freelancing. Even though I didn’t entirely know what I’m doing. I’ve used your website for information and guidance however I’m having trouble with just the basics: where do I find clients? I’m not a part of a network of any major professionals, I’ve was in school for nearly 7 years and was only in the workforce for a little more than a year until they let me go. I’m just not sure where to turn to find clients effectively. From what I hear from other freelancers, so many of them developed relationships with clients from previous jobs or because they’ve been working in the field for so long.

What should someone fresh off the boat do? Just cold-calling? I should add that I’m currently focusing on web design and development but my schooling is in the fine arts, digital media and music. I just don’t feel confident I could make real money from my artwork and music.
Any advice for someone like me?

-Estevan

Thursday: Some freelancers luck out and don’t have to start finding clients from scratch. For everybody else, finding clients can be tough. Since clients don’t drop out of thin air, we have to go looking for them. There are several options beyond your own network:

• Bid sites like Elance: In general, I’m not the biggest fan of bid sites. It can be tough to find projects that pay a fair rate for work. But when you’re first starting out, especially if you don’t have the strongest portfolio, they can be a good option. Look for projects that pay you what you’re worth in order to start finding clients.
• Networking: While your network may not be the strongest when you’re starting out, it’s crucial to build it up, both online and off. Start networking groups for small business in your area — when you’re starting out, small business owners can make for great clients because they’ll often be willing to recommend you to their network if you do good work for them.
• Marketing: While bid sites can bring in money in the short-term, in the long-term, you’ve got to market yourself as a designer. Depending on the niche you want to work in, how you market yourself. If you want to design sites based on WordPress, release a free theme or two. If you want to put together sites for big non-profits, get testimonials from smaller non-profits. Look at your goals and start planning your marketing around them.

Unless you’ve got one heck of a portfolio, I’d actually suggest waiting on the cold-calling. Turning a cold call into one of your first clients is significantly harder than landing a client through cold calling when you already have a reputation as a great web designer — and even that is pretty tough.

Travis: I want to tell you a secret I picked up about freelancing, Estevan. It’s a lot of hard work. And while saying you’re a freelancer seems like a lot of fun on the surface, it doesn’t mean a whole lot if you don’t work at it as hard as you would any other job.

Let me illustrate. I like to tell people that I have the body of an underwear model, and while in my case it’s completely true, for most people that would be a lie. Because without a strict regimen of exercise and proper diet (which I don’t have) most people could only dream about being as mesmeric as I am. So as you can see, just saying you are something doesn’t magically make it true. Unless you’re me.

What I’m trying to say is this – get out there and pound the pavement. Look for chances to network and market yourself. It’s true, you’re starting at somewhat of a disadvantage without having at least a few clients before making the jump to freelancing, but if you’re willing to do your crunches and shape those buns, soon you’ll have a body of freelancing work almost as impressive as mine.

Also, one word if you’re thinking about doing any cold calling. Don’t.

Cold calling when you’re just starting out will the suck the life force out of you, leaving your body a shriveled pile of flesh on the office floor. Some people will tell you how successful they’ve become from doing cold calls. Those people are liars.

Question #2

I am getting started with web development freelancing but a problem that I am having is that all potential clients want to see a portfolio. I have years of experience but it has all been on internal sites. My question is how can I build a portfolio when I can’t land any freelance work?

- Brad

I want to freelance on the side and start to get established, but because we use External designers for our “look and feel” there is not a lot of creativity involved in what we produce. I’m having a hard time pulling together a portfolio to display even though I know I can handle most design aspects.
How do you think I can go about getting myself some examples of work done, so I can build up my portfolio?

Matt

Thursday: Having a solid portfolio is crucial as a freelancer, but luckily, there are plenty of options for building up samples of your work. The only downside is that it often requires working without payment. However, there are a few particularly good options.

A standard recommendation for beginning freelancers is to seek out non-profits that need help and offer to create a website for free in exchange for being able to use it in your portfolio. If you don’t have a lot of time on your hands, the payment issue may be a problem, but it can also be a fast way to get testimonials and pieces for your portfolio. Friends and family are also often willing to take advantage of an offer for a cheap or free website design.

