Hello, me again

 

Did any of you established freelancers start by working on the side? If so, did you start off with no contracts; ie. just did work for friends/family etc? Or did any of you register as a business (if so what's involved?)

 

Anyone properly registered as a business yet still working at a job they can't wait to escape?!

 

Cheers

 

- Roo

Registered as self employed and got jobs via friends and friends friends. Somewhat sloppy with the contracts then.

Registered as self employed and got jobs via friends and friends friends. Somewhat sloppy with the contracts then.

 

Did you not have a job at the time? How confident were you in your ability? How'd you support yourself in the first few months?

 

Questions questions

At that time I was working as a modelmaker after I graduatet. After half a year of a steady job I went freelance. Doing modelmaking. Then I had some friends that needed some websites.

I was living on what I've saved up from before.

 

I just recently moved from England and back home to today. I don't have much money at the moment, but I've occupied my parents basement so I'm saving loads of money that way. At the moment I'm trying to make some new local connections and get some jobs.

 

I am confident in my abilities, but less so when it comes to give an estimate on how long a job will take or how much it'll cost. I'm writing down on a timetable everything I do and how much time I spend for future reference.

in terms of the legalities of freelancing, if you are doing contract work as a sole proprietor effectively you ARE the business. As such you must keep invoices and records of payment for ALL work, as well as any employed wages for NI purposes.

 

The official line is that:

you must register as self-employed within 90 days of the end of the month in which you started trading, or face a £100 fine

the time limit means if you start up on the eg 14th of March, you will need to register before July 1st.

 

this is the simplest method of becoming a freelance, other options are to incorporate a company and become the employee of said company, as well as the cheif exec and sole director. However you will need to employ a secretary (or place a friend on a modest retainer). This option is only recommended if you need investement/venture capital and the source of finance requires a solid agreement and so on.

 

hope this clarifies things a bit in terms of legalities. Any further questions? I'd be glad to help.

what about if your just doing jobs here and there and its more of a on the side thing do you still need to register, and is that only a thing for the uk cause i live in canada.

what i posted is only related to the UK, although Canada may field similiar laws.

 

It is likely if you only do the occasional job, and you hold another job as your main job, that it will be seen as a capital gain or secondary earnings, and the relevant taxes will apply.

I've been doing freelancing for about 6 months now, but still haven't made the leap of leaving my fulltime job. I get pretty regular work at this point, and even for how much I would love to leave my regular job, it's hard to leave the security a stable paycheck.

what i posted is only related to the UK, although Canada may field similiar laws.

 

It is likely if you only do the occasional job, and you hold another job as your main job, that it will be seen as a capital gain or secondary earnings, and the relevant taxes will apply.

 

 

I registered as soon as I did any work because the person I worked for as a sub contractor insisted I did because (from his own point of view) he wanted a piece of paper to put though his own books.

 

I tell people before I work for them that I am registered with the Inland Revenue (UK) they will get an invoice and I pay my own tax. You can always give them your reference to check if they are unsure how to pay you. I think it gives you much more credibility than if you ask for a backhander.

 

If later the business who paid you cash is discovered to have done so, not only will you have to pay tax penalties interest etc. but they will also be pursued as if they had paid you net.

 

I would imagine it could get very expensive...

do yuo think there is a market for web designing anymore?? because of these free site builders that have come along i feel that the call for web design will fall because people will learn to do it themselves. i know they wont get the proffesional look of a properly designed site ?? but do people care!!!!

do yuo think there is a market for web designing anymore?? because of these free site builders that have come along i feel that the call for web design will fall because people will learn to do it themselves. i know they wont get the proffesional look of a properly designed site ?? but do people care!!!!

 

 

Good question, "Do people care?". Alot of people dont realise the importance of making sites availible to screen readers, handhelds, print etc. And because of that you get hard competition from people that offers websites which doesn't work as well as they could.

 

I'm myself in the progress of marketing myself as a freelancer. What I'm planning to do is try to educate the potential clients. Informing them that the web isn't just for computers any more, but a whole bigger range of devices and other user agents. I'm hoping they'll see that I can help them reach out to a larger amount of users.

 

I believe that templates and design made without consideration of the content is far from ideal and will not produce the impact it should. The challenge is to convince your clients that what you got to offer is better than what they've gotten before.

