When a person makes the leap to starting their own web design business they not only need to know how to create websites, but they need to be able to sell them, too. In fact, the fear of that seems to be one of the biggest hinderances to a person taking that leap in the first place. This episode will help ease those fears.

Matt Medeiros is the co-founder of Slocum Design Studio and blogger at MattReport.com, and we consider him an expert in sales as related to web design services. We asked Matt questions about his background as a car salesman, his transition into web design, how he qualifies leads, how he handles RFPs, and more. Tune in to find out all about his sales process and how you can apply it to your freelance business.

This episode is all about optimizing your website’s performance.  We welcome Bryan Jones, the creator of CodeKit, an amazing tool that handles much of the optimization work for you!

We covered a lot of ground in this espisode!  From taking your CSS to the next level using SASS and LESS, to other website optimization techniques.  We also asked Bryan about his experience building a popular Mac App and how his business has evolved.

Mentioned in this episode:

• CodeKit
• Less App
• SASS
• LESS
• Panic

Episode Sponsor

MightyDeals.com offers amazing deals for web professionals.
Discounts up to 90% off!

In this long overdue episode, Brian and Dave discuss all of the apps that make up their freelance business workflow these days.  From code editors, to productivity and social media – we walk through why each app works for us, and why others didn’t make the cut.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Code Editing:  Espresso, Coda 2, LiveReload, CodeKit
• Productivity:  Followup.cc, Apple Reminders, Hiss (redirects growl notifications to Mountain Lion notifications)
• Social Media:  Buffer, Clicktotweet, Hootsuite, Medium
• Tunes: Songza, Rdio, Radium

Episode Sponsor

MightyDeals.com offers amazing deals for web professionals.
Discounts up to 90% off!

In this episode, we’re joined by Brad Tousnard, founder of WPAppStore, to discuss the balance between client work and working on a personal project or startup.  Brian shares his thoughts on the subject as well, as he’s been working on his startup, Restaurant Engine, along with client work.

A few of the topics discussed in this episode:

• How to plan and prepare to invest your time in a startup (while paying the bills).
• Making the shift away from client work and setting a timeline to do so.
• How Brad came up with the concept for WPAppStore and how he made the decision to pursue it.
• How the day-to-day operation changes when doing client work vs. working on personal projects / startups.
• And other ramblings…

Episode Sponsor

MightyDeals.com offers amazing deals for web professionals.
Discounts up to 90% off!

If you’ve read any popular sites like CNET, FreelanceSwitch, GigaOM, and Lifehack.org, then chances are you’ve read something written by today’s guest, Thursday Bram. She is everywhere. In this episode she gives us insight into the world of freelance writing for the web.

Thursday answers these questions and more:

• What led you to a career in writing?  Did you go to school for that?
• Did you always work for yourself or did you come from a FT job?
• What does a typical writing project is like?  What do you offer clients, and how do you deliver it?
• How does the business of blogging work?  What is the typical pay-scale for an article?
• How do you find paying gigs as a blogger?
• How do you market yourself and your services?  Does the exposure you get through writing help with attracting clients?
• How do you jump between writing on vastly different topics from gig to gig?
• What are some differences when writing for the web vs. writing for print?  Any tips for better web writing?
• Do you write from a technical/technology perspective at all? How do you make technical content non-boring & fun to read?
• Can you recommend any resources, books, sites, that could us become better writers, learn “proper” writing skills, etc.?
• How would one break into the world of professional blogging and getting paid as a writer?  Where do we start?

Episode Sponsor

MightyDeals.com offers amazing deals for web professionals.
Discounts up to 90% off!

We asked screencasting pro Shawn Hesketh of WP101 and LeftLane Designs to take us through every aspect of creating a quality screencast. Shawn started working for himself as a designer back in 1988 and in this episode you’ll hear how his business has evolved over time, especially as his use of screencasting has increased in the past few years. These days, he’s known for his popular WP101 WordPress tutorial videos as well as his screencast work for other companies such as WooThemes and Jilion (SublimeVideo).

Whether you are thinking about creating how-to screencasts for your clients or feature-overview screencasts for potential customers, you’re going to find a lot of great tips in this episode.

Tune in as Shawn answers questions like:

• How did he first become involved in web?
• Where did the idea of WP101 come from?
• What makes a screencast worth watching? How do you create a quality screencast that isn’t boring?
• What is his screencasting setup in terms of hardware and software?
• Where should screencasts be hosted and served: YouTube, Vimeo, Amazon S3, etc?
• How does he plan and execute each screencast in terms of written scripts, video clips, editing, and sizing?
• What is his approach to finding, creating, and incorporating other elements such as music and text effects?
• Where should people go to learn more about how to screencast?
• How does he plan a screencast that is intended more for marketing versus a tutorial video for existing customers?
• How does he market his video production services?
• How has his business changed since he’s been screencasting in terms of primary services that he offers?

