For those who are actual full time freelancers, some questions.

Hi Talkfreelance,

I was wondering who here actually has hes freelancing carreer as a full time job? I am currently in progress of getting every legal document setup for starting as a freelance Webdesigner/Graphic Designer full time job. I have done some freelance jobs before but only online projects with no big amounts. For those who work as a freelancer full time, could you please give me some information on the next questions?

- How instable is your monthly income? I mean, logically thinking I assume when working as a indepented freelancer, your budget can really go from almost zero a month to a few thousand a month, how do you handle this?

- Who uses or used a freelance agency to get their projects? Which do/did you use? Guru.com(30$-90$/quarter)? Elance.com (275$/month)? Also the one you use(d), does it really payback the monthly fee plus enables you to make profit?

- I have plans to email each Webdesign firms & Graphicdesign firms in my area once I have everything up and running, which is like 3000 adresses to inform them about my freelance services. Who has done this before? Did it bring you many clients? What was your most successfull plan in getting clients?

I might have some more questions later, I will post in this post.

I really hope to gain some information here .

With kind regards,
Dieter K.

Originally Posted by Dieter.Graphirez Hi Talkfreelance, I was wondering who here actually has hes freelancing carreer as a full time job? I am currently in progress of getting every legal document setup for starting as a freelance Webdesigner/Graphic Designer full time job. I have done some freelance jobs before but only online projects with no big amounts. For those who work as a freelancer full time, could you please give me some information on the next questions? - How instable is your monthly income? I mean, logically thinking I assume when working as a indepented freelancer, your budget can really go from almost zero a month to a few thousand a month, how do you handle this? - Who uses or used a freelance agency to get their projects? Which do/did you use? Guru.com(30$-90$/quarter)? Elance.com (275$/month)? Also the one you use(d), does it really payback the monthly fee plus enables you to make profit? - I have plans to email each Webdesign firms & Graphicdesign firms in my area once I have everything up and running, which is like 3000 adresses to inform them about my freelance services. Who has done this before? Did it bring you many clients? What was your most successfull plan in getting clients? I might have some more questions later, I will post in this post. I really hope to gain some information here . With kind regards, Dieter K.

1. save save save. savings account is helpful.
2. depends on how effective your work is. personally no, local is much better pay.
3. depends on how you market yourself.

1. It can really suck sometimes. My month's have varied from 0 income in a month to $10k+ in a month. If you have no commitments then it's not so much of a problem - if you have a family to support and bills to pay it's hard work. Like Bennet says, save as much and as often as you can to get you through the dry spells. In 2003 I had $60k in the bank. Now I've got $60 :-/ Things are picking up atm though and hopefully the contract I am currently working will become longer term, (Was initially to be 4 weeks but I'm close to completion after less than two - discussing the possibility of doing more for them atm though).

2. I've had no luck with any freelance sites to date... Look out for mine to launch within the next month which will be free to join and once I reach a critical mass of freelancers will be heavily marketed.

3. It gets contacts if nothing else. I've had a few interviews through this method but each and every one wanted to pay beer money for champagne work.

4. Okay so there wasn't a 4 Check out any local creative agencies and join as many as you can, (never pay to join), and have them do their job which is to find placements for you, (so long as you have talent), it's how I got my current contract... But don't hold your breath waiting for them, once you've joined give them a ring/e-mail every few weeks then forget about them unless they call you.

1) Income can differ greatly from month to month. Before going into freelance full time I suggest you have a strong client base and several reucrring clients. Clients that request small changes to their website I bill as small workorders but they add up to as much as I make for normal webtes very quickly.

2) All of my clients are from referrals of previous clients (most common), they find me, or I e-mailed or call them.

3) Well, that won't get you any clients besides the company you're emailing for web design. If you're emailing a company like that, they aren't simply going to give you their clients. They will want you to work in house or they might give you a website to do for the client, but to the client you aren't making the website - the company you're working for is. They'll also probably have you sign some sort of freelance agreement.

Great insight info guys!

Pastapuck, I cant make a client database aslong as my official papers arent correct , but the first few months of my income arent relevant since I'm 20 years old and living at home at the moment so that enables me to build up a client database with out worrying about my first few monthly incomes. Also getting Webdesign company's to let me work for them when they have a few projects that cant handle because of alot of projects going on is what I am aiming at.

Thank again.

I've been doing odds and ends for a while now....the income is VERY unstable, some months you can make $x,xxx while others you're scraping every corner of the internet for work, the more people you make happy, the more clients you will get.

With regards to freelance websites/agencies, i've never looked into it, simply because these sites attract alot of bottom feeders and people who will always under cut your prices and steal your jobs.

I would think contacting local firms is definitly a good idea, get some business cards or flyers printed, make them really professional and outline all your services. If you want to apply for a position with a firm it's probably best you check to see if any are available first...otherwise you're wasting your time and theirs.

I suggest offering hosting and a maintenance package with a monthly cost with each website client. It can save your checkbook in the long run.