ceebeedee

A great post, wizely, and very relevant to me at the moment! I think I agree with notbanksy - I find selling/promoting myself to be a huge hurdle. Confidence is a major issue. And I think some of the other issues you list can contribute to that lack of confidence. I have found that when I have been approached 'cold', it has often been to enquire after services I can't provide ('Do your clients want things that you can't offer?) which leads to another - 'Do you think you're over-specialised?' Not being able to offer a whole solution deters me from attending networking events as I fear many of the people attending will be after the whole shabang. Pricing (& indeed business processes) is another issue - you need to be confident in your pricing structure in order to sell your services, however if you find you tend to get stuck at the quote stage and never get beyond, you start to question your approach. Is it your pricing/quoting that's wrong or the kind of client you're pitching to? I also am terrible at deliberating over processes and pricing, despite having these in place. Its scary how much time I will put into a proposal that potentially may amount to nothing. I guess as freelance designers/copywriters/developers etc, we are more professionals in those occupations, than 'business people'. It stands to reason that we would struggle with sales & marketing as they aren't necessarily part of our core skillset. When I worked for a company I had no problem thinking how I would promote 'our' services, but self-promoting seems to be a million times harder!! I have thought long and hard about where to pitch myself so that I can play to my strengths and avoid areas that are out of my comfort zone, but at the end of the day, it all boils down to 'putting yourself out there' - certainly my greatest weakness of all!! A bit of a ramble, but just had to get some thoughts down!

Yes for all three for me. I never run my browser in full screen when surfing.

Have you tried getting away from the web altogether for inspiration? Sometimes flicking through books/magazines etc can spark an idea that can be adapted for a website. I like to try and collect bits and bobs that I've found appealing in some way, whether its imagery, typographic design, album/book covers or bits of packaging. Sometimes flicking through a few general design/web design mags in Smiths (or even car mags in this case) can get the juices flowing. How about some Ford (or other dealership) brochures from showrooms (if you can avoid the salesmen)? Probably not much help for this specific case, but it is hard to keep turning over fresh ideas! Good luck.

Hello there, Would be very grateful for any advice on using stock images. How do you purchase images from stock photo sites for your customers? Do you tend to suggest the client purchases the images for you to include on their site or do you purchase them on their behalf? I've noticed that in some license agreements, there are restrictions on an image being used in multiple locations so am a bit confused as to who actually holds the image. If you purchase an image and pass on the costs to a client, what then happens if the client wishes to use the image elsewhere? Apologies if this is an obvious question, but find these license agreements quite confusing! Many thanks!

That's really useful, Eskymo, thanks very much!

Hello all, I just wondered how many of you have taken out Professional Indemnity insurance/whether you think it worth paying for and if so, any recommended policies? Something I've considered but unsure as to its true value. Apologies if this has been covered already, Many thanks!

I've lurked around a tiny bit and thought I ought to say hello officially, so here I am! I'm a web designer in Hampshire, creating XHTML/CSS sites alongside drinking lots of cups of tea. Alot of what I do also involves working closely with developers on the front-end of database-driven/content-managed sites. Am looking forward to reading lots of opinions/advice from everyone and hope I may even be able to offer a little help here and there!