So I came across andy rutledges website, and he wrote this

 

"If you’re new to freelance design and seeking advice on pricing, writing contracts, potential-client vetting, and other aspects of running your freelance business, I have some long-considered advice to offer.You are not ready. Stop what you’re doing and go (back) to work for an agency or in-house for a company for a few years and learn those things the way a professional is supposed to learn them: from direct experience among seasoned professionals.

 

If you're ready to become a freelance professional you already know all of these things and don't need anyone's advice. Freelance is for seasoned professionals only."

 

Is this the case really if you are new to web design/development? Say if realyl you dont want to go work for a company and want to just start freelancing, is freelancing a no go area for people that are basiclly have no experince?.

Yeah, I agree with every word of it. You could plausibly become a freelance designer/developer without any business experience and try and get advice off forums, small business networks, local chamber of commerce, etc but then 80% of your time is spend seeking advice rather than designing and maybe its not always the right advice. Much better to work in the industry for a few years and gain this knowledge yourself.

I think I'd have to agree with Andy as well.

 

Working for a company (any company not just a web company) will give you invaluable experience in many aspects of business, and without that anyone will struggle as a freelancer and the chances of failure are increased. If you really want to freelance, and make a living, you could think of working for a company as your apprenticeship, learning all the basics, business ettiquette, methods, techniques and so on.

 

By all means give it a go, but like Jock said, if you spend 80% of your day learning that's 80% of the day you're not bringing in any income, and when you have bills to pay and a family to feed you won't last long