Another option is to create samples sites — choose a website online and redesign it without even talking to the owner or create an imaginary client. However, since the site is not likely to be live, you can have a harder time of winning over clients. An alternative is building up a site or two of your own, like a blog about a favorite hobby or an informational website about a topic.

You can also create themes or templates and make them available online, either for free or through a marketplace like ThemeForest. While not quite the same as using client work in your portfolio, it will get your work out there and will often offer live sites that you can link to in your portfolio. Heck, you might even make a little money in the process.

Travis: You are both completely correct, without a portfolio, clients won’t give you the time of day.

Think of it this way, you know those signs in restaurants where it says “No Shoes. No Service”? Clients around the world have a similar saying – “No Portfolio. No Business.” (Also, as a word to restaurant owners – you should probably add “No Pants. No Service” to your signs as well. I was in a rush and I really needed my morning Americano. I thought the way I was treated was unfair and hurtful.)

At the beginning you’ll want to look for clients that you can volunteer your time and skills for in an effort to build up your portfolio. That will most likely mean working for free (I know, ick, right?). But always remember, just because you’re working for free doesn’t mean that you can skip putting together a contract or service agreement. Do everything like you would with a paying client. It will be good training and a protection against your largess being taken advantage of. And trust me; you never want someone to take advantage of your largess!

As Thursday mentioned, I think putting together work for sale on ThemeForest is also a great idea. Just remember to bring your A game and don’t feel bad if you get turned down a lot of times. You may not believe this, but even I have gotten my work rejected at ThemeForest. It’s a sad reality that even my superlative design skills can sometimes be overcome by my propensity for extreme laziness.

Some clients just keep asking for a little more: a four page website design can turn into a design plus copy or even a design plus copy plus marketing. It often happens just a little request at a time, as the scope of the project creeps ever larger. Scope creep isn’t always an entirely bad thing, of course. As long as your clients are willing to pay for the work that goes along with a bigger project, it can be beneficial. Depending on the situation, there are several responses you can offer to a client with a case of scope creep.

1. Glad to help — here’s a new estimate

If you can accommodate the changes, you’re more likely to end up with a happy client. However, since you also want to get paid for the time you work, it’s important to make sure that the client understands what an additional request will add to the bottom line immediately. That may result in the client changing his mind back to the original plan. It may also end with the client giving you the go ahead.

Mentioning a price up front is especially important when you’re working on a project with a flat rate. You don’t want to even run a risk of a client interpreting your response to mean that the cost of the changes are included in the original price.

2. I can’t meet the deadline

One of the biggest problems with scope creep is that it can wreak havoc on a schedule, sometimes to the point that you simply can’t finish the project by the deadline. And if you’ve got projects stacked up, even a small change in the deadline can cause you problems with your own schedule. In such cases, you have to offer the client some alternatives. Those can include changing the time table significantly, as well as bringing in a sub-contractor.

Some clients simply are on a tight deadline. It may be up to you to be the bad guy and tell them that extending the project’s parameters just isn’t an option due to the timing. While this is a problem that can be solved with more money, it’s typically very expensive — getting a sub-contractor up to speed or agreeing to work more hours for a rush fee can inflate a price tag quickly — and it may not be something you’re willing to do. There are only so many hours in a day, after all, and you may have other commitments that must come first.

3. Yes, but…

Sometimes, making both the price and time work is a matter of changing out other factors. While the idea of handling scope creep with even more changes can be scary, it can offer a compromise that makes the client happy and lets you get the job done. What changes is dependent on the project of course, but if can include decisions you and your client originally made when drawing up your initial agreement. For instance, one way to make a deadline work might be eliminating a round of revisions you initially agreed to.

If you’re willing to tackle the expanded project requirements, it’s important to figure out what changes they might force in the project as early as possible. The alternative can be a domino effect that turns a fairly easy project into something horribly frustrating.

4. No

It’s important to try to keep all communications about scope creep as calm as possible. While it’s easy to get frustrated at a client for piling request after request on top of an existing project, not all clients really realize that’s what they’re doing. Especially if you’re working with a client that is newer to working with freelancers or the type of project you’re working on, he may not recognize how much work his requests require. Furthermore, many clients are willing to pay to make the changes they want to their project — they’re just not clear on what those changes may require.