Episode Sponsor

MightyDeals.com offers amazing deals for web professionals.
Discounts up to 90% off!

In this audio-only episode, Dave and Brian talk about the lifestyle of a freelancer.  ”A day in the life” if you will.  Dave and Brian have slightly different perspectives on the subject.  Dave balances family life with kids and works in a co-working space away from home.  Brian works out of a home office and structures his work schedule around a very demanding dog!

We cover the morning routine, taking extended lunch-breaks, scheduling meetings and calls, lifestyle of a freelancer vs. that of a full-time employee, carving out late night and early morning work sessions, and other random tidbits.

Solo App Contest Winner

As promised, in this episode we announced the winner of the 1 year subscription to Solo App.  So if you signed up, you’ll want to tune in to see if you won!

Episode Sponsor

MightyDeals.com offers amazing deals for web professionals.
Discounts up to 90% off!

We must start this episode with two important notes:

1 – We are not accountants, nor attorneys. What we discuss in this episode should not serve as actionable legal or accounting advice. You should always consult your lawyer and accountant for that.

2 – We’re both based in the US, so what we talk about here probably won’t apply to our International audience. But maybe some general ideas might carry over to your neck of the woods.

That being said, in this episode we give our take on questions like:

• How do you run a freelance business that is compliant in the eyes of the IRS?
• What is your legal business structure: LLC, sole proprietorship, or corporation?
• How do you handle paying taxes? Quarterly estimates… etc.
• Do you have a system for setting aside money for taxes?
• What types of expenses do you write off as tax deductions?
• How do you keep track of business expenses?

Don’t Forget About Our Giveaway!

That’s right, we’re giving away a subscription to Solo: Beautiful Project Management for the Freelancer. We’ve teamed up with Solo to give one of our lucky listeners/viewers a ONE YEAR SUBSCRIPTION to Solo. That’s a $120 value!

To enter, all you have to do is sign up for our email list. That’s it.

You’ll also be signed up for Solo’s mailing list automatically. You can cancel your subscription to either list at any time, just make sure you’re still signed up when we announce our winner in episode #21.

Episode Sponsor

MightyDeals.com offers amazing deals for web professionals.
Discounts up to 90% off!

In an attempt to spice things up around here, we’ve decided to throw in a few shorter episodes where we spend twenty minutes or so discussing topics that might be too specific for a full episode or interview. In the first of these “Freelance Jam briefs,” we discuss our personal project management workflows as they relate to client projects and our own projects. Brian has decided to move most of his project management process over to Google Docs, while Dave is holding strong on the super simple Basecamp app. Find out how and why we are each using the systems that we are.

QUESTION: How do YOU manage your projects?

Big Announcment

Speaking of project management, there’s a new kid on the block and it’s called Solo: Beautiful Project Management for the Freelancer. We’ve teamed up with Solo to give one of our lucky listeners/viewers a ONE YEAR SUBSCRIPTION to Solo. That’s a $120 value!

To enter, all you have to do is sign up for our email list. That’s it.

You’ll also be signed up for Solo’s mailing list automatically. You can cancel your subscription to either list at any time, just make sure you’re still signed up when we announce our winner in episode #21 towards the end of February.

Good luck, and be sure to take a closer look at Solo especially in light of the topic we discuss in this episode.

Episode Sponsor

MightyDeals.com offers amazing deals for web professionals.
Discounts up to 90% off!

Freelance web designer Chris Meeks recently re-launched his brand’s portfolio website (hatbox.co - we think it’s an awesome site!). In this episode, he joined us to talk about what went into that process and what he thinks makes a great portfolio website. We dive topics like where Chris finds inspiration, how he decided what to include and what to leave off of his site, how he is using his site to attract his target clients, and his decision to use a responsive web design approach for the site.

Be sure to follow Chris on Twitter and check out his personal website as well.

Episode Sponsor

MightyDeals.com offers amazing deals for web professionals.
Discounts up to 90% off!

With more and more people using WordPress (our favorite) these days, Pippin Williamson of PippinsPlugins.com is using that to build his business as a plugin developer. We chatted with Pippin as he shared some of his thoughts on the market for plugins, using a site like Envato’s Code Canyon versus selling through his own site, and how he provides support to his customers. Other topics that come up include The WPCandy Quarterly print magazine, Pippin’s famous Easy Custom Post Types plugin (it really is awesome!) and Font Uploader plugin, and his new membership-based WordPress development training program.

