WAHM Forums

Greetings, ya'll.

I'm a, hopefully, soon-to-be-dad that's looking for a little change in my at-home time. I make a very good living right now doing what I do, but my wife and I are wanting to move away from this area before we have children (and before we're stuck!). I'd like to ensure that I have at least a sustainable income while we both try to settle into new surroundings.

I'd like to have an at-home job so that I'm better able to schedule my time around my family. I've researched this for about three weeks solid and have even paid for a few scams just to see if they could bring some light onto things (which they did, and now I know what I don't</span> want to do). Of all of the message boards I've visited, this one seems to be the most objective and low-pressure I've seen.

I have a very extensive background in IT, which includes web design with an emphasis on PHP/MySQL solution development. Because of that, I think my best bet is to continue with web design.

My question to everyone out there is: Can you make a good living at this or is there simply too much competition for a one-man operation?

I used to provide freelance web design and consulting to local business back in the mid-to-late 90's when a domain name cost $100 and a 5 MB hosting package was $60 a month. That's not to say I haven't kept up with the industry, but there was much less competition 10 years ago.

Do you use services like rentacoder.com or guru.com? Do you farm local or regional businesses? Are your time requirments for developing a site out of proportion to what the going rate is?

I'm looking for advice on a business and marketing model for a stay-at-home web developer.

Thanks to everyone in advance.

good luck to you from someone in the same boat.

i would stick with local &amp; regional to start with, as the online international competition is huge and intense. on some of those php freelance bidding sites, i've actually seen people bidding $50 and 2 days on projects that i thought were in the $1000+ and month+ range.
heh, i've even seen posts on this message board asking for a php developer for $50 - $100 per month</span>

whether or not you can make a living at it as a one-man show is debatable. it all depends on if you can get the clients.
i've found doing it yourself means you have to be a salesman as well as a developer!

another avenue, join your local chamber of commerce(where you live or want to live). Ours here sends out monthly newsletters to all members and you can put a full page flyer for $99.00 and reach all the area business owners.

I second the recommendation on the Chamber of Commerce. I checked our chamber directory and there is only one web design company listed. Also, I've discovered that as a freelancer, you need to do everything you can to streamline your processes because time is money in a big, big way. Template everything you can (pages, style sheets, scripts) so you can use it over and over again. Also, have an attorney draw up a standard contract for you to use that limits the number of revisions and ensures you get paid even if the client doesn't follow through with supplying content.

I wouldn't bother with eLance or guru. The pay's just not there and the people who post projects, by and large, are looking for a deal. That's not the kind of client you want to deal with, believe me.

PM me if you have any more questions. I'm glad to help out.

Adrienne

LOCAL is definitely the way to go. Adrienne had some sage advice about streamlining. As you know, web design can be very detail-oriented and time consuming, so for a one-person operation, there is the potential for a lot</span> of work (which isn't always necessarily a good thing if you are chained to your computer all day &amp; night). <!--
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Thank you all very much for your responses.

I did a little research into the local market here and found about 30 web design companies (by firm, I mean 5 or more employees); not to take into account the countless individuals. The good news is apparently there is enough work to sustain that many businesses, and the bad, of course, is this is a small town of about 50,000 people, most of which are not trying to target the web market.

I'm not deterred by a lot of hard work, nor am I looking to become a millionaire... I'd really just like to make a sustainable living, as I assume most of the individuals on these boards are.

Again, thanks for the responses.

If the competition is intimidating, check out the surrounding counties. I am in the promotional product industry, you would be surprised how many companies you believe are not interested in the web actually are. At least to the extent of being able to have clients view general info about their company. (Plus they like to network and have links to other area businesses.)


Good luck!

I have been doing it since 1994, and very successfully! It CAN be done - IF you have the drive and dedication to do it. Yes there are many companies out there - and many overseas that can do it for ALOT less per US$, but that does not mean it is not possible. I haev seen MANY different people's work, some VERY good, some ok, and some VERY bad! lol


Biggest thing - is get a site done yourself - maybe do 1-5 freebies or VERY low cost for family/friends to get a few clients for a portfolio - and then do NOT cut your costs after that ~


I have several clients that I design for on a consistent basis. 90% of my clients I have NEVER met - so it does NOT need to be local.

I have to agree your first step should be joining the Chamber of Commerce. Before I joined I was maybe pulling in a website every three to four months if I was lucky. There is a pretty big market out there and I started out just by posting ads in a local free online classifieds that we have. Needless to say once I joined my local Chamber my business more than tripled. There are several big firms in and around my town and a bunch of free lancers, however once you have the CoC on your side, it seems like more people are interested in your work. Plus the bigger firms aren't as personalized. I like to work one-on-one with my clients. That is why my past works are all different in big ways. They range from what I would consider cheesy (but hey whatever the client wants!!!) to the devine. Really I would go for it. You don't have to be pushy, just advertise and there are so many ways to advertise for free. I put a sign in my yard, a bumper sticker on my car, I post flyers around town, I designed up my own business cards, I post to my local free online classifieds and took out an ad in my local paper. Good luck. This is really a great field to be in as it is ever growing. Also you may want to contact businesses such as Realty offices and such and see if they have a need for your services. About 50% of my business is monthly updates and general upkeep of existing sites.smileys/smiley2.gif