But sometimes clients want more than what the project originally called for, without having to pay more. If that point comes around, the only option you may have is to put your foot down and say no. It may not be the best option for maintaining a long-term relationship with the client in question — but losing a client who doesn’t consider your time worth paying for is probably not the worst thing that’s ever happened to you.

Recently, the FreelanceSwitch community was asked what simple, one-line advice they would give newly minted freelancers. The result was a surprising and poignant mix of wisdom, humor, and insight on topics such as clients, money, marketing, and keeping one’s sanity. Read on for the best advice from the FreelanceSwitch community!

It’s a not so well-kept secret that the FreelanceSwitch community forums are filled with experts and seasoned freelancers of every make and specialization. But everyone had to start somewhere! Being a new freelancer can be an exercise in hard lessons learned–we’ve all had to gather valuable wisdom through trial and (sometimes very expensive) error, and we all have “I wish I knew then…” stories to tell. When asked what their best on-liner advice was, the FreelanceSwitch experts had a variety of advice…

On Clients…

“How you handle lateness can strengthen rather than weaken client relationships.” nerdburn

“Don’t mention w3c or valid coding during a pitch…talk about ROI and improving business.” Satch

“If you manage them right, repeat customers will be more profitable than new ones. Work hard to turn all your new customers into repeat customers.” FreelanceMan

“People buy benefits, not features.” Mike_Smith

On Money…

“Charge more. And make sure you are worth it.” betty

“Don’t take on more than you can handle you will end up losing more than you thought you would be earning.” black.p

“Don’t forget taxes.” betty

On the Craft…

“A website is never “done”. It is only abandoned.”  lickynee

“If It’s worth doing twice, it’s worth creating a system for.” Lukevdp

“Don´t be afraid of asking something you dont know to someone who is more experienced than you.” Eliffio

“Get up at the same time every morning, shower, get dressed like you’re leaving the house, and sit down with a cup of coffee in your office at the same time every day.” nerdburn

On Marketing & Growth…

“Make sure you are marketing your business every week, even when you are swamped.” Alovhaug

“Don’t let the marketing messages you send out by accident get in the way of marketing messages you send out on purpose.” FreelanceMan

“Always carry business cards with you and hand them out to everyone you meet, your neighbor’s gardener’s uncle might be a millionaire who needs your services.” Max///AgencyZebra

On Sanity…

“Enjoy what you do, when you stop enjoying it. Stop doing it.” AlexHughes

“Never let your freelance life dictate your personal life, or visa versa.” AmberTurner

Anything to add?

Want more? Check out all the great advice in the original thread. Have some wisdom to add? Share your own one-liner advice in the comments!

Bookkeeping is critical for maximizing tax deductions and monitoring the overall health of your business, but it’s a royal pain. In this post I’ll show you how to automate bookkeeping tasks so you can stay focused on existing jobs while marketing your talents.

Decide on a bookkeeping system

Many people still hand-write their income and expenses in a notebook or Excel spreadsheet and then type up invoices in Word or a similar program. This can work just fine if you don’t work a lot of jobs. If, however, you find yourself with multiple clients, invoices and expense reports, you will spend more and more of your time trying to keep everything together. A dedicated, automated bookkeeping system and/or bookkeeper is a necessity at this point.

For years Quickbooks has been the lord and master of small business accounting software. But for me it was just too expensive, too complicated, and not Mac-friendly. And for most independent freelancers without the need for payroll it’s just too big and bulky.

Use online accounting tools

After trying several Mac-based programs I decided to take my bookkeeping online. This was a big decision, since going online with something as private as bookkeeping meant possible exposure to the outside world. If you go this route, you must be confident in the security of the online solution and have a backup plan such as the ability to export whatever you enter into the system.

I’ve been using online invoicing software for three years and am very happy with it so far. I started with Blinksale, which was a good start. At the time all it did was create invoices and run simple reports. I still think it’s a great solution for anyone who wants an easy invoicing program that works.

Two years ago I moved over to Freshbooks. I wanted to integrate time tracking, estimates, richer reporting and some other features into my setup. A few friends were using Freshbooks so I decided to give it a try. However, I still needed a simple online cash accounting system. That’s when I found Outright.com.