If you’re wondering what Envato’s approval & pricing process looks like, what makes a “good” plugin, and ways you can create your own functionality products, check out this informative episode with Pippin.

Unfortunately, we experienced an unsurprising Skype crash in the middle of this interview and lost the video recording. But the audio was safe so we’re still posting the video version. 

Episode Sponsor

MightyDeals.com offers amazing deals for web professionals.
Discounts up to 90% off!

Ryan Imel is the Editor-in-chief behind WPCandy.com, the leading hub for all things WordPress. We caught up with Ryan and found out what it takes to run a site like WPCandy which is updated on a daily basis and receives a decent amount of traffic. We also discussed some of the things that make WordPress the right choice to manage a website of this size and type.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Dave: @daveyank, Lift Development, CommonSpace, Anywhere Man
• Brian: @casjam, CasJam Media, Skipper app

Episode Sponsor

MightyDeals.com offers amazing deals for web professionals.
Discounts up to 90% off!

Toni Gemayel has a lot going on. That’s an understatement, actually. He’s a web developer for Two Giraffes (which features another Freelance Jam guest, Sean Farrell). He’s a full-time “startup scout” for Coloma Ventures which involves regular travel. He’s also someone who launches a lot of startups on the side, including ventures such as Fonadu.

How does Toni find the time to wear all these hats? What are some ways that we as freelancers can launch startups on the side of our freelancing day jobs? At what point do you pull the plug on a side project that just isn’t making any money? We ask these questions and more in this episode.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Dave: @daveyank, Lift Development, CommonSpace, Anywhere Man
• Brian: @casjam, CasJam Media, Skipper app
• Toni’s app for works registration: safescreenplayregistration.com

Episode Sponsor

MightyDeals.com offers amazing deals for web professionals.
Discounts up to 90% off!

Jake Goldman, frequent speaker at WordCamps and founder of get10up.com, a WordPress development shop, joins Dave and Brian to talk about how speaking engagements can boost your profile as a freelance web professional. We cover meetups, conferences, attending, speaking, networking, and everything in between.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Dave: @daveyank, Lift Development, CommonSpace, Anywhere Man
• Brian: @casjam, CasJam Media
• Skipper App Private Beta
• WordCamps
• Future of Web Design
• Brian’s local WordPress Meetup
• Jake’s local WordPress Meetup

Didn’t mention in the episode, but also check out lanyrd.com, a fantastic directory of worldwide conferences to attend.

Shawn Johnston, Web Designer and Founder of Interlink Conference joins Dave and Brian to talk all about scheduling: Managing timelines, controlling client expectations, ensuring you have a strong pipeline of upcoming work, and more. We also talk about Shawn’s experience running the Interlink Conference.

Dave and Brian discuss how the podcast has gone so far, and how it’s impacted their respective web businesses. We talk about what we’ve learned about podcasting—both from a tech standpoint as well as content standpoint—and talk about where the Freelance Jam podcast is headed moving forward.

In this episode, Ed Mullen (@edmullen) joins us to tell the story behind his work designing the new HealthCare.gov, a website used by millions of Americans to find health insurance.  Ed takes us back to how this amazing opportunity came about, then gives us a glimpse of what it was like to work inside a major government agency on designing a web property used by millions.

We talk about the planning and design process, usability testing, and the impact this project had on Ed’s work as a designer as well as Ed’s business and other projects.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Dave: @daveyank, Lift Development, CommonSpace, Anywhere Man
• Brian: @casjam, CasJam Media, ThemeJam, briancasel.com
• HealthCare.gov
• Gallery of Ed’s IA & Design Work on HealthCare.gov
• Envisioning a Health Insurance Exchange

This episode’s soundtrack:

Band of Horses - Infinite Arms

Opening clip: “Dilly”
Closing track: “Laredo”

Sarah Bray classifies her business, S. Joy Studios, as a strategic web firm. In this episode, you’ll find out what that means for both her clients and her own business. In what ways is she strategic about her own pricing, marketing, hiring, and message? And what does it mean to have a date with your website? In the words of the immortal Dodge Hemi guy: “You’re about to find out.”