 

I find too many websites have a shiny front, but rely on Javascript or Flash, is not very accessible, not very maintainable, not very search engine friendly. However, people get away with providing such sites because the clients do not know what to demand. That's why we got so many sub-standard sites and so hard competition due to people with insufficient knowledge of their trade. You can't blame the client for not knowing what to expect. It's the webdevelopers job to do that.

The free site builders aren't a problem for me, because i am most definetly a developer rather than a designer. I can't see programming becoming an open topic for most people, whereas Dreamweaver, and to a lesser extent Frontpage has made HTML pages an easy prospect.

do yuo think there is a market for web designing anymore?? because of these free site builders that have come along i feel that the call for web design will fall because people will learn to do it themselves. i know they wont get the proffesional look of a properly designed site ?? but do people care!!!!

 

People always want to be different, especially companies, they'll want to stand out from their competitors in any way they can

The web is just the same as "real life"

 

One person drives a knackered VW Polo (that's me) and another one a Ferrari.

 

I think web designers will have to evolve. My feeling is that it is heading in a number of directions. You have the highly commercial big money side where it is becoming like interactive TV where the user controls the site and tools like Sitepal will become much more sophisticated....

 

I pray that we retain the web as it is now (as well) where the human desire for information comes before the desire for massive financial gain. A sort of underground world of dissent...

 

For the freelancer trying to make his way I'm not sure....like you I think someone out there will always want a quality product.

 

Your opinion on the skills people have can be clouded when you hang around forums like this...there are some very skilled and professional people here...they do not represent the majority.

 

The number of my neighbors who have knocked on my door with their little box of broadband goodies asking for help setting it up is incredible. There is a five step poster in the box that my 8 year old son could follow but it stills looks impossible to many.

 

I'm now waffling and not sure where I'm going with this.... :lazy:

The web is just the same as "real life"

 

One person drives a knackered VW Polo (that's me) and another one a Ferrari.

 

I think web designers will have to evolve. My feeling is that it is heading in a number of directions. You have the highly commercial big money side where it is becoming like interactive TV where the user controls the site and tools like Sitepal will become much more sophisticated....

 

I pray that we retain the web as it is now (as well) where the human desire for information comes before the desire for massive financial gain. A sort of underground world of dissent...

 

For the freelancer trying to make his way I'm not sure....like you I think someone out there will always want a quality product.

 

Your opinion on the skills people have can be clouded when you hang around forums like this...there are some very skilled and professional people here...they do not represent the majority.

 

The number of my neighbors who have knocked on my door with their little box of broadband goodies asking for help setting it up is incredible. There is a five step poster in the box that my 8 year old son could follow but it stills looks impossible to many.

 

I'm now waffling and not sure where I'm going with this.... :lazy:

 

 

haha... I tend to waffle.

 

With what you said about the wireless/broadband stuff... SO many people can't get it to work, I think someone could make a bit of money in that. If I'd passed my test yet (22 and still can't drive, shocking!) I'd be sticking flyers up saying 'wireless fixed for £30' and going round to sort it out for them.

I'm still just working for friends and family, though I have a website, thats where where some of my works is (actully theres only one... (will be putting more up)) Sometimes I ask for money you, know bills on the website, then I buld them a website or give them help and whatever. But other times I just start making a random website like my eMoogle.tk thats justa random website for emos... anyway hope that helps

 

CHeers Awex

Even with friends and family, invoice them. Just make sure to put a big "PAID" sign on it if you are doing it for free.

 

If you don't then they won't be aware of the true cost of it, and as such won't appreciate your help, and could end up taking you for a ride. It's very difficult to tell friends+family when they are going too far.

Even with friends and family, invoice them. Just make sure to put a big "PAID" sign on it if you are doing it for free.

 

If you don't then they won't be aware of the true cost of it, and as such won't appreciate your help, and could end up taking you for a ride. It's very difficult to tell friends+family when they are going too far.

 

VERY good point mate, mixing business/money and family/friends can so easily cause bad blood. I remember lending my mate a fiver and not getting it back even though he had money to go out boozing, and then it became the principle of it... quickly turned sour, and that was only £5!

projectesource.com is good freelance website.

 

Thanks