Integrate before you automate

While Freshbooks includes expense reporting, it’s a little more involved than Outright. Outright integrates seamlessly with Freshbooks and has beautiful reporting features. I can run a profit/loss statement at the press of a button. I can run monthly, quarterly and annual reports just as fast. And I can quickly see who my highest paying customers are and where I need to cut expenses. In many respects, Outright has become the digital dashboard for my business.

And the best part is Outright is free. At least right now. Freshbooks and Blinksale are free to start, but as you get more clients/invoices you’ll need to pay a monthly fee. There are many other free and online options as well.

Automating the system

The biggest challenge with automating any software solution is actually getting the data into the system. How do you automate that? This is where a system plus a virtual assistant can really help.

I run my entire business using two dedicated credit cards and Paypal so there’s always a paper trail. At the end of the month I download my statements into an encrypted Excel sheet and send it to my VA for entry into Outright. Using this system, my total time each month for bookkeeping is about 15 minutes.

Is it perfect? No. Is it expensive? It depends on your perspective. The monthly cost of Freshbooks plus my VA’s time is around $35. For me it’s a great value. It’s cheaper than a bookkeeper, I can check the pulse of my business at any time and am free to pursue existing projects and opportunities.

Your Turn

Do you think automating your bookkeeping is worth doing or not? How would you do it differently? Please leave your thoughts in the comments.

“The shoemaker’s children go barefoot.”

You’re not a shoemaker but the saying still fits. Between client projects, conferences, and social obligations (okay, okay, WOW clan meetings may count as social obligations), your site has been sorely neglected. A neglected website might not seem like a big deal if you’re flush with work. But what happens when, Zeus forbid, work slows? You’ll start pushing for new work, realize that your site is a mess, and spend time working on your site you should have spent landing new contracts.

As a reminder for the veterans and a guide for those just starting out, here are seven elements of a successful freelancer’s website:

Personality

Does your website have personality? You don’t need to have wild colors, say inflammatory things, or hurl curses to have personality. Dropping a few hints that will let people know you’re fun to work with and a good person will do the trick. Think of your website just as you would a big corner office. It’s your space to personalize, to enjoy, and to share with important visitors. Make sure you include some details so that visitors who stop by while you’re out get a chance to learn about you. It’s you they’ll be hiring after all. Show a bit of tasteful personality and you’ll stand apart from the rest. Without personality your site will be just another raft of half-hearted dreams in a giant sea of mediocrity.

Process Description

Can visitors to your site find out a little of what it’s like to work with you without signing a contract? Outlining your process for prospective clients gives them an idea as to what they can expect of you. Telling a prospective client how you work will increase the level of familiarity that client has with you. Increased familiarity leads to trust and trust has a way of leading to lucrative projects. You can use your process description as a way to share some of your personality. Are you a copywriter with a flair for drawing? Cartoon it up! Perhaps you’re a web designer who gets a kick out of beautiful flowcharts? Use your process description to show prospective and repeat clients just how awesome you are.

Project Examples

Do you share examples of your most recent work? A common sin among freelancers is that they get so caught up in new projects that they fail to properly display previous accomplishments. If you’re just starting out and only have one or two examples of your work, make up for the lack of volume by going into detail on your project explanations. Reference positive feedback from clients (LinkedIn is a great place to ask for short reviews) and, once again, make sure to sneak your personality into the final product!

Ballpark Pricing

Do you give prospective clients an idea of what it costs to hire your brilliant self? When and if to publish rates is for another article entirely. For now, it’s fairly safe to say that you’ll benefit from alluding to a price range. There’s no need to lock yourself into a price and clients will be happier if you let them know what they can expect to pay. An easy way to give a ballpark price is to ask prospective clients to fill out a project starter sheet that asks for a budget range. Giving a benchmark price can also work well. There are multiple benefits to giving ballpark prices. Among them, weeding out cheapskates and minimizing sticker shock. Make sure to furiously research your specific niche to find out average rates for the services you provide before plastering prices on your site. Using the hourly rate calculator is a good place to begin if you’re just getting started as a freelancer.