Once you’ve watched this episode with Sarah, definitely take the time to read and subscribe to the blog on her website. Most, if not all, of the topics she covers about web design and online business could each be a topic for a Freelance Jam episode. Quality content from a quality web designer and entrepreneur.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Dave: @daveyank, Lift Development, CommonSpace, Anywhere Man
• Brian: @casjam, CasJam Media, ThemeJam, briancasel.com
• Danielle Laporte
• Basecamp
• Freckle / Amy Hoy
• Google Docs

This episode’s soundtrack:

Elliott Smith – Figure 8

Opening clip: “Son of Sam”
Closing track: “In The Lost and Found”

Amber Weinberg is a successful HTML/CSS/WordPress developer from Nashville, TN who has helped build her freelance business through blogging. She’s a regular at Freelance Folder and has also written for Lifehacker, Six Revisions, Think Vitamin, and more. In this episode she describes herself as “outspoken” and that’s what we like about her. She is also a founder of Codesnipp.it, a social site for developers to post code and give and receive feedback.

Tune in for some blogging tips, ideas to get yourself out there, and find out more about using your blog to promote your products and services to your target markets.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Dave: @daveyank, Lift Development, CommonSpace, Anywhere Man
• Brian: @casjam, CasJam Media, ThemeJam, briancasel.com
• WPBids: A Project Proposal Theme For WordPress (sign up for our email newsletter before the next episode in two weeks and get 60% off WPBids!)
• Amber’s design blog
• FreelanceSwitch
• Forrst
• Amber’s controversial CMS/Joomla post (sorry Amber – this is way too good to leave off)
  
  

This episode’s soundtrack:

Brian, the native New Yorker, picked Minnesota-based (aka Dave’s state) hip-hop group Heiruspecs for this week’s tunes. The album is A Tiger Dancing and these guys are TIGHT.

Opening clip: “A Tiger Dancing”
Closing track: “Marching Orders”

Episode Sponsor

MightyDeals.com offers amazing deals for web professionals.
Discounts up to 90% off!

We were fortunate enough to be joined by WordPress theme design master Jason Schuller in this week’s episode. Jason is the founder of Press75 and ThemeGarden, both popular sources of premium WordPress themes. We spent some time discussing our own processes of designing a website: everything from concept to initial sketches to the tools we use to design and code a site.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Dave: @daveyank, Lift Development, CommonSpace, Anywhere Man
• Brian: @casjam, CasJam Media, ThemeJam, briancasel.com
• HTML11
• ActiveInbox for Gmail
• The Alfred app for Mac
• Coda for Mac
• Espresso for Mac
• Firebug for Firefox
• Google Chrome Developer Tools
• SimpleThe.me

This episode’s soundtrack:

Episode #3 features the fantastic collaboration between John Legend and the band The Roots with the album Wake Up!

Opening clip: “Hard Times”
Closing track: “Our Generation”

Episode Sponsor

MightyDeals.com offers amazing deals for web professionals.
Discounts up to 90% off!

How do you get paid? How do you invoice? What do you do if a client isn’t paying? How much should you require for a deposit? Should you bill hourly or use a flat fee?

These are the questions we discuss in this week’s episode with special guest Michael Hughes of Red Dog Designs in Vancouver, Canada. Michael…well we like to call him Mike…is a freelance web designer and developer who has been out on his own for over ten years. He shares with us some of the things he’s learned about billing clients, getting paid, and making a living on the web. He also gives us a brief virtual tour of his house.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Dave: @daveyank, Lift Development, CommonSpace, Anywhere Man
• Brian: @casjam, CasJam Media, ThemeJam, briancasel.com
• Freelance Switch survey results
• Twitter turns five
• New York Times goes paywall
• We all love Freshbooks for painless billing

This episode’s soundtrack:

We’re going with a very retro/soul sound from a modern group in this episode. The group is Fitz & the Tantrums and the album is Pickin’ Up The Pieces. You need to be pickin’ up the album.

Opening clip: “Dear Mr. President”
Closing track: “MoneyGrabber”

We’re back with our first “real” episode of Freelance Jam. This time we’ve got most of the technical details worked out and Brian is back with a new microphone so things are sounding good all-around.

In this episode we start off with a discussion about some recent news including the new iPad 2 and the release of WordPress 3.1. We then move into a brief chat about what Brian and Dave have each been working on in the past few weeks, which leads into an extended discussion on how each of us started in web design and how we’ve developed our careers.

We’ll be bringing guests on very soon so if you have a suggestion for a guest, please contact us.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Dave: @daveyank, Lift Development, CommonSpace, Anywhere Man
• Brian: @casjam, CasJam Media, ThemeJam, briancasel.com
• Apple’s iPad 2
• Learning resources: Envato Network, Think Vitamin, Lynda.com, iTunes U
• Release of WordPress 3.1
• Dave’s recommendation: InstantWatcher.com
• Brian’s recommendation: Prevue.it

This episode’s soundtrack:

The sweet sweet tunes in Episode #1 are by the band Junip from their 2010 release, Fields.

Opening clip: “Every Direction”
Closing track: “Always”