[thelist] Fulltime to freelance

[Nan Harbison]

I work for myself and have almost quit all the other part time jobs I had
pieced together in order to survive. Here are the two most important tips I
can give you:

If you are in the US, join your local Chamber of Commerce because you can
get job references from it, mine has a "Business After Hours" once a month
where members meet in the office or shop of a member, have some wine and
snacks and we all get a chance to say who we are and what we do, I always
get some work from these, sometimes just fixing or adding something on a
website, which can thenn leac to doing a new website down the road. Also you
can get a cheaper rate on health insurance, if you need it. (There are other
business organizations as well, for example, Boston, MA has a PHP developers
group that meets and often someone is looking for a developer.)

You have to be 100% accessible to clients, returning their emails or phone
calls even when you don't want to, and do what they ask you to do in a
reasonable amount of time. I can't tell you how many websites I have taken
over because the business/owner was sick of the web guy they used who now
seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth. This is how I bill
myself now, that "I am happy to take over for the web guy who abandoned
you". And boy, do people relate to this!

Good luck,
Nan
 


-----Original Message-----
From: thelist-bounces at lists.evolt.org
[mailto:thelist-bounces at lists.evolt.org] On Behalf Of Joel D Canfield
Sent: Monday, November 24, 2008 4:09 PM
To: thelist at lists.evolt.org
Subject: Re: [thelist] Fulltime to freelance

> > Any advice from thelist from anyone who has done this successfully?
> 
> Save up and build your client list until you have no choice but to 
> leave your full time job.

while I understand what Randal's saying, and everbuddy's gotta make their
own choices, I really truly did jump ship with virtually no notice, no
savings, four kids, and wife making just over minimum wage, during tough
economic times (more than a decade ago, during the *last*
recession) and it was the best business decision I've ever made. it is
counterintuitive, I know. don't make decisions based on fear. or money.
neither is a healthy motivation. (yes, it really is about happiness.)

I continue to be astounded that anyone still has a real job. some fairly
polar perceptions here (which surprises me not one tiny bit.)

but if you decide to go the 'save up clients, then jump' track down Seth
Godin's free eBook "The Bootstrapper's Bible" (or just do that anyway.)

joel

-- 

* * Please support the community that supports you.  * *
http://evolt.org/help_support_evolt/

For unsubscribe and other options, including the Tip Harvester and archives
of thelist go to: http://lists.evolt.org Workers of the Web, evolt !