A Blog

Do you have a blog? If not, subscribe to this site so you’ll remember to come back and go set up your blog! If you already have a blog running on your site, have you been neglecting it lately? Just having a blog isn’t enough if you want to build a community around your site. Regular posting of useful content will establish you as a trusted expert and extend your network of trusting fans and friends. If you’re like many freelancers, you’re not the most organized person in the world. I struggle with organization at times, too. No hate here. Updating a blog can be difficult. It takes time, effort, and a lot of care to regularly post useful content and conversation-starters. The result of that blood-letting has been new friends, fantastic clients, and connections with other freelancers that I just wouldn’t have made had my site been entirely static. Get your blogging loins in gear for some extended community action and a bit of sharing with your clients. They’ll love it and you’ll get a kick out of what it does for your bank balance.

Usability

Is your site readable? Have you made sure that the text portion of your site is easily read by people and search spiders alike? Going solely on past experience, I can make three guesses about your site:

• 1. Your body text is too small.
• 2. You put more effort into pushing visitors to make your content go viral than you do hanging out with them.
• 3. You require too many clicks to get things done.

If none of those apply to your site, you’re one of the few. The rest will do well to make an effort to see their site as a visitor does. Do a bit of user testing and ask people at your local coffee shop to complete simple tasks on your site (like subscribing) or reading an article. You might think it embarrassing to ask strangers to help you improve your site. But that’s much easier than continuing as you are and watching contracts slip away.

Easy Contact

Is it easy to get in touch with you? Is your phone number published on your site? Can a prospective client reach your inbox in two clicks from any page on your site? The easier it is to get in touch with you, the friendlier you’ll seem. Remember what I said about familiarity and trust? Making a visitor dig around for your contact information isn’t a good way to inspire trust or make friends. Make it easy to reach you. Make it easy to work with you. You’ll find that clients have an easier time finding and paying you as a result! A note on contact forms: using captcha on your contact forms may save you from a few spam emails but can add a lot of frustration for those not accustomed to the process. I recommend skipping it until you’re big enough to hire somebody else to delete the spam for you.

There are many ways to optimize your site for best performance. If you take care of the details while you’re not in a hurry, you’ll do better work and have more fun in the process. Is there anything you’d like to add? I’m glad for your thoughts.

If you work with clients based in the U.S, you’ve probably received a Form 1099-MISC. That’s the form that a business uses to report money paid to contractors, as well as to report other income. You should receive a copy of the form from your clients by January 31 of each year. Your clients who issue Form 1099s also send a copy to the IRS, letting them know how much income you really ought to be reporting on your taxes.

But this system is notoriously full of problems. Maybe you didn’t actually receive your copy of the form. Or maybe your client reported a number to the IRS that had nothing to do with what they paid you this year. Or maybe your client went out of business before they could even get around to filing their taxes. Whatever the circumstances, if you’re a U.S. taxpayer, you need to get that paperwork straightened out so that the IRS doesn’t hassle you about incorrect numbers.

Dealing With 1099 Problems

When you receive your 1099s in the mail, it’s important to check them off against your own books. If the numbers you think that a client paid you over the last year don’t match up with what they think they paid you — and, believe me, it happens more often than you might expect — you can wind up with a problem. Similarly, you want to check details like your Social Security number as well.

• 1099s for Too Much: If a client sends you a 1099 listing a number above what they actually paid you over the course of the year, it’s crucial that you get that client to send an amended Form 1099 to the IRS — and fast! The IRS will assume the form sent by your client is correct and will require you to pay taxes to cover that amount, no matter what your tax return shows. If you can’t get your client to revise the form to the correct amount, it’s up to you to appeal to the IRS directly. You’ll need to have proof (like a certified letter) that you tried to contact your client and resolve the issue on your own.
• 1099s for Too Little: It may seem like a free pass if a client fills out a 1099 for less income than you actually received, even an opportunity to avoid reporting the full amount to the IRS. That’s a bad idea, though. Your client can revise his 1099 at any time he wants, and if he wants to write off your services as a tax deduction, he’ll definitely do just that. You aren’t necessarily obligated to request a revised Form 1099, but it can be a good idea.
• A 1099 with the Details Wrong: Misspellings, bad addresses and other incorrect information may show up on one of your 1099s. It’s generally best to notify your client of such errors, but as long as your Social Security number is correct, the IRS will still match your forms to you. In a perfect world, you’d get revised paperwork in the event of any error, but in reality, it’s only worth worrying about if you need your client to fix your Social Security number.
• No 1099 at All: Sometimes things happen. A form will get lost in the mail. A client will send a copy of the form to the IRS but forget to send it to you. A client will just fail to send out forms at all. Just the same, it’s generally best to go ahead and report your income in full. Just because you don’t have a copy of a 1099 for your income doesn’t mean that the IRS isn’t aware of it.

It’s worth noting that if you’re an American citizen but not actually living in the U.S, the IRS still will hold you responsible for getting your income tax return completed on time and correctly. I know quite a few freelancers who have headed off to another country to find a lower cost of living, some under the impression that since they aren’t working in the U.S, they don’t owe taxes. Just because a freelancer doesn’t have an address where he can receive his 1099s and other tax documents doesn’t let him off the hook though. If you’re traveling, it’s critical that you have a way to get your 1099s in a timely manner, especially if you want to make sure that you have enough time to handle any problems.

You can subscribe on other podcast aggregators by using our podcast feed–it’s simply http://feeds.feedburner.com/FreelanceRadio. Download the podcast file (in MP3 format) via the link (right-click to save).

The Shownotes:

• Theme of the Episode: This episode’s theme is Dickie’s freelance dilemma.
• Mailbag: Question on competing clients and how to deal with that kind of a situation
• Freelance Radio Recommends:
  • Dickie: Design shop Three Potato Four.
  • John: Web comic Indexed.
  • Kristen: Tea site TheLondonCuppa.com.
  • Von: Two links:
    • Clients from Hell, a humor site with real quotes from clients.
    • Power outlet with USB inputs

And that’s the episode! If you like it, please feel free to rate it in iTunes or your favorite podcast aggregator, and don’t forget to email your questions/comments via the Freelance Radio form. If you’d like to record a question/comment or submit an original outro song, you can upload them via this form.

Find out more about the panelists at the following sites:

• John Brougher, podcast host and new media/communications specialist: johnbrougher.com; John’s Twitter is at twitter.com/johnbrougher
• Dickie Adams, designer, photographer, technologist, jack-of-all-trades (and master of all): twitter.com/dickieadams
• Kristen Fischer, writer and author: kristenfischer.com; Kristen’s Twitter is at twitter.com/kristenfischer
• Von Glitschka, illustrator, designer and so much more: glitschka.com; Von’s Twitter is at twitter.com/vonster

In this issue of Ask FreelanceSwitch, Travis King and Thursday Bram look at the pros and cons of higher learning and how to be young and successful.

Ask FreelanceSwitch is a new regular column here that allows us to help beginners get a grip on freelancing. If you have a question about freelancing that you want answered, send an email to askfreelanceswitch@gmail.com.

Lock and load!

Question #1

I am 18 and I am trying to do freelancing while going to school. My problem is pretty obvious; I fail at getting clients because of my age. What can I do in order to minimize this effect of “you cannot have much experience”?

-Markus

Thursday: While I’d never suggest lying to a client, I think that minimizing the information available about your age might not be a bad idea. I freelanced all through college — but I don’t think any of my clients knew my age. I relied on my portfolio, instead.

That can mean changing your website or portfolio to reduce the information you offer to prospective clients about your age. Projects that have to do with your school — especially those that associate your time in school with a specific date can be a problem. For instance, I used to have quite a few clips that came from my college newspaper. Clearly, if I was writing for the school newspaper, I must have been a student at the time a particular article was printed. I got those samples out of my portfolio as soon as possible. Designs done for class and school projects, like yearbooks, certainly fall into the same category.

Having photos of yourself can also cause a few problems. If you have a youthful appearance, clients will assume you’re young, no matter whether you actually are or not. If you simply look young, having a photo or two of yourself on your site can actually hurt more than it helps. I know a freelance website designer who still looked very young when he was in his late twenties. He didn’t have any photos of himself on his own website, simply because the corporate clients he was working with simply wouldn’t hire him based on his appearance.

It’s no business of your clients how old you are, as long as you have a solid portfolio.

Travis: It’s all about perceptions, Markus. Take me for example. You don’t know who I am. You’ve never met me. But you know from the way I write that I’m pure money. It’s because I know one thing: It’s all about the swagger.

When I looked up swagger with an online dictionary it had this to say:

swag•gered, swag•ger•ing, swag•gers

1. A swaggering movement or gait.
2. Boastful or conceited expression; braggadocio.

This is not to be confused with swagman, which, as far as I can tell, is an Australian bum.

My point is this. Online clients don’t care what you look like, and they don’t care how old you are, they only care if you can get the job done. Your professionalism has to show in your correspondence and the way you handle the job. Show the client that you are more swagger than you are swagman.

See what I did right there? I used comparative alliteration.

Pure money.

Now if we’re talking face to face meetings? That’s a little more difficult, but not impossible. I always looked young for my age but I never dressed young when meeting with a client. You want to dress to impress when you meet a client for the first time. Instead of them asking “How young is this guy?” you want them thinking “Are those gold cuff links he’s wearing?”

Know your stuff and play the part. These next few years will fly by, and before you know it, you’ll be a bitter middle aged dude that yells at the TV during reality shows.

Question #2

I am currently a student (UK) studying for exams that will decide whether I go to university or not. For around 2 or 3 years now I have been learning how to develop and design websites. I have got to a stage where I have sufficient experience to produce high quality professional designs (one hopes), I have also managed a design related blog for a few months, writing 2-3 posts a week. I have decided that this is my passion and would like to find a career in this area. For a few months I have had various thoughts. Why do people go to University? To educate and receive a qualification or ultimately to gain experience that will hopefully lead to a job. Why do people get jobs? For money. If one already has enough experience to freelance or get a job, is University required?

To summarize, should I go to university to study Computer Science (which I enjoy, but not as much as design) or should I follow my dream of freelancing/getting permanent web designing/developing job?

-Liam

Thursday: For some people, university is an excellent learning opportunity that leads to a successful career. For others, it’s a waste of time and money. There’s a certain sense that you must have a college degree these days to succeed, but that’s not really the truth. If you’re comfortable teaching yourself the skills you need to be a successful freelancer, university may not be the best fit. There are alternatives such as certifications that allow you to demonstrate your knowledge without spending years in school.

That said, there are some good arguments to getting the degree. Many firms consider a degree a necessity, so if you think that a job with a web design or development firm is in your future, you may get a lot of use out of that degree. It’s also possible that your learning style is a good match with heading to university.

Unfortunately, the answer can also change quite a bit depending on your location. During my time in the U.K, I got the impression that it’s harder to go back to school at a later date, than it is in the U.S. For U.S.-based students, a good compromise can be trying out freelancing and then heading to school down the road if it’s actually necessary. That may also be an option in the U.K, but it’s worth deciding how hard the process would be before deciding one way or the other.

I wish that there was an easy way to make the decision on whether college is going to be worth your while. My personal opinion is that it’s always good to pick up new skills, whether or not that requires formal education, but it’s ultimately a decision that should be based on your own learning style, finances and preferences.

Travis: I like you Liam. You remind me of another UK bloke I know. Liam Neeson.

Planning for the future requires a lot of meditative reflection and it sounds like you are at a crossroad and can’t decide which path to take. It’s during times like this that I always remember what my good friend Liam Neeson use to say to me, “Bugger orf or I’m gonna call the cops!”

I know this will probably astound you, but I’m not university trained. But don’t think for a minute that it means that I don’t value learning. I just don’t value sitting in stuffy class rooms for four years when I could be out there getting it done.

That’s not to say that additional training would be a waste. Having a solid foundation in design theory will help you immensely if you choose to pursue the freelance lifestyle. But don’t be afraid of looking at different options. A design course at a technical school, perhaps? Or a good selection of books? Or how about a series of 16 cassette tapes that teach you to design while you sleep? If you’re interested, let me know. I’d like to get some of the money back I spent on them.

You’ll hear a lot of talk about ‘book smarts’ and ‘street smarts’, but the truth is, you’ll need an equal amount of both. I just finished watching a season of The Apprentice and Donald Trump fired an equal number of book smart and street smart people, so I’m pretty sure I know what I’m talking about.

So take your time, do your research, and use your head. And if you ever run into Liam Neeson while in the UK, tell him I said Hi…because I can’t come within 100 yards of him.